Effective Scalar Products for D-finite Symmetric Functions

Many combinatorial generating functions can be expressed as combinations of symmetric functions, or extracted as sub-series and specializations from such combinations. Gessel has outlined a large class of symmetric functions for which the resulting generating functions are D-finite. We extend Gessel's work by providing algorithms that compute differential equations these generating functions satisfy in the case they are given as a scalar product of symmetric functions in Gessel's class. Examples of applications to k-regular graphs and Young tableaux with repeated entries are given. Asymptotic estimates are a natural application of our method, which we illustrate on the same model of Young tableaux. We also derive a seemingly new formula for the Kronecker product of the sum of Schur functions with itself.Comment: 51 pages, full paper version of FPSAC 02 extended abstract; v2: corrections from original submission, improved clarity; now formatted for journal + bibliograph

Random sampling of plane partitions

This article presents uniform random generators of plane partitions according to the size (the number of cubes in the 3D interpretation). Combining a bijection of Pak with the method of Boltzmann sampling, we obtain random samplers that are slightly superlinear: the complexity is $O(n (\ln n)^3)$ in approximate-size sampling and $O(n^{4/3})$ in exact-size sampling (under a real-arithmetic computation model). To our knowledge, these are the first polynomial-time samplers for plane partitions according to the size (there exist polynomial-time samplers of another type, which draw plane partitions that fit inside a fixed bounding box). The same principles yield efficient samplers for $(a\times b)$-boxed plane partitions (plane partitions with two dimensions bounded), and for skew plane partitions. The random samplers allow us to perform simulations and observe limit shapes and frozen boundaries, which have been analysed recently by Cerf and Kenyon for plane partitions, and by Okounkov and Reshetikhin for skew plane partitions.Comment: 23 page

Perfect sampling algorithm for Schur processes

We describe random generation algorithms for a large class of random combinatorial objects called Schur processes, which are sequences of random (integer) partitions subject to certain interlacing conditions. This class contains several fundamental combinatorial objects as special cases, such as plane partitions, tilings of Aztec diamonds, pyramid partitions and more generally steep domino tilings of the plane. Our algorithm, which is of polynomial complexity, is both exact (i.e. the output follows exactly the target probability law, which is either Boltzmann or uniform in our case), and entropy optimal (i.e. it reads a minimal number of random bits as an input). The algorithm encompasses previous growth procedures for special Schur processes related to the primal and dual RSK algorithm, as well as the famous domino shuffling algorithm for domino tilings of the Aztec diamond. It can be easily adapted to deal with symmetric Schur processes and general Schur processes involving infinitely many parameters. It is more concrete and easier to implement than Borodin's algorithm, and it is entropy optimal. At a technical level, it relies on unified bijective proofs of the different types of Cauchy and Littlewood identities for Schur functions, and on an adaptation of Fomin's growth diagram description of the RSK algorithm to that setting. Simulations performed with this algorithm suggest interesting limit shape phenomena for the corresponding tiling models, some of which are new.Comment: 26 pages, 19 figures (v3: final version, corrected a few misprints present in v2

Fixed-Parameter Algorithms for Rectilinear Steiner tree and Rectilinear Traveling Salesman Problem in the plane

Given a set $P$ of $n$ points with their pairwise distances, the traveling salesman problem (TSP) asks for a shortest tour that visits each point exactly once. A TSP instance is rectilinear when the points lie in the plane and the distance considered between two points is the $l_1$ distance. In this paper, a fixed-parameter algorithm for the Rectilinear TSP is presented and relies on techniques for solving TSP on bounded-treewidth graphs. It proves that the problem can be solved in $O\left(nh7^h\right)$ where $h \leq n$ denotes the number of horizontal lines containing the points of $P$. The same technique can be directly applied to the problem of finding a shortest rectilinear Steiner tree that interconnects the points of $P$ providing a $O\left(nh5^h\right)$ time complexity. Both bounds improve over the best time bounds known for these problems.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, 6 table