Non-commutative ribbons and quasi-differential operators (Q1977731)

A partition \(\lambda\) is a \(k\)-core if it is impossible to remove \(k\) consecutive points from the border of its Ferrers diagram to obtain a valid Ferrers diagram. It is a classical result in modular representations of the symmetric group, following from the Murnaghan-Nakayama rule, that the Schur function \(S_\lambda\) is annihilated by the differential operator \(D_{p_k}=k\partial/\partial p_k\) with respect to the power sum symmetric function \(p_k\) if and only if \(\lambda\) is a \(k\)-core. This paper generalizes the result to non-commutative symmetric functions. The non-commutative Schur ribbon function \(R_I\) indexed by a composition \(I\) is annihilated by the quasi-differential operator \(D_{p_k}\) if and only if \(I\) is the external border of a \(k\)-core.