Frame patterns in n-cycles

In this paper, we study the distribution of the number of occurrences of the simplest frame pattern, called the $\mu$ pattern, in $n$-cycles. Given an $n$-cycle $C$, we say that a pair $\langle i,j \rangle$ matches the $\mu$ pattern if $i < j$ and as we traverse around $C$ in a clockwise direction starting at $i$ and ending at $j$, we never encounter a $k$ with $i < k < j$. We say that $\langle i,j \rangle$ is a nontrivial $\mu$-match if $i+1 < j$. Also, an $n$-cycle $C$ is incontractible if there is no $i$ such that $i+1$ immediately follows $i$ in $C$. We show that the number of incontractible $n$-cycles in the symmetric group $S_n$ is $D_{n-1}$, where $D_n$ is the number of derangements in $S_n$. Further, we prove that the number of $n$-cycles in $S_n$ with exactly $k$ $\mu$-matches can be expressed as a linear combination of binomial coefficients of the form $\binom{n-1}{i}$ where $i \leq 2k+1$. We also show that the generating function $NTI_{n,\mu}(q)$ of $q$ raised to the number of nontrivial $\mu$-matches in $C$ over all incontractible $n$-cycles in $S_n$ is a new $q$-analogue of $D_{n-1}$, which is different from the $q$-analogues of the derangement numbers that have been studied by Garsia and Remmel and by Wachs. We show that there is a rather surprising connection between the charge statistic on permutations due to Lascoux and Sch\"uzenberger and our polynomials in that the coefficient of the smallest power of $q$ in $NTI_{2k+1,\mu}(q)$ is the number of permutations in $S_{2k+1}$ whose charge path is a Dyck path. Finally, we show that $NTI_{n,\mu}(q)|_{q^{\binom{n-1}{2} -k}}$ and $NT_{n,\mu}(q)|_{q^{\binom{n-1}{2} -k}}$ are the number of partitions of $k$ for sufficiently large $n$

A self-dual poset on objects counted by the Catalan numbers and a type-B analogue

We introduce two partially ordered sets, $P^A_n$ and $P^B_n$, of the same cardinalities as the type-A and type-B noncrossing partition lattices. The ground sets of $P^A_n$ and $P^B_n$ are subsets of the symmetric and the hyperoctahedral groups, consisting of permutations which avoid certain patterns. The order relation is given by (strict) containment of the descent sets. In each case, by means of an explicit order-preserving bijection, we show that the poset of restricted permutations is an extension of the refinement order on noncrossing partitions. Several structural properties of these permutation posets follow, including self-duality and the strong Sperner property. We also discuss posets $Q^A_n$ and $Q^B_n$ similarly associated with noncrossing partitions, defined by means of the excedence sets of suitable pattern-avoiding subsets of the symmetric and hyperoctahedral groups.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Harmonic numbers, Catalan's triangle and mesh patterns

The notion of a mesh pattern was introduced recently, but it has already proved to be a useful tool for description purposes related to sets of permutations. In this paper we study eight mesh patterns of small lengths. In particular, we link avoidance of one of the patterns to the harmonic numbers, while for three other patterns we show their distributions on 132-avoiding permutations are given by the Catalan triangle. Also, we show that two specific mesh patterns are Wilf-equivalent. As a byproduct of our studies, we define a new set of sequences counted by the Catalan numbers and provide a relation on the Catalan triangle that seems to be new