AIS - A LGEBRAIC C OMBINATORICS AND S PECTRAL G RAPH T HEORY

Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi June 2022

Problem Sheets 3 and 4 S. Krishnan

1. We evaluate symmetric functions by plugging in values for x1 , x2 , . . . ,. We set the first n
variables to 1 and the rest to 0. That is, we set
xi = 1 if 1 ≤ i ≤ n and xi =
0 if i > n. For
k ≥ 0 and n ≥ 1 show that ek (1, · · · , 1) = nk and hk (1, · · · , 1) = n+k−1
k
.
Pn
Recall the identity j=0 (−1)j ej hn−j = 0. What identity do you get when you plug in these
values for xi in the above identity?

2. Now, plug in xi = i for 1 ≤ i ≤ n and xi = 0 when i > n. Find ek (1, 2, . . . , n) and

hk (1, 2, . . . , n).

3. (Assuming q-analogues are done.) Plug in xi = q i−1 for 1 ≤ i ≤ n and xi = 0 when

i > n. Thus we plug in 1, q, . . . , q n−1 for x1 , x2 , . . . , xn respectively. Now, find out
ek (1, q, . . . , q n−1 ) and hk (1, q, . . . , q n−1 ).

4. Let uλ and vλ be bases of ΛdQ for all λ ` d when d ≥ 1. Then, show that {uλ }λ`d and {vλ }λ`d
are dual bases if and only if
Y 1 XX
= uλ (x)vλ (y).
i,j≥1
1 − x i y j
d≥0 λ`d

5. Show that the involution ω is an isometry wrt the scalar product h·, ·i.

6. Let λ ` d. Complete the proof that the map fi () is an involution on the set of SSYTs of
shape λ that swaps the number of occurrences of i and i + 1.
X
7. For λ ` d, let sλ = Kλ,µ mµ . Show that Kλ,µ > 0 if and only if λ M µ (recall the
µ`d
majorisation order M defined in Problem sheet 1).

8. Show that the Q-tableaux obtained in the RSK algorithm (when the input is a matrix with
non-negative entries) is also an SSYT.

9. For j ≤ k, let I(P ← j) be the cells of P that are different as compared to that of P and let
I((P ← j) ← k) be defined similarly. Then, show that cells in I(P ← j) are strictly to the
left of the cells in I((P ← j) ← k).

10. If the matrix M gets mapped by the RSK algorithm to the ordered pair (P, Q) of SSYTs then
show that its transpose M t gets mapped to (Q, P ) by the RSK algorithm.

corollary of the previous problem, if fλ is the number of SYTs of shape λ, then show
11. As aP
that λ`d fλ equals the number of involutions in Sd .
12. Recall the Gram Schmidt process of getting an orthonormal basis when starting from a given
basis (for inner product spaces). Start with the monomial symmetric function basis mλ in
increasing lexicographic order of partitions λ ` d. Run the Gram-Schmidt process and find
the output of this algorithm.

13. What is ω(sλ )? If ω is the usual involution on symmetric functions in the xi variables (that
is, in the variables x1 , x2 , · · · , xn , · · · ), then, treating all polynomials in the yj ’s as constants,
show that !
Y 1 Y
ω = (1 + xi yj )
i,j≥1
1 − x i yj i,j≥1

14. Show the following dual Cauchy identity. Here, λ0 denotes the transpose partition of λ (this
is recapped in problem sheet 1).
Y XX
(1 + xi yj ) = sλ0 (x)sλ (y).
i,j≥1 d≥0 λ`d

15. Show that the above identity implies that ω(sλ ) = sλ0 .
AIS - A LGEBRAIC C OMBINATORICS AND S PECTRAL G RAPH T HEORY
S. Krishnan Mepco Schlenk Engineering College June 2022

Problem Sheets 5 and 6

tdes(π) be the n-th Eulerian polynomial. Show that
P
1. Let An (t) = π∈Sn
An+1 (t) = (1 + nt)An (t) + t(1 − t)A0n (t), with A1 (t) = 1 and/or A2 (t) = 1 + t.

2. For π ∈ Sn , let asc(π) = n − 1 − des(π) and consider An (s, t) = π∈Sn sasc(π) tdes(π) be a
P
∂ ∂
bivariate generalisation of An (t). Let D = + . Show the following recurrence relation:
∂s ∂t
An+1 (s, t) = (s + t + stD)An (s, t) with A2 (s, t) = s + t.