(−1)-enumeration of plane partitions with complementation symmetry

We compute the weighted enumeration of plane partitions contained in a given box with complementation symmetry where adding one half of an orbit of cubes and removing the other half of the orbit changes the weight by −1 as proposed by Kuperberg in [Electron. J. Combin. 5 (1998) R46, pp. 25, 26]. We use nonintersecting lattice path families to accomplish this for transpose-complementary, cyclically symmetric transpose-complementary and totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions. For symmetric transpose-complementary and self-complementary plane partitions we get partial results. We also describe Kuperberg's proof for the case of cyclically symmetric self-complementary plane partitions.     

Random Skew Plane Partitions with a Piecewise Periodic Back Wall

Random skew plane partitions of large size distributed according to an appropriately scaled Schur process develop limit shapes. In the present work, we consider the limit of large random skew plane partitions where the inner boundary approaches a piecewise linear curve with non-lattice slopes, describing the limit shape and the local fluctuations in various regions. This analysis is fairly similar to that in Okounkov and Reshetikhin (Commun Math Phys 269:571–609, 2007), but we do find some new behavior. For instance, the boundary of the limit shape is now a single smooth (not algebraic) curve, whereas the boundary in Okounkov and Reshetikhin (Commun Math Phys 269:571–609, 2007) is singular. We also observe the bead process introduced in Boutillier (Ann Probab 37(1):107–142, 2009) appearing in the asymptotics at the top of the limit shape.     

Thermodynamic limit for large random trees

We consider Gibbs distributions on finite random plane trees with bounded branching. We show that as the order of the tree grows to infinity, the distribution of any finite neighborhood of the root of the tree converges to a limit. We compute the limiting distribution explicitly and study its properties. We introduce an infinite random tree consistent with these limiting distributions and show that it satisfies a certain form of the Markov property. We also study the growth of this tree and prove several limit theorems including a diffusion approximation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2010     

From recursions to asymptotics: Durfee and dilogarithmic deductions

We consider two dimensional arrays p(n,k) which count a family of partitions of n by a second parameter k, usually the number of parts. Such arrays frequently satisfy a finite recursion of a certain form, detailed in formula (2), as well as an asymptotic relation

(∗)

For such situations, we can characterize (Theorem 1) the function g(u) in terms of a polynomial associated with the recursion. We also identify (Theorem 2) a class of families which satisfy both the desired recursion and the limit law (*). For such families, the function g(u) is characterized by Theorem 1, and this resolves a number of conjectures made in an earlier work [Electron. J. Combin. 5 (1998) R32] concerning asymptotic enumeration of partitions by the size of their Durfee square. Finally, we study a family of partitions introduced by Andrews [Amer. J. Math. 91 (1969) 18–24]. These partitions do satisfy the desired recursion, but it is not known for sure whether they also satisfy the accompanying limit law. We prove (Theorem 3), conditionally on the conjectured limit law holding, some identities involving the dilogarithm. These identities are seen empirically, by calculation to many decimal places, to be true.     

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 random lozenge tilings via Gelfand–Tsetlin schemes

A Gelfand–Tsetlin scheme of depth \(N\) is a triangular array with \(m\) integers at level \(m\) , \(m=1,\ldots ,N\) , subject to certain interlacing constraints. We study the ensemble of uniformly random Gelfand–Tsetlin schemes with arbitrary fixed \(N\) th row. We obtain an explicit double contour integral expression for the determinantal correlation kernel of this ensemble (and also of its \(q\) -deformation). This provides new tools for asymptotic analysis of uniformly random lozenge tilings of polygons on the triangular lattice; or, equivalently, of random stepped surfaces. We work with a class of polygons which allows arbitrarily large number of sides. We show that the local limit behavior of random tilings (as all dimensions of the polygon grow) is directed by ergodic translation invariant Gibbs measures. The slopes of these measures coincide with the ones of tangent planes to the corresponding limit shapes described by Kenyon and Okounkov (Acta Math 199(2):263–302, 2007). We also prove that at the edge of the limit shape, the asymptotic behavior of random tilings is given by the Airy process. In particular, our results cover the most investigated case of random boxed plane partitions (when the polygon is a hexagon).     

Tableaux and plane partitions of truncated shapes

We consider a new kind of straight and shifted plane partitions/Young tableaux – ones whose diagrams are no longer of partition shape, but rather Young diagrams with boxes erased from their upper right ends. We find formulas for the number of standard tableaux in certain cases, namely a shifted staircase without the box in its upper right corner, i.e. truncated by a box, a rectangle truncated by a staircase and a rectangle truncated by a square minus a box. The proofs involve finding the generating function of the corresponding plane partitions using interpretations and formulas for sums of restricted Schur functions and their specializations. The number of standard tableaux is then found as a certain limit of this function.     

Large deviations and the equivalence of ensembles for Gibbsian particle systems with superstable interaction

Summary For Gibbsian systems of particles inR ^d , we investigate large deviations of the translation invariant empirical fields in increasing boxes. The particle interaction is given by a superstable, regular pair potential. The large deviation principle is established for systems with free or periodic boundary conditions and, under a stronger stability hypothesis on the potential, for systems with tempered boundary conditions, and for tempered (infinite-volume) Gibbs measures. As a by-product we obtain the Gibbs variational formula for the pressure. We also prove the asymptotic equivalence of microcanonical and grand canonical Gibbs distributions and establish a variational expression for the thermodynamic entropy density.     

Double Aztec rectangles

We investigate the connection between lozenge tilings and domino tilings by introducing a new family of regions obtained by attaching two different Aztec rectangles. We prove a simple product formula for the generating functions of the tilings of the new regions, which involves the statistics as in the Aztec diamond theorem (Elkies et al. (1992) [2], [3]). Moreover, we consider the connection between the generating function and MacMahon's q-enumeration of plane partitions fitting in a given box     

Weakly Periodic Gibbs Measures for HC-Models on Cayley Trees

We study hard-core (HC) models on Cayley trees. Given a 2-state HC-model, we prove that exactly two weakly periodic (aperiodic) Gibbs measures exist under certain conditions on the parameters. Moreover, we consider fertile 4-state HC-models with the activity parameter λ > 0. The three types of these models are known to exist. For one of the models we show that the translationinvariant Gibbs measure is not unique.     

Ising limit of a Heisenberg XXZ magnet and some temperature correlation functions

We consider the Heisenberg spin-1/2 XXZ magnet in the case where the anisotropy parameter tends to infinity (the so-called Ising limit). We find the temperature correlation function of a ferromagnetic string above the ground state. Our approach to calculating correlation functions is based on expressing the wave function in the considered limit in terms of Schur symmetric functions. We show that the asymptotic amplitude of the above correlation function at low temperatures is proportional to the squared number of strict plane partitions in a box.     

Shuffling algorithm for boxed plane partitions

We introduce discrete time Markov chains that preserve uniform measures on boxed plane partitions. Elementary Markov steps change the size of the box from a×b×c to (a−1)×(b+1)×c or (a+1)×(b−1)×c. Algorithmic realization of each step involves O((a+b)c) operations. One application is an efficient perfect random sampling algorithm for uniformly distributed boxed plane partitions.Trajectories of our Markov chains can be viewed as random point configurations in the three-dimensional lattice. We compute the bulk limits of the correlation functions of the resulting random point process on suitable two-dimensional sections. The limiting correlation functions define a two-dimensional determinantal point processes with certain Gibbs properties.     

On the existence of generalized gibbs measures for the one-dimensional <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-adic countable state Potts model

We consider the one-dimensional countable state p-adic Potts model. A construction of generalized p-adic Gibbs measures depending on weights λ is given, and an investigation of such measures is reduced to the examination of a p-adic dynamical system. This dynamical system has a form of series of rational functions. Studying such a dynamical system, under some condition concerning weights, we prove the existence of generalized p-adic Gibbs measures. Note that the condition found does not depend on the values of the prime p, and therefore an analogous fact is not true when the number of states is finite. It is also shown that under the condition there may occur a phase transition.     

Ergodicity of canonical Gibbs measures with respect to the diffeomorphism group

For general potentials we prove that every canonical Gibbs measure on configurations over a manifold X is quasi‐invariant w.r.t. the group of diffeomorphisms on X. We show that this quasi‐invariance property also characterizes the class of canonical Gibbs measures. From this we conclude that the extremal canonical Gibbs measures are just the ergodic ones w.r.t. the diffeomorphism group. Thus we provide a whole class of different irreducible representations. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Geometric Gibbs theory

We extend the classical Gibbs theory for smooth potentials to the geometric Gibbs theory for certain continuous potentials. We study the existence and uniqueness and the compatibility of geometric Gibbs measures associated with these continuous potentials. We introduce a complex Banach manifold structure on the space of these continuous potentials as well as on the space of all geometric Gibbs measures. We prove that with this complex Banach manifold structure, the space is complete and, moreover, is the completion of the space of all smooth potentials as well as the space of all classical Gibbs measures. There is a maximum metric on the space, which is incomplete. We prove that the topology induced by the newly introduced complex Banach manifold structure and the topology induced by the maximal metric are the same. We prove that a geometric Gibbs measure is an equilibrium state, and the infimum of the metric entropy function on the space is zero.

     

BK-type inequalities and generalized random-cluster representations

Recently, van den Berg and Jonasson gave the first substantial extension of the BK inequality for non-product measures: they proved that, for $k$ -out-of- $n$ measures, the probability that two increasing events occur disjointly is at most the product of the two individual probabilities. We show several other extensions and modifications of the BK inequality. In particular, we prove that the antiferromagnetic Ising Curie–Weiss model satisfies the BK inequality for all increasing events. We prove that this also holds for the Curie–Weiss model with three-body interactions under the so-called negative lattice condition. For the ferromagnetic Ising model we show that the probability that two events occur ‘cluster-disjointly’ is at most the product of the two individual probabilities, and we give a more abstract form of this result for arbitrary Gibbs measures. The above cases are derived from a general abstract theorem whose proof is based on an extension of the Fortuin–Kasteleyn random-cluster representation for all probability distributions and on a ‘folding procedure’ which generalizes an argument of Reimer.     

New results on binary space partitions in the plane

We prove the existence of linear size binary space partitions for sets of objects in the plane under certain conditions. In particular, we construct linear size binary space partitions for sets of fat objects, for sets of line segments where the ratio between the lengths of the longest and shortest segment is bounded by a constant, and for homothetic objects. For all cases we also show how to turn the existence proofs into efficient algorithms.     

Limit cycles for rigid cubic systems

We consider planar cubic systems with a unique rest point of center-focus type and constant angular velocity. For such systems we obtain an affine classification in three families, and, for two of them, their corresponding phase portraits on the Poincaré sphere. We also prove that for two of these families there is uniqueness of limit cycle. With respect the third family, we give the bifurcation diagram and phase portraits on the Poincaré sphere of a one-parameter sub-family exhibiting at least two limit cycles.     

Optimizing random scan Gibbs samplers

The Gibbs sampler is a popular Markov chain Monte Carlo routine for generating random variates from distributions otherwise difficult to sample. A number of implementations are available for running a Gibbs sampler varying in the order through which the full conditional distributions used by the Gibbs sampler are cycled or visited. A common, and in fact the original, implementation is the random scan strategy, whereby the full conditional distributions are updated in a randomly selected order each iteration. In this paper, we introduce a random scan Gibbs sampler which adaptively updates the selection probabilities or “learns” from all previous random variates generated during the Gibbs sampling. In the process, we outline a number of variations on the random scan Gibbs sampler which allows the practitioner many choices for setting the selection probabilities and prove convergence of the induced (Markov) chain to the stationary distribution of interest. Though we emphasize flexibility in user choice and specification of these random scan algorithms, we present a minimax random scan which determines the selection probabilities through decision theoretic considerations on the precision of estimators of interest. We illustrate and apply the results presented by using the adaptive random scan Gibbs sampler developed to sample from multivariate Gaussian target distributions, to automate samplers for posterior simulation under Dirichlet process mixture models, and to fit mixtures of distributions.     

On Möbius Duality and Coarse-Graining

We study duality relations for zeta and Möbius matrices and monotone conditions on the kernels. We focus on the cases of families of sets and partitions. The conditions for positivity of the dual kernels are stated in terms of the positive Möbius cone of functions, which is described in terms of Sylvester formulae. We study duality under coarse-graining and show that an \(h\)-transform is needed to preserve stochasticity. We give conditions in order that zeta and Möbius matrices admit coarse-graining, and we prove they are satisfied for sets and partitions. This is a source of relevant examples in genetics on the haploid and multi-allelic Cannings models.