We present a multivariate generating function for all n x n nonnegative integral matrices with all row and column sums equal to a positive integer t, the so called semi-magic squares. As a consequence we obtain formulas for all coefficients of the Ehrhart polynomial of the polytope B_n of n x n doubly-stochastic matrices, also known as the Birkhoff polytope. In particular we derive formulas for the volumes of B_n and any of its faces.
Magic labelings of graphs are studied in great detail by Stanley and Stewart. In this article, we construct and enumerate magic labelings of graphs using Hilbert bases of polyhedral cones and Ehrhart quasi-polynomials of polytopes. We define polytopes of magic labelings of graphs and digraphs. We give a description of the faces of the Birkhoff polytope as polytopes of magic labelings of digraphs.
The n'th Birkhoff polytope is the set of all doubly stochastic n-by-n matrices, that is, those matrices with nonnegative real coefficients in which every row and column sums to one. A wide open problem concerns the volumes of these polytopes, which have been known for n up to 8. We present a new, complex-analytic way to compute the Ehrhart polynomial of the Birkhoff polytope, that is, the function counting the integer points in the dilated polytope. One reason to be interested in this counting function is that the leading term of the Ehrhart polynomial is--up to a trivial factor--the volume of…
We compute the set of facets of the polytope which is the convex hull of the Coxeter groups $\mathsf{F}_4$ or $\mathsf{H}_4$: For the group $\mathsf{F}_4$ we found $2$ orbits of facets which contradicts previous results published in \cite{birkhoff}. For the group $\mathsf{H}_4$ we found $1063$ orbits of facets which provides a counterexample to the conjecture of \cite{birkhoff}.
The Birkhoff polytope, defined to be the convex hull of $n\times n$ permutation matrices, is a well studied polytope in the context of the Ehrhart theory. This polytope is known to have many desirable properties, such as the Gorenstein property and existence of regular, unimodular triangulations. In this paper, we study analogues of the Birkhoff polytope for finite irreducible Coxeter groups of other types. We focus on a type-$B$ Birkhoff polytope $\mathcal{BB}(n)$ arising from signed permutation matrices and prove that it and its dual polytope are reflexive, and hence Gorenstein, and also pos…
Institute for Mathematics, Paderborn University（帕德博恩大学数学研究所）；Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Puget Sound（普吉特湾大学数学与计算机科学系）；Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts Lowell（马萨诸塞大学洛厄尔分校数学与统计学系）；School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学数理科学学院）
本文证明 B 型 c-Birkhoff 多胞体与堆偏序集的序多胞体单模等价，从而回答了此前关于 A 型结果的推广问题。
The Birkhoff polytope B(n) is the convex hull of all (n x n) permutation matrices, i.e., matrices where precisely one entry in each row and column is one, and zeros at all other places. This is a widely studied polytope with various applications throughout mathematics. In this paper we study combinatorial types L of faces of a Birkhoff polytope. The Birkhoff dimension bd(L) of L is the smallest n such that B(n) has a face with combinatorial type L. By a result of Billera and Sarangarajan, a combinatorial type L of a d-dimensional face appears in some B(k) for k less or equal to 2d, so bd(L) is…
The n'th Birkhoff polytope $B_n$ is the set of all doubly stochastic $n \times n$ matrices, that is, those matrices with nonnegative real coefficients in which every row and column sums to one. A long-standing open problem is the determination of the relative volume of $B_n$. In [arXiv:math.CO/0202267] we introduced a method of calculating this volume and used it to compute $\vol B_9$. This note is an update on our progress: with the same program (but much longer computing time), we have now derived $\vol B_{10}$.
Let m,n be positive integers. Define T(m,n) to be the transportation polytope consisting of the m x n non-negative real matrices whose rows each sum to 1 and whose columns each sum to m/n. The special case B(n)=T(n,n) is the much-studied Birkhoff-von Neumann polytope of doubly-stochastic matrices. Using a recent asymptotic enumeration of non-negative integer matrices (Canfield and McKay, 2007), we determine the asymptotic volume of T(m,n) as n goes to infinity, with m=m(n) such that m/n neither decreases nor increases too quickly. In particular, we give an asymptotic formula for the volume of …
We present a change of basis that may allow more efficient calculation of the volumes of Birkhoff polytopes using a slicing method. We construct the basis from a special set of square matrices. We explain how to construct this basis easily for any Birkhoff polytope, and give examples of its use. We also discuss possible directions for future work.
Consider the Birkhoff polytope of n by n doubly-stochastic matrices. As the Birkhoff-von Neumann theorem famously states, its vertex set coincides with the set of all n by n permutation matrices. Here we seek a higher-dimensional analog of this basic fact. Namely, consider the polytope which consists of all tristochastic arrays of order n. These are n by n by n arrays with nonnegative entries in which every line sums to 1. What can be said about its vertex set? It is well-known that an order-n Latin square may be viewed as a tristochastic array where every line contains n-1 zeros and a single …
The Birkhoff polytope $B_n$ is the convex hull of all $n\times n$ permutation matrices in $\mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$. We compute the combinatorial symmetry group of the Birkhoff polytope. A representation polytope is the convex hull of some finite matrix group $G\leq \operatorname{GL}(d,\mathbb{R})$. We show that the group of permutation matrices is essentially the only finite matrix group which yields a representation polytope with the same face lattice as the Birkhoff polytope.
It is proved that a certain symmetric sequence of nonnegative integers arising in the enumeration of magic squares of given size n by row sums or, equivalently, in the generating function of the Ehrhart polynomial of the polytope of doubly stochastic n by n matrices, is equal to the h-vector of a simplicial polytope and hence that it satisfies the conditions of the g-theorem. The unimodality of this sequance, which follows, was conjectured by Stanley (1983). Several generalizations are given.
We describe how to construct and enumerate Magic squares, Franklin squares, Magic cubes, and Magic graphs as lattice points inside polyhedral cones using techniques from Algebraic Combinatorics. The main tools of our methods are the Hilbert Poincare series to enumerate lattice points and the Hilbert bases to generate lattice points. We define polytopes of magic labelings of graphs and digraphs, and give a description of the faces of the Birkhoff polytope as polytopes of magic labelings of digraphs.
We give a simple construction of an orthogonal basis for the space of m by n matrices with row and column sums equal to zero. This vector space corresponds to the affine space naturally associated with the Birkhoff polytope, contingency tables and Latin squares. We also provide orthogonal bases for the spaces underlying magic squares and Sudoku boards. Our construction combines the outer (i.e., tensor or dyadic) product on vectors with certain rooted, vector-labeled, binary trees. Our bases naturally respect the decomposition of a vector space into centrosymmetric and skew-centrosymmetric piec…
The set of bistochastic or doubly stochastic N by N matrices form a convex set called Birkhoff's polytope, that we describe in some detail. Our problem is to characterize the set of unistochastic matrices as a subset of Birkhoff's polytope. For N=3 we present fairly complete results. For N=4 partial results are obtained. An interesting difference between the two cases is that there is a ball of unistochastic matrices around the van der Waerden matrix for N=3, while this is not the case for N=4.
Maximally recoverable codes are codes designed for distributed storage which combine quick recovery from single node failure and optimal recovery from catastrophic failure. Gopalan et al [SODA 2017] studied the alphabet size needed for such codes in grid topologies and gave a combinatorial characterization for it. Consider a labeling of the edges of the complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ with labels coming from $F_2^d$ , that satisfies the following condition: for any simple cycle, the sum of the labels over its edges is nonzero. The minimal d where this is possible controls the alphabet size …
In Ehrhart theory, the $h^*$-vector of a rational polytope often provide insights into properties of the polytope that may be otherwise obscured. As an example, the Birkhoff polytope, also known as the polytope of real doubly-stochastic matrices, has a unimodal $h^*$-vector, but when even small modifications are made to the polytope, the same property can be very difficult to prove. In this paper, we examine the $h^*$-vectors of a class of polytopes containing real doubly-stochastic symmetric matrices.
Exact Ehrhart Series of Birkhoff Polytopes via Constant Terms and Finite-Field Evaluation
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Hainan University（海南大学数学与统计学院）；School of Mathematical Sciences, Capital Normal University（首都师范大学数学科学学院）；Center for Combinatorics, LPMC, Nankai University（南开大学组合数学中心）
本文提出一种利用常数项和有限域精确计算 Birkhoff 多胞形 Ehrhart 级数的方法，通过根过滤器、对称函数和广义 Todd 系数实现高效计算，并推广到 World Cup 问题，给出直至阶数 12 的完整级数。
For a d-dimensional convex lattice polytope P, a formula for the boundary volume is derived in terms of the number of boundary lattice points on the first $\floor{d/2}$ dilations of P. As an application we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a polytope to be reflexive, and derive formulae for the f-vector of a smooth polytope in dimensions 3, 4, and 5. We also give applications to reflexive order polytopes, and to the Birkhoff polytope.
We describe a perturbation method that can be used to reduce the problem of finding the multivariate generating function (MGF) of a non-simple polytope to computing the MGF of simple polytopes. We then construct a perturbation that works for any transportation polytope. We apply this perturbation to the family of central transportation polytopes of order kn x n, and obtain formulas for the MGFs of the feasible cone of each vertex of the polytope and the MGF of the polytope. The formulas we obtain are enumerated by combinatorial objects. A special case of the formulas recovers the results on Bi…
In the chapter "Magic with a Matrix" in \emph{Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions} (1988), Martin Gardner describes a delightful "party trick" to fill the squares of a $d$-by-$d$ chessboard with nonnegative integers such that the sum of the numbers covered by any placement of $d$ nonthreatening rooks is a given number $N$. We consider such chessboards from a geometric perspective which gives rise to a family of lattice polytopes. The polyhedral structure of these Gardner polytopes explains the underlying trick and enables us to count such chessboards for given $N$ in three differen…
The asymptotic volume of the polytope of symmetric stochastic matrices can be determined by asymptotic enumeration techniques as in the case of the Birkhoff polytope. These methods can be extended to polytopes of symmetric stochastic matrices with given diagonal, if this diagonal varies not too wildly. To this end, the asymptotic number of symmetric matrices with natural entries, zero diagonal and varying row sums is determined and a third order correction factor to this is examined.
We define the alternating sign matrix polytope as the convex hull of nxn alternating sign matrices and prove its equivalent description in terms of inequalities. This is analogous to the well known result of Birkhoff and von Neumann that the convex hull of the permutation matrices equals the set of all nonnegative doubly stochastic matrices. We count the facets and vertices of the alternating sign matrix polytope and describe its projection to the permutohedron as well as give a complete characterization of its face lattice in terms of modified square ice configurations. Furthermore we prove t…
We present a common generalization of counting lattice points in rational polytopes and the enumeration of proper graph colorings, nowhere-zero flows on graphs, magic squares and graphs, antimagic squares and graphs, compositions of an integer whose parts are partially distinct, and generalized latin squares. Our method is to generalize Ehrhart's theory of lattice-point counting to a convex polytope dissected by a hyperplane arrangement. We particularly develop the applications to graph and signed-graph coloring, compositions of an integer, and antimagic labellings.
A \emph{magic square} is an $n \times n$ array of distinct positive integers whose sum along any row, column, or main diagonal is the same number. We compute the number of such squares for $n=4$, as a function of either the magic sum or an upper bound on the entries. The previous record for both functions was the $n=3$ case. Our methods are based on inside-out polytopes, i.e., the combination of hyperplane arrangements and Ehrhart's theory of lattice-point enumeration.
A transportation polytope consists of all multidimensional arrays or tables of non-negative real numbers that satisfy certain sum conditions on subsets of the entries. They arise naturally in optimization and statistics, and also have interest for discrete mathematics because permutation matrices, latin squares, and magic squares appear naturally as lattice points of these polytopes. In this paper we survey advances on the understanding of the combinatorics and geometry of these polyhedra and include some recent unpublished results on the diameter of graphs of these polytopes. In particular, t…
A magic labelling of a set system is a labelling of its points by distinct positive integers so that every set of the system has the same sum, the magic sum. Examples are magic squares (the sets are the rows, columns, and diagonals) and semimagic squares (the same, but without the diagonals). A magilatin labelling is like a magic labelling but the values need be distinct only within each set. We show that the number of $n\times n$ magic or magilatin labellings is a quasipolynomial function of the magic sum, and also of an upper bound on the entries in the square. Our results differ from previo…
We study the calculation of the volume of the polytope B_n of n by n doubly stochastic matrices; that is, the set of real non-negative matrices with all row and column sums equal to one. We describe two methods. The first involves a decomposition of the polytope into simplices. The second involves the enumeration of ``magic squares'', i.e., n by n non-negative integer matrices whose rows and columns all sum to the same integer. We have used the first method to confirm the previously known values through n=7. This method can also be used to compute the volumes of faces of B_n. For example, we h…
After reviewing the group structure and representation theory for the dihedral group $D_{2n},$ we consider an intertwining operator $Φ_ρ$ from the group algebra $\mathbb{C}[D_{2n}]$ into a corresponding space of semi-magic matrices. From this intertwining operator, one obtains the generating function for enumerating the associated semi-magic squares with fixed line sum and an algebra extending the circulant matrices. While this work complements the approach to $D_{2n}$ through permutation polytopes, we use only methods from representation theory.
Kostant's partition function is a vector partition function that counts the number of ways one can express a weight of a Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ as a nonnegative integral linear combination of the positive roots of $\mathfrak{g}$. Multiplex juggling sequences are generalizations of juggling sequences that specify an initial and terminal configuration of balls and allow for multiple balls at any particular discrete height. Magic multiplex juggling sequences generalize further to include magic balls, which cancel with standard balls when they meet at the same height. In this paper, we establi…
We use the results of AG/0406290 to discuss the counting formulas of network flow polytopes and magic squares, i.e. the formula for the corresponding Ehrhart polynomial in terms of residues. We also discuss a description of the big cells using the theory of non broken circuit bases.
We give a method for computing asymptotic formulas and approximations for the volumes of spectrahedra, based on the maximum-entropy principle from statistical physics. The method gives an approximate volume formula based on a single convex optimization problem of minimizing $-\log \det P$ over the spectrahedron. Spectrahedra can be described as affine slices of the convex cone of positive semi-definite (PSD) matrices, and the method yields efficient deterministic approximation algorithms and asymptotic formulas whenever the number of affine constraints is sufficiently dominated by the dimensio…
In chemistry, Cyvin-Gutman enumerates Kekulé numbers for certain benzenoids and record it as $A050446$ on OEIS. This number is exactly the two variable array $T(n,m)$ defined by the recursion $T(n, m) = T(n, m-1) + \sum^{\lfloor\frac{n-1}{2}\rfloor}_{k=0} T(2k, m-1)T(n-1-2k, m)$, where $T(n,0)=T(0,m)=1$ for all nonnegative integers $m,n$. Interestingly, this number also appeared in the context of weighted graphs, graph polytopes, magic labellings, and unit primitive matrices, studied by different authors. Several interesting conjectures were made on the OEIS. These conjectures are related to b…
The main theme of this dissertation is the study of the lattice points in a rational convex polyhedron and their encoding in terms of Barvinok's short rational functions. The first part of this thesis looks into theoretical applications of these rational functions to Optimization, Statistics, and Computational Algebra. The main theorem on Chapter 2 concerns the computation of the \emph{toric ideal} $I_A$ of an integral $n \times d$ matrix $A$. We encode the binomials belonging to the toric ideal $I_A$ associated with $A$ using Barvinok's rational functions. If we fix $d$ and $n$, this represen…
