Proof of a Conjecture of Chan, Robbins, and Yuen

Volumes of generalized Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytopes

The normalized volume of the Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytope ($CRY_n$) is the product of consecutive Catalan numbers. The polytope $CRY_n$ has captivated combinatorial audiences for over a decade, as there is no combinatorial proof for its volume formula. In their quest to understand $CRY_n$ better, the third author and Morales introduced two natural generalizations of it and conjectured that their volumes are certain powers of $2$ multiplied by a product of consecutive Catalan numbers. Zeilberger proved one of these conjectures. In this paper we present proofs of both conjectures.

Sketch of a Proof of an Intriguing Conjecture of Karola Meszaros and Alejandro Morales Regarding the Volume of the $D_n$ Analog of the Chan-Robbins-Yuen Polytope (Or: The Morris-Selberg Constant Term Identity Strikes Again!)

Using the Morris-Selberg Constant Term Identity, I sketch a proof of a recent conjecture by Karola Meszaros and Alejandro Morales, that I believe could be easily made fully rigorous by a sufficiently skilled and, sufficiently interested, analyst. This conjecture is an analog to the root system $D_n$ of a conjecture made in 1998 by Clara Chan, the late David P. Robbins, and David Yuen, that I proved immediately after, also using the Morris identity.

Chan--Robbins--Yuen体积公式的组合证明

A combinatorial proof of the Chan--Robbins--Yuen volume formula

针对Chan--Robbins--Yuen体积公式的组合证明这一开放问题，通过给每个顶点加一条到公共汇的额外边并计数非负整数流，结合双计数方法，最终得到该体积公式为卡特兰数的乘积，还给出了对应递推的显式双射与Postnikov提出的约化公式。

Flow polytopes with Catalan volumes

The Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytope can be thought of as the flow polytope of the complete graph with netflow vector $(1, 0, \ldots, 0, -1)$. The normalized volume of the Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytope equals the product of consecutive Catalan numbers, yet there is no combinatorial proof of this fact. We consider a natural generalization of this polytope, namely, the flow polytope of the complete graph with netflow vector $(1,1, 0, \ldots, 0, -2)$. We show that the volume of this polytope is a certain power of $2$ times the product of consecutive Catalan numbers. Our proof uses constant term identities…

Flow polytopes of signed graphs and the Kostant partition function

We establish the relationship between volumes of flow polytopes associated to signed graphs and the Kostant partition function. A special case of this relationship, namely, when the graphs are signless, has been studied in detail by Baldoni and Vergne using techniques of residues. In contrast with their approach, we provide entirely combinatorial proofs inspired by the work of Postnikov and Stanley on flow polytopes. As a fascinating special family of flow polytopes, we study the Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytopes. Motivated by the beautiful volume formula $\prod_{k=1}^{n-2} Cat(k)$ for the type $A_n…

Product formulas for volumes of flow polytopes

Intrigued by the product formula prod_{i=1}^{n-2} C_i for the volume of the Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytope CRY_n, where C_i is the ith Catalan number, we construct a family of polytopes P_{m,n}, whose volumes are given by the product \prod_{i=m+1}^{m+n-2}\frac{1}{2i+1}{{m+n+i} \choose {2i}}. The Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytope CRY_n coincides with P_{0,n-1}. Our construction of the polytopes P_{m,n} is an application of a systematic method we develop for expressing volumes of a class of flow polytopes as the number of certain triangular arrays. This method can also be used as a heuristic technique for …