On Bergeron's positivity problem for q-binomial coefficients

MaRDI QIDQ1753091zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Fabrizio Zanello

Publication date 25 May 2018

Published in The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.06187, http://www.combinatorics.org/ojs/index.php/eljc/article/view/v25i2p17

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zbMATH Keywords

\(q\)-binomial coefficientKOH theorempositivityunimodality

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Exact enumeration problems, generating functions (05A15) Combinatorial aspects of partitions of integers (05A17) Combinatorial inequalities (05A20)

Abstract: F. Bergeron recently asked the intriguing question whether $$ has nonnegative coefficients as a polynomial in $q$, whenever $a,b,c,d$ are positive integers, $a$ is the smallest, and $ad=bc$. We conjecture that, in fact, this polynomial is also always unimodal, and combinatorially show our conjecture for $ale3$ and any $b,cge4$. The main ingredient will be a novel (and rather technical) application of Zeilberger's KOH theorem.

Review text

Summary: F. Bergeron [3] recently asked the intriguing question whether \(\binom{b+c}{b}_q -\binom{a+d}{d}_q\) has nonnegative coefficients as a polynomial in \(q\), whenever \(a,b,c,d\) are positive integers, \(a\) is the smallest, and \(ad=bc\). We conjecture that, in fact, this polynomial is also always unimodal, and combinatorially show our conjecture for \(a\leq 3\) and any \(b,c\geq 4\). The main ingredient will be a novel (and rather technical) application of Zeilberger's KOH theorem [15].

Recommendations

• Zeilberger's KOH theorem and the strict unimodality of \(q\)-binomial coefficients
• A \(q\)-rious positivity
• A generalization of a 1998 unimodality conjecture of Reiner and Stanton
• On the q-log-concavity of Gaussian binomial coefficients
• Strict unimodality of \(q\)-binomial coefficients

Cites work

• A partition of L(3,n) into saturated symmetric chains
• A symmetric chain decomposition of L(4,n)
• Brill-Gordan loci, transvectants and an analogue of the Foulkes conjecture
• Kathy O'Hara's Constructive Proof of the Unimodality of the Gaussian Polynomials
• On Hilbert covariants
• Solution of Two Difficult Combinatorial Problems with Linear Algebra
• Strict unimodality of \(q\)-binomial coefficients
• Unimodality of differences of specialized Schur functions
• Unimodality of Gaussian coefficients: A constructive proof
• Unimodality of partitions with distinct parts inside Ferrers shapes
• Weyl Groups, the Hard Lefschetz Theorem, and the Sperner Property
• Zeilberger's KOH theorem and the strict unimodality of \(q\)-binomial coefficients

Cited in

(8)

• Asymptotics of the number of geodesics in the discrete Heisenberg group
• A generalization of a 1998 unimodality conjecture of Reiner and Stanton
• Two new families of \(q\)-positive integers
• Positivity preserving transformations for 𝑞-binomial coefficients
• Semi-invariants of binary forms pertaining to a unimodality theorem of Reiner and Stanton
• Zeilberger's KOH theorem and the strict unimodality of \(q\)-binomial coefficients
• A \(q\)-rious positivity
• Gaussian inequality

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