Permutation polynomials induced from permutations of subfields, and some complete sets of mutually orthogonal latin squares

We present a general technique for obtaining permutation polynomials over a finite field from permutations of a subfield. By applying this technique to the simplest classes of permutation polynomials on the subfield, we obtain several new families of permutation polynomials. Some of these have the additional property that both f(x) and f(x)+x induce permutations of the field, which has combinatorial consequences. We use some of our permutation polynomials to exhibit complete sets of mutually orthogonal latin squares. In addition, we solve the open problem from a recent paper by Wu and Lin, and we give simpler proofs of much more general versions of the results in two other recent papers.Comment: 13 pages; many new result

Orthogonality of Jack polynomials in superspace

Jack polynomials in superspace, orthogonal with respect to a ``combinatorial'' scalar product, are constructed. They are shown to coincide with the Jack polynomials in superspace, orthogonal with respect to an ``analytical'' scalar product, introduced in hep-th/0209074 as eigenfunctions of a supersymmetric quantum mechanical many-body problem. The results of this article rely on generalizing (to include an extra parameter) the theory of classical symmetric functions in superspace developed recently in math.CO/0509408Comment: 22 pages, this supersedes the second part of math.CO/0412306; (v2) 24 pages, title and abstract slightly modified, minor changes, typos correcte

Correlation of arithmetic functions over Fq[T]\mathbb{F}_q[T]

For a fixed polynomial $\Delta$, we study the number of polynomials $f$ of degree $n$ over $\mathbb F_q$ such that $f$ and $f+\Delta$ are both irreducible, an $\mathbb F_q[T]$-analogue of the twin primes problem. In the large-$q$ limit, we obtain a lower-order term for this count if we consider non-monic polynomials, which depends on $\Delta$ in a manner which is consistent with the Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture. We obtain a saving of $q$ if we consider monic polynomials only and $\Delta$ is a scalar. To do this, we use symmetries of the problem to get for free a small amount of averaging in $\Delta$. This allows us to obtain additional saving from equidistribution results for $L$-functions. We do all this in a combinatorial framework that applies to more general arithmetic functions than the indicator function of irreducibles, including the M\"{o}bius function and divisor functions.Comment: Incorporated referee comments. Accepted for publication in Math. Annale

String Reconstruction from Substring Compositions

Motivated by mass-spectrometry protein sequencing, we consider a simply-stated problem of reconstructing a string from the multiset of its substring compositions. We show that all strings of length 7, one less than a prime, or one less than twice a prime, can be reconstructed uniquely up to reversal. For all other lengths we show that reconstruction is not always possible and provide sometimes-tight bounds on the largest number of strings with given substring compositions. The lower bounds are derived by combinatorial arguments and the upper bounds by algebraic considerations that precisely characterize the set of strings with the same substring compositions in terms of the factorization of bivariate polynomials. The problem can be viewed as a combinatorial simplification of the turnpike problem, and its solution may shed light on this long-standing problem as well. Using well known results on transience of multi-dimensional random walks, we also provide a reconstruction algorithm that reconstructs random strings over alphabets of size $\ge4$ in optimal near-quadratic time