We give two simple proofs of a conjecture of Richard Stanley concerning the equidistribution of derangements and alternating permutations with the maximal number of fixed points.
We construct a sequence of finite automata that accept subclasses of the class of 4231-avoiding permutations. We thereby show that the Wilf-Stanley limit for the class of 4231-avoiding permutations is bounded below by 9.35. This bound shows that this class has the largest such limit among all classes of permutations avoiding a single permutation of length 4 and refutes the conjecture that the Wilf-Stanley limit of a class of permutations avoiding a single permutation of length k cannot exceed (k-1)^2.
We use an interesting result of probabilistic flavor concerning the product of two permutations consisting of one cycle each to find an explicit formula for the average number of block interchanges needed to sort a permutation of length $n$.
The concept of pattern avoidance respectively containment in permutations can be extended to permutations on multisets in a straightforward way. In this note we present a direct proof of the already known fact that the well-known Stanley-Wilf Conjecture, stating that the number of permutations avoiding a given pattern does not grow faster than exponentially, also holds for permutations on multisets.
Generalizing the notion of a vexillary permutation, we introduce a filtration of S_infinity by the number of Schur function terms in the Stanley symmetric function, with the kth filtration level called the k-vexillary permutations. We show that for each k, the k-vexillary permutations are characterized by avoiding a finite set of patterns. A key step is the construction of a Specht series, in the sense of James and Peel, for the Specht module associated to the diagram of a permutation. As a corollary, we prove a conjecture of Liu on diagram varieties for certain classes of permutation diagrams…
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…
We prove that the Stanley-Wilf limit of any layered permutation pattern of length $\ell$ is at most $4\ell^2$, and that the Stanley-Wilf limit of the pattern 1324 is at most 16. These bounds follow from a more general result showing that a permutation avoiding a pattern of a special form is a merge of two permutations, each of which avoids a smaller pattern. If the conjecture is true that the maximum Stanley-Wilf limit for patterns of length $\ell$ is attained by a layered pattern then this implies an upper bound of $4\ell^2$ for the Stanley-Wilf limit of any pattern of length $\ell$. We also …
We study Stirling permutations defined by Gessel and Stanley. We prove that their generating function according to the number of descents has real roots only. We use that fact to prove that the distribution of these descents, and other, equidistributed statistics on these objects converge to a normal distribution.
In this paper, we introduce plane permutations, i.e. pairs $\mathfrak{p}=(s,π)$ where $s$ is an $n$-cycle and $π$ is an arbitrary permutation, represented as a two-row array. Accordingly a plane permutation gives rise to three distinct permutations: the permutation induced by the upper horizontal ($s$), the vertical $π$) and the diagonal ($D_{\mathfrak{p}}$) of the array. The latter can also be viewed as the three permutations of a hypermap. In particular, a map corresponds to a plane permutation, in which the diagonal is a fixed point-free involution. We study the transposition action on plan…
Richard Stanley proved that the centralized/normalized version of the random variable "length of largest up-down subsequence" in a random permutation of length n is asymptotically normal. We go beyond and present a more refined asymptotic formula for the moments.
Denote by $u(n)$ the largest principal specialization of the Schubert polynomial: $ u(n) := \max_{w \in S_n} \mathfrak{S}_w(1,\ldots,1) $ Stanley conjectured in [arXiv:1704.00851] that there is a limit $\lim_{n\to \infty} \, \frac{1}{n^2} \log u(n), $ and asked for a limiting description of permutations achieving the maximum $u(n)$. Merzon and Smirnov conjectured in [arXiv:1410.6857] that this maximum is achieved on layered permutations. We resolve both Stanley's problems restricted to layered permutations.
For a permutation $π$, let $S_{n}(π)$ be the number of permutations on $n$ letters avoiding $π$. Marcus and Tardos proved the celebrated Stanley-Wilf conjecture that $L(π)= \lim_{n \to \infty} S_n(π)^{1/n}$ exists and is finite. Backed by numerical evidence, it has been conjectured by many researchers over the years that $L(π)=Θ(k^2)$ for every permutation $π$ on $k$ letters. We disprove this conjecture, showing that $L(π)=2^{k^{Θ(1)}}$ for almost all permutations $π$ on $k$ letters.
We prove a conjecture of Drew Armstrong on the average maximal length of $k$-alternating subsequence of permutations. The $k=1$ case is a well-known result of Richard Stanley.
In this paper we study an alternating sign matrix analogue of the Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytope, which we call the ASM-CRY polytope. We show that this polytope has Catalan many vertices and its volume is equal to the number of standard Young tableaux of staircase shape; we also determine its Ehrhart polynomial. We achieve the previous by proving that the members of a family of faces of the alternating sign matrix polytope which includes ASM-CRY are both order and flow polytopes. Inspired by the above results, we relate three established triangulations of order and flow polytopes, namely Stanley's…
We prove a recent conjecture by René Marczinzik involving certain statistics on Dyck paths that originate in the representation theory of Nakayama algebras of a linearly oriented quiver. We do so by analysing the effect of the Billey-Jockusch-Stanley bijection between Dyck paths and 321-avoiding permutations on these statistics, which was suggested by the result of a query issued to the online database FindStat.
This survey of alternating permutations and Euler numbers includes refinements of Euler numbers, other occurrences of Euler numbers, longest alternating subsequences, umbral enumeration of classes of alternating permutations, and the cd-index of the symmetric group.
We prove generalized versions of some conjectures of Joel Lewis on the number of alternating permutations avoiding certain patterns. Our main tool is the perhaps surprising observation that a classic bijection on pattern avoiding permutations often preserves the alternating property.
It is known that the normalized volume of standard hypersimplices (defined as some slices of the unit hypercube) are the Eulerian numbers. More generally, a recent conjecture of Stanley relates the Ehrhart series of hypersimplices with descents and excedences in permutations. This conjecture was proved by Nan Li, who also gave a generalization to colored permutations. In this article, we give another generalization to colored permutations, using the flag statistics introduced by Foata and Han. We obtain in particular a new proof of Stanley's conjecture, and some combinatorial identities relati…
We construct a refined bijection $ϕ$ between alternating permutations and 0-1-2 increasing trees with degree at most 2. It satisfies that the first element of alternating permutation $π$ is equal to the first vertex in $ϕ(π)$ in the postorder.
A conjecture by R. Stanley on a class of alternating permutations, which is proved by R. Chapman and L. Williams states that alternating permutations with the maximal number of fixed points is equidistributed with derangements. We extend this (type $A$) result to type $B$: We prove that various classes of alternating signed permutations with the maximal number of fixed points is equidistributed with certain types of derangements (of type $B$), respectively.
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.
Guibert and Linusson introduced the family of doubly alternating Baxter permutations, i.e. Baxter permutations $σ\in S_n$, such that $σ$ and $σ^{-1}$ are alternating. They proved that the number of such permutations in $S_{2n}$ and $S_{2n+1}$ is the Catalan number $C_n$. In this paper we explore the expected limit shape of such permutations, following the approach by Miner and Pak.
This paper is continuation of the systematic study of distribution of quadrant marked mesh patterns. We study quadrant marked mesh patterns on up-down and down-up permutations, also known as alternating and reverse alternating permutations, respectively. In particular, we refine classic enumeration results of André on alternating permutations by showing that the distribution of the quadrant marked mesh pattern of interest is given by $(\sec(xt))^{1/x}$ on up-down permutations of even length and by $\int_0^t (\sec(xz))^{1+\frac{1}{x}}dz$ on down-up permutations of odd length.
In this paper, we give bijections between the set of 4123-avoiding down-up alternating permutations of length $2n$ and the set of standard Young tableaux of shape $(n,n,n)$, and between the set of 4123-avoiding down-up alternating permutations of length $2n-1$ and the set of shifted standard Young tableaux of shape $(n+1, n, n-1)$ via an intermediate structure of Yamanouchi words. Moreover, we get the enumeration of 4123-avoiding up-down alternating permutations of even and odd length by presenting bijections between 4123-avoiding up-down alternating permutations and standard Young tableaux.
Let R(n,k) denote the number of permutations of {1,2,...,n} with k alternating runs. We find a grammatical description of the numbers R(n,k) and then present several convolution formulas involving the generating function for the numbers R(n,k). Moreover, we establish a connection between alternating runs and Andre permutations.
The finite difference equation system introduced by Christiane Poupard in the study of tangent trees is reinterpreted in the alternating permutation environment. It makes it possible to make a joint study of both tangent and secant trees and calculate the generating polynomial for alternating permutations by a new statistic, referred to as being the greater neighbor of the maximum.
In this paper, we first consider a generalization of the David-Barton identity which relate the alternating run polynomials to Eulerian polynomials. By using context-free grammars, we then present a combinatorial interpretation of a family of q-alternating run polynomials. Furthermore, we introduce the definition of semi-gamma-positive polynomial and we show the semi-gamma-positivity of the alternating run polynomials of dual Stirling permutations. A connection between the up-down run polynomials of permutations and the alternating run polynomials of dual Stirling permutations is established.
We extend earlier work of the same author to enumerate alternating permutations avoiding the permutation pattern 2143. We use a generating tree approach to construct a recursive bijection between the set A_{2n}(2143) of alternating permutations of length 2n avoiding 2143 and standard Young tableaux of shape (n, n, n) and between the set A_{2n + 1}(2143) of alternating permutations of length 2n + 1 avoiding 2143 and shifted standard Young tableaux of shape (n + 2, n + 1, n). We also give a number of conjectures and open questions on pattern avoidance in alternating permutations and generalizati…
A Parity Alternating Permutation of the set $[n] = \{1, 2,\ldots, n\}$ is a permutation with even and odd entries alternatively. We deal with parity alternating permutations having an odd entry in the first position, PAPs. We study the numbers that count the PAPs with even as well as odd parity. We also study a subclass of PAPs being derangements as well, Parity Alternating Derangements (PADs). Moreover, by considering the parity of these PADs we look into their statistical property of excedance.
We introduce the cyclic major index of a cycle permutation and give a bivariate analogue of enumerative formula for the cyclic shuffles with a given cyclic descent numbers due to Adin, Gessel, Reiner and Roichman, which can be viewed as a cyclic analogue of Stanley's Shuffle Theorem. This gives an answer to a question of Adin, Gessel, Reiner and Roichman, which has been posed by Domagalski, Liang, Minnich, Sagan, Schmidt and Sietsema again.
Let $R(n,k)$ denote the number of permutations of ${1,2,...,n}$ with $k$ alternating runs. In this note we present an explicit formula for the numbers $R(n,k)$.
We study the problem of counting alternating permutations avoiding collections of permutation patterns including 132. We construct a bijection between the set S_n(132) of 132-avoiding permutations and the set A_{2n + 1}(132) of alternating, 132-avoiding permutations. For every set p_1, ..., p_k of patterns and certain related patterns q_1, ..., q_k, our bijection restricts to a bijection between S_n(132, p_1, ..., p_k), the set of permutations avoiding 132 and the p_i, and A_{2n + 1}(132, q_1, ..., q_k), the set of alternating permutations avoiding 132 and the q_i. This reduces the enumeration…
In this paper, we take interest in finding applications for a hook-length formula recently proved in (Morales Pak Panova 2016). This formula can be applied to give a non trivial relation between alternating permutations and weighted Dyck paths. First, we give an alternative proof for this result using continued fractions, and then we apply a similar reasoning to the more general case of $k$-alternating permutations.
We construct a non-commutative, non-cocommutative, graded bialgebra $\mathbfΠ$ with a basis indexed by the permutations in all finite symmetric groups. Unlike the formally similar Malvenuto-Poirier-Reutenauer Hopf algebra, this bialgebra does not have finite graded dimension. After giving formulas for the product and coproduct, we show that there is a natural morphism from $\mathbfΠ$ to the algebra of quasi-symmetric functions, under which the image of a permutation is its associated Stanley symmetric function. As an application, we use this morphism to derive some new enumerative identities. …
We study the problem of expanding the product of two Stanley symmetric functions $F_w\cdot F_u$ into Stanley symmetric functions in some natural way. Our approach is to consider a Stanley symmetric function as a stabilized Schubert polynomial $F_{w}=\lim_{n\to \infty}\mathfrak{S}_{1^{n}\times w}$, and study the behavior of the expansion of $\s_{1^n\times w}\cdot\s_{1^n\times u}$ into Schubert polynomials, as $n$ increases. We prove that this expansion stabilizes and thus we get a natural expansion for the product of two Stanley symmetric functions. In the case when one permutation is Grassmann…
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.
In this paper we present an explicit formula for the number of permutations with a given number of alternating descents. Moreover, we study the interlacing property of the real parts of the zeros of the generating polynomials of these numbers.
An alternating permutation of length $n$ is a permutation $π=π_1 π_2 ... π_n$ such that $π_1 < π_2 > π_3 < π_4 > ...$. Let $A_n$ denote set of alternating permutations of ${1,2,..., n}$, and let $A_n(σ)$ be set of alternating permutations in $A_n$ that avoid a pattern $σ$. Recently, Lewis used generating trees to enumerate $A_{2n}(1234)$, $A_{2n}(2143)$ and $A_{2n+1}(2143)$, and he posed several conjectures on the Wilf-equivalence of alternating permutations avoiding certain patterns. Some of these conjectures have been proved by Bóna, Xu and Yan. In this paper, we prove the two relations $|A_…
In this paper, we count a dual set of Stirling permutations by the number of alternating runs. Properties of the generating functions, including recurrence relations, grammatical interpretations and convolution formulas are studied.
A permutation is said to be \emph{alternating} if it starts with rise and then descents and rises come in turn. In this paper we study the generating function for the number of alternating permutations on $n$ letters that avoid or contain exactly once 132 and also avoid or contain exactly once an arbitrary pattern on $k$ letters. In several interesting cases the generating function depends only on $k$ and is expressed via Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind.
We present a short, direct proof of the fact that the generating function of all permutations of a fixed length $n\geq 4$ is divisible by $(1+z)^m$, where $m=\lfloor (n-2)/2 \rfloor$.
Let R(n,k) be the number of permutations of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ with k alternating runs. In this paper, we establish the relationships between R(n,k) and the central factorial numbers of even indices as well as the number of signed permutations with a given number of alternating runs and the central factorial numbers of odd indices. The explicit formulas of the peak and left peak polynomials for permutations and the derivative polynomials of the tangent and secant functions are also established.
We investigate pattern avoidance in alternating permutations and generalizations thereof. First, we study pattern avoidance in an alternating analogue of Young diagrams. In particular, we extend Babson-West's notion of shape-Wilf equivalence to apply to alternating permutations and so generalize results of Backelin-West-Xin and Ouchterlony to alternating permutations. Second, we study pattern avoidance in the more general context of permutations with restricted ascents and descents. We consider a question of Lewis regarding permutations that are the reading words of thickened staircase Young t…
At a crossroads of calculus and combinatorics, the generating function of secant and tangent numbers (Euler numbers) provides enumeration of alternating permutations. In this article, we present a new refinement of Euler numbers to answer the combinatorial question on some particular relation of Euler numbers proved by Heneghan-Petersen, Power series for up-down min-max permutations, College Math. Journal, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2014), 83-91.
The length is(w) of the longest increasing subsequence of a permutation w in the symmetric group S_n has been the object of much investigation. We develop comparable results for the length as(w) of the longest alternating subsequence of w, where a sequence a,b,c,d,... is alternating if a>b<c>d<.... For instance, the expected value (mean) of as(w) for w in S_n is exactly (4n+1)/6 if n>1.
We find the exponential generating function for permutations with all valleys even and all peaks odd, and use it to determine the asymptotics for its coefficients, answering a question posed by Liviu Nicolaescu. The generating function can be expressed as the reciprocal of a sum involving Euler numbers. We give two proofs of the formula. The first uses a system of differential equations. The second proof derives the generating function directly from general permutation enumeration techniques, using noncommutative symmetric functions. The generating function is an "alternating" analogue of Davi…
This paper is continuation of the systematic study of distribution of quadrant marked mesh patterns initiated in "S. Kitaev and J. Remmel, Quadrant marked mesh patterns, J. Integer Sequences 12, Issue 4 (2012), Article 12.4.7.". We study quadrant marked mesh patterns on up-down and down-up permutations.
Inspired by a recent note of Zeilberger (arXiv:1110.4379), Alejandro Morales asked whether one can count alternating (i.e., up-down) permutations that contain the pattern 123 or 321 exactly once. In this note we answer the question in the affirmative; in particular, we show that for m > 1, a_(2m)(123) = 10 (2m)!/((m - 2)! (m + 3)!), a_(2m)(321) = 4(m - 2) (2m + 3)!/((m + 1)! (m + 4)!), and a_(2m + 1)(123) = a_(2m + 1)(321) = 3(3m + 4)(m - 1) (2m + 2)!/((m + 1)! (m + 4)!) where a_n(p) is the number of alternating permutations of length n containing the pattern p exactly once.
A classical result of Euler states that the tangent numbers are an alternating sum of Eulerian numbers. A dual result of Roselle states that the secant numbers can be obtained by a signed enumeration of derangements. We show that both identities can be refined with the following statistics: the number of crossings in permutations and derangements, and the number of patterns 31-2 in alternating permutations. Using previous results of Corteel, Rubey, Prellberg, and the author, we derive closed formulas for both q-tangent and q-secant numbers. There are two different methods to obtain these formu…
We extend Stanley's work on alternating permutations with extremal number of fixed points in two directions: first, alternating permutations are replaced by permutations with a prescribed descent set; second, instead of simply counting permutations we study their generating polynomials by number of excedances. Several techniques are used: Desarmenien's desarrangement combinatorics, Gessel's hook-factorization and the analytical properties of two new permutation statistics "DEZ" and "lec". Explicit formulas for the maximal case are derived by using symmetric function tools.
Alternating sign triangles were introduced by Carroll and Speyer in relation to cube recurrence, by analogy to alternating sign matrices for octahedron recurrence. Permutation triangles are the alternating sign triangles whose entries are either 0 or 1, by analogy with permutation matrices. In this paper, we prove a simple characterization of permutation triangles, originally conjectured by Glick. We will also prove some properties of alternating sign triangles.
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 review Stanley's seminal work on the number of reduced words of the longest element of the symmetric group and his Stanley symmetric functions. We shed new light on this by giving a crystal theoretic interpretation in terms of decreasing factorizations of permutations. Whereas crystal operators on tableaux are coplactic operators, the crystal operators on decreasing factorization intertwine with the Edelman-Greene insertion. We also view this from a random perspective and study a Markov chain on reduced words of the longest element in a finite Coxeter group, in particular the symmetric grou…
We use the theory of symmetric functions to enumerate various classes of alternating permutations w of {1,2,...,n}. These classes include the following: (1) both w and w^{-1} are alternating, (2) w has certain special shapes, such as (m-1,m-2,...,1), under the RSK algorithm, (3) w has a specified cycle type, and (4) w has a specified number of fixed points. We also enumerate alternating permutations of a multiset. Most of our formulas are umbral expressions where after expanding the expression in powers of a variable E, E^k is interpreted as the Euler number E_k. As a small corollary, we obtai…
We define a class L_{n, k} of permutations that generalizes alternating (up-down) permutations and give bijective proofs of certain pattern-avoidance results for this class. As a special case of our results, we give two bijections between the set A_{2n}(1234) of alternating permutations of length 2n with no four-term increasing subsequence and standard Young tableaux of shape (3^n), and between the set A_{2n + 1}(1234) and standard Young tableaux of shape (3^{n - 1}, 2, 1). This represents the first enumeration of alternating permutations avoiding a pattern of length four. We also extend previ…
We consider the structure of roller coaster permutations as introduced by Ahmed & Snevily[1]. A roller coaster permutation is described as a permuta- tion that maximizes the total switches from ascending to descending or visa versa for the permutation and all of its subpermutations simultaneously. This paper looks at the alternating structure of these permutations and then we introduce a notion of a condition stronger than alternating for a permutation that we shall refer to as recursively alternating. We also examine the behav- ior of what entries can show up in even, odd, and end positions w…