Some positive differences of products of Schur functions

Authors F. Bergeron, Peter R. W. McNamara

Publication date 14 December 2004

Symmetric functions and generalizations (05E05) Combinatorial aspects of representation theory (05E10)

Abstract: The product

s_{m} u s_{u}

of two Schur functions is one of the most famous examples of a Schur-positive function, i.e. a symmetric function which, when written as a linear combination of Schur functions, has all positive coefficients. We ask when expressions of the form

s_{l} a m b d a s_{h} o - s_{m} u s_{u}

are Schur-positive. This general question seems to be a difficult one, but a conjecture of Fomin, Fulton, Li and Poon says that it is the case at least when

l a m b d a

and

h o

are obtained from

m u

and

u

by redistributing the parts of

m u

and

u

in a specific, yet natural, way. We show that their conjecture is true in several significant cases. We also formulate a skew-shape extension of their conjecture, and prove several results which serve as evidence in favor of this extension. Finally, we take a more global view by studying two classes of partially ordered sets suggested by these questions.

This page was built for publication: Some positive differences of products of Schur functions

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6474846)