Some combinatorial properties of hook lengths, contents, and parts of partitions (Q618847)

The author proves a generalization of a conjecture of Han, originally inspired by the identity of \textit{N.A. Nekrasov} and \textit{A. Okounkov} (N-O) [``Seiberg-Witten theory and random partitions,'' Progress in Mathematics 244, 525--596 (2006; Zbl 1233.14029)]. Let \(\displaystyle\Phi_n(F)=\frac{1}{n!}\sum_{\lambda\vdash n}f_{\lambda}^2F(h_u^2:u\in\lambda)\). Here \(\lambda\) is a partition of \(n\), \(f_{\lambda}\) denotes the number of standard Young tableaux of shape \(\lambda\), \(u\) ranges over all squares in the Young diagram of \(\lambda\), \(h_u\) denotes the hook length of \(u\), and if \(F=F(x_1,x_2,\dots)\) is a symmetric function (over \(\mathbb{Q}\), say), then \(F\left(h_u^2:u\in\lambda\right)\) means we substitute \(h_u^2\), \(u\in\lambda\), for \(n\) of the variables, and \(0\) for all other variables. Han's conjecture asserts that, for all positive integers \(k\), \(\Phi_n(\sum x_i^k)\in\mathbb Q[n]\), i.e., \(\displaystyle\frac{1}{n!}\sum_{\lambda\vdash n}f_{\lambda}^2\sum_{u\in\lambda}h_u^{2k}\) is a polynomial function of \(n\). This was inspired by the identity of N-O: \[ \sum_{n\geq 0} \left( \sum_{\lambda\vdash n}f_{\lambda}^2\prod_{u\in\lambda}(t+h_u^2) \right)\frac{x^n}{n!^2}=\prod_{i\geq 1}(1-x^i)^{-1-t}. \] The main result in the article under review is Theorem 4.3: For any symmetric function over \(\mathbb{Q}\), \(\Phi_n(F)\in\mathbb{Q}[n]\). A similar result is obtained when \(F(h_u^2:u\in\lambda)\) is replaced with a function that is symmetric separately in the contents \(c_u\) and the shifted parts \(\lambda_i+n-i\) of \(\lambda\) (Theorem 3.3). This result, together with the method of proof of Theorem 4.3, yields a ``master theorem'' (Theorem 4.4) which subsumes both Theorems 3.3 and 4.3. The author points out that a formula used in the proofs of Theorems 3.3 and 4.3 requires representation theory, and there is no known proof using just ``formal'' properties of symmetric functions, and also observes that, in Thoerem 3.3, we can replace \(\lambda_i+n-i\) by \(\lambda_i-i\), but not by just \(\lambda_i\). He also proves a ``content N-O formula'' (Theorem 2.2) and discusses related formulae and their hook analogues. Open questions include whether the N-O identity can be proved using the techniques used to prove Theorem 4.3, and whether it be generalized with the left-hand side replaced with something like \[ \sum_{n\geq 0} \left(\sum_{\lambda\vdash n}f_{\lambda}^{2k}\prod_{i=1}^{k}\prod_{u\in\lambda}(t_i+h_u^2)\right) \frac{x^n}{n!^2}. \] The article is very clearly written, and several ideas are illustrated by examples.