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Which sets of roots of unity give a polynomial with nonnegative coefficients?

The question in brief:   When does a subset $S$ of the complex $n$th roots of unity have the property that $$\prod_{\alpha\, \in \,S} (z-\alpha)$$ gives a polynomial in $\mathbb R[z]$ with ...
Louis Deaett's user avatar
  • 1,513
22 votes
0 answers
550 views

Zero curves of Tutte Polynomials?

There is an extensive theory of the real and complex roots of the chromatic polynomial of a graph, a substantial fraction of this being due to the connections between the chromatic polynomial and a ...
Gordon Royle's user avatar
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17 votes
0 answers
420 views

Do the coefficients of these irreducible polynomials always become periodic?

Fix $n\in\mathbb N$ and a starting polynomial (or seed) $p_n=a_0+a_1x+\dots+a_nx^n$ with $a_k\in\mathbb Z\ \forall k$ and $a_0a_n\ne0$. Define $p_{n+1},p_{n+2},\dots$ recursively by $p_r = p_{r-1}+...
Wolfgang's user avatar
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16 votes
0 answers
558 views

Catalan objects associated to a univariate polynomial

Given a monic degree $n$ polynomial $f(z)$ with no double roots, and a phase $0\leq \theta < \pi$, there are natural constructions which associate to this data: a noncrossing matching on $2n$ ...
Hugh Thomas's user avatar
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16 votes
0 answers
910 views

Polynomials with presumably positive coefficients

After seeing that some positivity problems get their solutions on MO, I am quite enthusiastic of posing my (and not only) problem of positive flavour. In order to state it, I have to introduce the ...
Wadim Zudilin's user avatar
13 votes
0 answers
385 views

Are the zeros of Tutte polynomials dense in $\mathbb C^2$?

For the chromatic polynomials of graphs we have two nice theorems which describe the behavior of their zeros: Thomassen proved that the set of real zeros of all chromatic polynomials is the union of $\...
Gjergji Zaimi's user avatar
11 votes
0 answers
450 views

A congruence involving roots of unity

Let $f(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ and suppose $f(\omega^j) \in \mathbb{Z}$ for all $j= 1, \dots, n$ where $\omega = e^{2 \pi i/n}$ is a primitive $n^{\text{th}}$ root of unity. Computational evidence ...
user94267's user avatar
  • 305
11 votes
0 answers
676 views

Evaluating products of cyclotomic polynomials at roots of unity

Are there general non-trivial conditions on $p(\cdot)$ and $n$, where $p(\cdot)$ is a product of cyclotomic polynomials and $n$ is a positive integer, such that all the coefficients of $p(\cdot)$ are ...
James Propp's user avatar
  • 19.7k
11 votes
0 answers
361 views

Positivity of polynomial sequences via generating series

In this question I address the problem of proving the nonnegativity of a numerical sequence $a_0,a_1,a_2,\dots$ via generating series technique. In the notation $A(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty a_nx^n\ge0$ ...
Wadim Zudilin's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
788 views

Sequence of real-rooted polynomials

I've been interested in proving a log-concavity result via proving that certain family of polynomials is real-rooted. By performing a sequence of transformations, I can reduce that problem to proving ...
Luis Ferroni's user avatar
  • 1,889
9 votes
0 answers
359 views

Factorisation of a polynomial from the Boolean algebra

Let $B_n$ denote the Boolean algebra of a set with $n \geq 2$ elements and $C_n$ the matrix with entries $c_{i,j}=1$ if $i \leq j$ and $c_{i,j}=0$ else, where $i,j\in B_n$. Let $M_n:=C_n+C_n^T$ and $...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
9 votes
0 answers
209 views

Generating functions of real-rooted polynomials

Suppose $f_n(t)$ is a degree $n$ polynomial. Let $F(t,u) = \sum_n f_n(t)u^n$. What conditions on $F(t,u)$ tell us that the $f_n(t)$ are real-rooted? Similarly, are there any conditions on $F(t,u)$ ...
Katie Gedeon's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
176 views

Nonzero subdeterminants conjecture: has anybody seen this anywhere?

I already posted this question on Mathematics StackExchange. A user there suggested that I rather post it on mathoverflow, since it is a research question. So here it is. Let $m\geq2$, $n\geq1$ be ...
chizhek's user avatar
  • 291
8 votes
0 answers
407 views

When does the Lloyd polynomial have only integral roots?

For a $t$-error correcting code of length $n$ over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, the Lloyd polynomial is given by $$ L_t(n,x):=\sum_{j=0}^t(-1)^j\binom{x-1}{j}\binom{n-x}{t-j}(q-1)^{t-j}. $$ A well-...
Dietrich Burde's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
208 views

How biased is $(x_i x_j)_{i,j}$, $x_i\in \mathbb{F}_2$?

Let $N = \frac{n (n-1)}{2}$. Let $V$ be the $N$-dimensional vector space over $\mathbb{F}_2$ consisting of tuples $(x_{(i,j)})_{1\leq i <j \leq n}$, $x_{(i,j)}\in \mathbb{F}_2$. Let $S$ be the set ...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
  • 20.2k
7 votes
0 answers
344 views

Irreducibility of a palindromic polynomial

I have strong reasons to believe that the palindromic polynomial $p_n(x)$ defined by $$p_n(x) = x^{2n}+2x^{2n-1}+3x^{2n-2}+ \cdots+ nx^{n+1}+(n+3)x^{n}+nx^{n-1}+\cdots+2x+1$$ is irreducible in $\...
Kashyap Rajeevsarathy's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
579 views

Guises of the noncrossing partitions (NCPs)

From "Noncrossing partitions in surprising locations" by Jon McCammond: Certain mathematical structures make a habit of reoccuring in the most diverse list of settings. Some obvious ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
7 votes
0 answers
182 views

Positivity of certain polynomial coefficients

Consider the rational functions (in fact, polynomials) $$F_n(q)=\frac1{(1-q)^{2n}}\sum_{k=0}^n(-q)^k\frac{2k+1}{n+k+1}\binom{2n}{n-k} \prod_{j=0,\,j\neq k}^n\frac{1+q^{2j+1}}{1+q}.$$ The numbers $\...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
229 views

Has anyone seen these binary trees (Catalan-type related to the Gegenbauer polynomials and Motzkin paths)?

The OEIS entry A121448 enumerates binary trees with $n$ edges and $k$ vertices with outdegree 1. Has anyone seen these trees? The o.g.f. for this entry, $G(x,t)$, is essentially a discriminant ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
6 votes
0 answers
184 views

3-term recurrence relation including integral or differential operator for polynomials

Sequences of polynomials with a 3-term recurrence relations are well known for orthogonal polynomials. Do recurrence relations using differential or integral operators also appear in some theories? I ...
Christian Sattlecker's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
190 views

The highest degree of a polynomial on a finite group

This question is motivated by the comments and the answer to this MO-question. First let us recall some definitions. A function $f:X\to X$ on a group $X$ is called a polynomial if there exists $n\in\...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 41.8k
6 votes
0 answers
207 views

Parameter independence of Stanley's "content formula". Why?

For a cell $\square$ in the Young diagram of a partition $\lambda$, let $h_{\square}$ and $c_{\square}$ denote the hook length and content of $\square$, respectively. R. Stanley remarked following ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
179 views

Characteristic polynomials of Cartan matrices of Lie algebras

Let $L$ be a simple Lie algebra over $\mathbb{C}$ with Cartan matrix $C_L$ (as in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartan-Matrix ) Question 1: Is is true that the characteristic polynomial $f$ of $C_L$ ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
6 votes
0 answers
115 views

Recursions which define polynomials?

Let $k$ be a positive integer and let $$h(n,k,q)=\frac{1-(1+q^{k})q^{2k(n-1)+1}+q^{2}}{1-q^{2n-1}}h(n-1,k,q)-\frac{(1-q^{k(2n-3)})(1-q^{2k(n-1)})q^2}{(1-q^{2n-1})(1-q^{2n-3})}h(n-2,k,q)$$ with ...
Johann Cigler's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
257 views

Are the roots of chromatic polynomials plus a fixed constant dense in $\mathbb{C}$?

Alan Sokal proved that chromatic roots are dense in the whole complex plane. I.e., if $P(G;z)$ denotes the chromatic polynomial of a finite simple graph $G$ evaluated at $z \in \mathbb{C}$, then $$\...
Rebecca J. Stones's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
183 views

On the polynomials $\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n+k}k^m q^k$

A sequence of polynomials $$P_0(q),\ P_1(q),\ P_2(q),\ \ldots$$ with real coefficients is called $q$-log-convex if for each $n=1,2,3,\ldots$ every coefficient of the polynomial $P_{n+1}(q)P_{n-1}(q)-...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
  • 15.6k
5 votes
0 answers
115 views

Progress on the result about montonicity of Kazhdan Lustzig polynomials

I am reading the paper Masato Kobayashi---Combinatorics on Bruhat Graphs and Kazhdan-Lusztig Polynomials. Let $P_{x,w}$ be the Kazhdan Lusztig polynomial of $W$. There is a result about ...
James Cheung's user avatar
  • 1,875
5 votes
0 answers
205 views

Polynomials representing locally constant functions

Let $K$ be a finite field with $p$ elements. (a) Let $f\in K\lbrack x\rbrack$ be such that (i) $\deg(f)<p$ and (ii) $f(2x) = f(x)$ for $\geq (1-\epsilon) p$ values of $x$ in $K$. What can we say ...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
  • 20.2k
5 votes
0 answers
220 views

Operator connected with Hermite polynomials

For $n \geq 1$, define the following operator $M_n$ on the ring of all polynomials with real coefficients. $$M_n P(x) = nP(x)^2 - x \int_0^x (P'(t))^2 \, \mathrm{d}t$$ Monomials $x^k$ are mapped to $n ...
r_faszanatas's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
82 views

Combinatorial interpretation of a pfaffian identity?

Let $n$ be a positive even integer. We introduce three types of skew-symmetric matrices, $A_{n+2}$, $B_n$ and $C_n$ (the subscript denotes the dimension of the matrices) in terms of the variables $z_1,...
eddy ardonne's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
263 views

Cosine Modulo $p$?

Consider the integers modulo a prime $p$. I'm looking for a nice polynomial function that acts as a sort of "cosine" on the integers modulo $p$. Specifically, I'm looking for solutions to ...
mtheorylord's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
134 views

Irreducibility of polynomials associated to binomial coefficients

Let $n \geq 2$. Let $M_n$ be the $(n+1) \times (n+1)$ matrix with entries $\binom{l}{k}$ for $0 \leq l,k \leq n$ and $U_n=M_n + M_n^T$ and let $f_n(x)$ denote the characteristic polynomial of $U_n$. ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
4 votes
0 answers
145 views

Validating a result on evaluating Jack polynomials

I am currently working through the following paper: Lapointe L., Lascoux A., Morse J. Determinantal Expression and Recursion for Jack Polynomials Electron. J. Combin. 7 (2000), Notes 1. DOI: 10.37236/...
J. M. isn't a mathematician's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
128 views

Inequality for $q$-binomials

Recall the constructions $[n]_q=\frac{1-q^n}{1-q}, [n]!_q=[1]_q[2]_q\cdots[n]_q$ with $[0]!_q:=1$ and the $q$-binomials (Gaussian polynomials) $$\binom{n}k_q=\frac{[n]!_q}{[k]!_q[n-k]!_q}.$$ Given two ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
186 views

A problem in the spirit of P. Borwein's polynomials

A well-known conjecture (now a theorem) of P. Borwein (see Wang and Krattenthaler - An asymptotic approach to Borwein-type sign pattern theorems) states: For all positive integers $n$, the sign ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
192 views

Density of Pisot polynomials

Recall that a Pisot polynomial $P=x^n+ a_{n-1}x^{n-1}\ldots a_1$ has integer coefficients, a real root $x_1>1$ and all other roots $|x_i|<1$ for $1\leq i \leq n$. One key result is that $\{(...
ericf's user avatar
  • 680
3 votes
0 answers
213 views

A family of polynomials related to integer partitions

For a positive integer $n$, let $p(n)$ be the number of partitions of $n$. For $1\le k\le n$, let $p(n,k)$ denote the number of partitions of $n$ having exactly $k$ terms; in other words, $p(n,k)$ is ...
Zhi-Wei Sun's user avatar
  • 15.6k
3 votes
0 answers
240 views

On thickness of binary polynomials

OEIS A169945 introduces the concept of thickness of a polynomial as the magnitude of the largest coefficient in the expansion of the square of the polynomial. Considering the $2^{n+1}$ polynomials $p(...
Sayan Dutta's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
151 views

Extension of work by Novelli and Thibon on noncommutative symmetric functions and Lagrange inversion

(Edit May 12, 2023: I just put up a brief summary of some of my notes on the partition polynomials described below in my WordPress mini-arXiv at "As Above, So Below". It contains multinomial ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
3 votes
0 answers
116 views

A theory of refined h- and f-polynomials for the permutahedra, associahedra, noncrossing partitions, and tropical Grassmannians (references)

Looking for references (insights) on a theory encompassing a notion of refined face polynomials and their associated refined h-polynomials that are generalizations of the relation between ordinary f-...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
3 votes
0 answers
107 views

Non-tree models of Lagrange inversion polynomials

The specific Lagrange inversion / series reversion polynomials (LIPs) I'm addressing are illustrated in OEIS A134685 with a general linear term and in Lang's pdf for A176740 with the coefficient of ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
3 votes
0 answers
203 views

Combinatorial characterizations of complex weight supports

This question is related to my last question and is originally motivated by recent advances in quantum physics. I am looking for combinatorial characterizations of some algebraically defined families ...
Alex Ravsky's user avatar
  • 5,409
3 votes
0 answers
188 views

Reshuffling power series (aka Melvin–Morton expansion in knot theory)

I am struggling to understand a statement which follows from some change of variables in a power series. I think that the context does not really matter here, so I will put it at the end of the ...
Minkowski's user avatar
  • 601
3 votes
0 answers
144 views

Flat polynomials with factors of big height

Let $p(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $n$ with all coefficients in $\{-1,0,1\}$ (such polynomials are sometimes called flat). I am wondering how big the coefficients of a factor of $p$ can be. Call ...
Wolfgang's user avatar
  • 13.4k
3 votes
0 answers
207 views

On a variation of the Vandermonde matrix

The ubiquitous Vandermonde matrix, of entries $(x_i^{j-1})_{i,j}^{1,n}$, and its determinant $$\prod_{i<j}^{1,n}(x_j-x_i)$$ have found many utilities in Combinatorics and Physics, among other ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
195 views

Congruence for the polynomials $(t+1)^n$

An interesting polynomial congruence is given by $$A_n(t^m)\equiv \left(\frac{1+t+\cdots+t^{m-1}}m\right)^{n+1}A_n(t) \qquad \mod (t-1)^{n+1}, \tag1$$ where $A_n(t)$ are the Eulerian polynomials with ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
170 views

Stirling number bounds and polynomials and the Lambert $W$ function

Let $s(n,k)$ be the (signed) Stirling numbers of the first kind. The polynomials $$L_n(x)=\sum_{j=1}^ns(n,n+1-j)\dfrac{x^j}{j!}$$ enter in the asymptotic expansion of the Lambert $W$ function, see for ...
Henri Cohen's user avatar
  • 13.1k
3 votes
0 answers
144 views

Noncrossing partitions in Hopf algebras/monoids via compositional inversion

Partition polynomials constructed from the face structures of the associahedra (OEIS A133437) and permutahedra (A133314) comprise the antipodes/compositional inverses in a Faa-di-Bruno-type Hopf ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
3 votes
0 answers
264 views

Guises of the refined Eulerian numbers, generated by tangent vectors (OEIS A145271)

The Eulerian numbers (OEIS A008292, not to be confused with the Euler numbers) pop up in numerous scenarios in combinatorics and advanced analysis, one as the components of the h-vectors of the ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
3 votes
0 answers
243 views

Interlacing sequences by polynomials?

Given $t=2^\ell$ where $\ell\in\mathbb N_{>0}$ and $M\in\mathbb Z$ and two sets of integers $\{a_1,\dots,a_t\}$ and $\{b_1,\dots,b_t\}$ with $0<a_1\leq \dots\leq a_t<M$ and $0<b_1\leq \...
Turbo's user avatar
  • 13.9k