The symmetric group action on rank-selected posets of injective words (Q2413411)

Let \(P_{n}\) be the finite poset consisting of all words on the alphabet \([n]:=\{ 1,2,\dots,n\}\) without a repeated letter and the partial ordering \(\leq\) defined by: \(u\leq v\) if \(u\) is a subword of \(v\). The empty word (the minimum element) is denoted by \(\hat{0}\) and an artificial maximum element \(\hat{1}\) is adjoined to \(P_{n}\). The length of a word \(w\) is denoted by \(\rho(w)\) and we put \(\rho(\hat{1})=n+1\). The descent set of a permutation \(w\) in the symmetric group \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\) consists of all \(i\in[ n-1]\) such that \(w(i)>w(i+1)\). Conversely, given \(S\subseteq[n-1]\), among the permutations with descent set \(S\) there is a (unique) element \(w_{S}\) of \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\) having the greatest number of inversions. Now suppose that \(w\in\mathcal{S}_{n}\) has descent set \(S\) and enumerate the elements in \(S\cup\{0,n\}\) in order: \(s_{0}=0<s_{1}<\dots<s_{k}<s_{k+1}=n\). If \(Q\) is a standard Young tableau of size \(n\), then \(\tau(w,Q)\) is defined to be the least \(i\) such that: (a) \(w(j)=w_{S}(j)\) for all \(j>s_{k+1-i}\); and (b) no descent of \(Q\) is smaller than \(n-s_{k+1-i}\). The symmetric group \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\) acts on \(P_{n}\) in a natural way as a group of automorphisms. For each subset \(T\subseteq[n]\) let \(\alpha(T)\) denote the character of the permutation action of \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\) on the set of maximal chains in \(\{ u\in P_{n}\mid \rho(u)\in T\} \cup \{\hat{0},\hat{1}\}\), and for each \(S\subseteq[n]\) define the virtual character \(\beta(S):=\sum_{T\subseteq S}(-1)^{|S-T|}\alpha(T)\) of \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\). The main theorem of the present paper expresses \(\beta(S)\) in terms the irreducible characters \(\chi_{\lambda}\) of \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\) (where \(\lambda\vdash n\)), providing a generalization of Proposition 2.3 of [\textit{V. Reiner} and \textit{P. Webb}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 190, No. 1--3, 291--327 (2004; Zbl 1057.57003)]. Theorem 1.2. For all \(S\subseteq[n-1]\) and all \(\lambda\vdash n\) the multiplicity of \(\chi_{\lambda}\) in \(\beta(S)\) (respectively, in \(\beta(S\cup\{n\}\)) is equal to the number of pairs \((w,Q)\) with \(w\in\mathcal{S}_{n}\) and \(Q\) a standard Young tableau of shape \(\lambda\) for which \(\tau(w,Q)\) is odd (respectively, even). In particular, \(\beta(S)\) is an actual character for \(\mathcal{S}_{n}\) (not just a virtual character). A generalization to posets of \(r\)-colored injective words is also proved.