English

Commutator nilpotency for somewhere-to-below shuffles

Combinatorics 2023-09-21 v2 Rings and Algebras

Abstract

Given a positive integer nn, we consider the group algebra of the symmetric group SnS_{n}. In this algebra, we define nn elements t1,t2,,tnt_{1},t_{2},\ldots,t_{n} by the formula t:=cyc+cyc,+1+cyc,+1,+2++cyc,+1,,n, t_{\ell}:=\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell}+\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1}+\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1,\ell+2}+\cdots+\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1,\ldots,n}, where cyc,+1,,k\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1,\ldots,k} denotes the cycle that sends +1+2k\ell\mapsto\ell+1\mapsto\ell+2\mapsto\cdots\mapsto k\mapsto\ell. These nn elements are called the *somewhere-to-below shuffles* due to an interpretation as card-shuffling operators. In this paper, we show that their commutators [ti,tj]=titjtjti\left[ t_{i},t_{j}\right] =t_{i}t_{j}-t_{j}t_{i} are nilpotent, and specifically that [ti,tj](nj)/2+1=0          for any i,j{1,2,,n} \left[ t_{i},t_{j}\right] ^{\left\lceil \left( n-j\right) /2\right\rceil +1}=0\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \text{for any }i,j\in\left\{ 1,2,\ldots,n\right\} and [ti,tj]ji+1=0          for any 1ijn. \left[ t_{i},t_{j}\right] ^{j-i+1}=0\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \text{for any }1\leq i\leq j\leq n. We discuss some further identities and open questions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.05340,
  title  = {Commutator nilpotency for somewhere-to-below shuffles},
  author = {Darij Grinberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.05340},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

48 pages. Comments welcome! v2 simplifies some proofs and adds some more experimental data

R2 v1 2026-06-28T12:17:50.450Z