Hownotto prove the Alon-Tarsi conjecture

Abstract

AbstractThe sign of a Latin square is −1 if it has an odd number of rows and columns that are odd permutations; otherwise, it is +1. LetLEnandLonbe, respectively, the number of Latin squares of ordernwith sign +1 and −1. The Alon-Tarsi conjecture asserts thatLEn≠Lonwhennis even. Drisko showed thatLEp+1≢Lop+1(modp3) for primep≥ 3 and asked if similar congruences hold for orders of the formpk+ 1,p+ 3, orpq+ 1. In this article we show that ift≤n, thenLEn+1≢L0n+1(modt3) only ift = nandnis an odd prime, thereby showing that Drisko’s method cannot be extended to encompass any of the three suggested cases. We also extend exact computation ton≤ 9, discuss asymptotics forLo/LE, and propose a generalization of the Alon-Tarsi conjecture.