Reconstruction of partitions (Q2570996)

A partition of the integer \(n\) is a sequence \(x=[x_1\geq x_2\geq\dots\geq x_k]\) of integers \(x_i\geq 0\) with \(| x|:=\sum_{i=1}^k x_i=n\). If \(y=[y_1\geq y_2\geq\dots\geq y_l]\) is a partition, then \(y\) is a subpartition of \(x\), denoted \(y\leq x\), if \(y_i\leq x_i\) for all \(i=1,\dots,\max\{k,l\}\). A subpartition \(| y|=| x|-| t|\) is called a \(t\)-deletion of \(x\). Partition \(x\) is called reconstructible from its \(t\)-deletions if \(\{y\leq x:| y|=| x|-t\}=\{y\leq x^\prime: | y|=| x^\prime|-t\}\) and \(| x^\prime|=| x|\) imply \(x^\prime=x\). The authors prove that every partition of \(n\) is reconstructible from its \(t\)-deletions if \(n\geq 2(t+3)(t+1)\), where \(t>0\). They also explain how such reconstruction problems arise naturally in the representation theory of symmetric and Lie groups, where partitions index the irreducible representations of such groups.