Symmetric Functions in Noncommuting Variables

Consider the algebra Q> of formal power series in countably many noncommuting variables over the rationals. The subalgebra Pi(x_1,x_2,...) of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables consists of all elements invariant under permutation of the variables and of bounded degree. We develop a theory of such functions analogous to the ordinary theory of symmetric functions. In particular, we define analogs of the monomial, power sum, elementary, complete homogeneous, and Schur symmetric functions as will as investigating their properties.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, see related papers at http://www.math.msu.edu/~sagan, to appear in Transactions of the American Mathematical Societ

Plane overpartitions and cylindric partitions

Generating functions for plane overpartitions are obtained using various methods such as nonintersecting paths, RSK type algorithms and symmetric functions. We extend some of the generating functions to cylindric partitions. Also, we show that plane overpartitions correspond to certain domino tilings and we give some basic properties of this correspondence.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures, corrected typos, revised parts, figures redrawn, results unchange

Symmetric functions in noncommuting variables

Consider the algebra Qhhx1, x2, . . .ii of formal power series in countably many noncommuting variables over the rationals. The subalgebra Π(x1, x2, . . .) of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables consists of all elements invariant under permutation of the variables and of bounded degree. We develop a theory of such functions analogous to the ordinary theory of symmetric functions. In particular, we define analogs of the monomial, power sum, elementary, complete homogeneous, and Schur symmetric functions as will as investigating their properties

A combinatorial formula for graded multiplicities in excellent filtrations

A filtration of a representation whose successive quotients are isomorphic to Demazure modules is called an excellent filtration. In this paper we study graded multiplicities in excellent filtrations of fusion products for the current algebra $\mathfrak{sl}_2[t]$. We give a combinatorial formula for the polynomials encoding these multiplicities in terms of two dimensional lattice paths. Corollaries to our main theorem include a combinatorial interpretation of various objects such as the coeffficients of Ramanujan's fifth order mock theta functions $\phi_0, \phi_1, \psi_0, \psi_1$, Kostka polynomials for hook partitions and quotients of Chebyshev polynomials. We also get a combinatorial interpretation of the graded multiplicities in a level one flag of a local Weyl module associated to the simple Lie algebras of type $B_n \text{ and } G_2$

Factorization theorems for classical group characters, with applications to alternating sign matrices and plane partitions

We show that, for a certain class of partitions and an even number of variables of which half are reciprocals of the other half, Schur polynomials can be factorized into products of odd and even orthogonal characters. We also obtain related factorizations involving sums of two Schur polynomials, and certain odd-sized sets of variables. Our results generalize the factorization identities proved by Ciucu and Krattenthaler (Advances in combinatorial mathematics, 39-59, 2009) for partitions of rectangular shape. We observe that if, in some of the results, the partitions are taken to have rectangular or double-staircase shapes and all of the variables are set to 1, then factorization identities for numbers of certain plane partitions, alternating sign matrices and related combinatorial objects are obtained.Comment: 22 pages; v2: minor changes, published versio