Geometry of permutation limits (Q2338620)

This article concerns permutons (a measure on a square with uniform marginal distributions) and permuton processes (a process \(X\) with continuous sample paths such that each \(X(t)\) is uniformly distributed on some fixed interval). In the graph of the symmetric group \(\mathfrak{S}_n\), a \textit{sorting network} is a geodesic from the permutation \((1 2 3 \dots n)\) to \((n (n - 1) (n - 2) \dots 1)\). This article is a hopeful step towards resolving the Archimedean path conjecture of \textit{O. Angel} et al. [Adv. Math. 215, No. 2, 839--868 (2007; Zbl 1132.60008)], which states that as \(n \to \infty\), the random sorting network process on \(\mathfrak{S}_n\) converges in probability to the ``Archimedean process'' \[ \mathcal{A}(t) = \cos (\pi t) \mathbb{A}_x + \sin (\pi t) \mathbb{A}_y, t \in [0,1]\] for an appropriate random variable \((\mathbb{A}_x, \mathbb{A}_y)\) on the plane, defined in terms of an ``Archimedean measure''.\par The primary results of this article are:\par A process is a permuton process if and only if it is the limit of a sequence of permutation-valued processes.\par Among permuton processes \(X(t)\), \(0 \leq t \leq 1\), on the square \([-1, 1]\), such that \(X(1) = - X(0)\), there is a unique process with minimal Dirichlet energy, and it is Archimedean.\par Given a permuton-valued path from the identity permuton (of support \(\{ (x, x) : x \in [-1, 1] \}\)) to the reverse permuton (of support \(\{ (x, -x) : x \in [-1, 1] \}\)), the Dirichlet energy (via the Wasserstein metric) of the path is bounded below by the energy of the Archimedean path, that minimum achieved only by the Archimedean path.\par However, there is a function of permutons which, if minimized by a nontrivial permuton, is minimized by at least four distinct permutons.\par There is a qualitative discussion in which it is asserted that second statement above and the results of \textit{M. Kotowski} [Limits of random permuton processes and large deviations of the interchange process. Toronto: University of Toronto (PhD Thesis) (2016)] together establish the Archimedean path conjecture for ``relaxed'' random sorting networks.