Split Grothendieck rings of rooted trees and skew shapes via monoid representations (Q2292602)

This paper presents two concrete examples of a general, abstract construction. If $A$ is a monoid and $S$ and $T$ are pointed sets with $A$ action, then the smash product $S\wedge T$ can be defined to be a pointed set with $A$ action, namely it is the coproduct of $S$ and $T$ modulo the relations needed to identify the base-points and make them into the base point of $S\wedge T$. In the first example, $A$ is the free monoid $\langle t\rangle$ and pointed $A$ modules correspond to rooted directed graphs with vertex $m$ connected to $tm$. Irreducble modules correspond to trees or wheels, and if $M$ and $N$ are irreducible with graphs $\Gamma_M$ and $\Gamma_N$, then the product $M\wedge N$ corresponds to the tensor product $\Gamma_M\otimes\Gamma_N$ as defined in [\textit{P. M. Weichsel}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 13, 47--52 (1962; Zbl 0102.38801)]. In the second example, $A$ is the free monoid $\langle t_1, \ldots,t_n\rangle$ and the modules are constructed from $n$-dimensional skew shapes, with 0 adjoined. A skew shape $S$ is a finite, connected subposet of $Z^n$, where the latter has the product partial order. The action is given by $t_i(a)=a$ plus the unit vector $e_i$, if $a+e_i$ is in $S$, and is 0 otherwise. Denoting the module by $M_S$, $M_S$ is irreducible if and only if $S$ is connected. The main result is that $M_{S_1}\wedge M_{S_2}$ is the direct sum of $M_U$, where $U$ runs over the intersections of $S_1$ with translates of $S_2$. I found the article to be self-contained and accessible.