Applications of the Brauer complex: card shuffling, permutation statistics, and dynamical systems

By algebraic group theory, there is a map from the semisimple conjugacy classes of a finite group of Lie type to the conjugacy classes of the Weyl group. Picking a semisimple class uniformly at random yields a probability measure on conjugacy classes of the Weyl group. Using the Brauer complex, it is proved that this measure agrees with a second measure on conjugacy classes of the Weyl group induced by a construction of Cellini using the affine Weyl group. Formulas for Cellini's measure in type $A$ are found. This leads to new models of card shuffling and has interesting combinatorial and number theoretic consequences. An analysis of type C gives another solution to a problem of Rogers in dynamical systems: the enumeration of unimodal permutations by cycle structure. The proof uses the factorization theory of palindromic polynomials over finite fields. Contact is made with symmetric function theory.Comment: One change: we fix a typo in definition of f(m,k,i,d) on page 1

Affine and toric hyperplane arrangements

We extend the Billera-Ehrenborg-Readdy map between the intersection lattice and face lattice of a central hyperplane arrangement to affine and toric hyperplane arrangements. For arrangements on the torus, we also generalize Zaslavsky's fundamental results on the number of regions.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figure

The Poincar\'e-extended ab-index

Motivated by a conjecture concerning Igusa local zeta functions for intersection posets of hyperplane arrangements, we introduce and study the Poincar\'e-extended ab-index, which generalizes both the ab-index and the Poincar\'e polynomial. For posets admitting R-labelings, we give a combinatorial description of the coefficients of the extended ab-index, proving their nonnegativity. In the case of intersection posets of hyperplane arrangements, we prove the above conjecture of the second author and Voll as well as another conjecture of the second author and K\"uhne. We also define the pullback ab-index generalizing the cd-index of face posets for oriented matroids. Our results recover, generalize and unify results from Billera-Ehrenborg-Readdy, Bergeron-Mykytiuk-Sottile-van Willigenburg, Saliola-Thomas, and Ehrenborg. This connection allows us to translate our results into the language of quasisymmetric functions, and-in the special case of symmetric functions-make a conjecture about Schur positivity.Comment: Expanded implications for matroids (Remark 2.15, Examples 2.16-17), connections to Zeta functions (Remark 2.26), and a new section about quasisymmetric functions (Section 3