Combinatorial proofs of inverse relations and log-concavity for Bessel numbers (Q942123)

Let \(y_n(x)\) be the \(n\)th Bessel polynomial. The Bessel number of the first kind, denoted by \(b(n,k)\) is defined as the coefficient of \(x^{n-k}\) in \(-y_{n-1}(-x)\). The Bessel number of the second kind, \(B(n,k)\), is defined as the number of set partitions of \([n]=\{1,2,\dots,n\}\) into \(k\) blocks of size one or two. The main results of the authors are the following inversion formulas, which are analogous to respective ones for the Stirling numbers, namely: \(\sum^n_{k=0} b(n,k)B(k,\ell)= \delta_{n,\ell}\) and \(\sum^n_{k=0}B(n,k)b(k,\ell)= \delta_{n,\ell}\), where \(\delta_{n,\ell}=1\), if \(n=\ell\), and 0 otherwise. They also show that both kinds of numbers form log-concave sequences.