Gaussian fluctuations of characters of symmetric groups and of Young diagrams

We study asymptotics of reducible representations of the symmetric groups S _q for large q. We decompose such a representation as a sum of irreducible components (or, alternatively, Young diagrams) and we ask what is the character of a randomly chosen component (or, what is the shape of a randomly chosen Young diagram). Our main result is that for a large class of representations the fluctuations of characters (and fluctuations of the shape of the Young diagrams) are asymptotically Gaussian; in this way we generalize Kerov's central limit theorem. The considered class consists of representations for which the characters almost factorize and this class includes, for example, the left-regular representation (Plancherel measure), irreducible representations and tensor representations. This class is also closed under induction, restriction, outer product and tensor product of representations. Our main tool in the proof is the method of genus expansion, well known from the random matrix theory.     

The Plancherel decomposition for a reductive symmetric space. II. Representation theory

We obtain the Plancherel decomposition for a reductive symmetric space in the sense of representation theory. Our starting point is the Plancherel formula for spherical Schwartz functions, obtained in part I. The formula for Schwartz functions involves Eisenstein integrals obtained by a residual calculus. In the present paper we identify these integrals as matrix coefficients of the generalized principal series.     

Stabilized plethysms for the classical Lie groups

The plethysms of the Weyl characters associated to a classical Lie group by the symmetric functions stabilize in large rank. In the case of a power sum plethysm, we prove that the coefficients of the decomposition of this stabilized form on the basis of Weyl characters are branching coefficients which can be determined by a simple algorithm. This generalizes in particular some classical results by Littlewood on the power sum plethysms of Schur functions. We also establish explicit formulas for the outer multiplicities appearing in the decomposition of the tensor square of any irreducible finite-dimensional module into its symmetric and antisymmetric parts. These multiplicities can notably be expressed in terms of the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients.     

Punctured plane partitions and the q-deformed Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov and Hirota equations

We consider partial sum rules for the homogeneous limit of the solution of the q-deformed Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equation with reflecting boundaries in the Dyck path representation of the Temperley-Lieb algebra. We show that these partial sums arise in a solution of the discrete Hirota equation, and prove that they are the generating functions of τ²-weighted punctured cyclically symmetric transpose complement plane partitions where τ=−(q+q−1). In the cases of no or minimal punctures, we prove that these generating functions coincide with τ²-enumerations of vertically symmetric alternating sign matrices and modifications thereof.     

Asymptotics of characters of symmetric groups, genus expansion and free probability

The convolution of indicators of two conjugacy classes on the symmetric group S_q is usually a complicated linear combination of indicators of many conjugacy classes. Similarly, a product of the moments of the Jucys-Murphy element involves many conjugacy classes with complicated coefficients. In this article, we consider a combinatorial setup which allows us to manipulate such products easily: to each conjugacy class we associate a two-dimensional surface and the asymptotic properties of the conjugacy class depend only on the genus of the resulting surface. This construction closely resembles the genus expansion from the random matrix theory. As the main application we study irreducible representations of symmetric groups S_q for large q. We find the asymptotic behavior of characters when the corresponding Young diagram rescaled by a factor q^-1/2 converge to a prescribed shape. The character formula (known as the Kerov polynomial) can be viewed as a power series, the terms of which correspond to two-dimensional surfaces with prescribed genus and we compute explicitly the first two terms, thus we prove a conjecture of Biane.     

Berezin Forms on Line Bundles over Complex Hyperbolic Spaces

We consider complex hyperbolic spaces where and , line bundles , over them and representations of in smooth sections of (the representation is induced by a character of ). We define a Berezin form $, associated with , and give an explicit decomposition of this form into invariant Hermitian (sesqui-linear) forms for irreducible representations of the group for all and . It is the main result of the paper. Besides it, we give the Plancherel formula for . As it turns out, this formula is, en essence, one of the particular cases of the Plancherel formula for the quasiregular representation for rank one semisimple symmetric spaces, see [20], it can be obtained from the quasiregular Plancherel formula for hyperbolic spaces (complex, quaternion, octonion) by analytic continuation in the dimension of the root subspaces. The decomposition of the Berezin form allows us to define and study the Berezin transform, - in particular, to find out an explicit expression of this transform in terms of the Laplacian. Using that, we establish the correspondence principle (an asymptotic expansion as ). At last, considering , we observe an interpolation in the spirit of Neretin between Plancherel formulae for and for the similar representation for a compact form of the space . Submitted: July 12, 2001?Revised: February 12, 2002     

Schur Orthogonality Relations for the Finitary Infinite Symmetric Group

Let S f be the finitary infinite symmetric group. For a certain class of irreducible unitary representations of S f , a version of Schur orthogonality relations is proved. That is, we construct an invariant inner product on the matrix coefficient space of each representation and show that matrix coefficients for distinct representations are orthogonal with respect to these norms.     

Schur Orthogonality Relations for the Finitary Infinite Symmetric Group

Let S f be the finitary infinite symmetric group. For a certain class of irreducible unitary representations of S f , a version of Schur orthogonality relations is proved. That is, we construct an invariant inner product on the matrix coefficient space of each representation and show that matrix coefficients for distinct representations are orthogonal with respect to these norms.     

Symmetric modified finite volume element methods for self-adjoint elliptic and parabolic problems

The finite volume element method is a discretization technique for partial differential equations, but in general case the coefficient matrix of its linear system is not symmetric, even for the self-adjoint continuous problem. In this paper we develop a kind of symmetric modified finite volume element methods both for general self-adjoint elliptic and for parabolic problems on general discretization, their coefficient matrix are symmetric. We give the optimal order energy norm error estimates. We also prove that the difference between the solutions of the finite volume element method and symmetric modified finite volume element method is a high order term.     

Asymptotics of Plancherel measures for the infinite-dimensional unitary group

We study a two-dimensional family of probability measures on infinite Gelfand-Tsetlin schemes induced by a distinguished family of extreme characters of the infinite-dimensional unitary group. These measures are unitary group analogs of the well-known Plancherel measures for symmetric groups.We show that any measure from our family defines a determinantal point process on Z₊×Z, and we prove that in appropriate scaling limits, such processes converge to two different extensions of the discrete sine process as well as to the extended Airy and Pearcey processes.     

Stein's method and Plancherel measure of the symmetric group

We initiate a Stein's method approach to the study of the Plancherel measure of the symmetric group. A new proof of Kerov's central limit theorem for character ratios of random representations of the symmetric group on transpositions is obtained; the proof gives an error term. The construction of an exchangeable pair needed for applying Stein's method arises from the theory of harmonic functions on Bratelli diagrams. We also find the spectrum of the Markov chain on partitions underlying the construction of the exchangeable pair. This yields an intriguing method for studying the asymptotic decomposition of tensor powers of some representations of the symmetric group.

     

Gaussian Limit for Projective Characters of Large Symmetric Groups

In 1993, S. Kerov obtained a central limit theorem for the Plancherel measure on Young diagrams. The Plancherel measure is a natural probability measure on the set of irreducible characters of the symmetric group S _n. Kerov's theorem states that, as n, the values of irreducible characters at simple cycles, appropriately normalized and considered as random variables, are asymptotically independent and converge to Gaussian random variables. In the present work we obtain an analog of this theorem for projective representations of the symmetric group. Bibliography: 27 titles.     

Branching laws for discrete Wallach points

We consider the (projective) representations of the group of holomorphic automorphisms of a symmetric tube domain V⊕iΩ that are obtained by analytic continuation of the holomorphic discrete series. For a representation corresponding to a discrete point in the Wallach set, we find the decomposition under restriction to the identity component of GL(Ω). Using Riesz distributions, an explicit intertwining operator is constructed as an analytic continuation of an integral operator. The density of the Plancherel measure involves quotients of Γ-functions and the c-function for a symmetric cone of smaller rank.     

The Algebra of Conjugacy Classes in Symmetric Groups and Partial Permutations

We prove the convolution formula for the conjugacy classes in symmetric groups conjectured by the second author. A combinatorial interpretation of coefficients is provided. As a main tool, we introduce a new semigroup of partial permutations. We describe its structure, representations, and characters. We also discuss filtrations on the subalgebra of invariants in the semigroup algebra. Bibliography: 10 titles.     

Lévy–Khinchin Formula and Existence of Densities for Convolution Semigroups on Symmetric Spaces

We prove the existence of a smooth density for a convolution semigroup on a symmetric space and obtain its spherical representation.      

The Plancherel decomposition for a reductive symmetric space. I. Spherical functions

We prove the Plancherel formula for spherical Schwartz functions on a reductive symmetric space. Our starting point is an inversion formula for spherical smooth compactly supported functions. The latter formula was earlier obtained from the most continuous part of the Plancherel formula by means of a residue calculus. In the course of the present paper we also obtain new proofs of the uniform tempered estimates for normalized Eisenstein integrals and of the Maass–Selberg relations satisfied by the associated C-functions.     

Some properties of Frobenius numbers and a fraction of symmetric semigroups in the weak limit for <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>=3

We generalize and prove a conjecture by V.I. Arnold on the parity of Frobenius numbers. For the case of symmetric semigroups with three generators we give an exact formula for Frobenius numbers, which is, in a sense, a sum of two Sylvester’s formulae. We prove that a fraction of symmetric semigroups vanishes in the weak limit.     

Periodic orbits of Hamiltonian systems on symmetric positive-type hypersurfaces

This paper discusses the existence and multiplicity of periodic orbits of Hamiltonian systems on symmetric positive-type hypersurfaces. We prove that each such energy hypersurface carries at least one symmetric periodic orbit. Under some suitable pinching conditions, we also get an existence result of multiple symmetric periodic orbits.     

Stanley's character polynomials and coloured factorisations in the symmetric group

In Stanley [R.P. Stanley, Irreducible symmetric group characters of rectangular shape, Sém. Lothar. Combin. 50 (2003) B50d, 11 p.] the author introduces polynomials which help evaluate symmetric group characters and conjectures that the coefficients of the polynomials are positive. In [R.P. Stanley, A conjectured combinatorial interpretation of the normalised irreducible character values of the symmetric group, math.CO/0606467, 2006] the same author gives a conjectured combinatorial interpretation for the coefficients of the polynomials. Here, we prove the conjecture for the terms of highest degree.     

On the regular representation of a nonunimodular locally compact group

We study the discrete part of the regular representation of a locally compact group and also its Type I part if the group is separable. Our results extend to nonunimodular groups' known results for unimodular groups about formal degrees of square integrable representations, and the Plancherel formula. We establish orthogonality relations for matrix coefficients of square integrable representations and we show that the formal degree in general is not a positive number, but a positive self-adjoint unbounded operator, semi-invariant under the representation. Integrable representations are also studied in this context. Finally we show that when the group is nonunimodular, “Plancherel measure” is not a true measure, but a measure multiplied by a section of a certain real oriented line bundle on the dual space of the group.