Ideals of Quasi-Symmetric Functions and Super-Covariant Polynomials for S_n

The aim of this work is to study the quotient ring R_n of the ring Q[x_1,...,x_n] over the ideal J_n generated by non-constant homogeneous quasi-symmetric functions. We prove here that the dimension of R_n is given by C_n, the n-th Catalan number. This is also the dimension of the space SH_n of super-covariant polynomials, that is defined as the orthogonal complement of J_n with respect to a given scalar product. We construct a basis for R_n whose elements are naturally indexed by Dyck paths. This allows us to understand the Hilbert series of SH_n in terms of number of Dyck paths with a given number of factors.Comment: LaTeX, 3 figures, 12 page

On the diagram of 132-avoiding permutations

The diagram of a 132-avoiding permutation can easily be characterized: it is simply the diagram of a partition. Based on this fact, we present a new bijection between 132-avoiding and 321-avoiding permutations. We will show that this bijection translates the correspondences between these permutations and Dyck paths given by Krattenthaler and by Billey-Jockusch-Stanley, respectively, to each other. Moreover, the diagram approach yields simple proofs for some enumerative results concerning forbidden patterns in 132-avoiding permutations.Comment: 20 pages; additional reference is adde

Ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra: generators and duality

It was shown by Cellini and Papi that an ad-nilpotent ideal determines certain element of the affine Weyl group, and that there is a bijection between the ad-nilpotent ideals and the integral points of a simplex with rational vertices. We give a description of the generators of ad-nilpotent ideals in terms of these elements, and show that an ideal has $k$ generators if and only it lies on the face of this simplex of codimension $k$. We also consider two combinatorial statistics on the set of ad-nilpotent ideals: the number of simple roots in the ideal and the number of generators. Considering the first statistic reveals some relations with the theory of clusters (Fomin-Zelevinsky). The distribution of the second statistic suggests that there should exist a natural involution (duality) on the set of ad-nilpotent ideals. Such an involution is constructed for the series A,B,C.Comment: LaTeX2e, 23 page

Enumerative Combinatorics

Enumerative Combinatorics focusses on the exact and asymptotic counting of combinatorial objects. It is strongly connected to the probabilistic analysis of large combinatorial structures and has fruitful connections to several disciplines, including statistical physics, algebraic combinatorics, graph theory and computer science. This workshop brought together experts from all these various fields, including also computer algebra, with the goal of promoting cooperation and interaction among researchers with largely varying backgrounds

A combinatorial model for computing volumes of flow polytopes

We introduce new families of combinatorial objects whose enumeration computes volumes of flow polytopes. These objects provide an interpretation, based on parking functions, of Baldoni and Vergne's generalization of a volume formula originally due to Lidskii. We recover known flow polytope volume formulas and prove new volume formulas for flow polytopes that were seemingly unapproachable. A highlight of our model is an elegant formula for the flow polytope of a graph we call the caracol graph. As by-products of our work, we uncover a new triangle of numbers that interpolates between Catalan numbers and the number of parking functions, we prove the log-concavity of rows of this triangle along with other sequences derived from volume computations, and we introduce a new Ehrhart-like polynomial for flow polytope volume and conjecture product formulas for the polytopes we consider.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figures. v2: updated after referee reports; includes a proof of Proposition 8.7. Accepted into Transactions of the AM