Cyclic Eulerian Elements

AbstractLetSnbe the symmetric group on {1,…,n} and Q[Sn] its group algebra over the rational field; we assumen≥2. π∈Snis said a descent ini, 1≤i≤n-1, if π(i)>π (i+1); moreover, π is said to have a cyclic descent if π(n)>π(1). We define the cyclic Eulerian elements as the sums of all elements inSnhaving a fixed global number of descents, possibly including the cyclic one. We show that the cyclic Eulerian elements linearly span a commutative semisimple algebra of Q[Sn], which is naturally isomorphic to the algebra of the classical Eulerian elements. Moreover, we give a complete set of orthogonal idempotents for such algebra, which are strictly related to the usual Eulerian idempotents

A Cyclic Analogue of Stanley's Shuffle Theorem

We introduce the cyclic major index of a cycle permutation and give a bivariate analogue of enumerative formula for the cyclic shuffles with a given cyclic descent numbers due to Adin, Gessel, Reiner and Roichman, which can be viewed as a cyclic analogue of Stanley's Shuffle Theorem. This gives an answer to a question of Adin, Gessel, Reiner and Roichman, which has been posed by Domagalski, Liang, Minnich, Sagan, Schmidt and Sietsema again.Comment: 7 pages. We thank Bruce Sagan for providing useful comments and relevant references for the earlier versio

Affine shuffles, shuffles with cuts, the Whitehouse module, and patience sorting

Type A affine shuffles are compared with riffle shuffles followed by a cut. Although these probability measures on the symmetric group S_n are different, they both satisfy a convolution property. Strong evidence is given that when the underlying parameter $q$ satisfies $gcd(n,q-1)=1$, the induced measures on conjugacy classes of the symmetric group coincide. This gives rise to interesting combinatorics concerning the modular equidistribution by major index of permutations in a given conjugacy class and with a given number of cyclic descents. It is proved that the use of cuts does not speed up the convergence rate of riffle shuffles to randomness. Generating functions for the first pile size in patience sorting from decks with repeated values are derived. This relates to random matrices.Comment: Galley version for J. Alg.; minor revisions in Sec.

Affine descents and the Steinberg torus

Let $W\ltimes L$ be an irreducible affine Weyl group with Coxeter complex $\Sigma$, where $W$ denotes the associated finite Weyl group and $L$ the translation subgroup. The Steinberg torus is the Boolean cell complex obtained by taking the quotient of $\Sigma$ by the lattice $L$. We show that the ordinary and flag $h$-polynomials of the Steinberg torus (with the empty face deleted) are generating functions over $W$ for a descent-like statistic first studied by Cellini. We also show that the ordinary $h$-polynomial has a nonnegative $\gamma$-vector, and hence, symmetric and unimodal coefficients. In the classical cases, we also provide expansions, identities, and generating functions for the $h$-polynomials of Steinberg tori.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure

Mutual Interlacing and Eulerian-like Polynomials for Weyl Groups

We use the method of mutual interlacing to prove two conjectures on the real-rootedness of Eulerian-like polynomials: Brenti's conjecture on $q$-Eulerian polynomials for Weyl groups of type $D$, and Dilks, Petersen, and Stembridge's conjecture on affine Eulerian polynomials for irreducible finite Weyl groups. For the former, we obtain a refinement of Brenti's $q$-Eulerian polynomials of type $D$, and then show that these refined Eulerian polynomials satisfy certain recurrence relation. By using the Routh--Hurwitz theory and the recurrence relation, we prove that these polynomials form a mutually interlacing sequence for any positive $q$, and hence prove Brenti's conjecture. For $q=1$, our result reduces to the real-rootedness of the Eulerian polynomials of type $D$, which were originally conjectured by Brenti and recently proved by Savage and Visontai. For the latter, we introduce a family of polynomials based on Savage and Visontai's refinement of Eulerian polynomials of type $D$. We show that these new polynomials satisfy the same recurrence relation as Savage and Visontai's refined Eulerian polynomials. As a result, we get the real-rootedness of the affine Eulerian polynomials of type $D$. Combining the previous results for other types, we completely prove Dilks, Petersen, and Stembridge's conjecture, which states that, for every irreducible finite Weyl group, the affine descent polynomial has only real zeros.Comment: 28 page