Two operators on sandpile configurations, the sandpile model on the complete bipartite graph, and a Cyclic Lemma

We introduce two operators on stable configurations of the sandpile model that provide an algorithmic bijection between recurrent and parking configurations. This bijection preserves their equivalence classes with respect to the sandpile group. The study of these operators in the special case of the complete bipartite graph ${K}_{m,n}$ naturally leads to a generalization of the well known Cyclic Lemma of Dvoretsky and Motzkin, via pairs of periodic bi-infinite paths in the plane having slightly different slopes. We achieve our results by interpreting the action of these operators as an action on a point in the grid $\mathbb{Z}^2$ which is pointed to by one of these pairs of paths. Our Cyclic lemma allows us to enumerate several classes of polyominoes, and therefore builds on the work of Irving and Rattan (2009), Chapman et al. (2009), and Bonin et al. (2003).Comment: 28 page

Counting Permutations Modulo Pattern-Replacement Equivalences for Three-Letter Patterns

We study a family of equivalence relations on $S_n$, the group of permutations on $n$ letters, created in a manner similar to that of the Knuth relation and the forgotten relation. For our purposes, two permutations are in the same equivalence class if one can be reached from the other through a series of pattern-replacements using patterns whose order permutations are in the same part of a predetermined partition of $S_c$. When the partition is of $S_3$ and has one nontrivial part and that part is of size greater than two, we provide formulas for the number of classes created in each previously unsolved case. When the partition is of $S_3$ and has two nontrivial parts, each of size two (as do the Knuth and forgotten relations), we enumerate the classes for $13$ of the $14$ unresolved cases. In two of these cases, enumerations arise which are the same as those yielded by the Knuth and forgotten relations. The reasons for this phenomenon are still largely a mystery

Efficient indexing of necklaces and irreducible polynomials over finite fields

We study the problem of indexing irreducible polynomials over finite fields, and give the first efficient algorithm for this problem. Specifically, we show the existence of poly(n, log q)-size circuits that compute a bijection between {1, ... , |S|} and the set S of all irreducible, monic, univariate polynomials of degree n over a finite field F_q. This has applications in pseudorandomness, and answers an open question of Alon, Goldreich, H{\aa}stad and Peralta[AGHP]. Our approach uses a connection between irreducible polynomials and necklaces ( equivalence classes of strings under cyclic rotation). Along the way, we give the first efficient algorithm for indexing necklaces of a given length over a given alphabet, which may be of independent interest

Analytic Combinatorics of Lattice Paths with Forbidden Patterns: Asymptotic Aspects and Borges\u27s Theorem

In a companion article dedicated to the enumeration aspects, we showed how to obtain closed form formulas for the generating functions of walks, bridges, meanders, and excursions avoiding any fixed word (a pattern p). The autocorrelation polynomial of this forbidden pattern p (as introduced by Guibas and Odlyzko in 1981, in the context of regular expressions) plays a crucial role. In this article, we get the asymptotics of these walks. We also introduce a trivariate generating function (length, final altitude, number of occurrences of p), for which we derive a closed form. We prove that the number of occurrences of p is normally distributed: This is what Flajolet and Sedgewick call an instance of Borges\u27s theorem. We thus extend and refine the study by Banderier and Flajolet in 2002 on lattice paths, and we unify several dozens of articles which investigated patterns like peaks, valleys, humps, etc., in Dyck and Motzkin paths. Our approach relies on methods of analytic combinatorics, and on a matricial generalization of the kernel method. The situation is much more involved than in the Banderier-Flajolet work: forbidden patterns lead to a wider zoology of asymptotic behaviours, and we classify them according to the geometry of a Newton polygon associated with these constrained walks, and we analyse what are the universal phenomena common to all these models of lattice paths avoiding a pattern