N≥ 𝟐 symmetric superpolynomials

Abstract

The theory of symmetric functions has been extended to the case where each variable is paired with an anticommuting one. The resulting expressions, dubbed superpolynomials, provide the natural N=1 supersymmetric version of the classical bases of symmetric functions. Here we consider the case where two independent anticommuting variables are attached to each ordinary variable. The N=2 super-version of the monomial, elementary, homogeneous symmetric functions, as well as the power sums, are then constructed systematically (using an exterior-differential formalism for the multiplicative bases), these functions being now indexed by a novel type of superpartitions. Moreover, the scalar product of power sums turns out to have a natural N=2 generalization which preserves the duality between the monomial and homogeneous bases. All these results are then generalized to an arbitrary value of N. Finally, for N=2, the scalar product and the homogenous functions are shown to have a one-parameter deformation, a result that prepares the ground for the yet-to-be-defined N=2 Jack superpolynomials.