Generalized bijective maps between G-parking functions, spanning trees, and the Tutte polynomial

Abstract

We introduce an object called a tree growing sequence (TGS) in an effort to generalize bijective correspondences between G -parking functions, spanning trees, and the set of monomials in the Tutte polynomial of a graph G . A tree growing sequence determines an algorithm which can be applied to a single function, or to the set P G , q of G -parking functions. When the latter is chosen, the algorithm uses splitting operations – inspired by the recursive definition of the Tutte polynomial – to iteratively break P G , q into disjoint subsets. This results in bijective maps τ and ρ from P G , q to the spanning trees of G and Tutte monomials, respectively. We compare the TGS algorithm to Dhar’s algorithm and the family described by Chebikin and Pylyavskyy in 2005. Finally, we compute a Tutte polynomial of a zonotopal tiling using analogous splitting operations.