Unimodality of Gaussian polynomials (Q1191938)

The unimodality of the Gaussian polynomials is proved by establishing the identity: \[ {n+1\brack j}=\sum q^{\sigma(\lambda)-j}\prod^ j_{i=1}{(n+2)i-L_{i-1}-L_{i+1}\brack\lambda_ i- \lambda_{i+1}}, \] where the sum is over all partitions \(\lambda=(\lambda_ 1\geq\cdots\geq\lambda_ j\geq0)\) of \(j\), \(\sigma(\lambda)=\lambda^ 2_ 1+\cdots+\lambda^ 2_ j\), \(L_ i=\lambda_ 1+\lambda_ 2+\cdots+\lambda_ i\), \(L_ 0=0\), \(L_{j+1}=L_ j=j\). Here we assume that the left-hand side vanishes if \(n<0\). This identity is implicit in the work of \textit{K. M. O'Hara} [Unimodality of Gaussian coefficients: A constructive proof, J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A. 53, No. 1, 29-52 (1990; Zbl 0697.05002)] and first explicitly stated by \textit{D. Zeilberger} [\(q\)-Series and partitions, Proc. Workshop, Minneapolis/MN(USA) 1988, IMA Vol. Math. Appl. 18, 67-72 (1989; Zbl 0727.05001)]. \textit{I. G. Macdonald} has also proved this identity when one assumes that the left-hand side equals \(\Pi((1- q^{n+i})/(1-q^ i))\), \(1\leq i\leq j\), for all integers \(n\), see [An elementary proof of a \(q\)-binomial identity, \(q\)-Series and partitions, Proc. Workshop, Minneapolis/MN(USA) 1988, IMA Vol. Math. Appl. 18, 73-75 (1989; Zbl 0723.05006)]. The proof in the present paper involves showing that the coefficients of certain terms in the expansion of a multivariate \(q\)-series, which can easily be expressed in the form of the right-hand side of the previous identity, are generating functions for restricted sets of partitions including the set of all \(j\) part partitions whose largest part is less than \(n\), whose generating function is the Gaussian polynomial on the left-hand side of the above identity. The multivariate \(q\)-series used in the proof has been considered by G. Andrews and extensively studied in the two dimensional case: see \textit{G. E. Andrews} and \textit{R. J. Baxter} [Lattice gas generalizations of the hard hexagon model. III: \(q\)-trinomial coefficients, J. Stat. Phys. 47, No. 3/4, 297- 330 (1987; Zbl 0638.10009)].