Preimages under a popqueue-sorting algorithm

Abstract

Abstract Following the footprints of what has been done with other sorting devices, we study a popqueue and define an optimal sorting algorithm, called Cons. Our results include a description of the set of all the preimages of a given permutation, an enumeration of the set of the preimages of permutations with some specific properties and, finally, the exact enumeration of permutations having 0, 1 and 2 preimages, respectively, with a characterization of permutations having 3 preimages.