Counting vertices in Gelfand-Zetlin polytopes (Q1946746)

Let \((\lambda_1,\ldots,\lambda_s)\) be a partition of \(n=\lambda_1+\ldots+\lambda_s\), where \(1\leq \lambda_1\leq \ldots \leq \lambda_s\). The Gelfand-Zetlin polytope is a convex polytope in \(\mathbb R^{s(s-1)/2}\) defined by an explicit set of linear inequalities depending on \(\lambda_i\). One of the main features of these polytopes is that they parametrize irreducible finite-dimensional representations of \(GL(n,\mathbb C)\). In the paper under review, generating functions for the number of vertices of Gelfand-Zetlin polytopes are determined. Let \(k\) be a positive integer. Given a partition \(1^{i_1}\ldots k^{i_k}\), \(V(1^{i_1}\ldots k^{i_k})\) is the number of vertices of the Gelfand-Zetlin polytope corresponding to the partition. Let \(E_k\) denote the formal power series defined as \[ E_k=E_k(z_1,\ldots,z_k)=\sum_{i_1,\ldots,i_k\geq 0} V(1^{i_1}\ldots k^{i_k})\frac{z_1^{i_1}}{i_1!}\ldots \frac{z_k^{i_k}}{i_k!}. \] Theorem 1.1 states that \(E_k\) satifies the following partial differential equation with constant coefficients \[ \bigg(\frac{\partial^k}{\partial z_1\ldots\partial z_k} - \bigg(\frac{\partial}{\partial z_1}+\frac{\partial}{\partial z_2}\bigg)\cdots \bigg(\frac{\partial}{\partial z_{k-1}}+\frac{\partial}{\partial z_k}\bigg)\bigg)E_k=0. \] Let \(G_k=G_k(y_1,\ldots,y_k)=\sum_{i_1,\ldots,i_k\geq 0}V(1^{i_1}\ldots k^{i_k}) y_1^{i_1}\ldots y_k^{i_k}\). Given a formal power series \(f=f(y_1,\ldots,y_k)\), the difference operator \(\Delta_i\) is defined as \(\Delta_i(f)=\frac{f-f|_{y_i=0}}{y_i}\). Theorem 1.2 states that \(G_k\) satisfies the following equation \[ (\Delta_1\cdots \Delta_k -(\Delta_1+\Delta_2)\cdots (\Delta_{k-1}+\Delta_k))G_k=0. \]