Let the Bessel number of the second kind B(n,k) be the number of set partitions of [n] into k blocks of size one or two, and let the Bessel number of the first kind b(n,k) be a certain coefficient in n-th Bessel polynomial. In this paper, we show that Bessel numbers satisfy two properties of Stirling numbers: The two kinds of Bessel numbers are related by inverse formulas, and both Bessel numbers of the first kind and the second kind form log-concave sequences. By constructing sign-reversing involutions, we prove the inverse formulas. We review Krattenthaler's injection for the log-concavity of Bessel numbers of the second kind, and give a new explicit injection for the log-concavity of signless Bessel numbers of the first kind.
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.
The purpose of this note is to explain that the combinatorial local log-concavity conjecture introduced by Gross, Mansour, Tucker and Wang (Eur. J. Comb. 52, 207-222, 2016) in fact follows from a result of Stanley (Eur. J. Comb. 32 (6), 937-943, 2011).
In this paper we develop a new geometric method to answer the log-concavity questions related to a nice class of combinatorial sequences arising from the Pascal triangle.
It is well-known that the binomial transformation preserves the log-concavity property and log-convexity property. Let $\binom{a+n}{b+k}$ be the binomial coefficients and $\binom{n,k}{j}$ be defined by $(b_0+b_1x+\cdots+b_kx^{k})^n:=\sum_{j=0}^{kn}\binom{n,k}{j}x^j,$ where the sequence $(b_i)_{0\leq i\leq k}$ is log-concave. In this paper, we prove that the linear transformation $$y_n(q)=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{a+n}{b+k}x_k(q)$$ preserves the strong $q$-log-concavity property for any fixed nonnegative integers $a$ and $b$, which strengthens and gives a simple proof of results of Ehrenborg and Stein…
In a previous paper, we studied an overpartition analogue of Gaussian polynomials as the generating function for overpartitions fitting inside an $m \times n$ rectangle. Here, we add one more parameter counting the number of overlined parts, obtaining a two-parameter generalization $\overline{m+n \brack n}_{q,t}$ of Gaussian polynomials, which is also a $(q,t)$-analogue of Delannoy numbers. First we obtain finite versions of classical $q$-series identities such as the $q$-binomial theorem and the Lebesgue identity, as well as two-variable generalizations of classical identities involving Gauss…
We will look at the Catalan numbers from the {\it Rigged Configurations} point of view originated \cite{Kir} from an combinatorial analysis of the Bethe Ansatz Equations associated with the higher spin anisotropic Heisenberg models . Our strategy is to take a combinatorial interpretation of Catalan numbers $C_n$ as the number of standard Young tableaux of rectangular shape $(n^2)$, or equivalently, as the Kostka number $K_{(n^2),1^{2n}}$, as the starting point of research. We observe that the rectangular (or multidimensional) Catalan numbers $ C(m,n)$ introduced and studied by P. MacMahon \cit…
Recently, it was proved by Anari-Oveis Gharan-Vinzant, Anari-Liu-Oveis Gharan-Vinzant and Brändén-Huh that, for any matroid $M$, its basis generating polynomial and its independent set generating polynomial are log-concave on the positive orthant. Using these, they obtain some combinatorial inequalities on matroids including a solution of strong Mason's conjecture. In this paper, we study the strictness of the log-concavity of these polynomials and determine when equality holds in these combinatorial inequalities. We also consider a generalization of our result to morphisms of matroids.
We give an explicit combinatorial proof of a weighted version of strong log-concavity for the generating polynomial of increasing spanning forests of a finite simple graph equipped with a total ordering of the vertices. In contrast to similar proofs in the literature, our injection is local in the sense that it proceeds by moving a single edge from one forest to the other. In the particular case of the complete graph, this gives a new combinatorial proof of log-concavity of unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind where a pair of permutations is transformed into a new pair by breaking a sin…
For any matroid $M$, we compute the Tutte polynomial $T_M(x,y)$ using the mixed intersection numbers of certain classes in the combinatorial Chow ring $A^\bullet(M)$ arising from hypersimplices. Using the mixed Hodge-Riemann relations, we deduce a strengthening of the log-concavity of the $h$-vector of a matroid complex, improving on an old conjecture of Dawson.
The classical Eulerian Numbers $A_{n,k}$ are known to be log-concave. Let $P_{n,k}$ and $Q_{n,k}$ be the number of even and odd permutations with $k$ excedances. In this paper, we show that $P_{n,k}$ and $Q_{n,k}$ are log-concave. For this, we introduce the notion of strong synchronisation and ratio-alternating which are motivated by the notion of synchronisation and ratio-dominance, introduced by Gross, Mansour, Tucker and Wang in 2014. We show similar results for Type B Coxeter Groups. We finish with some conjectures to emphasize the following: though strong synchronisation is stronger than …
We introduce the notion of interlacing log-concavity of a polynomial sequence $\{P_m(x)\}_{m\geq 0}$, where $P_m(x)$ is a polynomial of degree m with positive coefficients $a_{i}(m)$. This sequence of polynomials is said to be interlacing log-concave if the ratios of consecutive coefficients of $P_m(x)$ interlace the ratios of consecutive coefficients of $P_{m+1}(x)$ for any $m\geq 0$. Interlacing log-concavity is stronger than the log-concavity. We show that the Boros-Moll polynomials are interlacing log-concave. Furthermore we give a sufficient condition for interlacing log-concavity which i…
We formulate conditions on a set of log-concave sequences, under which any linear combination of those sequences is log-concave, and further, of conditions under which linear combinations of log-concave sequences that have been transformed by convolution are log-concave. These conditions involve relations on sequences called \textit{synchronicity} and \textit{ratio-dominance}, and a characterization of some bivariate sequences as \textit{lexicographic}. We are motivated by the 25-year old conjecture that the genus distribution of every graph is log-concave. Although calculating genus distribut…
Morphisms of matroids are combinatorial abstractions of linear maps and graph homomorphisms. We introduce the notion of basis for morphisms of matroids, and show that its generating function is strongly log-concave. As a consequence, we obtain a generalization of Mason's conjecture on the $f$-vectors of independent subsets of matroids to arbitrary morphisms of matroids. To establish this, we define multivariate Tutte polynomials of morphisms of matroids, and show that they are Lorentzian in the sense of [BH19] for sufficiently small positive parameters.
Recently, Gross et al. posed the LLC conjecture for the locally log-concavity of the genus distribution of every graph, and provided an equivalent combinatorial version, the CLLC conjecture, on the log-concavity of the generating function counting cycles of some permutation compositions. In this paper, we confirm the CLLC conjecture for cyclic permutations, with the aid of Hultman numbers and by applying the Hermite--Biehler theorem on the generating function of Stirling numbers of the first kind. This leads to a further conjecture that every local genus polynomial is real-rooted.
Using calculus we show how to prove some combinatorial inequalities of the type log-concavity or log-convexity. It is shown by this method that binomial coefficients and Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds are log-concave, and that Motzkin numbers and secondary structure numbers of rank 1 are log-convex. In fact, we prove via calculus a much stronger result that a natural continuous ``patchwork'' (i.e. corresponding dynamical systems) of Motzkin numbers and secondary structures recursions are increasing functions. We indicate how to prove asymptotically the log-convexity for general…
We prove the hard Lefschetz theorem and the Hodge-Riemann relations for a commutative ring associated to an arbitrary matroid M. We use the Hodge-Riemann relations to resolve a conjecture of Heron, Rota, and Welsh that postulates the log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of M. We furthermore conclude that the f-vector of the independence complex of a matroid forms a log-concave sequence, proving a conjecture of Mason and Welsh for general matroids.
Recently, Z. W. Sun put forward a series of conjectures on monotonicity of combinatorial sequences in the form of $\{z_n/z_{n-1}\}_{n=N}^\infty$ and $\{\sqrt[n+1]{z_{n+1}}/\sqrt[n]{z_n}\}_{n=N}^\infty$ for some positive integer $N$, where $\{z_n\}_{n=0}^\infty$ is a sequence of positive integers. Luca and Stănică, Hou et al., Chen et al., Sun and Yang proved some of them. In this paper, we give an affirmative answer to monotonicity of another new kind of number conjectured by Z. W. Sun via interlacing method for log-convexity and log-concavity of a sequence, and we also use the criterion for l…
We extend the exponential formula by Bender and Canfield (1996), which relates log-concavity and the cycle index polynomials. The extension clarifies the log-convexity relation. The proof is by noticing the property of a compound Poisson distribution together with its moment generating function. We also give a combinatorial proof of extended "log-convex part" referring Bender and Canfield's approach, where the formula by Bruijn and Erdös (1953) is additionally exploited. The combinatorial approach yields richer structural results more than log-convexity. Furthermore, we consider normal and bin…
The normalized incomplete beta function can be defined either as cumulative distribution function of beta density or as the Gauss hypergeometric function with one of the upper parameters equal to unity. Logarithmic concavity/convexity of this function in parameters was established by Finner and Roters in 1997. Their proof is indirect and rather difficult; it is based on generalized reproductive property of certain more general distributions. These authors remark that these results "seems to be very hard to obtain by usual analytic methods". In the first part of this paper we provide such proof…
We introduce new families of combinatorial objects whose enumeration computes volumes of flow polytopes. These objects provide an interpretation, based on parking functions, of Baldoni and Vergne's generalization of a volume formula originally due to Lidskii. We recover known flow polytope volume formulas and prove new volume formulas for flow polytopes that were seemingly unapproachable. A highlight of our model is an elegant formula for the flow polytope of a graph we call the caracol graph. As by-products of our work, we uncover a new triangle of numbers that interpolates between Catalan nu…
Sufficient conditions are developed, under which the compound Poisson distribution has maximal entropy within a natural class of probability measures on the nonnegative integers. Recently, one of the authors [O. Johnson, {\em Stoch. Proc. Appl.}, 2007] used a semigroup approach to show that the Poisson has maximal entropy among all ultra-log-concave distributions with fixed mean. We show via a non-trivial extension of this semigroup approach that the natural analog of the Poisson maximum entropy property remains valid if the compound Poisson distributions under consideration are log-concave, b…
Anari, Gharan, and Vinzant proved (complete) log-concavity of the basis generating functions for all matroids. From the viewpoint of combinatorial Hodge theory, it is natural to ask whether these functions are "strictly" log-concave for simple matroids. In this paper, we show this strictness for simple graphic matroids, that is, we show that Kirchhoff polynomials of simple graphs are strictly log-concave. Our key observation is that the Kirchhoff polynomial {of a complete graph} can be seen as the (irreducible) relative invariant of a certain prehomogeneous vector space, which may be independe…
We introduce the notion of infinitely log-monotonic sequences. By establishing a connection between completely monotonic functions and infinitely log-monotonic sequences, we show that the sequences of the Bernoulli numbers, the Catalan numbers and the central binomial coefficients are infinitely log-monotonic. In particular, if a sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ is log-monotonic of order two, then it is ratio log-concave in the sense that the sequence $\{a_{n+1}/a_{n}\}_{n\geq 0}$ is log-concave. Furthermore, we prove that if a sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\geq k}$ is ratio log-concave, then the sequence $…
Towards confirming Sun's conjecture on the strict log-concavity of combinatorial sequence involving the n$th$ Bernoulli number, Chen, Guo and Wang proposed a conjecture about the log-concavity of the function $θ(x)=\sqrt[x]{2ζ(x)Γ(x+1)}$ for $x\in (6,\infty)$, where $ζ(x)$ is the Riemann zeta function and $Γ(x)$ is the Gamma function. In this paper, we first prove this conjecture along the spirit of Zhu's previous work. Second, we extend Chen et al.'s conjecture in the sense of almost infinite log-monotonicity of combinatorial sequences, which was also introduced by Chen et al. Furthermore, by…
Recently, Z. W. Sun introduced a new kind of numbers $S_n$ and also posed a conjecture on ratio monotonicity of combinatorial sequences related to $S_n$. In this paper, by investigating some arithmetic properties of $S_n$, we give an affirmative answer to his conjecture. Our methods are based on a newly established criterion and interlacing method for log-convexity, and also the criterion for ratio log-concavity of a sequence due to Chen, Guo and Wang.
In this paper, we use the Riemann zeta function $ζ(x)$ and the Bessel zeta function $ζ_μ(x)$ to study the log-behavior of combinatorial sequences. We prove that $ζ(x)$ is log-convex for $x>1$. As a consequence, we deduce that the sequence $\{|B_{2n}|/(2n)!\}_{n\geq 1}$ is log-convex, where $B_n$ is the $n$-th Bernoulli number. We introduce the function $θ(x)=(2ζ(x)Γ(x+1))^{\frac{1}{x}}$, where $Γ(x)$ is the gamma function, and we show that $\log θ(x)$ is strictly increasing for $x\geq 6$. This confirms a conjecture of Sun stating that the sequence $\{\sqrt[n] {|B_{2n}}|\}_{n\geq 1}$ is strictl…
