Class-sum products in the symmetric group: Combinatorial interpretation of the reduced class coefficients

An algorithm for the evaluation of the structure constants in the class algebra of the symmetric group has recently been considered. The product of the class sum [(p)]_n that consists of a cycle of length p and n−p fixed points, with an arbitrary class sum in S_n, was found to be expressible in terms of a set of reduced class coefficients (RCCs), the p-RCCs. The combinatorial significance of the p-RCCs is elucidated, showing that they are related to a well-defined enumeration problem within S_p, which has to do with a certain refinement of the corresponding class multiplication problem. This is in contrast with the representation-theoretic evaluation of the p-RCCs, which requires the evaluation of products involving [(p)]_n for several values of n > p. The combinatorial interpretation of the p-RCCs allows the derivation of some of their previously conjectured properties and of some of the “elimination rules” that specific types of p-RCCs were found to satisfy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 68: 103–118, 1998