Noncommutative Symmetric Functions Research Articles

Hopf Structures in the Representation Theory of Direct Products

Combinatorial Hopf algebras give a linear algebraic structure to infinite families of combinatorial objects, a technique further enriched by the categorification of these structures via the representation theory of families of algebras. This paper examines a fundamental construction in group theory, the direct product, and how it can be used to build representation theoretic Hopf algebras out of towers of groups. A key special case gives us the noncommutative symmetric functions NSym, but there are many things that we can say for the general Hopf algebras, including the structure of their character groups and a formula for the antipode.

Noncommutative symmetric functions and Lagrange inversion II: Noncrossing partitions and the Farahat-Higman algebra

We introduce a new pair of mutually dual bases of noncommutative symmetric functions and quasi-symmetric functions, and use it to derive generalizations of several results on the reduced incidence algebra of the lattice of noncrossing partitions. As a consequence, we obtain a quasi-symmetric version of the Farahat-Higman algebra.

Schur functions in noncommuting variables

In 2004 Rosas and Sagan asked whether there was a way to define a basis in the algebra of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables, NCSym, having properties analogous to the classical Schur functions. This was because they had constructed a partial such set that was not a basis. We answer their question by defining Schur functions in noncommuting variables using a noncommutative analogue of the Jacobi-Trudi determinant. Our Schur functions in NCSym map to classical Schur functions under commutation, and a subset of them indexed by set partitions forms a basis for NCSym. Amongst other properties, Schur functions in NCSym also satisfy a noncommutative analogue of the product rule for classical Schur functions in terms of skew Schur functions.We also show how Schur functions in NCSym are related to Specht modules, and naturally refine the Rosas-Sagan Schur functions. Moreover, by generalizing Rosas-Sagan Schur functions to skew Schur functions in the natural way, we prove noncommutative analogues of the Littlewood-Richardson rule and coproduct rule for them. Finally, we relate our functions to noncommutative symmetric functions by proving a subset of our functions are natural extensions of noncommutative ribbon Schur functions, and immaculate functions indexed by integer partitions.

Determinantal formulas with major indices

We give an elementary proof of a major index determinant formula discovered by Krattenthaler and first proved by Thibon using noncommutative symmetric functions. We do so by proving a factorization of an element in the group ring of the symmetric group. By applying similar methods to the groups of signed permutations and colored permutations, we prove determinantal formulas in these groups as conjectured by Krattenthaler.

Hopf Algebra Structure of Generalized Quasi-Symmetric Functions in Partially Commutative Variables

We introduce a coloured generalization $\mathrm{NSym}_A$ of the Hopf algebra of non-commutative symmetric functions described as a subalgebra of the of rooted ordered coloured trees Hopf algebra. Its natural basis can be identified with the set of sentences over alphabet $A$ (the set of colours). We present also its graded dual algebra $\mathrm{QSym}_A$ of coloured quasi-symmetric functions together with its realization in terms of power series in partially commutative variables. We provide formulas expressing multiplication, comultiplication and the antipode for these Hopf algebras in various bases — the corresponding generalizations of the complete homogeneous, elementary, ribbon Schur and power sum bases of $\mathrm{NSym}$, and the monomial and fundamental bases of $\mathrm{QSym}$. We study also certain distinguished series of trees in the setting of restricted duals to Hopf algebras.

A Noncommutative Cycle Index and New Bases of Quasi-symmetric Functions and Noncommutative Symmetric Functions

We define a new basis of the algebra of quasi-symmetric functions by lifting the cycle-index polynomials of symmetric groups to noncommutative polynomials with coefficients in the algebra of free quasi-symmetric functions, and then projecting the coefficients to QSym. By duality, we obtain a basis of noncommutative symmetric functions, for which a product formula and a recurrence in the form of a combinatorial complex are obtained. This basis allows to identify noncommutative symmetric functions with the quotient of \(\mathrm{FQSym}\) induced by the pattern-replacement relation \(321\equiv 231\) and \(312\equiv 132\).

On quasisymmetric power sums

In the 1995 paper entitled “Noncommutative symmetric functions”, Gelfand et al. defined two noncommutative symmetric function analogues for the power sum basis of the symmetric functions. This paper explores the combinatorial properties of their duals, two distinct quasisymmetric power sum bases. In contrast to the symmetric power sums, the quasisymmetric power sums have a more complex combinatorial description. This paper offers a first detailed exploration of these two relatively unstudied quasisymmetric bases, in which we show that they refine the classical symmetric power sum basis, we give transition matrices to other well-understood bases, and we provide explicit formulas for products of quasisymmetric power sums.

Hopf algebras of m-permutations, (m + 1)-ary trees, and m-parking functions

The m-Tamari lattice of F. Bergeron is an analogue of the classical Tamari order defined on objects counted by Fuss-Catalan numbers, such as m-Dyck paths or (m+1)-ary trees. On another hand, the Tamari order is related to the product in the Loday-Ronco Hopf algebra of planar binary trees. We introduce new combinatorial Hopf algebras based on (m+1)-ary trees, whose structure is described by the m-Tamari lattices.In the same way as planar binary trees can be interpreted as sylvester classes of permutations, we obtain (m+1)-ary trees as sylvester classes of what we call m-permutations. These objects are no longer in bijection with decreasing (m+1)-ary trees, and a finer congruence, called metasylvester, allows us to build Hopf algebras based on these decreasing trees. At the opposite, a coarser congruence, called hyposylvester, leads to Hopf algebras of graded dimensions (m+1)n−1, generalizing noncommutative symmetric functions and quasi-symmetric functions in a natural way. Finally, the algebras of packed words and parking functions also admit such m-analogues, and we present their subalgebras and quotients induced by the various congruences.

Noncommutative Shifted Symmetric Functions

We introduce a ring of noncommutative shifted symmetric functions based on an integer-indexed sequence of shift parameters. Using generating series and quasideterminants, this multiparameter approach produces deformations of the ring of noncommutative symmetric functions. Shifted versions of ribbon Schur functions are defined and form a basis for the ring. Further, we produce analogues of Jacobi-Trudi and N\"agelsbach-Kostka formulas, a duality anti-algebra isomorphism, shifted quasi-Schur functions, and Giambelli's formula in this setup. In addition, an analogue of power sums is provided, satisfying versions of Wronski and Newton formulas. Finally, a realization of these noncommutative shifted symmetric functions as rational functions in noncommuting variables is given. These realizations have a shifted symmetry under exchange of the variables and are well-behaved under extension of the list of variables.

The Hopf monoid of orbit polytopes

Many families of combinatorial objects have a Hopf monoid structure. Aguiar and Ardila introduced the Hopf monoid of generalized permutahedra and showed that it contains various other notable combinatorial families as Hopf submonoids, including graphs, posets, and matroids. We introduce the Hopf monoid of orbit polytopes, which is generated by the generalized permutahedra that are invariant under the action of the symmetric group. We show that modulo normal equivalence, these polytopes are in bijection with integer compositions. We interpret the Hopf structure through this lens, and we show that applying the first Fock functor to this Hopf monoid gives a Hopf algebra of compositions. We describe the character group of the Hopf monoid of orbit polytopes in terms of noncommutative symmetric functions, and we give a combinatorial interpretation of the basic character and its polynomial invariant.

Hopf algebra structure of symmetric and quasisymmetric functions in superspace

We show that the ring of symmetric functions in superspace is a cocommutative and self-dual Hopf algebra. We provide formulas for the action of the coproduct and the antipode on various bases of that ring. We introduce the ring sQSym of quasisymmetric functions in superspace and show that it is a Hopf algebra. We give explicitly the product, coproduct and antipode on the basis of monomial quasisymmetric functions in superspace. We prove that the Hopf dual of sQSym, the ring sNSym of noncommutative symmetric functions in superspace, has a multiplicative basis dual to the monomial quasisymmetric functions in superspace.

A q-analogue of generalized Eulerian polynomials with applications

We show that counting permutations with respect to double descents, double ascents, peaks, valleys and inversions yields a natural q-analogue of a classical formula of Carlitz–Scoville and generalizes Zhuang's recent formula counting inversions, peaks, and descents of permutations [17]. We also prove a left-peak analogue of Carlitz–Scoville's formula that recovers several recent results of Zhuang [17]. In contrast to Zhuang's proof involving theory of non-commutative symmetric functions, our approach based on q-calculus is more elementary.

A probabilistic method for the number of standard immaculate tableaux

In this paper, along the spirit of Greene, Nijenhuis and Wilf's probabilistic method for the classical hook-length formula for standard Young tableaux, we present a probabilistic proof of the hook-length formula for standard immaculate tableaux, which arose in the study of non-commutative symmetric functions.

Shuffle-compatible permutation statistics

Since the early work of Richard Stanley, it has been observed that several permutation statistics have a remarkable property with respect to shuffles of permutations. We formalize this notion of a shuffle-compatible permutation statistic and introduce the shuffle algebra of a shuffle-compatible permutation statistic, which encodes the distribution of the statistic over shuffles of permutations. This paper develops a theory of shuffle-compatibility for descent statistics—statistics that depend only on the descent set and length—which has close connections to the theory of P-partitions, quasisymmetric functions, and noncommutative symmetric functions. We use our framework to prove that many descent statistics are shuffle-compatible and to give explicit descriptions of their shuffle algebras, thus unifying past results of Stanley, Gessel, Stembridge, Aguiar–Bergeron–Nyman, and Petersen.

Subalgebras of Solomon's descent algebra based on alternating runs

The number of alternating runs is a natural permutation statistic. We show it can be used to define some commutative subalgebras of the symmetric group algebra, and more precisely of the descent algebra. The Eulerian peak algebras naturally appear as subalgebras of our run algebras. We also calculate the orthogonal idempotents for run algebras in terms of noncommutative symmetric functions.

The Heisenberg product: from Hopf algebras and species to symmetric functions

Many related products and coproducts (e.g. Hadamard, Cauchy, Kronecker, induction, internal, external, Solomon, composition, Malvenuto–Reutenauer, convolution, etc.) have been defined in the following objects: species, representations of the symmetric groups, symmetric functions, endomorphisms of graded connected Hopf algebras, permutations, non-commutative symmetric functions, quasi-symmetric functions, etc. With the purpose of simplifying and unifying this diversity we introduce yet, another product the Heisenberg product, that is not graded and its highest and lowest degree-terms are the classical external and internal products (and their namesakes in different contexts). In order to define it, we start from the two opposite more general extremes: species in the “commutative context”, and endomorphisms of Hopf algebras in the “non-commutative” environment. Both specialize to the space of commutative symmetric functions where the definitions coincide. We also deal with the different coproducts that these objects carry, to which we add the Heisenberg coproduct for quasi-symmetric functions, and study their Hopf algebra compatibility particularly for symmetric and non commutative symmetric functions. We obtain combinatorial formulas for the structure constants of the new product that extend, generalize and unify results due to Garsia, Remmel, Reutenauer and Solomon. In the space of quasi-symmetric functions, we describe explicitly the new operations in terms of alphabets.

Multiplicative structures of the immaculate basis of non-commutative symmetric functions

We continue our development of a new basis for the algebra of non-commutative symmetric functions. This basis is analogous to the basis of Schur functions for the algebra of symmetric functions, and it shares many of its wonderful properties. For instance, in this article we describe non-commutative versions of the Littlewood–Richardson rule and the Murnaghan–Nakayama rule. A surprising relation develops among non-commutative Littlewood–Richardson coefficients, which has implications to the commutative case. Finally, we interpret these new coefficients geometrically as the number of integer points inside a certain polytope.

On composition polynomials

We provide a combinatorial interpretation of the reduced composition polynomials of Ardila and Doker (2013) [1], and relate them to the (1−q)-transform of noncommutative symmetric functions.

Vieta’s formulae for regular polynomials of a quaternionic variable

Abstract Vieta’s classical formulae explicitly determine the coefficients of a polynomial p ∈ 𝔽[x] in terms of the roots of p, where 𝔽 is any commutative ring. In this paper, Vieta’s formulae are obtained for slice-regular polynomials over the noncommutative algebra of quaternions, by an argument which essentially relies on induction, without invoking quasideterminants or noncommutative symmetric functions.

Eulerian polynomials and descent statistics

We prove several identities expressing polynomials counting permutations by various descent statistics in terms of Eulerian polynomials, extending results of Stembridge, Petersen, and Brändén. Additionally, we find q-exponential generating functions for q-analogues of these descent statistic polynomials that also keep track of the inversion number or inverse major index. We also present identities relating several of these descent statistic polynomials to refinements of type B Eulerian polynomials and flag descent polynomials by the number of negative letters of a signed permutation. Our methods include permutation enumeration techniques involving noncommutative symmetric functions, the modified Foata–Strehl action, and a group action of Petersen on signed permutations. Notably, the modified Foata–Strehl action yields an analogous relation between Narayana polynomials and the joint distribution of the peak number and descent number over 231-avoiding permutations, which we also interpret in terms of binary trees and Dyck paths.