Which combinatorial sequences correspond to moments of probability measures on the real line? We present a generating function, in the form of a continued fraction, for a fourteen-parameter family of such sequences and interpret these in terms of combinatorial statistics on the symmetric groups. Special cases include several classical and noncommutative probability laws, along with a substantial subset of the orthogonalizing measures in the q-Askey scheme, now given a new combinatorial interpretation in terms of elementary permutation statistics. This framework further captures a variety of interesting combinatorial sequences including, notably, the moment sequences associated to distributions of the numbers of occurrences of (classical and vincular) permutation patterns of length three. This connection between pattern avoidance and broader ideas in classical and noncommutative probability is among several intriguing new corollaries, which generalize and unify results previously appearing in the literature, while opening up new lines of inquiry. The fourteen combinatorial statistics further generalize to signed and colored permutations, and, as an infinite family of statistics, to the k-arrangements: permutations with k-colored fixed points, introduced here along with several related results and conjectures.
The exponential functional of simple, symmetric random walks with negative drift is an infinite polynomial $Y = 1 + ξ_1 + ξ_1 ξ_2 + ξ_1 ξ_2 ξ_3 + ...$ of independent and identically distributed non-negative random variables. It has moments that are rational functions of the variables $μ_k = \ev(ξ^k) < 1$ with universal coefficients. It turns out that such a coefficient is equal to the number of permutations with descent set defined by the multiindex of the coefficient. A recursion enumerates all numbers of permutations with given descent sets in the form of a Pascal-type triangle.
We study statistical properties of the random variables $X_σ(π)$, the number of occurrences of the pattern $σ$ in the permutation $π$. We present two contrasting approaches to this problem: traditional probability theory and the ``less traditional'' computational approach. Through the perspective of the first one, we prove that for any pair of patterns $σ$ and $τ$, the random variables $X_σ$ and $X_τ$ are jointly asymptotically normal (when the permutation is chosen from $S_{n}$). From the other perspective, we develop algorithms that can show asymptotic normality and joint asymptotic normalit…
We use moment method to understand the cycle structure of the composition of independent invariant permutations. We prove that under a good control on fixed points and cycles of length 2, the limiting joint distribution of the number of small cycles is the same as in the uniform case i.e. for any positive integer k, the number of cycles of length k converges to the Poisson distribution with parameter 1/k and is asymptotically independent of the number of cycles of length k' different from k.
We show that if a permutation statistic can be written as a linear combination of bivincular patterns, then its moments can be expressed as a linear combination of factorials with constant coefficients. This generalizes a result of Zeilberger. We use an approach of Chern, Diaconis, Kane and Rhoades, previously applied on set partitions and matchings. In addition, we give a new proof of the central limit theorem (CLT) for the number of occurrences of classical patterns, which uses a lemma of Burstein and Hasto. We give a simple interpretation of this lemma and an analogous lemma that would impl…
The purpose of this article is to present a general method to find limiting laws for some renormalized statistics on random permutations. The model considered here is Ewens sampling model, which generalizes uniform random permutations. We describe the asymptotic behavior of a large family of statistics, including the number of occurrences of any given dashed pattern. Our approach is based on the method of moments and relies on the following intuition: two events involving the images of different integers are almost independent.
This paper studies the asymptotic distribution of descents $\des(w)$ in a permutation $w$, and its inverse, distributed according to the Mallows measure. The Mallows measure is a non-uniform probability measure on permutations introduced to study ranked data. Under this measure, permutations are weighted according to the number of inversions they contain, with the weighting controlled by a parameter $q$. The main results are a Berry-Esseen theorem for $\des(w)+\des(w^{-1})$ as well as a joint central limit theorem for $(\des(w),\des(w^{-1}))$ to a bivariate normal with a non-trivial correlatio…
The Mallows measure is a probability measure on $S_n$ where the probability of a permutation $π$ is proportional to $q^{l(π)}$ with $q > 0$ being a parameter and $l(π)$ the number of inversions in $π$. We prove a weak law of large numbers for the length of the longest common subsequences of two independent permutations drawn from the Mallows measure, when $q$ is a function of $n$ and $n(1-q)$ has limit in $\mathbb{R}$ as $n \to \infty$.
The explicit double sum for the associated Laguerre polynomials is derived combinatorially. The moments are described using certain statistics on permutations and permutation tableaux. Another derivation of the double sum is provided using only the moment generating function.
Let $π$ be a permutation of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$. If we identify a permutation with its graph, namely the set of $n$ dots at positions $(i,π(i))$, it is natural to consider the minimum $L^1$ (Manhattan) distance, $d(π)$, between any pair of dots. The paper computes the expected value (and higher moments) of $d(π)$ when $n\rightarrow\infty$ and $π$ is chosen uniformly, and settles a conjecture of Bevan, Homberger and Tenner (motivated by permutation patterns), showing that when $d$ is fixed and $n\rightarrow\infty$, the probability that $d(π)\geq d+2$ tends to $e^{-d^2 - d}$. The minimum jump $mj…
In this paper we outline a Matrix Ansatz approach to some problems of combinatorial enumeration. The idea is that many interesting quantities can be expressed in terms of products of matrices, where the matrices obey certain relations. We illustrate this approach with applications to moments of orthogonal polynomials, permutations, signed permutations, and tableaux.
The Mallows measure is measure on permutations which was introduced by Mallows in connection with ranking problems in statistics. Under this measure, the probability of a permutation $π$ is proportional to $q^{Inv(π)}$ where $q$ is a positive parameter and $Inv(π)$ is the number of inversions in $π$. We consider the length of the longest common subsequence (LCS) of two independently permutations drawn according to $μ_{n,q}$ and $μ_{n,q'}$ for some $q,q' >0$. We show that when $0<q,q'<1$, the limiting law of the LCS is Gaussian. In the regime that $n(1-q) \to \infty$ and $n(1-q') \to \infty$ we…
In this note we investigate correlation inequalities for `up-sets' of permutations, in the spirit of the Harris--Kleitman inequality. We focus on two well-studied partial orders on $S_n$, giving rise to differing notions of up-sets. Our first result shows that, under the strong Bruhat order on $S_n$, up-sets are positively correlated (in the Harris--Kleitman sense). Thus, for example, for a (uniformly) random permutation $π$, the event that no point is displaced by more than a fixed distance $d$ and the event that $π$ is the product of at most $k$ adjacent transpositions are positively correla…
For a fixed permutation $σ\in S_k$, let $N_σ$ denote the function which counts occurrences of $σ$ as a pattern in permutations from $S_n$. We study the expected value (and $d$-th moments) of $N_σ$ on conjugacy classes of $S_n$ and prove that the irreducible character support of these class functions stabilizes as $n$ grows. This says that there is a single polynomial in the variables $n, m_1, \ldots, m_{dk}$ which computes these moments on any conjugacy class (of cycle type $1^{m_1}2^{m_2}\cdots$) of any symmetric group. This result generalizes results of Hultman and of Gill, who proved the ca…
A small set of combinatorial sequences have coefficients that can be represented as moments of a nonnegative measure on $[0, \infty)$. Such sequences are known as Stieltjes moment sequences. This article focuses on some classical sequences in enumerative combinatorics, denoted $Av(\mathcal{P})$, and counting permutations of $\{1, 2, \ldots, n \}$ that avoid some given pattern $\mathcal{P}$. For increasing patterns $\mathcal{P}=(12\ldots k)$, we recall that the corresponding sequences, $Av(123\ldots k)$, are Stieltjes moment sequences, and we explicitly find the underlying density function, eit…
We explore the asymptotic distributions of sequences of integer-valued additive functions defined on the symmetric group endowed with the Ewens probability measure as the order of the group increases. Applying the method of factorial moments, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the weak convergence of distributions to discrete laws. More attention is paid to the Poisson limit distribution. The particular case of the number-of-cycles with restricted lengths function is analyzed in more detail. The results can be applied to statistics defined on random permutation matrices.
In this article, we define and study a geometry and an order on the set of partitions of an even number of objects. One of the definitions involves the partition algebra, a structure of algebra on the set of such partitions depending on an integer parameter N. Then we emulate the theory of random matrices in a combinatorial framework: for any parameter N, we introduce a family of linear forms on the partition algebras which allows us to define a notion of weak convergence similar to the convergence in moments in random matrices theory. A renormalization of the partition algebras allows us to c…
In this paper we study the degree sequence of the permutation graph $G_{π_n}$ associated with a sequence $π_n\in S_n$ of random permutations. Joint limiting distributions of the degrees are established using results from graph and permutation limit theories. In particular, for the uniform random permutation, the joint distribution of the degrees of the vertices labelled $\lceil nr_1 \rceil, \lceil nr_2 \rceil, \ldots, \lceil nr_s \rceil$ converges (after scaling by $n$) to independent random variables $D_1, D_2, \ldots, D_s$, where $D_i\sim \text{Unif}(r_i, 1-r_i)$, for $r_i\in [0,1]$ and $i\i…
We consider Gibbs distributions on permutations of a locally finite infinite set $X\subset\mathbb{R}$, where a permutation $σ$ of $X$ is assigned (formal) energy $\sum_{x\in X}V(σ(x)-x)$. This is motivated by Feynman's path representation of the quantum Bose gas; the choice $X:=\mathbb{Z}$ and $V(x):=αx^2$ is of principal interest. Under suitable regularity conditions on the set $X$ and the potential $V$, we establish existence and a full classification of the infinite-volume Gibbs measures for this problem, including a result on the number of infinite cycles of typical permutations. Unlike ea…
We find a combinatorial formula for the Haar measure of quantum permutation groups. This leads to a dynamic formula for laws of diagonal coefficients, explaining the Poisson/free Poisson convergence result for characters.
We construct an explicit Hopf algebra isomorphism from the algebra of heap-ordered trees to that of quasi-symmetric functions, generated by formal permutations, which is a lift of the natural projection of the Connes-Kreimer algebra of decorated rooted trees onto the shuffle algebra. This isomorphism gives a universal way of lifting measure-indexed characters of the Connes-Kreimer algebra into measure-indexed characters of the shuffle algebra, already introduced in \cite{Unterberger} in the framework of rough path theory as the so-called Fourier normal ordering algorithm.
We define a transformation that associates certain exponential moment sequences with ordinary moment sequences in a natural way. The ingredients of this transformation are series reversion, the Sumudu transform (a variant of the Laplace transform), and the inverting of generating functions. This transformation also has a simple interpretation in terms of continued fractions. It associates lattice path objects with permutation objects, and in particular it associates the Narayana triangle with the Eulerian triangle.
We have made a systematic numerical study of the 16 Wilf classes of length-5 classical pattern-avoiding permutations from their generating function coefficients. We have extended the number of known coefficients in fourteen of the sixteen classes. Careful analysis, including sequence extension, has allowed us to estimate the growth constant of all classes, and in some cases to estimate the sub-dominant power-law term associated with the exponential growth. In six of the sixteen classes we find the familiar power-law behaviour, so that the coefficients behave like $s_n \sim C \cdot μ^n \cdot n^…
We point out that a geometric measure of quantum entanglement is related to the matrix permanent when restricted to permutation invariant states. This connection allows us to interpret the permanent as an angle between vectors. By employing a recently introduced permanent inequality by Carlen, Loss and Lieb, we can prove explicit formulas of the geometric measure for permutation invariant basis states in a simple way.
Motivated by the problem of constructing bijective maps with low differential uniformity, we introduce the notion of permutation resemblance of a function, which looks to measure the distance a given map is from being a permutation. We prove several results concerning permutation resemblance and show how it can be used to produce low differentially uniform bijections. We also study the permutation resemblance of planar functions, which over fields of odd characteristic are known not to be bijections and to have the optimal differential uniformity.
By algebraic group theory, there is a map from the semisimple conjugacy classes of a finite group of Lie type to the conjugacy classes of the Weyl group. Picking a semisimple class uniformly at random yields a probability measure on conjugacy classes of the Weyl group. Using the Brauer complex, it is proved that this measure agrees with a second measure on conjugacy classes of the Weyl group induced by a construction of Cellini using the affine Weyl group. Formulas for Cellini's measure in type $A$ are found. This leads to new models of card shuffling and has interesting combinatorial and numb…
