Tamari Lattice Research Articles

Chains of maximum length in the Tamari lattice

The Tamari lattice T[subscript n] was originally defined on bracketings of a set of n + 1 objects, with a cover relation based on the associativity rule in one direction. Although in several related lattices, the number of maximal chains is known, quoting Knuth, “The enumeration of such paths in Tamari lattices remains mysterious.” The lengths of maximal chains vary over a great range. In this paper, we focus on the chains with maximum length in these lattices. We establish a bijection between the maximum length chains in the Tamari lattice and the set of standard shifted tableaux of staircase shape. We thus derive an explicit formula for the number of maximum length chains, using the Thrall formula for the number of shifted tableaux. We describe the relationship between chains of maximum length in the Tamari lattice and certain maximal chains in weak Bruhat order on the symmetric group, using standard Young tableaux. Additionally, recently, Bergeron and Pr eville-Ratelle introduced a generalized Tamari lattice. Some of the results mentioned above carry over to their generalized Tamari lattice.

Triangulations, orientals, and skew monoidal categories

A concrete model of the free skew-monoidal category Fsk on a single generating object is obtained. The situation is clubbable in the sense of G.M. Kelly, so this allows a description of the free skew-monoidal category on any category. As the objects of Fsk are meaningfully bracketed words in the skew unit I and the generating object X, it is necessary to examine bracketings and to find the appropriate kinds of morphisms between them. This leads us to relationships between triangulations of polygons, the Tamari lattice, left and right bracketing functions, and the orientals. A consequence of our description of Fsk is a coherence theorem asserting the existence of a strictly structure-preserving faithful functor Fsk⟶Δ⊥ where Δ⊥ is the skew-monoidal category of finite non-empty ordinals and first-element-and-order-preserving functions. This in turn provides a complete solution to the word problem for skew monoidal categories.

The $m$-Cover Posets and the Strip-Decomposition of $m$-Dyck Paths

In the first part of this article we present a realization of the $m$-Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$ in terms of $m$-tuples of Dyck paths of height $n$, equipped with componentwise rotation order. For that, we define the $m$-cover poset $\mathcal{P}^{\langle m \rangle}$ of an arbitrary bounded poset $\mathcal{P}$, and show that the smallest lattice completion of the $m$-cover poset of the Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n$ is isomorphic to the $m$-Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$. A crucial tool for the proof of this isomorphism is a decomposition of $m$-Dyck paths into $m$-tuples of classical Dyck paths, which we call the strip-decomposition. Subsequently, we characterize the cases where the $m$-cover poset of an arbitrary poset is a lattice. Finally, we show that the $m$-cover poset of the Cambrian lattice of the dihedral group is a trim lattice with cardinality equal to the generalized Fuss-Catalan number of the dihedral group. Dans la première partie de cet article nous présentons une réalisation du treillis $m$ -Tamari $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$ à l’aide de $m$-uplets de chemins de Dyck de hauteur $n$, équipés de l’ordre de rotation composante par composante. Pour cela, nous définissons le poset de $m$-couverture $\mathcal{P}^{\langle m \rangle}$ d’un poset borné quelconque $\mathcal{P}$, et montrons que la plus petite complétion en treillis du poset de $m$-couverture du treillis de Tamari $\mathcal{T}_n$ est isomorphe au treillis $m$-Tamari $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$. Unoutil crucial pour la preuve de cet isomorphisme est une décomposition des chemins $m$-Dyck en $m$-uplets de chemins de Dyck usuels, que nous appelons la décomposition en bandes. Par la suite, nous caractérisons les cas où le poset de $m$-couverture d’un poset donné est un treillis. Enfin nous montrons que le poset de $m$-couverture du treillis Cambrien du groupe diédral est un treillis svelte de cardinalité le nombre généralisé de Fuss-Catalan du groupe diédral.

Two bijections on Tamari Intervals

We use a recently introduced combinatorial object, the $\textit{interval-poset}$, to describe two bijections on intervals of the Tamari lattice. Both bijections give a combinatorial proof of some previously known results. The first one is an inner bijection between Tamari intervals that exchanges the $\textit{initial rise}$ and $\textit{lower contacts}$ statistics. Those were introduced by Bousquet-Mélou, Fusy, and Préville-Ratelle who proved they were symmetrically distributed but had no combinatorial explanation. The second bijection sends a Tamari interval to a closed flow of an ordered forest. These combinatorial objects were studied by Chapoton in the context of the Pre-Lie operad and the connection with the Tamari order was still unclear. Nous utilisons les $\textit{intervalles-posets}$, très récemment introduits, pour décrire deux bijections sur les intervalles du treillis de Tamari. Nous obtenons ainsi des preuves combinatoires de précédents résultats. La première bijection est une opération interne sur les intervalles qui échange les statistiques de la $\textit{montée initiale}$ et du $\textit{nombre de contacts}$. Ces dernières ont été introduites par Bousquet-Mélou, Fusy et Préville-Ratelle qui ont prouvé qu’elles étaient symétriquement distribuées sans pour autant proposer d’explication combinatoire. La seconde bijection fait le lien avec un objet étudié par Chapoton dans le cadre de l’opérade Pré-Lie : les flots sur les forêts ordonnées. Le lien avec l’ordre de Tamari avait déjà été remarqué sans pour autant être expliqué.

Motzkin subposets and Motzkin geodesics in Tamari lattices

The Tamari lattice of order n can be defined by the set Dn of Dyck words endowed with the partial order relation induced by the well-known rotation transformation. In this paper, we study this rotation on the restricted set of Motzkin words. An upper semimodular join semilattice is obtained and a shortest path metric can be defined. We compute the corresponding distance between two Motzkin words in this structure. This distance can also be interpreted as the length of a geodesic between these Motzkin words in a Tamari lattice. So, a new upper bound is obtained for the classical rotation distance between two Motzkin words in a Tamari lattice. For some specific pairs of Motzkin words, this bound is exactly the value of the rotation distance in a Tamari lattice. Finally, enumerating results are given for join and meet irreducible elements, minimal elements and coverings.

On a Subposet of the Tamari Lattice

We explore some of the properties of a subposet of the Tamari lattice introduced by Pallo, which we call the comb poset. We show that three binary functions that are not well-behaved in the Tamari lattice are remarkably well-behaved within an interval of the comb poset: rotation distance, meets and joins, and the common parse words function for a pair of trees. We relate this poset to a partial order on the symmetric group studied by Edelman.

The representation of the symmetric group on m-Tamari intervals

An m-ballot path of size n is a path on the square grid consisting of north and east unit steps, starting at (0,0), ending at (mn,n), and never going below the line {x=my}. The set of these paths can be equipped with a lattice structure, called the m-Tamari lattice and denoted by Tn(m), which generalizes the usual Tamari lattice Tn obtained when m=1. This lattice was introduced by F. Bergeron in connection with the study of diagonal coinvariant spaces in three sets of n variables. The representation of the symmetric group Sn on these spaces is conjectured to be closely related to the natural representation of Sn on (labeled) intervals of the m-Tamari lattice, which we study in this paper.An interval [P,Q] of Tn(m) is labeled if the north steps of Q are labeled from 1 to n in such a way the labels increase along any sequence of consecutive north steps. The symmetric group Sn acts on labeled intervals of Tn(m) by permutation of the labels. We prove an explicit formula, conjectured by F. Bergeron and the third author, for the character of the associated representation of Sn. In particular, the dimension of the representation, that is, the number of labeled m-Tamari intervals of size n, is found to be(m+1)n(mn+1)n−2. These results are new, even when m=1.The form of these numbers suggests a connection with parking functions, but our proof is not bijective. The starting point is a recursive description of m-Tamari intervals. It yields an equation for an associated generating function, which is a refined version of the Frobenius series of the representation. This equation involves two additional variables x and y, a derivative with respect to y and iterated divided differences with respect to x. The hardest part of the proof consists in solving it, and we develop original techniques to do so, partly inspired by previous work on polynomial equations with “catalytic” variables.

Sublattices of associahedra and permutohedra

Grätzer asked in 1971 for a characterization of sublattices of Tamari lattices. A natural candidate was coined by McKenzie in 1972 with the notion of a bounded homomorphic image of a free lattice—in short, bounded lattice. Urquhart proved in 1978 that every Tamari lattice is bounded (thus so are its sublattices). Geyer conjectured in 1994 that every finite bounded lattice embeds into some Tamari lattice.We disprove Geyerʼs conjecture, by introducing an infinite collection of lattice-theoretical identities that hold in every Tamari lattice, but not in every finite bounded lattice. Among those finite counterexamples, there are the permutohedron on four letters P(4), and in fact two of its subdirectly irreducible retracts, which are Cambrian lattices of type A.For natural numbers m and n, we denote by B(m,n) the (bounded) lattice obtained by doubling a join of m atoms in an (m+n)-atom Boolean lattice. We prove that B(m,n) embeds into a Tamari lattice iff min{m,n}⩽1, and that B(m,n) embeds into a permutohedron iff min{m,n}⩽2. In particular, B(3,3) cannot be embedded into any permutohedron. Nevertheless we prove that B(3,3) is a homomorphic image of a sublattice of the permutohedron on 12 letters.

The Number of Intervals in the $m$-Tamari Lattices

An $m$-ballot path of size $n$ is a path on the square grid consisting of north and east steps, starting at $(0,0)$, ending at $(mn,n)$, and never going below the line $\{x=my\}$. The set of these paths can be equipped with a lattice structure, called the $m$-Tamari lattice and denoted by $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$, which generalizes the usual Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n$ obtained when $m=1$. We prove that the number of intervals in this lattice is $$ \frac {m+1}{n(mn+1)} {(m+1)^2 n+m\choose n-1}. $$ This formula was recently conjectured by Bergeron in connection with the study of diagonal coinvariant spaces. The case $m=1$ was proved a few years ago by Chapoton. Our proof is based on a recursive description of intervals, which translates into a functional equation satisfied by the associated generating function. The solution of this equation is an algebraic series, obtained by a guess-and-check approach. Finding a bijective proof remains an open problem.

The representation of the symmetric group on $m$-Tamari intervals (conference version)

An $m$-ballot path of size $n$ is a path on the square grid consisting of north and east unit steps, starting at (0,0), ending at $(mn,n)$, and never going below the line $\{x=my\}$. The set of these paths can be equipped with a lattice structure, called the $m$-Tamari lattice and denoted by $\mathcal{T}{_n}^{(m)}$, which generalizes the usual Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}n$ obtained when $m=1$. This lattice was introduced by F. Bergeron in connection with the study of diagonally coinvariant spaces in three sets of $n$ variables. The representation of the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$ on these spaces is conjectured to be closely related to the natural representation of $\mathfrak{S}_n$ on (labelled) intervals of the $m$-Tamari lattice studied in this paper. An interval $[P,Q$] of $\mathcal{T}{_n}^{(m)}$ is labelled if the north steps of $Q$ are labelled from 1 to $n$ in such a way the labels increase along any sequence of consecutive north steps. The symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$ acts on labelled intervals of $\mathcal{T}{_n}^{(m)}$by permutation of the labels. We prove an explicit formula, conjectured by F. Bergeron and the third author, for the character of the associated representation of $\mathfrak{S}_n$. In particular, the dimension of the representation, that is, the number of labelled $m$-Tamari intervals of size $n$, is found to be $(m+1)^n(mn+1)^{n-2}$. These results are new, even when $m=1$. The form of these numbers suggests a connection with parking functions, but our proof is not bijective. The starting point is a recursive description of $m$-Tamari intervals. It yields an equation for an associated generating function, which is a refined version of the Frobenius series of the representation. The form of this equation is highly non-standard: it involves two additional variables $x$ and $y$, a derivative with respect to $y$ and iterated divided differences with respect to $x$. The hardest part of the proof consists in solving it, and we develop original techniques to do so.

On a Subposet of the Tamari Lattice

We discuss some properties of a subposet of the Tamari lattice introduced by Pallo (1986), which we call the comb poset. We show that three binary functions that are not well-behaved in the Tamari lattice are remarkably well-behaved within an interval of the comb poset: rotation distance, meets and joins, and the common parse words function for a pair of trees. We relate this poset to a partial order on the symmetric group studied by Edelman (1989). Nous discutons d'un subposet du treillis de Tamari introduit par Pallo. Nous appellons ce poset le comb poset. Nous montrons que trois fonctions binaires qui ne se comptent pas bien dans le trellis de Tamari se comptent bien dans un intervalle du comb poset : distance dans le trellis de Tamari, le supremum et l'infimum et les parsewords communs. De plus, nous discutons un rapport entre ce poset et un ordre partiel dans le groupe symétrique étudié par Edelman.

Intervals of balanced binary trees in the Tamari lattice

We show that the set of balanced binary trees is closed by interval in the Tamari lattice. We establish that the intervals [ T , T ′ ] , where T and T ′ are balanced binary trees are isomorphic as posets to a hypercube. We introduce synchronous grammars that allow to generate tree-like structures and obtain fixed-point functional equations to enumerate these. We also introduce imbalance tree patterns and show that they can be used to describe some sets of balanced binary trees that play a particular role in the Tamari lattice. Finally, we investigate other families of binary trees that are also closed by interval in the Tamari lattice.

The Hopf algebra of diagonal rectangulations

We define and study a combinatorial Hopf algebra dRec with basis elements indexed by diagonal rectangulations of a square. This Hopf algebra provides an intrinsic combinatorial realization of the Hopf algebra tBax of twisted Baxter permutations, which previously had only been described extrinsically as a Hopf subalgebra of the Malvenuto–Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations. We describe the natural lattice structure on diagonal rectangulations, analogous to the Tamari lattice on triangulations, and observe that diagonal rectangulations index the vertices of a polytope analogous to the associahedron. We give an explicit bijection between twisted Baxter permutations and the better-known Baxter permutations, and describe the resulting Hopf algebra structure on Baxter permutations.

Permutahedra and generalized associahedra

Given a finite Coxeter system (W,S) and a Coxeter element c, or equivalently an orientation of the Coxeter graph of W, we construct a simple polytope whose outer normal fan is N. Reading's Cambrian fan Fc, settling a conjecture of Reading that this is possible. We call this polytope the c-generalized associahedron. Our approach generalizes Loday's realization of the associahedron (a type A c-generalized associahedron whose outer normal fan is not the cluster fan but a coarsening of the Coxeter fan arising from the Tamari lattice) to any finite Coxeter group. A crucial role in the construction is played by the c-singleton cones, the cones in the c-Cambrian fan which consist of a single maximal cone from the Coxeter fan.Moreover, if W is a Weyl group and the vertices of the permutahedron are chosen in a lattice associated to W, then we show that our realizations have integer coordinates in this lattice.

Balanced binary trees in the Tamari lattice

We show that the set of balanced binary trees is closed by interval in the Tamari lattice. We establish that the intervals $[T_0, T_1]$ where $T_0$ and $T_1$ are balanced trees are isomorphic as posets to a hypercube. We introduce tree patterns and synchronous grammars to get a functional equation of the generating series enumerating balanced tree intervals. Nous montrons que l'ensemble des arbres équilibrés est clos par intervalle dans le treillis de Tamari. Nous caractérisons la forme des intervalles du type $[T_0, T_1]$ où $T_0$ et $T_1$ sont équilibrés en montrant qu'en tant qu'ensembles partiellement ordonnés, ils sont isomorphes à un hypercube. Nous introduisons la notion de motif d'arbre et de grammaire synchrone dans le but d'établir une équation fonctionnelle de la série génératrice qui dénombre les intervalles d'arbres équilibrés.

Intervals in Catalan lattices and realizers of triangulations

The Stanley lattice, Tamari lattice and Kreweras lattice are three remarkable orders defined on the set of Catalan objects of a given size. These lattices are ordered by inclusion: the Stanley lattice is an extension of the Tamari lattice which is an extension of the Kreweras lattice. The Stanley order can be defined on the set of Dyck paths of size n as the relation of being above. Hence, intervals in the Stanley lattice are pairs of non-crossing Dyck paths. In a previous article, the second author defined a bijection Φ between pairs of non-crossing Dyck paths and the realizers of triangulations (or Schnyder woods). We give a simpler description of the bijection Φ. Then, we study the restriction of Φ to Tamari and Kreweras intervals. We prove that Φ induces a bijection between Tamari intervals and minimal realizers. This gives a bijection between Tamari intervals and triangulations. We also prove that Φ induces a bijection between Kreweras intervals and the (unique) realizers of stack triangulations. Thus, Φ induces a bijection between Kreweras intervals and stack triangulations which are known to be in bijection with ternary trees.

A class of Garside groupoid structures on the pure braid group

We construct a class of Garside groupoid structures on the pure braid groups, one for each function (called labelling) from the punctures to the integers greater than 1. The object set of the groupoid is the set of ball decompositions of the punctured disk; the labels are the perimeters of the regions. Our construction generalises Garside's original Garside structure, but not the one by Birman-Ko-Lee. As a consequence, we generalise the Tamari lattice ordering on the set of vertices of the associahedron.

Le module dendriforme sur le groupe cyclique

La structure d’opérade anticyclique de l’opérade dendriforme donne en particulier une matrice d’ordre n agissant sur l’espace engendré par les arbres binaires plans à n feuilles. On calcule le polynôme caractéristique de cette matrice. On propose aussi une conjecture compatible pour le polynôme caractéristique de la transformation de Coxeter du poset de Tamari, qui est essentiellement une racine carrée de cette matrice.

Tamari lattices and noncrossing partitions in type B

The usual, or type An, Tamari lattice is a partial order on TnA, the triangulations of an (n+3)-gon. We define a partial order on TnB, the set of centrally symmetric triangulations of a (2n+2)-gon. We show that it is a lattice, and that it shares certain other nice properties of the An Tamari lattice, and therefore that it deserves to be considered the Bn Tamari lattice. We also define a bijection between TnB and the noncrossing partitions of type Bn defined by Reiner.

Cambrian lattices

For an arbitrary finite Coxeter group W , we define the family of Cambrian lattices for W as quotients of the weak order on W with respect to certain lattice congruences. We associate to each Cambrian lattice a complete fan, which we conjecture is the normal fan of a polytope combinatorially isomorphic to the generalized associahedron for W . In types A and B we obtain, by means of a fiber-polytope construction, combinatorial realizations of the Cambrian lattices in terms of triangulations and in terms of permutations. Using this combinatorial information, we prove in types A and B that the Cambrian fans are combinatorially isomorphic to the normal fans of the generalized associahedra and that one of the Cambrian fans is linearly isomorphic to Fomin and Zelevinsky's construction of the normal fan as a “cluster fan.” Our construction does not require a crystallographic Coxeter group and therefore suggests a definition, at least on the level of cellular spheres, of a generalized associahedron for any finite Coxeter group. The Tamari lattice is one of the Cambrian lattices of type A, and two “Tamari” lattices in type B are identified and characterized in terms of signed pattern avoidance. We also show that open intervals in Cambrian lattices are either contractible or homotopy equivalent to spheres.