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T. Kyle Petersen

Publications and source records attributed to T. Kyle Petersen.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2014

The Steinberg torus of a Weyl group as a module over the Coxeter complex

Associated to each irreducible crystallographic root system $Φ$, there is a certain cell complex structure on the torus obtained as the quotient of the ambient space by the coroot lattice of $Φ$. This is the Steinberg torus. A main goal of this paper is to exhibit a module structure on (the set of faces of) this complex over the (set of faces of the) Coxeter complex of $Φ$. The latter is a monoid under the Tits product of faces. The module structure is obtained from geometric considerations involving affine hyperplane arrangements. As a consequence, a module structure is obtained on the space spanned by affine descent classes of a Weyl group, over the space spanned by ordinary descent classes. The latter constitute a subalgebra of the group algebra, the classical descent algebra of Solomon. We provide combinatorial models for the module of faces when $Φ$ is of type $A$ or $C$.

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arXiv2014

The generating function for total displacement

In a 1977 paper, Diaconis and Graham studied what Knuth calls the total displacement of a permutation $w$, which is the sum of the distances $|w(i)-i|$. In recent work of the first author and Tenner, this statistic appears as twice the type $A_{n-1}$ version of a statistic for Coxeter groups called the depth of $w$. There are various enumerative results for this statistic in the work of Diaconis and Graham, codified as exercises in Knuth's textbook, and some other results in the work of Petersen and Tenner. However, no formula for the generating function of this statistic appears in the literature. Knuth comments that "the generating function for total displacement does not appear to have a simple form." In this paper, we translate the problem of computing the distribution of total displacement into a problem of counting weighted Motzkin paths. In this way, standard techniques allow us to express the generating function for total displacement as a continued fraction.

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arXiv2013

On the shard intersection order of a Coxeter group

Introduced by Reading, the shard intersection order of a finite Coxeter group $W$ is a lattice structure on the elements of $W$ that contains the poset of noncrossing partitions $NC(W)$ as a sublattice. Building on work of Bancroft in the case of the symmetric group, we provide combinatorial models for shard intersections of all classical types, and use this understanding to prove the shard intersection order is EL-shellable. Further, inspired by work of Simion and Ullman on the lattice of noncrossing partitions, we show that the shard intersection order on the symmetric group admits a symmetric boolean decomposition, i.e., a partition into disjoint boolean algebras whose middle ranks coincide with the middle rank of the poset. Our decomposition also yields a new symmetric boolean decomposition of the noncrossing partition lattice.

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arXiv2012

Two-sided Eulerian numbers via balls in boxes

The Eulerian numbers count permutations according to the number of descents. The two-sided Eulerian numbers count permutations according to number of descents and the number of descents in the inverse permutation. Here we derive some results for Eulerian and two-sided Eulerian numbers using an elementary "balls-in-boxes" approach. We also discuss an open conjecture of Ira Gessel about the two-sided Eulerian numbers.

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arXiv2012

Counting Dyck paths by area and rank

The set of Dyck paths of length $2n$ inherits a lattice structure from a bijection with the set of noncrossing partitions with the usual partial order. In this paper, we study the joint distribution of two statistics for Dyck paths: \emph{area} (the area under the path) and \emph{rank} (the rank in the lattice). While area for Dyck paths has been studied, pairing it with this rank function seems new, and we get an interesting $(q,t)$-refinement of the Catalan numbers. We present two decompositions of the corresponding generating function: one refines an identity of Carlitz and Riordan; the other refines the notion of $γ$-nonnegativity, and is based on a decomposition of the lattice of noncrossing partitions due to Simion and Ullman. Further, Biane's correspondence and a result of Stump allow us to conclude that the joint distribution of area and rank for Dyck paths equals the joint distribution of length and reflection length for the permutations lying below the $n$-cycle $(12...n)$ in the absolute order on the symmetric group.

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arXiv2012

How to write a permutation as a product of involutions (and why you might care)

It is well-known that any permutation can be written as a product of two involutions. We provide an explicit formula for the number of ways to do so, depending only on the cycle type of the permutation. In many cases, these numbers are sums of absolute values of irreducible characters of the symmetric group evaluated at the same permutation, although apart from the case where all cycles are the same size, we have no good explanation for why this should be so.

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arXiv2011

On $γ$-vectors satisfying the Kruskal-Katona inequalities

We present examples of flag homology spheres whose $γ$-vectors satisfy the Kruskal-Katona inequalities. This includes several families of well-studied simplicial complexes, including Coxeter complexes and the simplicial complexes dual to the associahedron and to the cyclohedron. In these cases, we construct explicit simplicial complexes whose $f$-vectors are the $γ$-vectors in question. In another direction, we show that if a flag $(d-1)$-sphere has at most $2d+2$ vertices its $γ$-vector satisfies the Kruskal-Katona inequalities. We conjecture that if $Δ$ is a flag homology sphere then $γ(Δ)$ satisfies the Kruskal-Katona inequalities. This conjecture is a significant refinement of Gal's conjecture, which asserts that such $γ$-vectors are nonnegative.

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arXiv2010

The sorting index

We consider a bivariate polynomial that generalizes both the length and reflection length generating functions in a finite Coxeter group. In seeking a combinatorial description of the coefficients, we are led to the study of a new Mahonian statistic, which we call the sorting index. The sorting index of a permutation and its type B and type D analogues have natural combinatorial descriptions which we describe in detail.

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arXiv2010

Bounding reflection length in an affine Coxeter group

In any Coxeter group, the conjugates of elements in the standard minimal generating set are called reflections and the minimal number of reflections needed to factor a particular element is called its reflection length. In this article we prove that the reflection length function on an affine Coxeter group has a uniform upper bound. More precisely we prove that the reflection length function on an affine Coxeter group that naturally acts faithfully and cocompactly on $\R^n$ is bounded above by $2n$ and we also show that this bound is optimal. Conjecturally, spherical and affine Coxeter groups are the only Coxeter groups with a uniform bound on reflection length.

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arXiv2010

The $γ$-vector of a barycentric subdivision

We prove that the $γ$-vector of the barycentric subdivision of a simplicial sphere is the $f$-vector of a balanced simplicial complex. The combinatorial basis for this work is the study of certain refinements of Eulerian numbers used by Brenti and Welker to describe the $h$-vector of the barycentric subdivision of a boolean complex.

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arXiv2009

Cyclic sieving for longest reduced words in the hyperoctahedral group

We show that the set R(w_0) of reduced expressions for the longest element in the hyperoctahedral group exhibits the cyclic sieving phenomenon. More specifically, R(w_0) possesses a natural cyclic action given by moving the first letter of a word to the end, and we show that the orbit structure of this action is encoded by the generating function for the major index on R(w_0).

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arXiv2008

Euler-Mahonian distributions of type $B_n$

Adin, Brenti, and Roichman introduced the pairs of statistics $(\ndes, \nmaj)$ and $(\fdes, \fmaj)$. They showed that these pairs are equidistributed over the hyperoctahedral group $B_n$, and can be considered "Euler-Mahonian" in that they generalize the Carlitz identity. Further, they asked whether there exists a bijective proof of the equidistribution of their statistics. We give such a bijection, along with a new proof of the generalized Carlitz identity.

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arXiv2008

A non-crossing standard monomial theory

The second author has introduced non-crossing tableaux, objects whose non-nesting analogues are semi-standard Young tableaux. We relate non-crossing tableaux to Gelfand-Tsetlin patterns and develop the non-crossing analogue of standard monomial theory. Leclerc and Zelevinsky's weakly separated sets are special cases of non-crossing tableaux, and we suggest that non-crossing tableaux may help illuminate the theory of weakly separated sets.

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arXiv2008

Promotion and cyclic sieving via webs

We show that Schützenberger's promotion on two and three row rectangular Young tableaux can be realized as cyclic rotation of certain planar graphs introduced by Kuperberg. Moreover, following work of the third author, we show that this action admits the cyclic sieving phenomenon.

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arXiv2007

Affine descents and the Steinberg torus

Let $W\ltimes L$ be an irreducible affine Weyl group with Coxeter complex $Σ$, where $W$ denotes the associated finite Weyl group and $L$ the translation subgroup. The Steinberg torus is the Boolean cell complex obtained by taking the quotient of $Σ$ by the lattice $L$. We show that the ordinary and flag $h$-polynomials of the Steinberg torus (with the empty face deleted) are generating functions over $W$ for a descent-like statistic first studied by Cellini. We also show that the ordinary $h$-polynomial has a nonnegative $γ$-vector, and hence, symmetric and unimodal coefficients. In the classical cases, we also provide expansions, identities, and generating functions for the $h$-polynomials of Steinberg tori.

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arXiv2006

Colored posets and colored quasisymmetric functions

The colored quasisymmetric functions, like the classic quasisymmetric functions, are known to form a Hopf algebra with a natural peak subalgebra. We show how these algebras arise as the image of the algebra of colored posets. To effect this approach we introduce colored analogs of $P$-partitions and enriched $P$-partitions. We also frame our results in terms of Aguiar, Bergeron, and Sottile's theory of combinatorial Hopf algebras and its colored analog.

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arXiv2006

Conway's napkin problem

The napkin problem was first posed by John H. Conway, and written up as a `toughie' in "Mathematical Puzzles: A Connoisseur's Collection," by Peter Winkler. To paraphrase Winkler's book, there is a banquet dinner to be served at a mathematics conference. At a particular table, $n$ men are to be seated around a circular table. There are $n$ napkins, exactly one between each of the place settings. Being doubly cursed as both men and mathematicians, they are all assumed to be ignorant of table etiquette. The men come to sit at the table one at a time and in random order. When a guest sits down, he will prefer the left napkin with probability $p$ and the right napkin with probability $q=1-p$. If there are napkins on both sides of the place setting, he will choose the napkin he prefers. If he finds only one napkin available, he will take that napkin (though it may not be the napkin he wants). The third possibility is that no napkin is available, and the unfortunate guest is faced with the prospect of going through dinner without any napkin! We think of the question of how many people don't get napkins as a statistic for signed permutations, where the permutation gives the order in which people sit and the sign tells us whether they initially reach left or right. We also keep track of the number of guests who get a napkin, but not the napkin they prefer. We build a generating function for the joint distribution of these statistics, and use it to answer questions like: What is the probability that every guest receives a napkin? How many guests do we expect to be without a napkin? How many guests are happy with the napkin they receive?

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