Quantum invariant families of matrices in free probability

We consider (self-adjoint) families of infinite matrices of noncommutative random variables such that the joint distribution of their entries is invariant under conjugation by a free quantum group. For the free orthogonal and hyperoctahedral groups, we obtain complete characterizations of the invariant families in terms of an operator-valued $R$-cyclicity condition. This is a surprising contrast with the Aldous-Hoover characterization of jointly exchangeable arrays.Comment: 33 page

Finite Affine Groups: Cycle Indices, Hall-Littlewood Polynomials, and Probabilistic Algorithms

The asymptotic study of the conjugacy classes of a random element of the finite affine group leads one to define a probability measure on the set of all partitions of all positive integers. Four different probabilistic understandings of this measure are given--three using symmetric function theory and one using Markov chains. This leads to non-trivial enumerative results. Cycle index generating functions are derived and are used to compute the large dimension limiting probabilities that an element of the affine group is separable, cyclic, or semisimple and to study the convergence to these limits. This yields the first examples of such computations for a maximal parabolic subgroup of a finite classical group.Comment: Revised version, to appear in J. Algebra. A few typos are fixed; no substantive change

The cyclic sieving phenomenon: a survey

The cyclic sieving phenomenon was defined by Reiner, Stanton, and White in a 2004 paper. Let X be a finite set, C be a finite cyclic group acting on X, and f(q) be a polynomial in q with nonnegative integer coefficients. Then the triple (X,C,f(q)) exhibits the cyclic sieving phenomenon if, for all g in C, we have # X^g = f(w) where # denotes cardinality, X^g is the fixed point set of g, and w is a root of unity chosen to have the same order as g. It might seem improbable that substituting a root of unity into a polynomial with integer coefficients would have an enumerative meaning. But many instances of the cyclic sieving phenomenon have now been found. Furthermore, the proofs that this phenomenon hold often involve interesting and sometimes deep results from representation theory. We will survey the current literature on cyclic sieving, providing the necessary background about representations, Coxeter groups, and other algebraic aspects as needed.Comment: 48 pages, 3 figures, the sedcond version contains numerous changes suggested by colleagues and the referee. To appear in the London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series. The third version has a few smaller change