Let $k$ be a nonnegative integer, and let $α$ and $β$ be two permutations of $n$ symbols. We say that $α$ and $β$ $k$-commute if $H(αβ, βα)=k$, where $H$ denotes the Hamming metric between permutations. In this paper, we consider the problem of finding the permutations that $k$-commute with a given permutation. Our main result is a characterization of permutations that $k$-commute with a given permutation $β$ in terms of blocks in cycles in the decomposition of $β$ as a product of disjoint cycles. Using this characterization, we provide formulas for the number of permutations that $k$-commute with a transposition, a fixed-point free involution and an $n$-cycle, for any $k$. Also, we determine the number of permutations that $k$-commute with any given permutation, for $k \leq 4$.
The problem of finding graph structure of functions commuting with a given function in terms of their functional graphs is considered. Structure of functional graphs of commuting functions is described. The problem is reduced to describing graph homomorphisms of weakly connected components of functional graphs. Four subcases with finite sets are considered: permutations commuting with permutation, permutations commuting with a function, functions commuting with a permutation and functions commuting with a function. For finite sets the number of functions commuting with a given one and function…
We prove a formal power series identity, relating the arithmetic sum-of-divisors function to commuting triples of permutations. This establishes a conjecture of Franklin T. Adams-Watters.
Let $β$ be any permutation on $n$ symbols and let $c(k, β)$ be the number of permutations that $k$-commute with $β$. The cycle type of a permutation $β$ is a vector $(c_1, \dots, c_n)$ such that $β$ has exactly $c_i$ cycles of length $i$ in its disjoint cycle factorization. In this article we obtain formulas for $c(k, β)$, for some cycle types. We also express these formulas in terms of integer sequences as given in "The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences" (OEIS). For some of these sequences we obtain either new interpretations or relationships with sequences in the OEIS database.
In this paper we study the cycle descent statistic on permutations. Several involutions on permutations and derangements are constructed. Moreover, we construct a bijection between negative cycle descent permutations and Callan perfect matchings.
In this paper we provide a unified combinatorial approach to establish a connection between Stirling permutations, cycle structures of permutations and perfect matchings. The main tool of our investigations is MY-sequences. In particular, we discover that the Eulerian polynomials have a simple combinatorial interpretation in terms of some statistics on MY-sequences.
A universal cycle for permutations of length $n$ is a cyclic word or permutation, any factor of which is order-isomorphic to exactly one permutation of length $n$, and containing all permutations of length $n$ as factors. It is well known that universal cycles for permutations of length $n$ exist. However, all known ways to construct such cycles are rather complicated. For example, in the original paper establishing the existence of the universal cycles, constructing such a cycle involves finding an Eulerian cycle in a certain graph and then dealing with partially ordered sets. In this paper, …
Universal cycle for $k$-permutations is a cyclic arrangement in which each $k$-permutation appears exactly once as $k$ consecutive elements. Enumeration problem of universal cycles for $k$-permutations is discussed and one new enumerating method is proposed in this paper. Accurate enumerating formulae are provided when $k=2,3$.
We count the number of occurrences of restricted patterns of length 3 in permutations with respect to length and the number of cycles. The main tool is a bijection between permutations in standard cycle form and weighted Motzkin paths.
A permutation is defined to be cycle-up-down if it is a product of cycles that, when written starting with their smallest element, have an up-down pattern. We prove bijectively and analytically that these permutations are enumerated by the Euler numbers, and we study the distribution of some statistics on them, as well as on up-down permutations, on all permutations, and on a generalization of cycle-up-down permutations. The statistics include the number of cycles of even and odd length, the number of left-to-right minima, and the number of extreme elements.
We discuss both simple and more subtle connections between the numbers of permutations and full cycles with some restrictions,in particular, between the numbers of permutations and full cycles with prescribed up-down structure.
We introduce a new permutation statistic, namely, the number of cycles of length $q$ consisting of consecutive integers, and consider the distribution of this statistic among the permutations of $\{1,2,...,n\}$. We determine explicit formulas, recurrence relations, and ordinary and exponential generating functions. A generalization to more than one fixed length is also considered.
The density, denoted by $κ(n,r)$, of permutations having no cycles of length less than $r+1$ in a symmetric group $\mathrm{S}_n$ is explored. New asymptotic formulas for $κ(n,r)$ are obtained using the saddle-point method when $5\leq r< n$ and $n\to\infty$.
A universal cycle for permutations is a word of length n! such that each of the n! possible relative orders of n distinct integers occurs as a cyclic interval of the word. We show how to construct such a universal cycle in which only n+1 distinct integers are used. This is best possible and proves a conjecture of Chung, Diaconis and Graham.
We prove bijectively that the total number of cycles of all even permutations of $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$ and the total number of cycles of all odd permutations of $[n]$ differ by $(-1)^n(n-2)!$, which was stated as an open problem by Miklós Bóna. We also prove bijectively the following more general identity: $$\sum_{i=1}^n c(n,i)\cdot i \cdot (-k)^{i-1} = (-1)^k k! (n-k-1)!,$$ where $c(n,i)$ denotes the number of permutations of $[n]$ with $i$ cycles.
This paper initiates the study of shortening universal cycles (u-cycles) and universal words (u-words) for permutations either by using incomparable elements, or by using non-deterministic symbols. The latter approach is similar in nature to the recent relevant studies for the de Bruijn sequences. A particular result we obtain in this paper is that u-words for $n$-permutations exist of lengths $n!+(1-k)(n-1)$ for $k=0,1,\ldots,(n-2)!$.
In this paper, we characterize and enumerate pattern-avoiding permutations composed of only 3-cycles. In particular, we answer the question for the six patterns of length 3. We find that the number of permutations composed of $n$ 3-cycles that avoid the pattern 231 (equivalently 312) is given by $3^{n-1}$, while the generating function for the number of those that avoid the pattern 132 (equivalently 213) is given by a formula involving the generating functions for the well-known Motzkin numbers and Catalan numbers. The number of permutations composed of $n$ 3-cycles that avoid the pattern 321 …
The graph of overlapping permutations is a directed graph that is an analogue to the De Bruijn graph. It consists of vertices that are permutations of length $n$ and edges that are permutations of length $n+1$ in which an edge $a_1\cdots a_{n+1}$ would connect the standardization of $a_1\cdots a_n$ to the standardization of $a_2\cdots a_{n+1}$. We examine properties of this graph to determine where directed cycles can exist, to count the number of directed $2$-cycles within the graph, and to enumerate the vertices that are contained within closed walks and directed cycles of more general lengt…
The goal of this paper is to solve Problem 481 from the list of research problems in the special issue of Discrete Mathematics dedicated to the Banff International Research Station workshop on "Generalizations of de Bruijn Cycles and Gray Codes" in 2004. Overlap cycles are generalizations of de Bruijn cycles and Gray codes that were introduced originally in 2010 by Godbole et al. In this paper we prove that s-overlap cycles for k-permutations of [n] exist for all k<n.
Let G be a finite group. Let pi be a permutation from S{n}. We study the distribution of probabilities of equality a{1} a{2} ...a{n-1}a{n}=a{pi{1}}^{epsilon{1}} a{pi_{2}}^{epsilon{2}}...a{pi{n-1}}^{epsilon_{n-1}} a_{pi_{n}}^{epsilon{n}}, when pi varies over all the permutations in S{n}, and epsilon{i} varies over the set {+1, -1}. By the paper "Hultman Numbers and Generalized Commuting Probability in Finite Groups" (2017), The case where all epsilon{i} are +1 led to a close connection to Hultman numbers. In this paper we generalize the results, permitting epsilon{i} to be -1. We describe the s…
We prove that the Mahonian-Stirling pairs of permutation statistics $(\sor, \cyc)$ and $(\inv, \mathrm{rlmin})$ are equidistributed on the set of permutations that correspond to arrangements of $n$ non-atacking rooks on a Ferrers board with $n$ rows and $n$ columns. The proofs are combinatorial and use bijections between matchings and Dyck paths and a new statistic, sorting index for matchings, that we define. We also prove a refinement of this equidistribution result which describes the minimal elements in the permutation cycles and the right-to-left minimum letters. Moreover, we define a sor…
Answering a question of Bona, it is shown that for n>1 the probability that 1 and 2 are in the same cycle of a product of two n-cycles on the set {1,2,...,n} is 1/2 if n is odd and 1/2 - 2/(n-1){n+2) if n is even. Another result concerns the generating function P_h(q) for the number of cycles of the product (1,2,...,n)w, where w ranges over all permutations of 1,2,...,n of cycle type h. A formula is obtained for P_h(q) from which it is proved that the zeros of P_h(q) have real part 0.
Let $γ_n$ be the permutation on $n$ symbols defined by $γ_n = (1\ 2\...\ n)$. We are interested in an enumerative problem on colored permutations, that is permutations $β$ of $n$ in which the numbers from 1 to $n$ are colored with $p$ colors such that two elements in a same cycle have the same color. We show that the proportion of colored permutations such that $γ_n β^{-1}$ is a long cycle is given by the very simple ratio $\frac{1}{n- p+1}$. Our proof is bijective and uses combinatorial objects such as partitioned hypermaps and thorn trees. This formula is actually equivalent to the proportio…
For a fixed prime $p$, we consider a filtration of the commuting complex of elements of order $p$ in the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$. The filtration is obtained by imposing successively relaxed bounds on the number of disjoint $p$-cycles in the cycle decomposition of the elements. We show that each term in the filtration becomes highly acyclic as $n$ increases. We use $\mathbf{FI}$-modules in the proof.
We study the mixing properties of permutations obtained as a product of two uniformly random permutations of fixed cycle types. For instance, we give an exact formula for the probability that elements $1,2,...,k$ are in distinct cycles of the random permutation of $\{1,2,...,n\}$ obtained as product of two uniformly random $n$-cycles.
The graph of overlapping permutations is defined in a way analogous to the De Bruijn graph on strings of symbols. That is, for every permutation $π= π_{1} π_{2} ... π_{n+1}$ there is a directed edge from the standardization of $π_{1} π_{2} ... π_{n}$ to the standardization of $π_{2} π_{3} ... π_{n+1}$. We give a formula for the number of cycles of length $d$ in the subgraph of overlapping 312-avoiding permutations. Using this we also give a refinement of the enumeration of 312-avoiding affine permutations and point out some open problems on this graph, which so far has been little studied.
In 1986 S. Sattolo introduced a simple algorithm for uniform random generation of cyclic permutations on a fixed number of symbols. This algorithm is very similar to the standard method for generating a random permutation, but is less well known. We consider both methods in a unified way, and discuss their relation with exhaustive generation methods. We analyse several random variables associated with the algorithms and find their grand probability generating functions, which gives easy access to moments and limit laws.
Recently, Lazar and Wachs (arXiv:1910.07651) showed that the (median) Genocchi numbers play a fundamental role in the study of the homogenized Linial arrangement and obtained two new permutation models (called D-permutations and E-permutations) for (median) Genocchi numbers. They further conjecture that the distributions of cycle numbers over the two models are equal. In a follow-up, Eu et al. (arXiv:2103.09130) further proved the gamma-positivity of the descent polynomials of even-odd descent permutations, which are in bijection with E-permutations by Foata's fundamental transformation. This …
Springer numbers are an analog of Euler numbers for the group of signed permutations. Arnol'd showed that they count some objects called snakes, that generalize alternating permutations. Hoffman established a link between Springer numbers, snakes, and some polynomials related with the successive derivatives of trigonometric functions. The goal of this article is to give further combinatorial properties of derivative polynomials, in terms of snakes and other objects: cycle-alternating permutations, weighted Dyck or Motzkin paths, increasing trees and forests. We obtain the generating functions,…
We study joint distributions of cycles and patterns in permutations written in standard cycle form. We explore both classical and generalised patterns of length 2 and 3. Many extensions of classical theory are achieved; bivariate generating functions for inversions, ascents, descents, 123s, valleys, 1'-2-1s; closed forms forms for avoidance of peaks, 2-3-1s, 1-2-3s, 2'-1-2s and 1'-2-1s; bijective proofs of Wilf-equivalences. We also derive some results about standard pattern occurrence, such as continued fractions for the generating functions for occurrences of valleys and the pattern 123. The…
In this paper, we enumerate the pairs of permutations that are long cycles and whose product has a given cycle-type. Our main result is a simple relation concerning the desired numbers for a few related cycle-types. The relation refines a formula of the number of pairs of long cycles whose product has $k$ cycles independently obtained by Zagier and Stanley relying on group characters, and was previously obtained by Féray and Vassilieva by counting some colored permutations first and then relying on some algebraic computations in the ring of symmetric functions. Our approach here is simpler and…
Cycle structures and parities of linearized permutation polynomials
KLMM, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院数学与系统科学研究院）；Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics, Hubei University（湖北大学数学与统计学院）
We introduce a new approach to an enumerative problem closely linked with the geometry of branched coverings; that is, we study the number of ways a permutation can be decomposed into a product of a given number of 2-cycles, 3-cycles, etc. with certain minimality and transitivity conditions imposed on the factors. The method is to encode such factorizations as planar maps with certain "descent structure" and apply a new combinatorial decomposition to make their enumeration more manageable. We apply our technique to count factorizations of permutations with one or two parts, extending earlier w…
We characterize the class of cycle decompositions that can achieve all Young tableau shapes (except the trivial ones with a single row or a single column) under the Robinson--Schensted--Knuth (RSK) correspondence, a property that we call RSK-completeness. We prove that for even $n$, cyclic permutations comprise the only fixed cycle decomposition that is RSK-complete. For odd $n$, cyclic permutations and almost cyclic permutations which have a cycle of length $n-1$ are the only RSK-complete cycle decompositions.
In this paper we adapt techniques used by Ahlswede and Khachatrian in their proof of the Complete Erdős-Ko-Rado Theorem to show that if $n \geq 2t+1$, then any pairwise $t$-cycle-intersecting family of permutations has cardinality less than or equal to $(n-t)!$. Furthermore, the only families attaining this size are the stabilizers of $t$ points, that is, families consisting of all permutations having $t$ 1-cycles in common. This is a strengthening of a previous result of Ku and Renshaw and supports a recent conjecture by Ellis, Friedgut and Pilpel concerning the corresponding bound for $t$-in…
The cycle polynomial of a finite permutation group $G$ is the generating function for the number of elements of $G$ with a given number of cycles: \[F_G(x) = \sum_{g\in G}x^{c(g)},\] where $c(g)$ is the number of cycles of $g$ on $Ω$. In the first part of the paper, we develop basic properties of this polynomial, and give a number of examples. In the 1970s, Richard Stanley introduced the notion of reciprocity for pairs of combinatorial polynomials. We show that, in a considerable number of cases, there is a polynomial in the reciprocal relation to the cycle polynomial of $G$; this is the orbit…
In this paper, we first present combinatorial proofs of a kind of expansions of the Eulerian polynomials of types A and B, and then we introduce Stirling permutations of the second kind. In particular, we count Stirling permutations of the second kind by their cycle ascent plateaus, fixed points and cycles.
Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ vertices, labeled $v_1,\ldots,v_n$ and $π$ be a permutation on $[n]:=\{1,2,\cdots, n\}$. Suppose that each pebble $p_i$ is placed at vertex $v_{π(i)}$ and has destination $v_i$. During each step, a disjoint set of edges is selected and the pebbles on each edge are swapped. Let $rt(G, π)$, the routing number for $π$, be the minimum number of steps necessary for the pebbles to reach their destinations. Li, Lu, and Yang prove that $rt(C_n, π)\le n-1$ for any permutation on $n$-cycle $C_n$ and conjecture that for $n \geq 5$, if $rt(C_n, π) = n-1$, then $π= (123\cdots n)$ …
We investigate the typical cycle lengths, the total number of cycles, and the number of finite cycles in random permutations whose probability involves cycle weights. Typical cycle lengths and total number of cycles depend strongly on the parameters, while the distributions of finite cycles are usually independent Poisson random variables.
