Ballot matrix as Catalan matrix power and related identities

We use an analytical approach to find the kth power of the Catalan matrix. Precisely, it is proven that the power of the Catalan matrix is a lower triangular Toeplitz matrix which contains the well-known ballot numbers. A result from [H. S. Wilf, Generatingfunctionology, Academic Press, New York, 1990, Free download available from http://www.math.upenn.edu/~wilf/Downld.html.], related to the generating function for Catalan numbers, is extended to the negative integers. Three interesting representations for Catalan numbers by means of the binomial coefficients and the hypergeometric functions are obtained using relations between Catalan matrix powers.     

Cross-intersecting families of permutations

For positive integers r and n with r?n, let Pr,n be the family of all sets {(1,y₁),(2,y₂),…,(r,yr)} such that y₁,y₂,…,yr are distinct elements of [n]={1,2,…,n}. Pn,n describes permutations of [n]. For r<n, Pr,n describes permutations of r-element subsets of [n]. Families A₁,A₂,…,Ak of sets are said to be cross-intersecting if, for any distinct i and j in [k], any set in Ai intersects any set in Aj. For any r, n and k?2, we determine the cases in which the sum of sizes of cross-intersecting sub-families A₁,A₂,…,Ak of Pr,n is a maximum, hence solving a recent conjecture (suggested by the author).     

Universal cycles for permutations

A universal cycle for permutations is a word of length n! such that each of the n! possible relative orders of n distinct integers occurs as a cyclic interval of the word. We show how to construct such a universal cycle in which only n+1 distinct integers are used. This is best possible and proves a conjecture of Chung, Diaconis and Graham.     

The peak and descent statistics over ballot permutations

A ballot permutation is a permutation π such that in any prefix of π the descent number is not more than the ascent number. By using a reversal-concatenation map, we (i) give a formula for the joint distribution (pk, des) of the peak and descent statistics over ballot permutations, (ii) connect this distribution and the joint distribution (pk, des) over ordinary permutations in terms of generating functions, and (iii) confirm Spiro's conjecture which finds the equidistribution of the descent statistic for ballot permutations and an analogue of the descent statistic for odd order permutations.     

On simultaneous conjugation of permutations

Let α and β be two permutations in $S_n$. We prove that if the commutator $[\alpha ,\beta ]$ has at least $n?4$ fixed points then there exists a permutation $\gamma \in S_n$ such that ${\alpha }^{\gamma }={\alpha }^{?1}$ and ${\beta }^{\gamma }={\beta }^{?1}$. This gives an affirmative answer to a conjecture proposed by Danny Neftin, which leads to the completion of the classification of monodromy groups for sufficiently large degree.     

Direct consequences of the basic Ballot Theorem

We use only the classic basic ballot result and simple combinatorial arguments to derive the distributions of the first passage time and the number of visits in the usual random walk model.     

Jacobsthal sums and permutations of biquadratic residues

Let $p\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}4)$ be a prime. In this paper, with the help of Jacobsthal sums over finite fields, we study some permutation problems involving biquadratic residues modulo p.     

Almost perfect nonlinear families which are not equivalent to permutations

An important problem on almost perfect nonlinear (APN) functions is the existence of APN permutations on even-degree extensions of ${\mathbb{F}}_2$ larger than 6. Browning et al. (2010) gave the first known example of an APN permutation on the degree-6 extension of ${\mathbb{F}}_2$. The APN permutation is CCZ-equivalent to the previously known quadratic Kim κ-function (Browning et al. (2009)). Aside from the computer based CCZ-inequivalence results on known APN functions on even-degree extensions of ${\mathbb{F}}_2$ with extension degrees less than 12, no theoretical CCZ-inequivalence result on infinite families is known. In this paper, we show that Gold and Kasami APN functions are not CCZ-equivalent to permutations on infinitely many even-degree extensions of ${\mathbb{F}}_2$. In the Gold case, we show that Gold APN functions are not equivalent to permutations on any even-degree extension of ${\mathbb{F}}_2$, whereas in the Kasami case we are able to prove inequivalence results for every doubly-even-degree extension of ${\mathbb{F}}_2$.     

On types of growth for graph-different permutations

We consider an infinite graph G whose vertex set is the set of natural numbers and adjacency depends solely on the difference between vertices. We study the largest cardinality of a set of permutations of [n] any pair of which differ somewhere in a pair of adjacent vertices of G and determine it completely in an interesting special case. We give estimates for other cases and compare the results in case of complementary graphs. We also explore the close relationship between our problem and the concept of Shannon capacity “within a given type.”     

Minimal factorizations of permutations into star transpositions

We give a compact expression for the number of factorizations of any permutation into a minimal number of transpositions of the form . This generalizes earlier work of Pak in which substantial restrictions were placed on the permutation being factored. Our result exhibits an unexpected and simple symmetry of star factorizations that has yet to be explained in a satisfactory manner.     

RNA secondary structure, permutations, and statistics

We construct a permutation representation for RNA secondary structure. We also introduce some basic combinatorial statistics for RNA secondary structure and relate them to permutation statistics when appropriate. These statistics allow us to quantify some structural phenomena in RNA secondary structure.     

Forbidden arithmetic progressions in permutations of subsets of the integers

Permutations of the positive integers avoiding arithmetic progressions of length 5 were constructed in Davis et al. (1977), implying the existence of permutations of the integers avoiding arithmetic progressions of length 7. We construct a permutation of the integers avoiding arithmetic progressions of length 6. We also prove a lower bound of $\frac{1}{2}$ on the lower density of subsets of positive integers that can be permuted to avoid arithmetic progressions of length 4, sharpening the lower bound of $\frac{1}{3}$ from LeSaulnier and Vijay (2011).     

Erdős–Ko–Rado theorems for permutations and set partitions

Let Sym([n]) denote the collection of all permutations of [n]={1,…,n}. Suppose is a family of permutations such that any two of its elements (when written in its cycle decomposition) have at least t cycles in common. We prove that for sufficiently large n, with equality if and only if is the stabilizer of t fixed points. Similarly, let denote the collection of all set partitions of [n] and suppose is a family of set partitions such that any two of its elements have at least t blocks in common. It is proved that, for sufficiently large n, with equality if and only if consists of all set partitions with t fixed singletons, where B_n is the nth Bell number.     

Counting permutations by their alternating runs

We find a formula for the number of permutations of [n] that have exactly s runs up and down. The formula is at once terminating, asymptotic, and exact. The asymptotic series is valid for n→∞, uniformly for s?(1−?)n/logn (?>0).     

Indecomposable permutations, hypermaps and labeled Dyck paths

Hypermaps were introduced as an algebraic tool for the representation of embeddings of graphs on an orientable surface. Recently a bijection was given between hypermaps and indecomposable permutations; this sheds new light on the subject by connecting a hypermap to a simpler object. In this paper, a bijection between indecomposable permutations and labeled Dyck paths is proposed, from which a few enumerative results concerning hypermaps and maps follow. We obtain for instance an inductive formula for the number of hypermaps with n darts, p vertices and q hyperedges; the latter is also the number of indecomposable permutations of Sn with p cycles and q left-to-right maxima. The distribution of these parameters among all permutations is also considered.     

Generation of permutations in lexicographical order

When the permutations are ordered lexicographically there is an ordering number corresponding to each permutation. A relation between the ordering numbers of complementary permutations is shown which can be useful in a computer generation of permutations.