A combinatorial proof of a recursion for the \(q\)-Kostka polynomials (Q1586125)

The classical Kostka numbers \(K_{\lambda\mu}\) arise when the Schur functions \(s_{\lambda}(x)\) are expressed in terms of the monomial basis \(m_{\mu}(x)\) for the symmetric functions. The \(q\)-Kostka polynomials \(K_{\lambda\mu}(q)\) can be defined as a one-parameter generalisation of the Kostka numbers; they arise as the coefficients when the Schur functions \(s_\lambda(x)\) are expressed in terms of the classical Hall-Littlewood polynomials \(P_{\mu}(x;q)\). The Kostka numbers also appear as multiplicities of the the irreducible representations of the symmetric group. Charge is a statistic, associated by Lascoux and Schützenberger to a tableau \(T\) of shape \(\lambda\) and content \(\mu\) in such a way that \(K_{\lambda\mu}\) is equal to the sum over all such tableaux \(T\) of \(q^{ch(T)}\). The author recommends \textit{L. M. Butler} [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 539, vi+160 (1994; Zbl 0813.05067)], for a discussion of the work of Lascoux and Schützenberger. In this paper, the author gives two new descriptions of charge in terms of words on the natural numbers and uses these descriptions in order to give a bijective proof of a content-reducing recursion for the \(q\)-Kostka polynomials due to Garsia and Procesi; see \textit{A. M. Garsia} and \textit{C. Procesi} [Adv. Math. 94, No. 1, 82-138 (1992, Zbl 0797.20012)].