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Hugh Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to Hugh Thomas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Flows on graphs with cycles, locally gentle algebras, and the Mutoperhedron

Flow cones of a directed acyclic graph admit a family of unimodular triangulations given by Danilov, Karzanov, and Koshevoy (DKK) whose normal fans are related to (generalizations) of the associahedron and permutahedron. A correspondence between these triangulations for certain graphs and maximal cones of a $g$-vector fan of a gentle quiver associated to the graph was discovered by von Bell, Braun, Bruegge, Hanely, Peterson, Serhiyenko, and Yip in 2022. This correspondence has been fruitful in uncovering lattice structures in the triangulations. We start by showing that this correspondence is actually a linear isomorphism. We then consider flow cones of certain graphs with cycles. For this case, we give a DKK-like triangulation of the cone, and extend the correspondence to the finite $g$-vector fan of a corresponding locally gentle quiver. In addition, we extend to cyclic graphs a mysterious result of Postnikov--Stanley and Baldoni--Vergne, giving the volume of flow polytopes of acyclic graphs as the number of certain integer flows on the same graph. We illustrate our results with a two-parameter family of cyclic graphs that includes a cycle graph and nested 2-cycles as special cases. We show that the fans of its DKK-like triangulations are respectively isomorphic to the normal fan of the cyclohedron and of a new polytope with the same $f$-vector but different combinatorial type than the permutohedron, which we call the mutoperhedron.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Configuration Spaces of Finite Representation Type Algebras

To every finite-dimensional $\mathbb C$-algebra $\Lambda$ of finite representation type we associate an affine variety. These varieties are a large generalization of the varieties defined by "$u$ variables" satisfying "$u$-equations", first introduced in the context of open string theory and moduli space of ordered points on the real projective line by Koba and Nielsen, rediscovered by Brown as "dihedral co-ordinates", and recently generalized to any finite type hereditary algebras. We show that each such variety is irreducible and admits a rational parametrization. The assignment is functorial: algebra quotients correspond to monomial maps among the varieties. The non-negative real part of each variety has boundary strata that are controlled by Jasso reduction. These non-negative parts naturally define a generalization of open string integrals in physics, exhibiting factorization and splitting properties that do not come from a worldsheet picture. We further establish a family of Rogers dilogarithm identities extending results of Chapoton beyond the Dynkin case.

math.RT↗
arXiv2025

Preprojective categories of type A

We introduce a continuous version of preprojective algebras of type $A$. In particular, we are interested in the preprojective category over an open, bounded subinterval $\mathbb{I}$ of $\mathbb{R}$, denoted $\Lambda_{\mathbb{I}}$. We study the representable projective modules and define a useful type of sub- and quotient module called decorous modules. These are completely described by a function from the closure $\overline{\mathbb{I}}$ of $\mathbb{I}$ to $\mathbb{R}$ whose 'slopes' are not too steep anywhere. We later use these to describe permuton ideals, a generalization of the support $\tau$-tilting ideals of preprojective algebras of type $A_n$, which we call permutation ideals. Once we have our generalization, we show that permutation ideals can be recovered from permuton ideals. Moreover, permutation ideals are $\tau$-rigid and we show an analogous property for our permuton ideals. Along the way, we classify all the brick $\Lambda_{\mathbb{I}}$-modules.

math.RT↗
arXiv2025

Rowmotion and Echelonmotion

Given a linear extension $\sigma$ of a finite poset $R$, we consider the permutation matrix indexing the Schubert cell containing the Cartan matrix of $R$ with respect to $\sigma$. This yields a bijection $\mathrm{Ech}_\sigma\colon R\to R$ that we call echelonmotion; it is the inverse of the Coxeter permutation studied by Kl\'asz, Marczinzik, and Thomas. Those authors proved that echelonmotion agrees with rowmotion when $R$ is a distributive lattice. We generalize this result to semidistributive lattices. In addition, we prove that every trim lattice has a linear extension with respect to which echelonmotion agrees with rowmotion. We also show that echelonmotion on an Eulerian poset (with respect to any linear extension) is an involution. Finally, we initiate the study of echelon-independent posets, which are posets for which echelonmotion is independent of the chosen linear extension. We prove that a lattice is echelon-independent if and only if it is semidistributive. Moreover, we show that echelon-independent connected posets are bounded and have semidistributive MacNeille completions.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Counts and end-curves in two-parameter persistence

Given a finite dimensional, bigraded module over the polynomial ring in two variables, we define its two-parameter count, a natural number, and its end-curves, a set of plane curves. These are two-dimensional analogues of the notions of bar-count and endpoints of singly-graded modules over the polynomial ring in one variable, from persistence theory. We show that our count is the unique one satisfying certain natural conditions; as a consequence, several inclusion-exclusion formulas in two-parameter persistence yield the same positive number, which equals our count, and which in turn equals the number of end-curves, giving geometric meaning to this count. We show that the end-curves determine the classical Betti tables by showing that they interpolate between generators, relations, and syzygies. Using the band representations of a certain string algebra, we show that the set of end-curves admits a canonical partition, where each part forms a closed curve on the plane; we call this the boundary of the module. As an invariant, the boundary is neither weaker nor stronger than the rank invariant, but, in contrast to the rank invariant, it is a complete invariant on the set of spread-decomposable representations. Our results connect several lines of work in multiparameter persistence, and their extension to modules over the real-exponent polynomial ring in two variables relates to two-dimensional Morse theory.

math.RT↗
arXiv2025

Auslander regular algebras and Coxeter matrices

We show that Iyama's grade bijection for Auslander-Gorenstein algebras coincides with the bijection introduced by Auslander-Reiten. This result uses a new characterisation of Auslander-Gorenstein algebras. Furthermore, we show that the grade bijection of an Auslander regular algebra coincides with the permutation matrix P in the Bruhat factorisation of the Coxeter matrix. This gives a new, purely linear algebraic interpretation of the grade bijection and allows us to calculate it in a much quicker way than was previously known. We give several applications of our main results. First, we show that the permanent of the Coxeter matrix of an Auslander regular algebra is either 1 or -1. Second, we obtain a new combinatorial characterisation of distributive lattices among the class of finite lattices. Explicitly, a lattice is distributive if and only if its Coxeter matrix can be written as PU where P is a permutation matrix and U is an upper triangular matrix. Other applications include new homological results about modules in blocks of category $\mathcal{O}$ of semisimple Lie algebras.

math.RT↗
arXiv2024

Associahedra as moment polytopes

Generalized associahedra are a well-studied family of polytopes associated to a finite-type cluster algebra and choice of starting cluster. We show that the generalized associahedra constructed by Padrol, Palu, Pilaud, and Plamondon, building on ideas from Arkani-Hamed, Bai, He, and Yan, can be naturally viewed as moment polytopes for an open patch of the quotient of the cluster A-variety with universal coefficients by its maximal natural torus action. We prove our result by showing that the construction of Padrol, Palu, Pilaud, and Plamondon can be understood on the basis of the way that moment polytopes behave under symplectic reduction.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

All Loop Scattering For All Multiplicity

This is part of a series of papers describing the new curve integral formalism for scattering amplitudes of the colored scalar tr$\phi^3$ theory. We show that the curve integral manifests a very surprising fact about these amplitudes: the dependence on the number of particles, $n$, and the loop order, $L$, is effectively decoupled. We derive the curve integrals at tree-level for all $n$. We then show that, for higher loop-order, it suffices to study the curve integrals for $L$-loop tadpole-like amplitudes, which have just one particle per color trace-factor. By combining these tadpole-like formulas with the the tree-level result, we find formulas for the all $n$ amplitudes at $L$ loops. We illustrate this result by giving explicit curve integrals for all the amplitudes in the theory, including the non-planar amplitudes, through to two loops, for all $n$.

hep-th↗
arXiv2023

Fixed Points of Parking Functions

We define an action of words in $[m]^n$ on $\mathbb{R}^m$ to give a new characterization of rational parking functions -- they are exactly those words whose action has a fixed point. We use this viewpoint to give a simple definition of Gorsky, Mazin, and Vazirani's zeta map on rational parking functions when m and n are coprime, and prove that this zeta map is invertible. A specialization recovers Loehr and Warrington's sweep map on rational Dyck paths.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Permutoric Promotion: Gliding Globs, Sliding Stones, and Colliding Coins

The first author recently introduced toric promotion, an operator that acts on the labelings of a graph $G$ and serves as a cyclic analogue of Schützenberger's promotion operator. Toric promotion is defined as the composition of certain toggle operators, listed in a natural cyclic order. We consider more general permutoric promotion operators, which are defined as compositions of the same toggles, but in permuted orders. We settle a conjecture of the first author by determining the orders of all permutoric promotion operators when $G$ is a path graph. In fact, we completely characterize the orbit structures of these operators, showing that they satisfy the cyclic sieving phenomenon. The first half of our proof requires us to introduce and analyze new broken promotion operators, which can be interpreted via globs of liquid gliding on a path graph. For the latter half of our proof, we reformulate the dynamics of permutoric promotion via stones sliding along a cycle graph and coins colliding with each other on a path graph.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Shard modules

Motivated by the goal of studying cluster algebras in infinite type, we study the stability domains of modules for the preprojective algebra in the corresponding infinite types. Specifically, we study real bricks: those modules whose endomorphism algebra is a division ring and which have no self-extensions. We define "shard modules" to be those real bricks whose stability domain is as large as possible (meaning, of dimension one less than the rank of the preprojective algebra). We show that all real bricks are obtained by applying the Baumann-Kamnitzer reflection functors to simple modules, and we give a recursive formula for the stability domain of a real brick. We show that shard modules are in bijection with Nathan Reading's "shards", and that their stability domains are the shards; we also establish many foundational results about shards in infinite type which have not previously appeared in print. With an eye toward applications to cluster algebras, our paper is written to handle skew-symmetrizable as well as skew-symmetric exchange matrices, and we therefore discuss the basics of the theory of species for preprojective algebras. We also give some counterexamples to show ways in which infinite type is more subtle than the well-studied finite type cases.

math.RT↗
arXiv2023

A uniqueness property of {\tau} exceptional sequences

Recently, Buan and Marsh showed that if two complete $\tau$-exceptional sequences agree in all but at most one term, then they must agree everywhere, provided the algebra is $\tau$-tilting finite. They conjectured that the result holds without that assumption. We prove their conjecture. Along the way, we also show that the dimension vectors of the modules in a $\tau$-exceptional sequence are linearly independent.

math.RT↗
arXiv2022

Charmed roots and the Kroweras complement

Although both noncrossing partitions and nonnesting partitions are uniformly enumerated for Weyl groups, the exact relationship between these two sets of combinatorial objects remains frustratingly mysterious. In this paper, we give a precise combinatorial answer in the case of the symmetric group: for any standard Coxeter element, we construct an equivariant bijection between noncrossing partitions under the Kreweras complement and nonnesting partitions under a Coxeter-theoretically natural cyclic action we call the Kroweras complement. Our equivariant bijection is the unique bijection that is both equivariant and support-preserving, and is built using local rules depending on a new definition of charmed roots. Charmed roots are determined by the choice of Coxeter element -- in the special case of the linear Coxeter element $(1, 2, \dots, n)$, we recover one of the standard bijections between noncrossing and nonnesting partitions.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

Proof of a conjecture of Matherne, Morales, and Selover on encodings of unit interval orders

There are two bijections from unit interval orders on $n$ elements to Dyck paths from $(0,0)$ to $(n,n)$. One is to consider the pairs of incomparable elements, which form the set of boxes between some Dyck path and the diagonal. Another is to find a particular part listing (in the sense of Guay-Paquet) which yields an isomorphic poset, and to interpret the part listing as the area sequence of a Dyck path. Matherne, Morales, and Selover conjectured that, for any unit interval order, these two Dyck paths are related by Haglund's well-known zeta bijection. In this paper we prove their conjecture.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

Minuscule reverse plane partitions via quiver representations

A nilpotent endomorphism of a quiver representation induces a linear transformation on the vector space at each vertex. Generically among all nilpotent endomorphisms, there is a well-defined Jordan form for these linear transformations, which is an interesting new invariant of a quiver representation. If $Q$ is a Dynkin quiver and $m$ is a minuscule vertex, we show that representations consisting of direct sums of indecomposable representations all including $m$ in their support, the category of which we denote by $\mathcal{C}_{Q,m}$, are determined up to isomorphism by this invariant. We use this invariant to define a bijection from isomorphism classes of representations in $\mathcal{C}_{Q,m}$ to reverse plane partitions whose shape is the minuscule poset corresponding to $Q$ and $m$. By relating the piecewise-linear promotion action on reverse plane partitions to Auslander-Reiten translation in the derived category, we give a uniform proof that the order of promotion equals the Coxeter number. In type $A_n$, we show that special cases of our bijection include the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth and Hillman-Grassl correspondences.

math.RT↗
arXiv2022

Causal Diamonds, Cluster Polytopes and Scattering Amplitudes

The "amplituhedron" for tree-level scattering amplitudes in the bi-adjoint $ϕ^3$ theory is given by the ABHY associahedron in kinematic space, which has been generalized to give a realization for all finite-type cluster algebra polytopes, labelled by Dynkin diagrams. In this letter we identify a simple physical origin for these polytopes, associated with an interesting (1+1)-dimensional causal structure in kinematic space, along with solutions to the wave equation in this kinematic "spacetime" with a natural positivity property. The notion of time evolution in this kinematic spacetime can be abstracted away to a certain "walk", associated with any acyclic quiver, remarkably yielding a finite cluster polytope for the case of Dynkin quivers. The ${\cal A}_{n{-}3},{\cal B}_{n{-}1}/{\cal C}_{n{-}1}$ and ${\cal D}_n$ polytopes are the amplituhedra for $n$-point tree amplitudes, one-loop tadpole diagrams, and full integrand of one-loop amplitudes. We also introduce a polytope $\bar{\cal D}_n$, which chops the ${\cal D}_n$ polytope in half along a symmetry plane, capturing one-loop amplitudes in a more efficient way.

hep-th↗