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A Short Proof for the Polynomiality
of the Stretched Littlewood-Richardson Coefficients

Warut Thawinrak Department of Mathematics, University of California Davis, wthawinrak@ucdavis.edu
Abstract

The stretched Littlewood-Richardson coefficient ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} was conjectured by King, Tollu, and Toumazet to be a polynomial function in t.t. It was shown to be true by Derksen and Weyman using semi-invariants of quivers. Later, Rassart used Steinberg’s formula, the hive conditions, and the Kostant partition function to show a stronger result that cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu} is indeed a polynomial in variables ν,λ,μ\nu,\lambda,\mu provided they lie in certain polyhedral cones. Motivated by Rassart’s approach, we give a short alternative proof of the polynomiality of ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} using Steinberg’s formula and a simple argument about the chamber complex of the Kostant partition function.

Keywords— Littlewood-Richardson, polynomiality, Steinberg’s formula

1 Introduction

The Littlewood-Richardson coefficients appear in many areas of mathematics [5, 8, 9, 12, 17]. An example comes from the study of symmetric functions. The set of Schur functions sλs_{\lambda}, indexed by partitions λ\lambda, is a linear basis for the ring of symmetric functions. Thus, for any partitions λ\lambda and μ\mu, the product of Schur functions sλs_{\lambda} and sμs_{\mu} can be uniquely expressed as

sλsμ=ν:|ν|=|λ|+|μ|cλ,μνsν\displaystyle s_{\lambda}\cdot s_{\mu}=\sum_{\nu:|\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|}c^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}s_{\nu} (1)

for some real numbers cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}, where |λ||\lambda| denotes the sum of the parts of λ\lambda. The coefficient cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu} of sνs_{\nu} in (1) is called the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient.

There are several ways to compute cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu} such as the Littlewood-Richardson rule [14], the Littlewood-Richardson triangles [10], the Berenstein-Zelevinsky triangles [1], and the honeycombs [7]. In this paper, we employ the hive model that was first introduced by Knutson and Tao [7]. The hive model imposes certain inequalities that allow us to compute cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu} as the number of integer points in a rational polytope, which we call a hive polytope.

For fixed partitions λ,μ,ν\lambda,\mu,\nu such that |ν|=|λ|+|μ||\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|, we define the stretched Littlewood-Richardson coefficients to be the function ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} for non-negative integers t.t. The hive model implies that

ctλ,tμtν= the number of integer points in the tth-dilation of the hive polytope.c^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu}=\text{ the number of integer points in the }t^{\mathrm{th}}\text{-dilation of the hive polytope}.

By Ehrhart theory (see Thoerem 2.1), ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a quasi-polynolmial in tt\in\mathbb{Z}, which means ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a function of the form ad(t)td++a1(t)t+a0(t)a_{d}(t)t^{d}+\cdots+a_{1}(t)t+a_{0}(t) where each of ad(t),,a0(t)a_{d}(t),\dots,a_{0}(t) is a periodic function in tt with an integral period. The function ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} was, however, observed and conjectured by King, Tollu, and Toumazet [6] to be a polynomial function in tt (as opposed to a quasi-polynomial). The conjecture was then shown to be true by Derksen-Weyman [3], and Rassart [11]. More precisely, they proved the following theorem.

Theorem 1.1.

Let μ,λ,ν\mu,\lambda,\nu be partitions with at most kk part such that |ν|=|λ|+|μ|.|\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|. Then ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a polynomial in tt of degree at most (k12).\binom{k-1}{2}.

The proof by Derksen and Weyman [3] makes use of semi-invariants of quivers. They proved a result on the structure of a ring of quivers and then derived the polynomiality of ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} as a special case. Later, Rassart [11] proved a stronger result, which gives Theorem 1.1 as an easy consequence, by showing that cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu} is a polynomial in variables λ,μ,ν\lambda,\mu,\nu provided that they lie in certain polyhedral cones of a chamber complex. The proof by Rassart employs Steinberg’s formula, the hive conditions, and the Kostant partition function to give the chamber complex of cones in which cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu} is a polynomial in variables λ,μ,ν\lambda,\mu,\nu. A considerably large portion of Rassart’s paper was devoted to describing this chamber complex and showing its desired property, resulting in a fairly long justification. We note that although this chamber complex of cones was provided, it is in practice computationally hard to work out the cones.

Inspired by Rassart’s approach, we ask if similar tools can be utilized to give a simple proof of Theorem 1.1 directly. We found that Steinberg’s formula and a simple argument about the chamber complex of the Kostant partition function are indeed sufficient. The main objective of this paper is to give a short alternative proof of Theorem 1.1 using this idea.

2 Preliminaries

We begin this section by presenting necessary notations and theories related to polytopes and then describe the hive model for computing cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}. The hive model will help us understand the behavior of the stretched Littlewood-Richardson coefficients through a property of polytopes. We then introduce the Kostant partition functions and state Steinberg’s formula and related results that will later be used for proving Theorem 1.1.

2.1 Ehrhart Theory

A polyhedron PP in d\mathbb{R}^{d} is the solution to a finite set of linear inequalities, that is,

P={(x1,,xd)d|j=1daijxjbi for iI}P=\left\{(x_{1},\dots,x_{d})\in\mathbb{R}^{d}\,\Big{|}\,\sum^{d}_{j=1}a_{ij}x_{j}\leq b_{i}\text{ for }i\in I\right\}

where aija_{ij}\in\mathbb{R}, bi,b_{i}\in\mathbb{R}, and II is a finite set of indices. A polytope is a bounded polyhedron. We can also equivalently define a polytope in d\mathbb{R}^{d} as the convex hull of finitely many points in d.\mathbb{R}^{d}. A polytope is said to be rational if all of its vertices have rational coordinates, and is said to be integral if all of its vertices have integral coordinates. We refer readers to [18] for basic definitions regarding polyhedra.

For a polytope PP in d\mathbb{R}^{d} and a non-negative integer t,t, the ttht^{\mathrm{th}}-dilation tPtP is the set {tx|xP}.\{tx\,|\,x\in P\}. We define

i(P,t):=|dtP|i(P,t):=|\mathbb{Z}^{d}\cap tP|

to be the number of integer points in the ttht^{\mathrm{th}}-dilation tP.tP.

Recall that a quasi-polynomial is a function of the form f(t)=ad(t)td+a1(t)t+a0(t)f(t)=a_{d}(t)t^{d}+\cdots a_{1}(t)t+a_{0}(t) where each of ad(t),,a0(t)a_{d}(t),\dots,a_{0}(t) is a periodic function in tt with an integral period. The period of f(t)f(t) is the least common period of ad(t),,a0(t)a_{d}(t),\dots,a_{0}(t). Clearly, a quasi-polynomial of period one is a polynomial.

For a rational polytope PP, the least common multiple of the denominators of the coordinates of its vertices is called the denominator of PP. The behavior of the function i(P,t)i(P,t) is described by the following theorem due to Ehrhart [4].

Theorem 2.1 (Ehrhart Theory).

If PP is a rational polytope, then i(P,t)i(P,t) is a quasi-polynomial in t.t. Moreover, the period of i(P,t)i(P,t) is a divisor of the denominator of P.P. In particular, if PP is an integral polytope, then i(P,t)i(P,t) is a polynomial in t.t.

The polynomial (resp. quasi-polynomial) i(P,t)i(P,t) is called the Ehrhart polynomial of PP (resp. Ehrhart quasi-polynomial of PP).

2.2 The Littlewood-Richardson Coefficients

We say that λ=(λ1,,λk)\lambda=(\lambda_{1},\dots,\lambda_{k}) is a partition of a non-negative integer mm if λ1λk\lambda_{1}\geq\cdots\geq\lambda_{k} are positive integers such that λ1++λk=m.\lambda_{1}+\cdots+\lambda_{k}=m. For convenience, we will abuse the notation by allowing λi\lambda_{i} to be zero. The positive numbers among λ1,,λk\lambda_{1},\dots,\lambda_{k} are called parts of λ\lambda. For example, λ=(2,2,1,0)\lambda=(2,2,1,0) is a partition of 55 with 33 parts. We write |λ||\lambda| to denote λ1++λk.\lambda_{1}+\cdots+\lambda_{k}.

A hive Δk\Delta_{k} of size kk is an array of vertices hijh_{ij} arranged in a triangular grid consisting of k2k^{2} small equilateral triangles as shown in Figure 1. Two adjacent equilateral triangles form a rhombus with two equal obtuse angles and two equal acute angles. There are three types of these rhombi: tilted to the right, left, and vertical as shown in Figure 1.

h04h_{04}h14h_{14}h24h_{24}h34h_{34}h44h_{44}h03h_{03}h13h_{13}h23h_{23}h33h_{33}h02h_{02}h12h_{12}h22h_{22}h01h_{01}h11h_{11}h00h_{00}
Figure 1: Hive of size 4 (left), and the three types of rhombi in a hive (right)

Let λ=(λ1,,λk),μ=(μ1,,μk),ν=(ν1,,νk)\lambda=(\lambda_{1},\dots,\lambda_{k}),\mu=(\mu_{1},\dots,\mu_{k}),\nu=(\nu_{1},\dots,\nu_{k}) be partitions with at most kk parts such that |ν|=|λ|+|μ|.|\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|. A hive of type (ν,λ,μ)(\nu,\lambda,\mu) is a labelling (hij)(h_{ij}) of Δk\Delta_{k} that satisfies the following hive conditions.

  1. (HC1)

    [Boundary condition] The labelings on the boundary are determined by λ,μ,ν\lambda,\mu,\nu in the following ways.

    h00=0,hjjhj1j1\displaystyle h_{00}=0,\ h_{jj}-h_{j-1j-1} =νj,h0jh0j1=λj,\displaystyle=\nu_{j},\ h_{0j}-h_{0j-1}=\lambda_{j}, for 1jk.\displaystyle\text{ for }1\leq j\leq k.
    hikhi1k\displaystyle h_{ik}-h_{i-1k} =μi,\displaystyle=\mu_{i}, for 1ik.\displaystyle\text{ for }1\leq i\leq k.
  2. (HC2)

    [Rhombi condition] For every rhombus, the sum of the labels at obtuse vertices is greater than or equal to the sum of the labels at acute vertices. That is, for 1i<jk,1\leq i<j\leq k,

    hijhij1\displaystyle h_{ij}-h_{ij-1} hi1jhi1j1,\displaystyle\geq h_{i-1j}-h_{i-1j-1},
    hijhi1j\displaystyle h_{ij}-h_{i-1j} hi+1j+1hij+1, and\displaystyle\geq h_{i+1j+1}-h_{ij+1},\text{ and }
    hi1jhi1j1\displaystyle h_{i-1j}-h_{i-1j-1} hij+1hij.\displaystyle\geq h_{ij+1}-h_{ij}.

Let Hk(ν,λ,μ)H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu) denote the set of all hive of type (ν,λ,μ)(\nu,\lambda,\mu). Then the hive conditions (HC1) and (HC2) imply that Hk(ν,λ,μ)H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu) is a rational polytope in n\mathbb{R}^{n} where n=(k+22)n=\binom{k+2}{2}. Hence, we will call Hk(ν,λ,μ)H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu) the hive polytope of type (ν,λ,μ)(\nu,\lambda,\mu). Knutson-Tao [7] and Buch [2] showed that

cλ,μν= the number of integer points in Hk(ν,λ,μ).c^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}=\text{ the number of integer points in }H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu).
Example 2.2.

Let k=3k=3, ν=(4,3,1),λ=(2,1,0),\nu=(4,3,1),\lambda=(2,1,0), and μ=(3,2,0)\mu=(3,2,0), we have that cλ,μν=2c^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}=2. The two corresponding integer points (integer labels) of H3(ν,λ,μ)H_{3}(\nu,\lambda,\mu) are shown in Figure 2.

33668888335577224403366888833667722440ν=(4,3,1)\nu=(4,3,1)λ=(2,1,0)\lambda=(2,1,0)μ=(3,2,0)\mu=(3,2,0)
Figure 2: The only two integer points (integer labels) of H3(ν,λ,μ)H_{3}(\nu,\lambda,\mu)

For fixed partitions λ,μ,ν\lambda,\mu,\nu with at most kk parts such that |ν|=|λ|+|μ||\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|, we define the the stretched Littlewood-Richardson coefficient to be the function ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} for non-negative integer t.t. Because Hk(tν,tλ,tμ)=tHk(ν,λ,μ)H_{k}(t\nu,t\lambda,t\mu)=tH_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu), we have that

ctλ,tμtν=i(Hk(ν,λ,μ),t).c^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu}=i(H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu),t).

Examples provided in [6] indicate that Hk(ν,λ,μ)H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu) is in general not an integral polytope. Thus, by Ehrhart theory (Theorem 2.1), ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a quasi-polynomial in tt. We will show that ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is indeed a polynomial in tt even though the corresponding hive polytope Hk(ν,λ,μ)H_{k}(\nu,\lambda,\mu) is not integral.

2.3 Kostant Partition Function and Steinberg’s Formula

We will show the polynomiality of ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} by using Steinberg’s formula as derived in [11] by Rassart and the chamber complex of the Kostant partition function. To this end, we state the related notations and results for later reference.

Let e1,,eke_{1},\dots,e_{k} be the standard basis vectors in k\mathbb{R}^{k}, and let Δ+={eiej:1i<jk}\Delta_{+}=\{e_{i}-e_{j}:1\leq i<j\leq k\} be the set of positive roots of the root system of type Ak1.A_{k-1}. We define MM to be the matrix whose columns consist of the elements of Δ+\Delta_{+}. The Kostant partition function for the root system of type Ak1A_{k-1} is the function K:k0K:\mathbb{Z}^{k}\longrightarrow\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0} defined by

K(v)=|{b0(k2)|Mb=v}|.K(v)=\Big{|}\left\{b\in\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}^{\binom{k}{2}}\,|\,Mb=v\right\}\Big{|}.

That is, K(v)K(v) equals the number of ways to write vv as nonnegative integer linear combinations of the positive roots in Δ+\Delta_{+}.

An important property of the matrix MM, when written in the basis of simple roots {eiei+1|i=1,,k1}\{e_{i}-e_{i+1}\,|\,i=1,\dots,k-1\}, is that it is totally unimodular, i.e. the determinant of every square submatrix equals 1,0,-1,0, or 1.1. Indeed, it is shown in [13] that a matrix AA is totally unimodular if every column of AA only consists of 0’s and 1’s in a way that the 1’s come in a consecutive block. Let

cone(Δ+)={λvv|vΔ+,λv0}\mathrm{cone}(\Delta_{+})=\left\{\sum\lambda_{v}v\,|\,v\in\Delta_{+},\lambda_{v}\geq 0\right\}

be the cone spanned by the vectors in Δ+.\Delta_{+}. The chamber complex is the polyhedral subdivision of cone(Δ+)\mathrm{cone}(\Delta_{+}) that is obtained from the common refinement of cones cone(B)\mathrm{cone}(B) where BB are the maximum linearly independent subsets of Δ+\Delta_{+}. A maximum cell (a cone of maximum dimension) 𝒞\mathcal{C} in the chamber complex is called a chamber. Since MM is totally unimodular, the behavior of K(v)K(v) is given by the following lemma as a special case of [16, Theorem 1] due to Sturmfels.

Lemma 2.3.

Let 𝒞\mathcal{C} be a chamber in the chamber complex of cone(Δ+)\mathrm{cone}(\Delta_{+}). Then the Kostant partition function K(v)K(v) is a polynomial in v=(v1,,vk)v=(v_{1},\dots,v_{k}) on 𝒞\mathcal{C} of degree at most (k12)\binom{k-1}{2}.

Steinberg’s formula [15] expresses the tensor product of two irreducible representations of semisimple Lie algebras as the direct sum of other irreducible representations. When restricting the formula to SLk\mathrm{SL}_{k}\mathbb{C}, we obtain the following version of Steinberg’s formula for computing cλ,μνc^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}.

Theorem 2.4 (Steinberg’s Formula).

Let μ,λ,ν\mu,\lambda,\nu be partitions with at most kk part such that |ν|=|λ|+|μ|.|\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|. Then

cλ,μν=σ,τ𝒮k(1)inv(στ)K(σ(λ+δ)+τ(μ+δ)(ν+2δ))c^{\nu}_{\lambda,\mu}=\sum_{\sigma,\tau\in\mathcal{S}_{k}}(-1)^{\mathrm{inv}(\sigma\tau)}K(\sigma(\lambda+\delta)+\tau(\mu+\delta)-(\nu+2\delta))

where inv(ψ)\mathrm{inv}(\psi) is the number of inversions of the permutation ψ\psi and

δ=121i<jk(eiej)=12(k1,k3,,(k3),(k1))\delta=\frac{1}{2}\sum_{1\leq i<j\leq k}(e_{i}-e_{j})=\frac{1}{2}(k-1,k-3,\dots,-(k-3),-(k-1))

is the Weyl vector for type Ak1.A_{k-1}.

Details of the derivation can be found in [11, section 1.1].

3 Proof of the Polynomiality

We are now ready to prove Theorem 1.1.

Proof of Theorem 1.1.

The hive conditions imply that ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a quasi-polynomial in t.t. To see that ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is in fact a polynomial in tt, it suffices to show that there exists an integer NN such that ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a polynomial in tt for tN.t\geq N.

For σ,τ𝒮k\sigma,\tau\in\mathcal{S}_{k}, let

rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)\displaystyle r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t) :=σ(tλ+δ)+τ(tμ+δ)(tν+2δ)\displaystyle:=\sigma(t\lambda+\delta)+\tau(t\mu+\delta)-(t\nu+2\delta)
=t(σ(λ)+τ(μ)ν)+σ(δ)+τ(δ)2δ.\displaystyle=t(\sigma(\lambda)+\tau(\mu)-\nu)+\sigma(\delta)+\tau(\delta)-2\delta.

Then rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t) is a ray (when allowing tt to be non-negative real number) emanating from σ(δ)+τ(δ)2δ\sigma(\delta)+\tau(\delta)-2\delta in the direction of σ(λ)+τ(μ)ν\sigma(\lambda)+\tau(\mu)-\nu.

By Steinberg’s formula,

ctλ,tμtν=σ,τ𝒮k(1)inv(στ)K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)).c^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu}=\sum_{\sigma,\tau\in\mathcal{S}_{k}}(-1)^{\mathrm{inv}(\sigma\tau)}K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)).

Lemma 2.3 states that K(v)K(v) is a polynomial in vv when vv stays in one particular cone (chamber) of the chamber complex of cone(Δ+)\mathrm{cone}(\Delta_{+}). Because there are only finitely many cones in the chamber complex, we have that for every pair σ,τ𝒮k\sigma,\tau\in\mathcal{S}_{k} there exists an integer Nσ,τλ,μ,νN^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau} such that exactly one of the following happens:

  1. (1)

    The ray rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t) lies in one particular cone of the chamber complex for all tNσ,τλ,μ,νt\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}

  2. (2)

    The ray rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t) lies outside cone(Δ+)\mathrm{cone}(\Delta_{+}) for all tNσ,τλ,μ,ν.t\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}.

If (1) is satisfied, then K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is a polynomial in tt for tNσ,τλ,μ,νt\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}. If (2) is satisfied, then K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is the zero polynomial for tNσ,τλ,μ,ν.t\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}. In either case, K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is a polynomial in tt for tNσ,τλ,μ,νt\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}. Now let

N=maxσ,τ𝒮k{Nσ,τλ,μ,ν}.N=\max_{\sigma,\tau\in\mathcal{S}_{k}}\{N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}\}.

Then Steinberg’s formula implies that ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a polynomial in tt for tN.t\geq N. Therefore, ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a polynomial in tt.

By Lemma 2.3, each polynomial piece of K(v)K(v) has degree at most (k12)\binom{k-1}{2}. Thus, for every σ,τ\sigma,\tau, we have that K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is a polynomial in tt of degree at most (k12)\binom{k-1}{2} for tNσ,τλ,μ,ν.t\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}. Hence, ctλ,tμtνc^{t\nu}_{t\lambda,t\mu} is a polynomial in tt of degree at most (k12)\binom{k-1}{2}. ∎

In the proof of Theorem 1.1, we showed that every K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is eventually either the zero polynomial or a non-zero polynomial in tt. Proposition 3.2 gives a characterization of those K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) that eventually become non-zero polynomials. The proof uses the following characterization of non-zero K(v)K(v).

Lemma 3.1.

Let v=(v1,,vk)v=(v_{1},\dots,v_{k}) be a vector in k\mathbb{Z}^{k} with v1++vk=0v_{1}+\cdots+v_{k}=0. Then K(v)K(v) is non-zero if and only if v1++vi0v_{1}+\cdots+v_{i}\geq 0 for all i=1,,ki=1,\dots,k.

Proof.

Let MM^{*} be the matrix MM written using the simple roots e1e2,,ek1eke_{1}-e_{2},\dots,e_{k-1}-e_{k} as a basis. Then, the entries of MM^{*} are only 0 and 11. Moreover, because the simple roots themselves are columns of MM, we have that the identity matrix is a submatrix of MM^{*}. Similarly, let vv^{*} be the vector vv written using the simple roots as a basis. Then, v=(v1,v1+v2,,v1+vk1)v^{*}=(v_{1},v_{1}+v_{2},\dots,v_{1}+\cdots v_{k-1}). The desired result is obtained by observing that

K(v)=|{b0(k2)|Mb=v}|.K(v)=\Big{|}\left\{b\in\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}^{\binom{k}{2}}\,|\,M^{*}b=v^{*}\right\}\Big{|}.

Proposition 3.2.

Let μ,λ,ν\mu,\lambda,\nu be partitions with at most kk part such that |ν|=|λ|+|μ|.|\nu|=|\lambda|+|\mu|. For σ,τ𝒮k,\sigma,\tau\in\mathcal{S}_{k}, let

rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)=tβ+γr^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)=t\beta+\gamma

where β=σ(λ)+τ(μ)ν\beta=\sigma(\lambda)+\tau(\mu)-\nu and γ=σ(δ)+τ(μ)2δ.\gamma=\sigma(\delta)+\tau(\mu)-2\delta. Then there exists an integer Nσ,τλ,μ,νN^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau} such that K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is a non-zero polynomial in tt for tNσ,τλ,μ,νt\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau} if and only if for all i=1,,ki=1,\dots,k we have that

  1. (1)

    β1+β2++βi\beta_{1}+\beta_{2}+\cdots+\beta_{i} is positive, or

  2. (2)

    β1+β2++βi\beta_{1}+\beta_{2}+\cdots+\beta_{i} is zero and γ1+γ2++γi\gamma_{1}+\gamma_{2}+\cdots+\gamma_{i} is non-negative.

Proof.

Let rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t)=(r1(t),,rk(t))r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)=(r_{1}(t),\dots,r_{k}(t)). Then ri(t)=tβi+γir_{i}(t)=t\beta_{i}+\gamma_{i}. In the proof of Theorem 1.1, we showed that there exists a positive integer Nσ,τλ,μ,νN^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau} such that K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is a polynomial in tt for tNσ,τλ,μ,ν.t\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}. For every i=1,,ki=1,\dots,k, the partial sum r1(t)++ri(t)r_{1}(t)+\cdots+r_{i}(t) is non-negative for all tNσ,τλ,μ,νt\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau} precisely when one of the two conditions meets for all i=1,,ki=1,\dots,k. Thus, by Lemma 3.1, K(rσ,τλ,μ,ν(t))K(r^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}(t)) is a non-zero polynomial for tNσ,τλ,μ,ν.t\geq N^{\lambda,\mu,\nu}_{\sigma,\tau}.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to Fu Liu. Her careful review and thoughtful comments significantly improved the exposition of this paper. I also would like to thank UC Davis’s College of Letter and Science for providing the Dean’s Summer Graduate Fellowship to support me during the summer of 2022.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Statements and Declarations

Competing Interests: The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

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