Exact enumeration of 1342-avoiding permutations: A close link with labeled trees and planar maps

Solving the first nonmonotonic, longer-than-three instance of a classic enumeration problem, we obtain the generating function $H(x)$ of all 1342-avoiding permutations of length $n$ as well as an {\em exact} formula for their number $S_n(1342)$. While achieving this, we bijectively prove that the number of indecomposable 1342-avoiding permutations of length $n$ equals that of labeled plane trees of a certain type on $n$ vertices recently enumerated by Cori, Jacquard and Schaeffer, which is in turn known to be equal to the number of rooted bicubic maps enumerated by Tutte in 1963. Moreover, $H(x)$ turns out to be algebraic, proving the first nonmonotonic, longer-than-three instance of a conjecture of Zeilberger and Noonan. We also prove that $\sqrt[n]{S_n(1342)}$ converges to 8, so in particular, $lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}(S_n(1342)/S_n(1234))=0$

A self-dual poset on objects counted by the Catalan numbers and a type-B analogue

We introduce two partially ordered sets, $P^A_n$ and $P^B_n$, of the same cardinalities as the type-A and type-B noncrossing partition lattices. The ground sets of $P^A_n$ and $P^B_n$ are subsets of the symmetric and the hyperoctahedral groups, consisting of permutations which avoid certain patterns. The order relation is given by (strict) containment of the descent sets. In each case, by means of an explicit order-preserving bijection, we show that the poset of restricted permutations is an extension of the refinement order on noncrossing partitions. Several structural properties of these permutation posets follow, including self-duality and the strong Sperner property. We also discuss posets $Q^A_n$ and $Q^B_n$ similarly associated with noncrossing partitions, defined by means of the excedence sets of suitable pattern-avoiding subsets of the symmetric and hyperoctahedral groups.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

A combinatorial proof of the log-concavity of the numbers of permutations with kk runs

We combinatorially prove that the number $R(n,k)$ of permutations of length $n$ having $k$ runs is a log-concave sequence in $k$, for all $n$. We also give a new combinatorial proof for the log-concavity of the Eulerian numbers.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure