Plane partitions I: a generalization of MacMahon's formula
Mihai Ciucu
备注：
35 pages, 34 figures. New to this version: a few typos were corrected, and the journal information is included. Memoirs of Amer. Math. Soc., accepted, to appear
The number of plane partitions contained in a given box was shown by MacMahon to be given by a simple product formula. By a simple bijection, this formula also enumerates lozenge tilings of hexagons of side-lengths $a,b,c,a,b,c$ (in cyclic order) and angles of 120 degrees. We present a generalization in the case $b=c$ by giving simple product formulas enumerating lozenge tilings of regions obtained from a hexagon of side-lengths $a,b+k,b,a+k,b,b+k$ (where $k$ is an arbitrary non-negative integer) and angles of 120 degrees by removing certain triangular regions along its symmetry axis.
A classical theorem of MacMahon states that the number of lozenge tilings of any centrally symmetric hexagon drawn on the triangular lattice is given by a beautifully simple product formula. In this paper we present a counterpart of this formula, corresponding to the {\it exterior} of a concave hexagon obtained by turning 120 degrees after drawing each side (MacMahon's hexagon is obtained by turning 60 degrees after each step).
We study some combinatorial properties of higher-dimensional partitions which generalize plane partitions. We present a natural bijection between $d$-dimensional partitions and $d$-dimensional arrays of nonnegative integers. This bijection has a number of important applications. We introduce a statistic on $d$-dimensional partitions, called the corner-hook volume, whose generating function has the formula of MacMahon's conjecture. We obtain multivariable formulas whose specializations give analogues of various formulas known for plane partitions. We also introduce higher-dimensional analogues …
A classical result of MacMahon states that inversion number and major index have the same distribution over permutations of a given multiset. In this work we prove a strengthening of this theorem originally conjectured by Haglund. Our result can be seen as an equidistribution theorem over the ordered partitions of a multiset into sets, which we call ordered multiset partitions. Our proof is bijective and involves a new generalization of Carlitz's insertion method. This generalization leads to a new extension of Macdonald polynomials for hook shapes. We use our main theorem to show that these p…
This paper deals with evaluating constant terms of a special class of rational functions, the Elliott-rational functions. The constant term of such a function can be read off immediately from its partial fraction decomposition. We combine the theory of iterated Laurent series and a new algorithm for partial fraction decompositions to obtain a fast algorithm for MacMahon's Omega calculus, which (partially) avoids the "run-time explosion" problem when eliminating several variables. We discuss the efficiency of our algorithm by investigating problems studied by Andrews and his coauthors; our runn…
Major Percy A. MacMahon's first paper on plane partitions included a conjectured generating function for symmetric plane partitions. This conjecture was proven almost simultaneously by George Andrews and Ian Macdonald, Andrews using the machinery of basic hypergeometric series and Macdonald employing his knowledge of symmetric functions. The purpose of this paper is to simplify Macdonald's proof by providing a direct, inductive proof of his formula which expresses the sum of Schur functions whose partitions fit inside a rectangular box as a ratio of determinants.
MacMahon showed that the generating function for partitions into at most $k$ parts can be decomposed into a partial fractions-type sum indexed by the partitions of $k$. In this present work, a generalization of MacMahon's result is given, which in turn provides a full combinatorial explanation.
We prove a conjecture of Haglund which can be seen as an extension of the equidistribution of the inversion number and the major index over permutations to ordered set partitions. Haglund's conjecture implicitly defines two statistics on ordered set partitions and states that they are equidistributed. The implied inversion statistic is equivalent to a statistic on ordered set partitions studied by Steingrímsson, Ishikawa, Kasraoui, and Zeng, and is known to have a nice distribution in terms of $q$-Stirling numbers. The resulting major index exhibits a combinatorial relationship between $q$-Sti…
In this paper we introduce a counterpart structure to the shamrocks studied in the paper "A dual of Macmahon's theorem on plane partitions" by M. Ciucu and C. Krattenthaler (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, vol. 110 (2013), 4518-4523), which, just like the latter, can be included at the center of a lattice hexagon on the triangular lattice so that the region obtained from the hexagon by removing it has its number of lozenge tilings given by a simple product formula. The new structure, called a fern, consists of an arbitrary number of equilateral triangles of alternating orientations lined up along …
We propose a discrete approach to solve problems on forming polygons from broken sticks, which is akin to counting polygons with sides of integer length subject to certain Diophantine inequalities. Namely, we use MacMahon's Partition Analysis to obtain a generating function for the size of the set of segments of a broken stick subject to these inequalities. In particular, we use this approach to show that for $n\geq k\geq 3$, the probability that a $k$-gon cannot be formed from a stick broken into $n$ parts is given by $n!$ over a product of linear combinations of partial sums of generalized F…
In this paper, we consider various theorems of P.A. MacMahon and M.V. Subbarao. For a non-negative integer $n$, MacMahon proved that the number of partitions of $n$ wherein parts have multiplicity greater than 1 is equal to the number of partitions of $n$ in which odd parts are congruent to 3 modulo 6. We give a new bijective proof for this theorem and its generalization, which consequently provides a new proof of Andrews' extension of the theorem. We also generalize Subbarao's finitization of Andrews' extension. This generalization is based on Glaisher's extension of Euler's mapping for odd-d…
By using MacMahon partition analysis technique, the Poincaré series for the algebras of invariants of the ternary, quaternary and quinary forms of small orders are calculated.
Solutions to a linear Diophantine system, or lattice points in a rational convex polytope, are important concepts in algebraic combinatorics and computational geometry. The enumeration problem is fundamental and has been well studied, because it has many applications in various fields of mathematics. In algebraic combinatorics, MacMahon's partition analysis has become a general approach for linear Diophantine system related problems. Many algorithms have been developed, but "bottlenecks" always arise when dealing with complex problems. While in computational geometry, Barvinok's important resu…
For a positive integer $r$, George Andrews proved that the set of partitions of $n$ in which odd multiplicities are at least $2r + 1$ is equinumerous with the set of partitions of $n$ in which odd parts are congruent to $2r + 1$ modulo $4r + 2$. This was given as an extension of MacMahon's theorem ($r = 1$). Andrews, Ericksson, Petrov and Romik gave a bijective proof of MacMahon's theorem. Despite several bijections being given, until recently, none of them was in the spirit of Andrews-Ericksson-Petrov-Romik bijection. Andrews' theorem has also been extended recently. Our goal is to give a gen…
We generalize the generating formula for plane partitions known as MacMahon's formula as well as its analog for strict plane partitions. We give a 2-parameter generalization of these formulas related to Macdonald's symmetric functions. The formula is especially simple in the Hall-Littlewood case. We also give a bijective proof of the analog of MacMahon's formula for strict plane partitions.
We report on findings of a variant of ${\texttt{IdentityFinder}}$ - a Maple program that was used by two of the authors to conjecture several new identities of Rogers-Ramanujan kind. In the present search, we modify the parametrization of the search space by taking into consideration several aspects of Lepowsky and Wilson's $Z$-algebraic mechanism and its variant by Meurman and Primc. We search for identities based on forbidding the appearance of "flat" partitions as sub-partitions. Several new identities of Rogers-Ramanujan-MacMahon type are found and proved.
Using a symmetrizing operator, we give a new expression for the Omega operator used by MacMahon in Partition Analysis, and given a new life by Andrews and his coworkers. Our result is stated in terms of Schur functions.
Recently M. Vuletic found a two-parameter generalization of the MacMahon's formula. In this note we show that certain ingredients of her formula have a clear interpretation in terms of the geometry of the moduli space of sheaves on the projective plane.
We give two proofs of the $q,t$-symmetry of the generalized $q,t$-Catalan number $C_{\vec{k}}(q,t)$ for $\vec{k}=(k_1,k_2,k_3)$. One is by using MacMahon's partition analysis as we proposed; the other is a direct bijection. We also prove $C_{(k,k,k,k)}(q,t) = C_{(k,k,k,k)}(t,q)$ by using MacMahon's partition analysis.
The cyclic sieving phenomenon of Reiner, Stanton, and White says that we can often count the fixed points of elements of a cyclic group acting on a combinatorial set by plugging roots of unity into a polynomial related to this set. One of the most impressive instances of the cyclic sieving phenomenon is a theorem of Rhoades asserting that the set of plane partitions in a rectangular box under the action of promotion exhibits cyclic sieving. In Rhoades's result the sieving polynomial is the size generating function for these plane partitions, which has a well-known product formula due to MacMah…
We study certain bijection between plane partitions and $\mathbb{N}$-matrices. As applications, we prove a Cauchy-type identity for generalized dual Grothendieck polynomials. We introduce two statistics on plane partitions, whose generating functions are similar to classical MacMahon's formulas; one of these statistics is equidistributed with the usual volume. We also show natural connections with the longest increasing subsequences of words.
We give a historical survey of the theory P-partitions, starting with MacMahon's work, describing Richard Stanley's contributions and his related work, and continuing with more recent developments.
By a re-examination of MacMahon's original proof of his celebrated theorem on the distribution of the major indices over permutations, we give a reformulation of his argument in terms of the structure of labeled partitions. In this framework, we are able to establish a decomposition theorem for labeled partitions that leads to a simple bijective proof of Wachs' formula on the q-derangement numbers.
A close connection of reverse plane partitions with an integrable dynamical system called the discrete two-dimensional (2D) Toda molecule is clarified. It is shown that a multiplicative partition function for reverse plane partition of arbitrary shape with bounded parts can be obtained from each non-vanishing solution to the discrete 2D Toda molecule. As an example a partition function which generalizes MacMahon's triple product formula as well as Gansner's multi-trace generating function is derived from a specific solution to the dynamical system.
Stanley generalized MacMahon's classical theorem by proving a product formula for the norm-trace generating function for plane partition with unbounded parts. In his recent work on biothorgonal polynomials, Kamioka proved a finite analogue of Stanley's formula for plane partitions with bounded parts (arXiv:1508.01674). In this paper, we use techniques from the enumeration of tilings to give a new proof for Kamioka's formula.
MacMahon proved a simple product formula for the generating function of plane partitions fitting in a given box. The theorem implies a $q$-enumeration of lozenge tilings of a semi-regular hexagon on the triangular lattice. In this paper we generalize MacMahon's classical theorem by $q$-enumerating lozenge tilings of a new family of hexagons with four adjacent triangles removed from their boundary.
Recent work of Cesana, Craig and the third author shows that the trace of plane partitions is asymptotically equidistributed in residue classes mod $b$. Applying a technique of the first two authors and Garnowski, we prove asymptotic formulas for the secondary terms in this equidistribution, which are controlled by certain complex numbers generated by a twisted MacMahon-type product. We further carry out a similar analysis for a statistic related to plane overpartitions.
Plane partitions have been widely studied in Mathematics since MacMahon. See, for example, the works by Andrews, Macdonald, Stanley, Sagan and Krattenthaler. The Schur process approach, introduced by Okounkov and Reshetikhin, and further developed by Borodin, Corwin, Corteel, Savelief and Vuletić, has been proved to be a powerful tool in the study of various kinds of plane partitions. The exact enumerations of ordinary plane partitions, shifted plane partitions and cylindric partitions could be derived from two summation formulas for Schur processes, namely, the open summation formula and the …
Heim, Neuhauser, and Tröger recently established some inequalities for MacMahon's plane partition function $\mathrm{PL}(n)$ that generalize known results for Euler's partition function $p(n)$. They also conjectured that $\mathrm{PL}(n)$ is log-concave for all $n\geq 12.$ We prove this conjecture. Moreover, for every $d\geq 1$, we prove their speculation that $\mathrm{PL}(n)$ satisfies the degree $d$ Turán inequality for sufficiently large $n$. The case where $d=2$ is the case of log-concavity.
We find by applying MacMahon's partition analysis that all magic squares of order three, up to rotations and reflections, are of two types, each generated by three basis elements. A combinatorial proof of this fact is given.
We examine "partition zeta functions" analogous to the Riemann zeta function but summed over subsets of integer partitions. We prove an explicit formula for a family of partition zeta functions already shown to have nice properties -- those summed over partitions of fixed length -- which yields complete information about analytic continuation, poles and trivial roots of the zeta functions in the family. Then we present a combinatorial proof of the explicit formula, which shows it to be a zeta function analog of MacMahon's partial fraction decomposition of the generating function for partitions…
We generalize a special case of a theorem of Proctor on the enumeration of lozenge tilings of a hexagon with a maximal staircase removed, using Kuo's graphical condensation method. Additionally, we prove a formula for a weighted version of the given region. The result also extends work of Ciucu and Fischer. By applying the factorization theorem of Ciucu, we are also able to generalize a special case of MacMahon's boxed plane partition formula.
A classical result of MacMahon gives a simple product formula for the generating function of major index over the symmetric group. A similar factorial-type product formula for the generating function of major index together with sign was given by Gessel and Simion. Several extensions are given in this paper, including a recurrence formula, a specialization at roots of unity and type $B$ analogues.
Using a calculus of variations approach, we determine the shape of a typical plane partition in a large box (i.e., a plane partition chosen at random according to the uniform distribution on all plane partitions whose solid Young diagrams fit inside the box). Equivalently, we describe the distribution of the three different orientations of lozenges in a random lozenge tiling of a large hexagon. We prove a generalization of the classical formula of MacMahon for the number of plane partitions in a box; for each of the possible ways in which the tilings of a region can behave when restricted to c…
MacMahon's definition of self-inverse composition is extended to $n$-colour self-inverse composition. This introduces four new sequences which satisfy the same recurrence relation with different initial conditions like the famous Fibonacci and Lucas sequences. For these new sequences explicit formulas, recurrence relations, generating functions and a summation formula are obtained. Two new binomial identities with combinatorial meaning are also given.
We resolve an open conjecture from algebraic geometry, which states that two generating functions for plane partition-like objects (the "box-counting" formulae for the Calabi-Yau topological vertices in Donaldson-Thomas theory and Pandharipande-Thomas theory) are equal up to a factor of MacMahon's generating function for plane partitions. The main tools in our proof are a Desnanot-Jacobi-type "condensation" identity, and a novel application of the tripartite double-dimer model of Kenyon-Wilson.
In this paper we define the shifted Schur process as a measure on sequences of strict partitions. This process is a generalization of the shifted Schur measure introduced in [TW] and [Mat] and is a shifted version of the Schur process introduced in [OR]. We prove that the shifted Schur process defines a Pfaffian point process. We further apply this fact to compute the bulk scaling limit of the correlation functions for a measure on strict plane partitions which is an analog of the uniform measure on ordinary plane partitions. As a byproduct, we obtain a shifted analog of the famous MacMahon's …
We resolve an open conjecture from algebraic geometry, which states that two generating functions for plane partition-like objects (the "box-counting" formulae for the Calabi-Yau topological vertices in Donaldson-Thomas theory and Pandharipande-Thomas theory) are equal up to a factor of MacMahon's generating function for plane partitions. The main tools in our proof are a Desnanot-Jacobi-type condensation identity, and a novel application of the tripartite double-dimer model of Kenyon-Wilson.
MacMahon's classic generating function of random plane partitions, which is related to Schur polynomials, was recently extended by Vuletic to a generating function of weighted plane partitions that is related to Hall-Littlewood polynomials, S(t), and further to one related to Macdonald polynomials, S(t,q). Using Jing's 1-parameter deformation of charged free fermions, we obtain a Fock space derivation of the Hall-Littlewood extension. Confining the plane partitions to a finite s-by-s square base, we show that the resulting generating function, S_{s-by-s}(t), is an evaluation of a tau-function …
MacMahon's theorem on plane partitions yields a simple product formula for tiling number of a hexagon, and Cohn, Larsen and Propp's theorem provides an explicit enumeration for tilings of a dented semihexagon via semi-strict Gelfand--Tsetlin patterns. In this paper, we prove a natural hybrid of the two theorems for hexagons with an arbitrary set of unit triangles removed along a horizontal axis. In particular, we show that the `shuffling' of removed unit triangles only changes the tiling number of the region by a simple multiplicative factor. Our main result generalizes a number of known enume…
The hook length formula gives a product formula for the number of standard Young tableaux of a partition shape. The number of standard Young tableaux of a skew shape does not always have a product formula. However, for some special skew shapes, there is a product formula. Recently, Morales, Pak and Panova joint with Krattenthaler conjectured a product formula for the number of standard Young tableaux of shape $λ/μ$ for $λ=((2a+c)^{c+a},(a+c)^a)$ and $μ=(a+1,a^{a-1},1)$. They also conjectured a product formula for the number of standard Young tableaux of a certain skew shifted shape. In this pa…
We introduce elliptic weights of boxed plane partitions and prove that they give rise to a generalization of MacMahon's product formula for the number of plane partitions in a box. We then focus on the most general positive degenerations of these weights that are related to orthogonal polynomials; they form three two-dimensional families. For distributions from these families we prove two types of results. First, we construct explicit Markov chains that preserve these distributions. In particular, this leads to a relatively simple exact sampling algorithm. Second, we consider a limit when all …
Rohatgi and the author recently proved a shuffling theorem for lozenge tilings of `doubly-dented hexagons' (arXiv:1905.08311). The theorem can be considered as a hybrid between two classical theorems in the enumeration of tilings: MacMahon's theorem about centrally symmetric hexagons and Cohn-Larsen-Prop's theorem about semihexagons with dents. In this paper, we consider a similar shuffling theorem for the centrally symmetric tilings of the doubly-dented hexagons. Our theorem also implies a conjecture posed by the author in arXiv:1803.02792 about the enumeration of centrally symmetric tilings …
Ciucu showed that the number of lozenge tilings of a hexagon in which a chain of equilateral triangles of alternating orientations, called a `\emph{fern}', has been removed in the center is given by a simple product formula (Adv. Math. 2017). In this paper, we present a multi-parameter generalization of this work by giving an explicit tiling enumeration for a hexagon with three ferns removed, besides the middle fern located in the center as in Ciucu's region, we remove two additional ferns from two sides of the hexagon. Our result also implies a counterpart of MacMahon's classical formula of b…
