Counting racks of order \(n\) (Q2628263)

Summary: A rack on \([n]\) can be thought of as a set of maps \((f_x)_{x \in [n]}\), where each \(f_x\) is a permutation of \([n]\) such that \(f_{(x)f_y} = f_y^{-1}f_xf_y\) for all \(x\) and \(y\). In [Electron. J. Comb. 20, No. 3, Research Paper P43, 9 p. (2013; Zbl 1295.57013)], \textit{S. R. Blackburn} showed that the number of isomorphism classes of racks on \([n]\) is at least \(2^{(1/4 - o(1))n^2}\) and at most \(2^{(c + o(1))n^2}\), where \(c \approx 1.557\); in this paper we improve the upper bound to \(2^{(1/4 + o(1))n^2}\), matching the lower bound. The proof involves considering racks as loopless, edge-coloured directed multigraphs on \([n]\), where we have an edge of colour \(y\) between \(x\) and \(z\) if and only if \((x)f_y = z\), and applying various combinatorial tools.