The rank and minimal border strip decompositions of a skew partition

DOI10.1006/JCTA.2002.3307MaRDI QIDQ1865400zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Richard P. Stanley

Publication date 26 March 2003

Published in Journal of Combinatorial Theory. Series A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0109092

zbMATH Keywords

characters of symmetric groupsJacobi-Trudi matrixpartitionsrank of skew partitionskew Young diagrams

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Combinatorial aspects of partitions of integers (05A17) Symmetric functions and generalizations (05E05) Combinatorial aspects of representation theory (05E10) Representations of finite symmetric groups (20C30)

Abstract: Nazarov and Tarasov recently generalized the notion of the rank of a partition to skew partitions. We give several characterizations of the rank of a skew partition and one possible characterization that remains open. One of the characterizations involves the decomposition of a skew shape into a minimal number of border strips, and we develop a theory of these MBSD's as well as of the closely related minimal border strip tableaux. An application is given to the value of a character of the symmetric group S_n indexed by a skew shape z at a permutation whose number of cycles is the rank of z.

Review text

For a partition \(\lambda=(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots)\) of \(n\), \(\lambda_1\geq \lambda_2\geq\cdots\geq 0\), \(\sum\lambda_i=n\), the Durfee or Frobenius rank is defined as the length of the main diagonal, i.e. the largest integer \(i\) with \(\lambda_i\geq i\). \textit{M. Nazarov} and \textit{V. Tarasov} [Duke Math. J. 112, 343-378 (2002; Zbl 1027.17013)] defined a generalizion of the rank to skew partitions (or skew diagrams) \(\lambda/\mu\). Identifying the skew partition with its Young diagram, and regarding the points of the diagram as squares, \((i,j)\) is an outside top corner of \(\lambda/\mu\), if \((i,j)\in\lambda/\mu\) and \((i-1,j),(i,j-1)\not\in\lambda/\mu\). An outside diagonal is a diagonal starting from an outside top corner. Similarly, one defines an inside top corner and an inside diagonal. Nazarov and Tarasov defined \(\text{rank}(\lambda/\mu)\) as the difference between the total number of boxes belonging to outside diagonals and to inside diagonals. In the paper under review the author gives several equivalent definitions of the rank of a skew partition. In particular, \(\text{rank}(\lambda/\mu)\) is equal to the least integer \(r\) such that \(\lambda/\mu\) is a disjoint union of \(r\) border strips. (The border strips are also called ribbons or rim hooks.) Another characterization involves the Jacobi-Trudi matrix for the skew Schur function \(s_{\lambda/\mu}=\det(h_{\lambda_i-\mu_j-i+j})_{i,j=1}^n\), where \(h_k\) is the complete homogeneous symmetric function of degree \(k\) and \(\lambda\) has at most \(n\) parts. Then \(\text{rank}(\lambda/\mu)\) is equal to the number of rows of the Jacobi-Trudi matrix which do not contain a 1. Another characterization expresses \(\text{rank}(\lambda/\mu)\) in terms of the Comét code of a shape generalized to skew shapes (two sequences of 0's and 1's encoding the direction (vertical or horizontal) of the edges of the lower and upper envelops of \(\lambda/\mu\)). Replacing \(t\) of the variables in \(s_{\lambda/\mu}\) with 1, and the other with 0, one obtains a polynomial \(s_{\lambda/\mu}(1^t)\) in the variable \(t\). The author states the open problem whether the largest power of \(t\) dividing \(s_{\lambda/\mu}(1^t)\) is equal to \(\text{rank}(\lambda/\mu)\) and establishes this fact in the case of ordinary partitions, when \(\mu=\emptyset\), and in the case when every row of the Jacobi-Trudi matrix which contains a 0, also contains a 1. As a consequence the author shows that the number of minimal border strip decompositions is a perfect square. He applies the results for evaluation of certain values of irreducible characters of the symmetric groups.

Recommendations

• The srank conjecture on Schur's \(Q\)-functions
• The zrank conjecture and restricted Cauchy matrices
• On principal hook length partitions and Durfee sizes in skew characters
• Outside nested decompositions of skew diagrams and Schur function determinants
• Minimal bar tableaux

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Cited in

(13)

• On base partitions and cover partitions of skew characters
• Recent developments in algebraic combinatorics
• Bottom Schur functions
• Power sum expansion of chromatic quasisymmetric functions
• Outside nested decompositions of skew diagrams and Schur function determinants
• Coincidences among skew Schur functions
• Minimal bar tableaux
• The zrank conjecture and restricted Cauchy matrices
• Stanley's zrank conjecture on skew partitions
• A refinement of the Murnaghan-Nakayama rule by descents for border strip tableaux
• On enumeration and entropy of ribbon tilings
• On principal hook length partitions and Durfee sizes in skew characters
• The srank conjecture on Schur's \(Q\)-functions

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