Algebraic aspects of increasing subsequences

We present a number of results relating partial Cauchy-Littlewood sums, integrals over the compact classical groups, and increasing subsequences of permutations. These include: integral formulae for the distribution of the longest increasing subsequence of a random involution with constrained number of fixed points; new formulae for partial Cauchy-Littlewood sums, as well as new proofs of old formulae; relations of these expressions to orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle; and explicit bases for invariant spaces of the classical groups, together with appropriate generalizations of the straightening algorithm.Comment: LaTeX+amsmath+eepic; 52 pages. Expanded introduction, new references, other minor change

On the Distributions of the Lengths of the Longest Monotone Subsequences in Random Words

We consider the distributions of the lengths of the longest weakly increasing and strongly decreasing subsequences in words of length N from an alphabet of k letters. We find Toeplitz determinant representations for the exponential generating functions (on N) of these distribution functions and show that they are expressible in terms of solutions of Painlev\'e V equations. We show further that in the weakly increasing case the generating function gives the distribution of the smallest eigenvalue in the k x k Laguerre random matrix ensemble and that the distribution itself has, after centering and normalizing, an N -> infinity limit which is equal to the distribution function for the largest eigenvalue in the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble of k x k hermitian matrices of trace zero.Comment: 30 pages, revised version corrects an error in the statement of Theorem

Statistical Self-Similarity of One-Dimensional Growth Processes

For one-dimensional growth processes we consider the distribution of the height above a given point of the substrate and study its scale invariance in the limit of large times. We argue that for self-similar growth from a single seed the universal distribution is the Tracy-Widom distribution from the theory of random matrices and that for growth from a flat substrate it is some other, only numerically determined distribution. In particular, for the polynuclear growth model in the droplet geometry the height maps onto the longest increasing subsequence of a random permutation, from which the height distribution is identified as the Tracy-Widom distribution.Comment: 11 pages, iopart, epsf, 2 postscript figures, submitted to Physica A, in an Addendum the distribution for the flat case is identified analyticall

Combinatorics of patience sorting piles

Despite having been introduced in 1962 by C.L. Mallows, the combinatorial algorithm Patience Sorting is only now beginning to receive significant attention due to such recent deep results as the Baik-Deift-Johansson Theorem that connect it to fields including Probabilistic Combinatorics and Random Matrix Theory. The aim of this work is to develop some of the more basic combinatorics of the Patience Sorting Algorithm. In particular, we exploit the similarities between Patience Sorting and the Schensted Insertion Algorithm in order to do things that include defining an analog of the Knuth relations and extending Patience Sorting to a bijection between permutations and certain pairs of set partitions. As an application of these constructions we characterize and enumerate the set S_n(3-\bar{1}-42) of permutations that avoid the generalized permutation pattern 2-31 unless it is part of the generalized pattern 3-1-42.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX; uses pstricks; view PS, not DVI; use dvips + ps2pdf, not dvi2pdf; part of FPSAC'05 proceedings; v3: final journal version, revised Section 3.