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Questions tagged [symmetric-groups]

The symmetric group $S_n$ is the group of permutations of the set of integers $\{1,\dots,n\}$. This has $n!$ elements and is generated by the $n-1$ involutions exchanging consecutive integers. The symmetric groups form the simplest family of Coxeter groups.

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Polynomials of low degree that clone polynomials of higher degree

Let $f(x_1,\dots,x_{16})=(x_1+x_2+x_3+x_4)(x_5+x_6+x_7+x_8)(x_9+x_{10}+x_{11}+x_{12})(x_{13}+x_{14}+x_{15}+x_{16})\in\Bbb R[x]$. Let $\mathcal{Z}$ be the zero set of $f$ in $\mathcal{C_{16}}=\{0,1\}^{...
Turbo's user avatar
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Explicit basis/weight vectors for irreducibles inside the plethysm $Sym^m(\bigwedge^p \mathbf(V))$

This is a follow up to this question about finding the multiplicities of irreducible representations restricted to Young diagrams of 2-columns or less, inside the plethysm $Sym^m(\bigwedge^p \mathbf(V)...
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In general, are 'Young symmetrisers' given by Littlewood-Richardson 'Orthogonal projection Operators'?

Consider $V^{\otimes n}$ where $V$ is vector space and the representation of GL(V) acting in the usual way. Now if I consider tensor products or plethysms of irreducible spaces, this is not in general ...
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Name for class of flattening permutations

Let $S_n$ be the symmetric group. For any sequence of numbers $y=[y_1,y_2,\cdots,y_k]$, define the flattening operation as $\mbox{flatt}_{k}(y)$ as a relabeling of $y_1,y_2,\cdots,y_k$ in terms of ...
Alex R.'s user avatar
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Counting a Modified Class of Standard Young Tableau

Let $\lambda=(\lambda_1,\cdots,\lambda_n)$ be a partition, with $|\lambda|:=N$. Attach an extra box to $\lambda$ to the right end of the $r$'th row. In coordinate form, the last box on row $r$ has ...
Alex R.'s user avatar
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Isotypic components of the action of the symmetric group on polynomials

The polynomial ring $\mathbb{C}[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$ decomposes as a direct sum of isotypic components for the action of the symmetric group $S_n$. The isotypic component of the trivial representation is ...
Nicholas Proudfoot's user avatar
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1 answer
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Homomorphisms from irreducible spaces to reducible spaces

Let $P_{\lambda}$ be a Young symmetriser associated to the following tableau $(a_1 a_2 a_3 b_3 ; b_1 b_2)$ where the entries seperated by the ; belong to first and second COLUMNS of the tableau. Take $...
vishmay's user avatar
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Minimum word length for an unusual set of generators of the symmetric group

Problem. Let $n\geq 2$ and let $T$ be the set of all permutations in $S_n$ of the form $$t_k:=\prod_{1\leq i\leq k/2}(i,k-i) \qquad \hbox{for $k=3,4,\ldots,n+1$}.$$ Find the least integer $f_n$...
Bhaskar Vashishth's user avatar
5 votes
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Is there a bijection of permutations onto mathematical objects that preserve information about descents?

$\omega \in S_n$ is an FPFI (fixed point free involution) (also called a matching) if $\omega^2=1$ and $\omega(i) \neq i$ for all $i$. For $\omega \in S_n$, a descent occurs at $i$ if $\omega(i+1) &...
symmetricuser's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
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Number of double cosets of a Young subgroup

Let $\lambda\vdash n$ be a partition of $n$ with $k$ parts and $S_\lambda$ be a Young subgroup of $S_n$. Further let $S_\lambda\backslash S_n/ S_\lambda$ be the set of double-cosets. Now I would like ...
Ben's user avatar
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Symmetric invariants of a Schur Module

Let $V\cong\mathbb C^n$ be a complex vector space of dimension $n$. Let $\lambda\in\mathbb Z^r$ be a generalized integer partition $\lambda_1\ge\cdots\ge\lambda_r$ with $r\le n$. Denote by $\mathbb S_\...
Jesko Hüttenhain's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
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counting the number of ordered pairs in a permutohedron

Recall that a permutohedron is a graph on the set of permutations $S_n$ with an edge between $\sigma$ and $\tau$ if they differ by one adjacent transposition: $\tau = (i,i+1) \circ \sigma$ for some $i ...
John Jiang's user avatar
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9 votes
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What is natural about the well-known bijection between conjugacy classes and irreps of a symmetric group?

Symmetric groups possess a well-known bijection between conjugacy classes and irreducible representations. More precisely, both sets are indexed by Young diagrams. Question: To what extent is this ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
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A Simple Bijective Proof Of Stanley's Hook-Content Formula for Hook Shapes

this is my first post on math overflow so I hope it goes well. I believe I have a fairly simple bijective proof for Stanley's Hook-Content Formula in the case of hook shapes. I wanted to see if ...
jlimahaverford's user avatar
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Geometric interpretation of table with permutations and inversions

Let $T(n,k)$ is the number of permutations of numbers $1, ..., n$ and each of the permutations has $k$ inversions. We can consider a table for $T(n,k)$ for some $n$ and $k$. For eg. $n=1,...,6$, $k=1,....
Mikhail Gaichenkov's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
898 views

Minimal *-idempotents for the group algebra of the symmetric group

There is a well-known construction of minimal idempotents in the group algebra of the symmetric group $\mathbb C[S_n]$ using row symmetrizers and column antisymmetrizers. But these idempotents are ...
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14 votes
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The Simultaneous Conjugacy Problem in the symmetric group $S_N$

We are interested in the following notions in the case $G=S_N$, the symmetric group on $\{1,\dots,N\}$. Fix a group $G$ and a number $d$. For $(g_1,\dots,g_d)\in G^d$ and $x\in G$, define $$(g_1,\...
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26 votes
6 answers
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Why is the right permutohedron order (aka weak order) on $S_n$ a lattice?

This is one of those things I never expected to be hard until I tried to prove it. Why is the right permutohedron order (a.k.a. weak Bruhat order, a.k.a. weak order -- not to be confused with the ...
darij grinberg's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
502 views

A $q$-analogue of Foulkes' character related to alternating permutations

My paper "Alternating permutations and symmetric functions" at http://math.mit.edu/~rstan/papers/altenum.pdf enumerates certain classes of alternating permutations, such as those whose inverse is ...
Richard Stanley's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Representations of S_n induced from centralizers of elements

Does anyone have a reference for a good description of representations of $S_{n}$ obtained by inducing up from $C_{S_{n}}(\pi)$, for some element $\pi$ of $S_{n}$? (I'd prefer an efficient ...
coolpapa's user avatar
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11 votes
5 answers
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Structure of the adjoint representation of a (finite) group (Hopf algebra) ?

Every group acts on itself by conjugation $h \mapsto g h g^{-1}$. Respectively considering functions on a group we obtain a linear representation. Question 1: what is known about this representation ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
51 views

What groups of symmetry are most suited for filling uniformely a spherical 3D space, whilst possessing the lowest possible surface-to-volume ratio?

I am looking for the closest known approximate solution to Kelvin foams problem that would obey a spherical symmetry. One alternative way of formulating it: I am looking for an equivalent of Weaire–...
Andrei Kucharavy's user avatar
15 votes
5 answers
5k views

How do most people write permutations?

I'd like to know how people prefer to write permutations, or elements of the symmetric group $S_n$ for $n\ge0$. The most natural way to define a permutation in $S_n$ is as a bijection on the set $\{1,...
7 votes
2 answers
1k views

How many ways can a given permutation be obtained as a product of k 2-cycles?

Let $\sigma_1, \ldots, \sigma_b$ be all the 2-cycles in $S_n$. (So, $b = \binom{n}{2}$.) Given $\pi \in S_n$, what is known about how many ways $\pi$ can be obtained as a product of $k$ (not ...
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A conjecture about a specific subset of the symmetric group $S_n$

Let $n>3$ be a positive integer. We denote the symmetric group of $n$ elements by $S_n$ and the identity mapping by $\mathrm{id}$. For every $f\in S_n$, $f(1,2,\ldots,n)=(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n)$, ...
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2 answers
998 views

Word length in the symmetric group

Let $n \geq 1$ and let $H_n$ be a 2-Sylow subgroup of the symmetric group $\mathrm{Sym}(2^n)$. Let also consider the cycle $\gamma_n = (1, \ldots, 2^n)$ of order $2^n$. If we assume moreover that $...
Adrien Le Boudec's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
1k views

Number of Permutations?

Edit: This is a modest rephrasing of the question as originally stated below the fold: for $n \geq 3$, let $\sigma \in S_n$ be a fixed-point-free permutation. How many fixed-point-free permutations $\...
balli's user avatar
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1 answer
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A generalization of an old group problem [closed]

Here is an old exercise in group theory: (1) If $G$ is a group of order $2n$ with $n$ odd then $G$ is not simple and in fact $G$ has a normal subgroup of order $n$. I am going for one straight ...
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21 votes
2 answers
2k views

Has Reifegerste's Theorem on RSK and Knuth relations received a slick proof by now?

For the notations I am using, I refer to the Appendix at the end of this post. Here is what, for the sake of this post, I consider to be Reifegerste's theorem: Theorem 1. Let $n\in\mathbb N$ and $i\...
darij grinberg's user avatar
51 votes
3 answers
7k views

What to do now that Lusztig's and James' conjectures have been shown to be false?

Lusztig and James provided conjectures for dimensions of simple modules (or decomposition numbers) for algebraic groups and symmetric groups in characteristic $p$. These conjectures have been ...
Chris Bowman's user avatar
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21 votes
1 answer
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Conjectural identities for Young symmetrizers and Young-Jucys-Murphy elements

The following questions I have found in my own notes from about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, I lost much of the context; I believe I made these conjectures reading Okounkov-Vershik, arXiv:0503040v3, ...
darij grinberg's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

On Applications of Murnaghan Nakayama Rule

This question is crossposted at math.stackexchange here and may be beyond the usual scope of the site. The question is located below. In short, I am looking for an accessible explanation of the ...
Alex R.'s user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
257 views

Combinatorics of index sets multiplicities in characters of symmetric groups

Hi everyone. I'm pondering the following question: I have a Coxeter group $(W,S)$ of type $A_{n-1}$, i.e. the symmetric group $W=Sym(n)$ with the neighbour transpositions as generating set $S=\lbrace ...
Johannes Hahn's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
447 views

The Jantzen-Schaper theorem

Does anybody have an electronic copy of Schaper's PhD thesis: K.D. SCHAPER, ‘Charakterformeln fur Weyl-Moduln und Specht-Moduln in Primcharacteristik’, Diplomarbeit, Bonn, 1981. I would like to ...
Chris Bowman's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
392 views

Expression of basis vectors of permutation modules in different bases.

This is a cross-post from math.se, because I did not get any answer there: Write $[n]:=\{1,\ldots,n\}$. For a partition $\lambda\vdash n$, I will write $[\lambda]$ for the Specht module that ...
Jesko Hüttenhain's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
104 views

On generalization of Wigner semi circle

I want to analyse noise model for a matrix M whose entries are not real numbers. The matrix is a collection of N permutation matrices of size nxn i.e, M is NnxNn. Because its a collection of ...
Deepti Pachauri's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
865 views

What is the length of the shortest law of $S_n$?

What is the length of the shortest word $w\in F_2$ such that $w(x,y)$ is trivial for every $x,y\in S_n$? There is a simple argument showing that we must have $\ell(w)\geq n$. See here for instance. ...
Sean Eberhard's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
398 views

Representations of Sym(n) and SL_d

Irreducible representations of the symmetric group Sym$(n)$, and degree-$n$ algebraic representations of SL$_d(\mathbb C)$ for $d\ge n$, can both be classified by Young diagrams with $n$ boxes. ...
grok's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
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Permutation character of the symmetric group on subsets of certain size

The symmetric group $S_n$ acts on $[n]:=\{1,\ldots,n\}$, thereby inducing an action on the set $$\wp_k(n)=\{\: A\subseteq[n] \::\: \#A=k \:\}$$ of subsets of cardinality $k$, simply by $$(g,A)\mapsto ...
Karl's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
162 views

Next smallest dimension of Specht Module after $(n)$, $(1^n)$, $(n-1,1)$ and $(2,1^{n-2})$

In representation theory of $S_n$, we know that for $n \geq 9$, the only Specht modules $S^\alpha$ of dimension $f^\alpha < {n-1 \choose 2} - 1$ are: $S^{(n)}$ and $S^{(1^n)}$ with dimension $1$, $...
terrylsc's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Dimension of Specht Modules $S^\lambda$

In the study of representation theory of $S_n$, we know that the irreducible characters of $\chi_\lambda$ of $S_n$ are indexed by partitions $\lambda \vdash n$. There are several methods in ...
terrylsc's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
400 views

Decomposition of $\mathrm{End}(V)$ as $S_n\times S_n$-module

Let $V$ be a finite-dimensional, complex vector space and set $\newcommand{\Gl}{\mathrm{Gl}}G:=\Gl(V)\times\Gl(V)$. Let $E:=\mathrm{End}(V)$ and consider its coordinate ring $\mathbb C[E]$, the space ...
Jesko Hüttenhain's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

A basis for Schur functors

Suppose $V$ is a finite-dimensional vector space (over $\mathbb{C}$) and $\lambda$ is a partition of $n$ (not necessarily the dimension). Let $S^\lambda(V)=(V^{\otimes n})_\lambda$ be the $\lambda$'th ...
Dmitry Vaintrob's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
778 views

Largest permutation group without 2-cycles or 3-cycles

The largest permutation group without 2-cycles is $A_n$, which has size $n!/2$. I think the largest permutation group without 2-cycles or 3-cycles is much smaller, but I can't figure out if it should ...
rishig's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
878 views

Littlewood Richardson rule and seminormal basis of Specht modules

Background Seminormal Basis of Specht modules of $\mathfrak{S}_n$ Let $\lambda$ be a partition of $n$. A $\lambda$-tableau is a bijection $\mathfrak{t}:\lambda \to \{1,2,...,n\}$. We say a ...
Chris Bowman's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
4k views

Cyclic Subgroups of the Symmetric Group

If we write a partition $n=k_1+...+k_r$, then we can create a $(k_1,...,k_r)$-cycle in $S_n$ with order equal to the least common multiple of the $k_i$'s. It is clear that every cyclic subgroup will ...
Jon Cohen's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
971 views

How to solve a system of equations over permutations?

Imagine you have a $n\times n$ matrix filled in with permutations over $n$ elements. Now you pick one permutation from each row randomly starting from the first row and by multiplying them get a ...
Jack's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
349 views

Identity involving partitions coming from representations of alternating groups

It is not difficult to show that the number of conjugacy classes in the alternating group $A_n$ is given by classes in the alternating group = no. of even partitions + no. of self-transpose ...
Amritanshu Prasad's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

Algorithm for reducing words in a Coxeter group

Let $W$ be a Coxeter group with set of simple reflections $S$. Suppose that I have chosen a preferred reduced decomposition for every element of $W$. Given an arbitrary word in the alphabet $S$, is ...
Joe Loubert's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
451 views

2 Possible Generalizations of Cayley's Theorem?

I'm wondering about the following 2 generalizations of Cayley's Theorem (every group embeds in a symmetric group). If these are known to be true/false, references would be appreciated. 1) (Weak ...
Jon Cohen's user avatar
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