On the Anick-Rota resolution of the bracket ring (Q2365610)

The author elucidates the combinatorial structure of the remarkable simple resolution of the bracket ring, the ring of coordinates of the Grassmannian constructed by Anick and Rota (see \textit{D. Anick} and \textit{G.-C. Rota} [Higher-order syzygies for the bracket algebra and for the ring of coordinates of the Grassmannian, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, No. 18, 8087-8090 (1991; Zbl 0758.16013)]) from the viewpoint of its practical applications to calculations in projective geometry. In the process he gives a somewhat simplified proof of the Anick-Rota theorem. The present material is developed in the context of contemporary work in invariant theory, as pursued by Gian-Carlo Rota and his school. The paper concentrates on the role of straightening in the Anick-Rota resolution. The idea is to unravel the recursive definition of the boundary operator of that resolution, in order to show how it can be redefined in terms of certain sequences of elementary straightening operations \(\sigma_ i\) that act on pairs of brackets. The selection of sequences is accomplished by appeal to a regular expression (finite automaton) over an alphabet whose letters are those operators \(\sigma_ i\).