A generic rectangulation is a partition of a rectangle into finitely many interior-disjoint rectangles, such that no four rectangles meet in a point. In this work we present a versatile algorithmic framework for exhaustively generating a large variety of different classes of generic rectangulations. Our algorithms work under very mild assumptions, and apply to a large number of rectangulation classes known from the literature, such as generic rectangulations, diagonal rectangulations, 1-sided/area-universal, block-aligned rectangulations, and their guillotine variants, including aspect-ratio-universal rectangulations. They also apply to classes of rectangulations that are characterized by avoiding certain patterns, and in this work we initiate a systematic investigation of pattern avoidance in rectangulations. Our generation algorithms are efficient, in some cases even loopless or constant amortized time, i.e., each new rectangulation is generated in constant time in the worst case or on average, respectively. Moreover, the Gray codes we obtain are cyclic, and sometimes provably optimal, in the sense that they correspond to a Hamilton cycle on the skeleton of an underlying polytope. These results are obtained by encoding rectangulations as permutations, and by applying our recently developed permutation language framework.
A family of permutations called 2-clumped permutations forms a basis for a sub-Hopf algebra of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations. The 2-clumped permutations are in bijection with certain decompositions of a square into rectangles, called generic rectangulations. Thus, we can describe the Hopf algebra of 2-clumped permutations using generic rectangulations (we call this isomorphic Hopf algebra the Hopf algebra of generic rectangulations). In this paper, we describe the cover relations in a lattice of generic rectangulations that is a lattice quotient of the right weak order …
We define a family of combinatorial objects, which we call Baxter posets. We prove that Baxter posets are counted by the Baxter numbers by showing that they are the adjacency posets of diagonal rectangulations. Given a diagonal rectangulation, we describe the cover relations in the associated Baxter poset. Given a Baxter poset, we describe a method for obtaining the associated Baxter permutation and the associated twisted Baxter permutation.
We develop a recursive formula for counting the number of rectangulations of a square, i.e the number of combinatorially distinct tilings of a square by rectangles. Our formula specializes to give a formula counting generic rectangulations, as analyzed by Reading in [5]. Our computations agree with [5] as far as was calculated and extend to the non-generic case. An interesting feature of the number of rectangulations is that it appears to have an 8-fold periodicity modulo 2. We verify this periodicity for small values of n, but the general result remains elusive, perhaps hinting at some unseen…
In this work we present a general and versatile algorithmic framework for exhaustively generating a large variety of different combinatorial objects, based on encoding them as permutations. This approach provides a unified view on many known results and allows us to prove many new ones. In particular, we obtain four classical Gray codes for permutations, bitstrings, binary trees and set partitions as special cases. We present two distinct applications for our new framework: The first main application is the generation of pattern-avoiding permutations, yielding new Gray codes for different fami…
This article presents a methodology that automatically derives a combinatorial specification for a permutation class C, given its basis B of excluded patterns and the set of simple permutations in C, when these sets are both finite. This is achieved considering both pattern avoidance and pattern containment constraints in permutations. The obtained specification yields a system of equations satisfied by the generating function of C, this system being always positive and algebraic. It also yields a uniform random sampler of permutations in C. The method presented is fully algorithmic.
Using the correspondence between a cycle up-down permutation and a pair of matchings, we give a combinatorial proof of the enumeration of alternating permutations according to the given peak set.
The combinatorial theory for the set of parity alternating permutations is expounded. In view of the numbers of ascents and inversions, several enumerative aspects of the set are investigated. In particular, it is shown that signed Eulerian numbers have intimate relationships to the set.
We provide a simple injective proof that the number of 132-avoiding permutations with a unique longest increasing subsequence is at least as large as the number of 132-avoiding permutations without a unique longest increasing subsequence.
In 1993, Savage, Squire, and West described an inductive construction for generating every acyclic orientation of a chordal graph exactly once, flipping one arc at a time. We provide two generalizations of this result. Firstly, we describe Gray codes for acyclic orientations of hypergraphs that satisfy a simple ordering condition, which generalizes the notion of perfect elimination order of graphs. This unifies the Savage-Squire-West construction with a recent algorithm for generating elimination trees of chordal graphs. Secondly, we consider quotients of lattices of acyclic orientations of ch…
This article presents a methodology that automatically derives a combinatorial specification for the permutation class C = Av(B), given its basis B of excluded patterns and the set of simple permutations in C, when these sets are both finite. This is achieved considering both pattern avoidance and pattern containment constraints in permutations.The obtained specification yields a system of equations satisfied by the generating function of C, this system being always positiveand algebraic. It also yields a uniform random sampler of permutations in C. The method presentedis fully algorithmic.
In this thesis, we introduced and carried out a combinatorial study of permutations that avoid one or two patterns of length 3 according to the statistic number of crossings. For this purpose, we manipulated a bijection of Elizalde and Pak and constructed other bijections that preserve the number of crossings. As results, we found, throughout these bijections, various relationships on the distributions of the number of crossings on restricted permutations as well as combinatorial interpretations in terms of the number of crossings on permutations with forbidden patterns of some well known tria…
We introduce a new class of permutations, called web permutations. Using these permutations, we provide a combinatorial interpretation for entries of the transition matrix between the Specht and web bases, which answers Rhoades's question. Furthermore, we study enumerative properties of these permutations.
We introduce a new concept of permutation avoidance pattern called hatted pattern, which is a natural generalization of the barred pattern. We show the growth rate of the class of permutations avoiding a hatted pattern in comparison to barred pattern. We prove that Dyck paths with no peak at height $p$, Dyck paths with no $ud... du$ and Motzkin paths are counted by hatted pattern avoiding permutations in $\s_n(132)$ by showing explicit bijections. As a result, a new direct bijection between Motzkin paths and permutations in $\s_n(132)$ without two consecutive adjacent numbers is given. These p…
We introduce a new family of noncommutative analogues of the Hall-Littlewood symmetric functions. Our construction relies upon Tevlin's bases and simple q-deformations of the classical combinatorial Hopf algebras. We connect our new Hall-Littlewood functions to permutation tableaux, and also give an exact formula for the q-enumeration of permutation tableaux of a fixed shape. This gives an explicit formula for: the steady state probability of each state in the partially asymmetric exclusion process (PASEP); the polynomial enumerating permutations with a fixed set of weak excedances according t…
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.
We show that, given a suitable combinatorial specification for a permutation class $\mathcal{C}$, one can obtain a specification for the juxtaposition (on either side) of $\mathcal{C}$ with Av(21) or Av(12), and that if the enumeration for $\mathcal{C}$ is given by a rational or algebraic generating function, so is the enumeration for the juxtaposition. Furthermore this process can be iterated, thereby providing an effective method to enumerate any 'skinny' $k\times 1$ grid class in which at most one cell is non-monotone, with a guarantee on the nature of the enumeration given the nature of th…
We give a new construction of a Hopf subalgebra of the Hopf algebra of Free quasi-symmetric functions whose bases are indexed by objects belonging to the Baxter combinatorial family (i.e. Baxter permutations, pairs of twin binary trees, etc.). This construction relies on the definition of the Baxter monoid, analog of the plactic monoid and the sylvester monoid, and on a Robinson-Schensted-like insertion algorithm. The algebraic properties of this Hopf algebra are studied. This Hopf algebra appeared for the first time in the work of Reading [Lattice congruences, fans and Hopf algebras, Journal …
Let $(X, d)$ be a semimetric space. A permutation $Φ$ of the set $X$ is a combinatorial self similarity of $(X, d)$ if there is a bijective function $f \colon d(X^2) \to d(X^2)$ such that $$ d(x, y) = f(d(Φ(x), Φ(y))) $$ for all $x$, $y \in X$. We describe the set of all semimetrics $ρ$ on an arbitrary nonempty set $Y$ for which every permutation of $Y$ is a combinatorial self similarity of $(Y, ρ)$.
We devise a unified framework for the design of canonization algorithms. Using hereditarily finite sets, we define a general notion of combinatorial objects that includes graphs, hypergraphs, relational structures, codes, permutation groups, tree decompositions, and so on. Our approach allows for a systematic transfer of the techniques that have been developed for isomorphism testing to canonization. We use it to design a canonization algorithm for combinatorial objects in general. This result gives new fastest canonization algorithms with an asymptotic running time matching the best known iso…
Goulden and Jackson introduced a very powerful method to study the distributions of certain consecutive patterns in permutations, words, and other combinatorial objects which is now called the cluster method. There are a number of natural classes of combinatorial objects which start with either permutations or words and add additional restrictions. These include up-down permutations, generalized Euler permutations, words with no consecutive repeated letters, Young tableaux, and non-backtracking random walks. We develop an extension of the cluster method which we call the {\em generalized clust…
We find an explicit combinatorial interpretation of the coefficients of Kerov character polynomials which express the value of normalized irreducible characters of the symmetric groups S(n) in terms of free cumulants R_2,R_3,... of the corresponding Young diagram. Our interpretation is based on counting certain factorizations of a given permutation.
We show that any smooth permutation $σ\in S_n$ is characterized by the set ${\mathbf{C}}(σ)$ of transpositions and $3$-cycles in the Bruhat interval $(S_n)_{\leqσ}$, and that $σ$ is the product (in a certain order) of the transpositions in ${\mathbf{C}}(σ)$. We also characterize the image of the map $σ\mapsto{\mathbf{C}}(σ)$. As an application, we show that $σ$ is smooth if and only if the intersection of $(S_n)_{\leqσ}$ with every conjugate of a parabolic subgroup of $S_n$ admits a maximum. This also gives another approach for enumerating smooth permutations and subclasses thereof. Finally, w…
This paper deals with lattice congruences of the weak order on the symmetric group, and initiates the investigation of the cover graphs of the corresponding lattice quotients. These graphs also arise as the skeleta of the so-called quotientopes, a family of polytopes recently introduced by Pilaud and Santos [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc., 51:406-420, 2019], which generalize permutahedra, associahedra, hypercubes and several other polytopes. We prove that all of these graphs have a Hamilton path, which can be computed by a simple greedy algorithm. This is an application of our framework for exhaustive…
We present some combinatorial interpretations for coefficients appearing in series partitioning the permutations avoiding 132 along marked mesh patterns. We identify for patterns in which only one parameter is non zero the combinatorial family in bijection with 132-avoiding permutations and also preserving the statistic counted by the marked mesh pattern.
The $n$-th rencontres number with the parameter $r$ is the number of permutations having exactly $r$ fixed points. In particular, a derangement is a permutation without any fixed point. We presents a short combinatorial proof for a weighted sum derangement identities.
The prefix exchange distance of a permutation is the minimum number of exchanges involving the leftmost element that sorts the permutation. We give new combinatorial proofs of known results on the distribution of the prefix exchange distance for a random uniform permutation. We also obtain expressions for the mean and the variance of this distribution, and finally, we show that the normalised prefix exchange distribution converges in distribution to the standard normal distribution.
In this paper we introduce mixed coloured permutation, permutations with certain coloured cycles, and study the enumerative properties of these combinatorial objects. We derive the generating function, closed forms, recursions and combinatorial identities for the counting sequence, mixed Stirling numbers of the first kind. In this comprehensive study we consider further the conditions on the length of the cycles, $r$-mixed Stirling numbers and the connection to Bell polynomials.
The number of minimal transitive star factorizations of a permutation was shown by Irving and Rattan to depend only on the conjugacy class of the permutation, a surprising result given that the pivot plays a very particular role in such factorizations. Here, we explain this symmetry and provide a bijection between minimal transitive star factorizations of a permutation πhaving pivot k and those having pivot k'.
Rauzy-type dynamics are group actions on a collection of combinatorial objects. The first and best known example concerns an action on permutations, associated to interval exchange transformations (IET) for the Poincaré map on compact orientable translation surfaces. The equivalence classes on the objects induced by the group action are related to components of the moduli spaces of Abelian differentials with prescribed singularities, and, in two variants of the problem, have been classified by Kontsevich and Zorich, and by Boissy, through methods involving both combinatorics and algebraic geom…
A general lattice theoretic construction of Reading constructs Hopf subalgebras of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra (MR) of permutations. The products and coproducts of these Hopf subalgebras are defined extrinsically in terms of the embedding in MR. The goal of this paper is to find an intrinsic combinatorial description of a particular one of these Hopf subalgebras. This Hopf algebra has a natural basis given by permutations that we call Pell permutations. The Pell permutations are in bijection with combinatorial objects that we call sashes, that is, tilings of a 1 by n rectangle with t…
The main result of this work is the characterization of the covering relations of the Bruhat order of the maximal parabolic quotients of type B. Our approach is mainly combinatorial and is based in the pattern of the corresponding permutations also called signed $k$-Grassmannians permutations. We obtain that a covering relation can be classified in four different pairs of permutations. This answers a question raised by Ikeda and Matsumura providing a nice combinatorial model for maximal parabolic quotients of type B.
In this work we propose a combinatorial model that generalizes the standard definition of permutation. Our model generalizes the degenerate Eulerian polynomials and numbers of Carlitz from 1979 and provides missing combinatorial proofs for some relations on the degenerate Eulerian numbers.
The regular objects in various categories, such as maps, hypermaps or covering spaces, can be identified with the normal subgroups N of a given group Γ, with quotient group isomorphic to Γ/N. It is shown how to enumerate such objects with a given finite automorphism group G, how to represent them all as quotients of a single regular object U(G), and how they are acted on by the outer automorphism group of Γ. Examples constructed include kaleidoscopic maps with trinity symmetry.
We find a combinatorial setting for the coefficients of the Boros-Moll polynomials $P_m(a)$ in terms of partially 2-colored permutations. Using this model, we give a combinatorial proof of a recurrence relation on the coefficients of $P_m(a)$. This approach enables us to give a combinatorial interpretation of the log-concavity of $P_m(a)$ which was conjectured by Moll and confirmed by Kauers and Paule.
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 in…
We study $321$-avoiding affine permutations, and prove a formula for their enumeration with respect to the inversion number by using a combinatorial approach. This is done in two different ways, both related to Viennot's theory of heaps. First, we encode these permutations using certain heaps of monomers and dimers. This method specializes to the case of affine involutions. For the second proof, we introduce periodic parallelogram polyominoes, which are new combinatorial objects of independent interest. We enumerate them by extending the approach of Bousquet-Mélou and Viennot used for classica…
A di-sk tree is a rooted binary tree whose nodes are labeled by $\oplus$ or $\ominus$, and no node has the same label as its right child. The di-sk trees are in natural bijection with separable permutations. We construct a combinatorial bijection on di-sk trees proving the two quintuples $(\LMAX,\LMIN,\DESB,\iar,\comp)$ and $(\LMAX,\LMIN,\DESB,\comp,\iar)$ have the same distribution over separable permutations. Here for a permutation $π$, $\LMAX(π)/\LMIN(π)$ is the set of values of the left-to-right maxima/minima of $π$ and $\DESB(π)$ is the set of descent bottoms of $π$, while $\comp(π)$ and …
As well known, permanent of a square (0,1)-matrix $A$ of order $n$ enumerates the permutations $β$ of $1,2,...,n$ with the incidence matrices $B\leq A.$ To obtain enumerative information on even and odd permutations with condition $B\leq A,$ we should calculate two-fold vector $(a_1,a_2)$ with $a_1+a_2 =per A.$ More general, the introduced $ω$-permanent, where $ω=e^{2πi/m},$ we calculate as $m$-fold vector. For these and other matrix functions we generalize the Laplace theorem of their expansion over elements of the first row, using the defined so-called "combinatorial minors". In particular, …
In 1996, my brilliant student John Noonan, discovered, and proved that there are 3(2n)!/(n(n+3)!(n-3)!) ways to line-up n people of different heights in such a way that out of the n(n-1)(n-2)/6 possible triples of people exactly one is such that the tallest stands (not necessarily immediately) in front of the second-tallest, who in turn, stands (not necessarily immediately) in front of the shortest. In that article, I promised a prize of 25 dollars for a nice combinatorial proof. Alex Burstein gave such a proof. On Oct. 14, 2011, I talked about Alex's lovely proof at the Howard U. math colloqu…
Rauzy-type dynamics are group actions on a collection of combinatorial objects. The first and best known example (the Rauzy dynamics) concerns an action on permutations, associated to interval exchange transformations (IET) for the Poincaré map on compact orientable translation surfaces. The equivalence classes on the objects induced by the group action have been classified by Kontsevich and Zorich in [KZ03] and correspond bijectively to the connected components of the strata of the moduli space of abelian differentials. In a paper [Boi14] Boissy proposed a Rauzy-type dynamics that acts on a s…
Using generating functions and some trivial bijections, we show in this paper that the binomial coefficients count the set of (123,132) and (123,213)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings. We also define a q-tableau of power of two and prove that it counts the set of (213,312) and (132,312)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings.
