Inspired by the $k$-inversion statistic for LLT polynomials, we define a $k$-inversion number and $k$-descent set for words. Using these, we define a new statistic on words, called the $k$-major index, that interpolates between the major index and inversion number. We give a bijective proof that the $k$-major index is equidistributed with the major index, generalizing a classical result of Foata and rediscovering a result of Kadell. Inspired by recent work of Haglund and Stevens, we give a partial extension of these definitions and constructions to standard Young tableaux. Finally, we give an application to Macdonald polynomials made possible through connections with LLT polynomials.
We present a short proof of MacMahon's classic result that the number of permutations with $k$ inversions equals the number whose major index (sum of positions at which descents occur) is $k$
We introduce the Major MacMahon map and show how this map interacts with the pyramid and bipyramid operators. When the Major MacMahon map is applied to the ab-index of a simplicial poset, it yields the q-analogue of n! times the h-polynomial of the poset. Applying the map to the Boolean algebra gives the distribution of the major index on the symmetric group, a seminal result due to MacMahon. Similarly, when applied to the cross-polytope we obtain the distribution of one of the major indexes on signed permutations due to Reiner.
Bonin, Shapiro and Simion (1993) gave two formulas on the distribution of major index for Schröder paths, and proved their result for the case $E<D<N$. In this short note, we correct an error in their proof, and give a complete proof for all cases.
In [S. Effler, F. Ruskey, A CAT algorithm for listing permutations with a given number of inversions, {\it I.P.L.}, 86/2 (2003)] the authors give an algorithm, which appears to be CAT, for generating permutations with a given major index. In the present paper we give a new algorithm for generating a Gray code for subexcedant sequences. We show that this algorithm is CAT and derive it into a CAT generating algorithm for permutations with a given major index.
A generalization of the classical statistics ``maj'' and ``inv'' (the major index and number of inversions) on words is introduced, parameterized by arbitrary graphs on the underlying alphabet. The question of characterizing those graphs that lead to equi-distributed "inv" and "maj" is posed and answered.
We extend the family of statistics maj_d, introduced for permutations by Kadell (1985), to standard Young tableaux. At one extreme, we have the traditional Major index statistic maj_1 for tableaux. At the other end, maj_n = inv, the inversion statistic introduced by Haglund and Stevens (2006). This is answers a question of Assaf (2008), who defined maj_2 and maj_3 for tableaux.
In a recent paper, Baxter and Zeilberger show that the two most important Mahonian statistics, the inversion number and the major index, are asymptotically independently normally distributed on permutations. In another recent paper, Canfield, Janson and Zeilberger prove the result, already known to statisticians, that the Mahonian distribution is asymptotically normal on words. This leaves one question unanswered: What, asymptotically, is the joint distribution of the inversion number and the major index on words? We answer this question by establishing convergence to a bivariate normal distri…
We introduce a statistic $\pmaj$ on partitions of $[n]=\{1,2,..., n\}$, and show that it is equidistributed with the number of 2-crossings over partitions of $[n]$ with given sets of minimal block elements and maximal block elements. This generalizes the classical result of equidistribution for the permutation statistics inversion number and major index.
For a permutation $π$ the major index of $π$ is the sum of all indices $i$ such that $π_i > π_{i+1}$. It is well known that the major index is equidistributed with the number of inversions over all permutations of length $n$. In this paper, we study the distribution of the major index over pattern-avoiding permutations of length $n$. We focus on the number $M_n^m(Π)$ of permutations of length $n$ with major index $m$ and avoiding the set of patterns $Π$. First we are able to show that for a singleton set $Π= \{σ\}$ other than some trivial cases, the values $M_n^m(Π)$ are monotonic in the sense…
We propose a major index statistic on 01-fillings of moon polyominoes which, when specialized to certain shapes, reduces to the major index for permutations and set partitions. We consider the set F(M, s; A) of all 01-fillings of a moon polyomino M with given column sum s whose empty rows are A, and prove that this major index has the same distribution as the number of north-east chains, which are the natural extension of inversions (resp. crossings) for permutations (resp. set partitions). Hence our result generalizes the classical equidistribution results for the permutation statistics inv a…
In this paper we provide a bijective proof of a theorem of Garsia and Gessel describing the generating function of the major index over the set of all permutations of [n]={1,...,n} which are shuffles of given disjoint ordered sequences whose union is [n]. Two special cases are singled out: If the single element j is inserted into any permutation P of the remaining elements of [n], then the theorem states that inserting j into P increases the major index of P by some element of {0,1,...,n-1}, the increase determined uniquely by the index of insertion. We provide a direct proof of this fact usin…
We present refined enumeration formulas for lattice paths in $\mathbb{Z}^2$ with two kinds of steps, by keeping track of the number of descents (i.e., turns in a given direction), the major index (i.e., the sum of the positions of the descents), and the number of crossings. One formula considers crossings between a path and a fixed line; the other considers crossings between two paths. Building on the first paper of the series, which used lattice path bijections to give the enumeration with respect to major index and crossings, we obtain a refinement that keeps track of the number of descents.…
We consider the distribution of the major index on standard tableaux of arbitrary straight shape and certain skew shapes. We use cumulants to classify all possible limit laws for any sequence of such shapes in terms of a simple auxiliary statistic, aft, generalizing earlier results of Canfield--Janson--Zeilberger, Chen--Wang--Wang, and others. These results can be interpreted as giving a very precise description of the distribution of irreducible representations in different degrees of coinvariant algebras of certain complex reflection groups. We conclude with some conjectures concerning unimo…
We solve two problems regarding the enumeration of lattice paths in $\mathbb{Z}^2$ with steps $(1,1)$ and $(1,-1)$ with respect to the major index, defined as the sum of the positions of the valleys, and to the number of certain crossings. The first problem considers crossings of a single path with a fixed horizontal line. The second one counts pairs of paths with respect to the number of times they cross each other. Our proofs introduce lattice path bijections with convenient visual descriptions, and the answers are given by remarkably simple formulas involving $q$-binomial coefficients.
For a fixed positive integer n, let S_n denote the symmetric group of n! permutations on n symbols, and let maj(sigma) denote the major index of a permutation sigma. For positive integers k<m not greater than n and non-negative integers i and j, we give enumerative formulas for the cardinality of the set of permutations sigma in S_n with maj(sigma) congruent to i mod k and maj(sigma^(-1)) congruent to j mod m. When m divides n-1 and k divides n, we show that for all i,j, this cardinality equals (n!)/(km).
The study of permutation and partition statistics is a classical topic in enumerative combinatorics. The major index statistic on permutations was introduced a century ago by Percy MacMahon in his seminal works. In this extended abstract, we study the well-known generalization of the major index to standard Young tableaux. We present several new results. In one direction, we introduce and study two partial orders on the standard Young tableaux of a given partition shape, in analogy with the strong and weak Bruhat orders on permutations. The existence of such ranked poset structures allows us t…
We generalize a map by S. Mason regarding two combinatorial models for key polynomials, in a way that accounts for the major index. We also define similar variants of this map, that regards alternative models for the modified Macdonald polynomials at $t=0$, thus partially answer a question by J. Haglund. These maps imply certain uniqueness property regarding inversion-- and coinversion-free fillings, which allows us to generalize the notion of charge to a non-symmetric setting, thus answering a question by A. Lascoux. The analogous question in the symmetric setting proves a conjecture by K. Ne…
We use recurrences (alias difference equations) to prove the longstanding conjecture that the two most important permutation statistics, namely the number of inversions and the major index, are asymptotically joint-independently-normal. We even derive more-precise-than needed asymptotic formulas for the (normalized) mixed moments. This is the fully revised second edition, incorportating the many insightful comments of nine conscientious NON-anonymous referees listed under the authors' names. This article is exclusively published in the on-line journal "Personal Journal of Shalosh B. Ekhad and …
Closed forms for $f_{λ,i} (q) := \sum_{τ\in SYT(λ) : des(τ) = i} q^{maj(τ)}$, the distribution of the major index over standard Young tableaux of given shapes and specified number of descents, are established for a large collection of $λ$ and $i$. Of particular interest is the family that gives a positive answer to a question of Sagan and collaborators. All formulas established in the paper are unimodal, most by a result of Kirillov and Reshetikhin. Many can be identified as specializations of Schur functions via the Jacobi-Trudi identities. If the number of arguments is sufficiently large, it…
An open conjecture in pattern avoidance theory is that the distribution of the major index among 321-avoiding permutations is distributed unimodally. We construct a formula for this distribution, and in the case of 2 descents prove unimodality, with unimodality for 3 through 5 descents likely being little more complicated. The formula refines the $q$-analogue of the Frame-Robinson-Thrall hooklength formula for two-rowed partitions, and in the latter part of the paper we discuss another theorem of the same type, and further exploration toward this question. We also give observations on the anal…
In this research announcement we present a new q-analog of a classical formula for the exponential generating function of the Eulerian polynomials. The Eulerian polynomials enumerate permutations according to their number of descents or their number of excedances. Our q-Eulerian polynomials are the enumerators for the joint distribution of the excedance statistic and the major index. There is a vast literature on q-Eulerian polynomials which involve other combinations of Mahonian and Eulerian permutation statistics, but the combination of major index and excedance number seems to have been com…
A signed labeled forest is defined as a (plane) forest labeled by {1,2,..., n} along with minus signs associated to some vertices. Signed labeled forests can be viewed as an extension of signed permutations. We define the inversion number, the flag major index and the R-major index on signed labeled forests. They can be considered as type B analogues of the indices for labeled forests introduced by Bjorner and Wachs. The flag major index for signed labeled forests is based on the flag major index on signed permutations introduced by Adin and Roichman, whereas the R-major index for signed label…
We provide simple necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a standard Young tableau of a given shape and major index $r$ mod $n$, for all $r$. Our result generalizes the $r=1$ case due essentially to (1974) and proves a recent conjecture due to Sundaram (2016) for the $r=0$ case. A byproduct of the proof is an asymptotic equidistribution result for "almost all" shapes. The proof uses a representation-theoretic formula involving Ramanujan sums and normalized symmetric group character estimates. Further estimates involving "opposite" hook lengths are given which are well-adapted …
A specialisation of a transformation formula for multi-dimensional elliptic hypergeometric series is used to provide compact, non-determinantal formulae for the generating function with respect to the major index of standard Young tableaux of skew shapes of the form "staircase minus rectangle".
A new extension of the major index, defined in terms of Coxeter elements, is introduced. For the classical Weyl groups of type $B$, it is equidistributed with length. For more general wreath products it appears in an explicit formula for the Hilbert series of the (diagonal action) invariant algebra.
The generating functions of the major index and of the flag-major index, with each of the one-dimensional characters over the symmetric and hyperoctahedral group, respectively, have simple product formulas. In this paper, we give a factorial-type formula for the generating function of the D-major index with sign over the Weyl groups of type D. This completes a picture which is now known for all the classical Weyl groups.
We construct a bijection between 231-avoiding permutations and Dyck paths that sends the sum of the major index and the inverse major index of a 231-avoiding permutation to the major index of the corresponding Dyck path. Furthermore, we relate this bijection to others and exhibit a bistatistic on 231-avoiding permutations which is related to the q,t-Catalan numbers.
Reiner-Stanton-White defined the cyclic sieving phenomenon (CSP) associated to a finite cyclic group action and a polynomial. A key example arises from the length generating function for minimal length coset representatives of a parabolic quotient of a finite Coxeter group. In type A, this result can be phrased in terms of the natural cyclic action on words of fixed content. There is a natural notion of refinement for many CSP's. We formulate and prove a refinement, with respect to the major index statistic, of this CSP on words of fixed content by also fixing the cyclic descent type. The argu…
We give a new description of the flag major index, introduced by Adin and Roichman, by using a major index defined by Reiner. This allows us to establish a connection between an identity of Reiner and some more recent results due to Chow and Gessel. Furthermore we generalize the main identity of Chow and Gessel by computing the four-variate generating series of descents, major index, length, and number of negative entries over Coxeter groups of type $B$ and $D$.
Given a function defined over a parabolic subgroup of a Coxeter group, equidistributed with the length, we give a procedure to construct a function over the entire group, equidistributed with the length. Such a procedure permits to define functions equidistributed with the length in all the finite Coxeter groups. We can establish our results in the general setting of graded posets which satisfy some properties. These results apply to some known functions arising in Coxeter groups as the major index, the negative major index and the D-negative major index defined in type $A$, $B$ and $D$ respec…
In this paper, we construct bijections between Dyck paths, noncrossing partitions, and 231-avoiding permutations, which send the area statistic on Dyck paths to the inversion number on noncrossing partitions and on 231-avoiding permutations. This bijection has the additional property that it simultaneously sends the major index on Dyck paths to the sum of the major index and the inverse major index on noncrossing partitions and on 231-avoiding permutations, respectively. Moreover, we provide generalizations of these constructions to the group of signed permutations.
In this paper, we firstly extend a result of Bonin, Shapiro and Simion by giving the distribution of the major index over generalized Schröder paths. Then by providing a bijection between generalized Schröder paths and row-increasing tableaux of skew shapes with two rows, we obtain the distribution of the major index and the amajor index over these tableaux, which extends a result of Du, Fan and Zhao. We also generalize a result of Pechenik and give the distribution of the major index over increasing tableaux of skew shapes with two rows. Especially, a bijection from row-increasing tableaux wi…
Natural q analogues of classical statistics on the symmetric groups $S_n$ are introduced; parameters like: the q-length, the q-inversion number, the q-descent number and the q-major index. MacMahon's theorem about the equi-distribution of the inversion number and the reverse major index is generalized to all positive integers q. It is also shown that the q-inversion number and the q-reverse major index are equi-distributed over subsets of permutations avoiding certain patterns. Natural q analogues of the Bell and the Stirling numbers are related to these q statistics -- through the counting of…
Foata and Zeilberger defined the graphical major index, $\mathrm{maj}'_U$, and the graphical inversion index, $\mathrm{inv}'_U$, for words. These statistics are a generalization of the classical permutation statistics $\mathrm{maj}$ and $\mathrm{inv}$ indexed by directed graphs $U$. They showed that $\mathrm{maj}'_U$ and $\mathrm{inv}'_U$ are equidistributed over all rearrangement classes if and only if $U$ is bipartitional. In this paper we strengthen their result by showing that if $\mathrm{maj}'_U$ and $\mathrm{inv}'_U$ are equidistributed on a single rearrangement class then $U$ is essenti…
Recently Petersen defined a new Mahonian index sor over the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$ and proved that $(\text{inv}, \text{rlmin})$ and $(\text{sor}, \text{cyc})$ have the same joint distribution. Foata and Han proved that the pairs of set-valued statistics $(\text{Cyc}, \text{Rmil}), (\text{Cyc}, \text{Lmap}), (\text{Rmil}, \text{Lmap})$ have the same joint distribution over $\mathfrak{S}_n$. In this paper we introduce the set-valued statistics $\text{Inv}, \text{Lmil}, \text{Sor}$ and $\text{Lmicycl}_1$ and generalize simultaneously results of Petersen and Foata-Han and find many equid…
We introduce and study three new statistics on the hyperoctahedral group $B_{n}$, and show that they give two generalizations of Carlitz's identity for the descent number and major index over $S_{n}$. This answers a question posed by Foata.
A classical result of MacMahon gives a simple product formula for the generating function of major index over the symmetric group. A similar factorial-type product formula for the generating function of major index together with sign was given by Gessel and Simion. Several extensions are given in this paper, including a recurrence formula, a specialization at roots of unity and type $B$ analogues.
Savage and Sagan have recently defined a notion of st-Wilf equivalence for any permutation statistic st and any two sets of permutations $Π$ and $Π'$. In this paper we give a thorough investigation of st-Wilf equivalence for the charge statistic on permutations and use a bijection between the charge statistic and the major index to prove a conjecture of Dokos, Dwyer, Johnson, Sagan and Selsor regarding powers of 2 and the major index.
Recently O. Pechenik studied the cyclic sieving of increasing tableaux of shape $2\times n$, and obtained a polynomial on the major index of these tableaux, which is a $q$-analogue of refined small Schröder numbers. We define row-increasing tableaux and study the major index and amajor index of row-increasing tableaux of shape $2 \times n$. The resulting polynomials are both $q$-analogues of refined large Schröder numbers. For both results we give bijective proofs.
We study the distribution of the major index with sign on some parabolic quotients of the symmetric group, extending and generalizing simultaneously results Gessel-Simion and Adin-Gessel-Roichman, and on some special trees that we call rakes. We further consider and compute the distribution of the flag-major index on some parabolic quotients of wreath products and other related groups. All these distributions turn out to have very simple factorization formulas.
We show that the distribution of the major index over the set of involutions in S_n that avoid the pattern 321 is given by the q-analogue of the n-th central binomial coefficient. The proof consists of a composition of three non-trivial bijections, one being the Robinson-Schensted correspondence, ultimately mapping those involutions with major index m into partitions of m whose Young diagram fits inside an n/2 by n/2 box. We also obtain a refinement that keeps track of the descent set, and we deduce an analogous result for the comajor index of 123-avoiding involutions.
Björner and Wachs defined a major index for labeled plane forests and showed that it has the same distribution as the number of inversions. We define and study the distributions of a few other natural statistics on labeled forests. Specifically, we introduce the notions of bottom-to-top maxima, cyclic bottom-to-top maxima, sorting index, and cycle minima. Then we show that the pairs (inv, Bt-max), (sor, Cyc), and (maj, Cbt-max) are equidistributed. Our results extend the result of Björner and Wachs and generalize results for permutations. We also introduce analogous statistics for signed label…
We give a simple proof of a major index determinant formula in the symmetric group discovered by Krattenthaler and first proved by Thibon using noncommutative symmetric functions. We do so by proving a factorization of an element in the group ring of the symmetric group. By applying similar methods to the groups of signed permutations and colored permutations, we prove determinant formulas in these groups as conjectured by Krattenthaler.
In 2018 Coll, Mayers, and Mayers conjectured that the $q$-series $( q, -q^3; q^4 )_\infty^{-1}$ is the generating function for a certain parity statistic related to the index of seaweed algebras. We prove this conjecture. Thanks to earlier work by Seo and Yee, the conjecture would follow from the non-negativity of the coefficients of this infinite product. Using a variant of the circle method along with Euler-Maclaurin summation, we establish this non-negativity, thereby confirming the Coll-Mayers-Mayers Conjecture.
Consider S_n, the symmetric group on n letters, and let maj pi denote the major index of a permutation pi in S_n. Given positive integers k,l and nonnegative integers i,j, define m_n^{k,l}(i,j) := number of pi in S_n such that maj pi = i (mod k) and maj pi^{-1} = j (mod l). We prove bijectively that if k,l are relatively prime and at most n then m_n^{k,l}(i,j) = n!/(kl) which, surprisingly, does not depend on i and j. Equivalently, if m_n^{k,l}(i,j) is interpreted as the (i,j)-entry of a matrix m_n^{k,l}, then this is a constant matrix under the stated conditions. This bijection is extended to…
The alternating descent statistic on permutations was introduced by Chebikin as a variant of the descent statistic. We show that the alternating descent polynomials on permutations are unimodal via a five-term recurrence relation. We also found a quadratic recursion for the alternating major index $q$-analog of the alternating descent polynomials. As an interesting application of this quadratic recursion, we show that $(1+q)^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor}$ divides $\sum_{π\in\mathfrak{S}_n}q^{\rm{altmaj}(π)}$, where $\mathfrak{S}_n$ is the set of all permutations of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ and $\rm{altmaj}(π…
We count the finitely generated subgroups of the modular group $\textsf{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$. More precisely: each such subgroup $H$ can be represented by its Stallings graph $Γ(H)$, we consider the number of vertices of $Γ(H)$ to be the size of $H$ and we count the subgroups of size $n$. Since an index $n$ subgroup has size $n$, our results generalize the known results on the enumeration of the finite index subgroups of $\textsf{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$. We give asymptotic equivalents for the number of finitely generated subgroups of $\textsf{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$, as well as of the number of finite …
