Conjugacy of Coxeter elements

For a Coxeter group (W,S), a permutation of the set S is called a Coxeter word and the group element represented by the product is called a Coxeter element. Moving the first letter to the end of the word is called a rotation and two Coxeter elements are rotation equivalent if their words can be transformed into each other through a sequence of rotations and legal commutations. We prove that Coxeter elements are conjugate if and only if they are rotation equivalent. This was known for some special cases but not for Coxeter groups in general

Posets from Admissible Coxeter Sequences

We study the equivalence relation on the set of acyclic orientations of an undirected graph G generated by source-to-sink conversions. These conversions arise in the contexts of admissible sequences in Coxeter theory, quiver representations, and asynchronous graph dynamical systems. To each equivalence class we associate a poset, characterize combinatorial properties of these posets, and in turn, the admissible sequences. This allows us to construct an explicit bijection from the equivalence classes over G to those over G' and G", the graphs obtained from G by edge deletion and edge contraction of a fixed cycle-edge, respectively. This bijection yields quick and elegant proofs of two non-trivial results: (i) A complete combinatorial invariant of the equivalence classes, and (ii) a solution to the conjugacy problem of Coxeter elements for simply-laced Coxeter groups. The latter was recently proven by H. Eriksson and K. Eriksson using a much different approach.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. Several examples have been adde

Coxeter Groups and Asynchronous Cellular Automata

The dynamics group of an asynchronous cellular automaton (ACA) relates properties of its long term dynamics to the structure of Coxeter groups. The key mathematical feature connecting these diverse fields is involutions. Group-theoretic results in the latter domain may lead to insight about the dynamics in the former, and vice-versa. In this article, we highlight some central themes and common structures, and discuss novel approaches to some open and open-ended problems. We introduce the state automaton of an ACA, and show how the root automaton of a Coxeter group is essentially part of the state automaton of a related ACA.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Dynamical Algebraic Combinatorics, Asynchronous Cellular Automata, and Toggling Independent Sets

Though iterated maps and dynamical systems are not new to combinatorics, they have enjoyed a renewed prominence over the past decade through the elevation of the subfield that has become known as dynamical algebraic combinatorics. Some of the problems that have gained popularity can also be cast and analyzed as finite asynchronous cellular automata (CA). However, these two fields are fairly separate, and while there are some individuals who work in both, that is the exception rather than the norm. In this article, we will describe our ongoing work on toggling independent sets on graphs. This will be preceded by an overview of how this project arose from new combinatorial problems involving homomesy, toggling, and resonance. Though the techniques that we explore are directly applicable to ECA rule 1, many of them can be generalized to other cellular automata. Moreover, some of the ideas that we borrow from cellular automata can be adapted to problems in dynamical algebraic combinatorics. It is our hope that this article will inspire new problems in both fields and connections between them

Morphisms and order ideals of toric posets

Toric posets are cyclic analogues of finite posets. They can be viewed combinatorially as equivalence classes of acyclic orientations generated by converting sources into sinks, or geometrically as chambers of toric graphic hyperplane arrangements. In this paper we study toric intervals, morphisms, and order ideals, and we provide a connection to cyclic reducibility and conjugacy in Coxeter groups.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures. A 12-page "extended abstract" version appears as [v2

Noncrossing partitions, toggles, and homomesies

We introduce n(n-1)/2 natural involutions ("toggles") on the set S of non-crossing partitions π of size n, along with certain composite operations obtained by composing these involutions. We show that for many operations T of this kind, a surprisingly large family of functions f on S (including the function that sends π to the number of blocks of π) exhibits the homomesy phenomenon: the average of f over the elements of a T-orbit is the same for all T-orbits. We can apply our method of proof more broadly to toggle operations back on the collection of independent sets of certain graphs. We utilize this generalization to prove a theorem about toggling on a family of graphs called "2-cliquish." More generally, the philosophy of this "toggle-action," proposed by Striker, is a popular topic of current and future research in dynamic algebraic combinatorics

Toric partial orders

We define toric partial orders, corresponding to regions of graphic toric hyperplane arrangements, just as ordinary partial orders correspond to regions of graphic hyperplane arrangements. Combinatorially, toric posets correspond to finite posets under the equivalence relation generated by converting minimal elements into maximal elements, or sources into sinks. We derive toric analogues for several features of ordinary partial orders, such as chains, antichains, transitivity, Hasse diagrams, linear extensions, and total orders