On core and bar-core partitions (Q430120)

This paper is about the combinatorics of partitions, and in particular \(s\)-cores, where \(s\) is a positive integer. The set of \(s\)-cores is a subset of the set of all integer partitions, and has been studied in detail, due to its applications in representation theory and number theory. A recent trend has been to compare \(s\)-cores and \(t\)-cores, where \(t\) is second positive integer. The paper is motivated by a result of Olsson, which says that if \(s\) and \(t\) are coprime and \(\lambda\) is an \(s\)-core, then the \(t\)-core of \(\lambda\) is also an \(s\)-core. The second author of the paper under review generalised this result to the case where \(s\) and \(t\) are not coprime. In the present paper, a new (and more transparent) proof of this generalisation is given, using Olsson's result and the notion of the \(g\)-quotient of a partition. A small application concerning block inclusions is observed, and then the same results (with the same proofs) are proved in the context of \(s\)-bar-cores. The paper is very well written, but would have benefited from a couple of examples for the non-expert; the main results look easy with hindsight, but this is an important addition to the literature.