A combinatorial approach to the orthogonality on critical orbital sets (Q2369046)

The authors deal with the problem of describing irreducible characters \(\lambda\) of the symmetric group \(S_m\) for which the tensor space \(V_\lambda(S_m)\subseteq \bigotimes^m V\) has an orthogonal basis, induced by an orthonormal basis of the complex inner product space \(V\). In the previous paper [Linear Algebra Appl. 401, 77--107 (2005; Zbl 1077.15025)], they gave a combinatorial criterion for the orthogonality of two symmetrized decomposable tensors in an orbital set of \(V_\lambda(S_m)\) where \(\lambda\) corresponds to a partition whose Young diagram does not contain \([3,3,2]\). Here, a combinatorial orthogonality condition for an arbitrary irreducible character is given. It is based on a necessary condition for the existence of a certain edge coloring for bipartite multigraphs which is proved. As an application, an algorithm for the construction of orthogonal subsets in critical orbital sets of symmetrized decomposable tensors is obtained. A lower bound for the orthogonal dimension of the orbital set (maximal cardinality of an orthogonal subset) results from this. Furthermore, the authors make some observations on the relations to the theory of Latin squares. In particular, they establish a conjecture about the non-orthogonality of certain pairs of tensors which is equivalent to a conjecture on Latin squares made by \textit{R. Huang} and \textit{G.-C. Rota} [Discrete Math. 128, No. 1--3, 225--236 (1994; Zbl 0797.05019)].