Temperley-Lieb immanants (Q818920)

Let \(x:=[ x_{ij}] \) be an \(n\times n\) matrix whose entries are indeterminates. If \(I\) and \(J\) are subsets of \(\{ 1,2,\dots,n\} \) and have the same size, let \(\Delta_{I,J}(x)\) denote the determinant of the submatrix of \(x\) with rows in \(I\) and columns in \(J\). A polynomial \(p(x_{11},x_{12},\dots,x_{nn})\) is called totally nonnegative (TNN) if its value is nonnegative whenever \([x_{ij}]\) is specialized to a TNN matrix (that is, a real matrix such that the determinant of every square submatrix is nonnegative). For each real-valued function \(f\) on the symmetric group \(S_{n}\) the polynomial \(Imm_f(x):=\sum_{\sigma\in S_n}f(\sigma)x_{1\sigma(1)}x_{2\sigma(2)}\cdots x_{n\sigma(n)}\) is called the \(f\)-immanant. Some \(f\)-immanants are known to be TNN; for example, when \(f\) is an irreducible character of \(S_n\) [see \textit{J. Stembridge}, Can. J. Math. 44, 1079--1099 (1992; Zbl 0774.15004)], and when \(\text{Imm}_f(x)\) has the form \(\Delta_{J,J}(x)\Delta_{\overline J,\overline J} (x)-\Delta_{I,I}(x)\Delta_{\overline I,\overline I}(x)\) for certain \(I,J\) with complementary sets \(\overline I\) and \(\overline J\) [see \textit{S. M. Fallat, M. I. Gekhtman}, and \textit{C. R. Johnson}, Adv. Appl. Math. 30, 442--470 (2003; Zbl 1030.15021)]. The Temperley-Lieb algebra \(T_n(2)\) is the algebra generated by \(t_1,\dots,t_{n-1}\) subject to the relations \(t_i^2=2t_i\) for all \(i\), \(t_it_jt_i=t_i\) if \(| i-j| =1\), and \(t_it_j=t_jt_i\) for \(| i-j| \geq2\). The multiplicative monoid generated by the \(t_i\) is the standard basis for \(T_n(2)\), and there is a homomorphism \(\theta\) of the group algebra \(\mathbb{C}[S_n]\) onto \(T_n(2)\). Thus for each standard basis element \(\tau\) of \(T_n(2)\) there is a function \(S_n\to\mathbb{R}\) which maps \(\sigma\) onto the value of the coefficient of \(\tau\) in \(\theta(\sigma),\) and this determines an immanant \(\text{Imm}_{\tau}(x)\). The authors show that for each basis element \(\tau\) this immanant is TNN and they investigate the properties of these immanants. For example, TNN polynomials of the form \(\Delta_{J,J^{\prime}}(x)\Delta_{\overline J,\overline J^{\prime}}(x)- \Delta_{I,I^{\prime}}(x) \Delta_{\overline I,\overline I^{\prime}}(x)\) are expressed as sums of immanants of the form \(Imm_{\tau }(x)\). As in earlier work on TNN polynomials, proofs are based on the relationship between planar networks and TNN matrices first described by \textit{B. Lindström} [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 5, 85--90 (1973; Zbl 0262.05018)].