arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to I. Martin Isaacs.
Squaring and adding $\pm 1$ mod p generates a curiously intractable random walk. A similar process over the finite field $\mathbf{F}_q$ (with $q=2^d$) leads to novel connections between elementary Galois theory and probability.
We identify two seemingly disparate structures: supercharacters, a useful way of doing Fourier analysis on the group of unipotent uppertriangular matrices with coefficients in a finite field, and the ring of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables. Each is a Hopf algebra and the two are isomorphic as such. This allows developments in each to be transferred. The identification suggests a rich class of examples for the emerging field of combinatorial Hopf algebras.