Schur times Schubert via the Fomin-Kirillov algebra

We study multiplication of any Schubert polynomial $\mathfrak{S}_w$ by a Schur polynomial $s_\lambda$ (the Schubert polynomial of a Grassmannian permutation) and the expansion of this product in the ring of Schubert polynomials. We derive explicit nonnegative combinatorial expressions for the expansion coefficients for certain special partitions $\lambda$, including hooks and the 2x2 box. We also prove combinatorially the existence of such nonnegative expansion when the Young diagram of $\lambda$ is a hook plus a box at the (2,2) corner. We achieve this by evaluating Schubert polynomials at the Dunkl elements of the Fomin-Kirillov algebra and proving special cases of the nonnegativity conjecture of Fomin and Kirillov. This approach works in the more general setup of the (small) quantum cohomology ring of the complex flag manifold and the corresponding (3-point) Gromov-Witten invariants. We provide an algebro-combinatorial proof of the nonnegativity of the Gromov-Witten invariants in these cases, and present combinatorial expressions for these coefficients

Inversion of some series of free quasi-symmetric functions

We give a combinatorial formula for the inverses of the alternating sums of free quasi-symmetric functions of the form F_{\omega(I)} where I runs over compositions with parts in a prescribed set C. This proves in particular three special cases (no restriction, even parts, and all parts equal to 2) which were conjectured by B. C. V. Ung in [Proc. FPSAC'98, Toronto].Comment: 6 page

Integration with respect to the Haar measure on unitary, orthogonal and symplectic group

We revisit the work of the first named author and using simpler algebraic arguments we calculate integrals of polynomial functions with respect to the Haar measure on the unitary group U(d). The previous result provided exact formulas only for 2d bigger than the degree of the integrated polynomial and we show that these formulas remain valid for all values of d. Also, we consider the integrals of polynomial functions on the orthogonal group O(d) and the symplectic group Sp(d). We obtain an exact character expansion and the asymptotic behavior for large d. Thus we can show the asymptotic freeness of Haar-distributed orthogonal and symplectic random matrices, as well as the convergence of integrals of the Itzykson-Zuber type

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

Linear versus spin: representation theory of the symmetric groups

We relate the linear asymptotic representation theory of the symmetric groups to its spin counterpart. In particular, we give explicit formulas which express the normalized irreducible spin characters evaluated on a strict partition $\xi$ with analogous normalized linear characters evaluated on the double partition $D(\xi)$. We also relate some natural filtration on the usual (linear) Kerov-Olshanski algebra of polynomial functions on the set of Young diagrams with its spin counterpart. Finally, we give a spin counterpart to Stanley formula for the characters of the symmetric groups.Comment: 41 pages. Version 2: new text about non-oriented (but orientable) map

Asymptotics of characters of symmetric groups, genus expansion and free probability

The convolution of indicators of two conjugacy classes on the symmetric group S_q is usually a complicated linear combination of indicators of many conjugacy classes. Similarly, a product of the moments of the Jucys--Murphy element involves many conjugacy classes with complicated coefficients. In this article we consider a combinatorial setup which allows us to manipulate such products easily: to each conjugacy class we associate a two-dimensional surface and the asymptotic properties of the conjugacy class depend only on the genus of the resulting surface. This construction closely resembles the genus expansion from the random matrix theory. As the main application we study irreducible representations of symmetric groups S_q for large q. We find the asymptotic behavior of characters when the corresponding Young diagram rescaled by a factor q^{-1/2} converge to a prescribed shape. The character formula (known as the Kerov polynomial) can be viewed as a power series, the terms of which correspond to two-dimensional surfaces with prescribed genus and we compute explicitly the first two terms, thus we prove a conjecture of Biane.Comment: version 2: change of title; the section on Gaussian fluctuations was moved to a subsequent paper [Piotr Sniady: "Gaussian fluctuations of characters of symmetric groups and of Young diagrams" math.CO/0501112