English

Limiting behavior in growth of Bulgarian Solitaire orbits

Combinatorics 2022-09-01 v1

Abstract

The Bulgarian Solitaire rule induces a finite dynamical system on the set of integer partitions of nn. Brandt characterized and counted all cycles in its recurrent set for any given nn, with orbits parametrized by necklaces of black and white beads. However, the transient behavior within each orbit has been almost completely unknown. The only known case is when n=(k2)n=\binom{k}{2} is a triangular number, in which case there is only one orbit. Eriksson and Jonsson gave an analysis for convergence of the structure as kk grows, and to what extent the limit applied to the finite case. In this article, we generalize the convergent structure for orbits of Bulgarian Solitaire system for any nn. For necklaces of the form (BW)k=BWBW(BW)^k = BWBW\cdots, we give the precise limit of the generating functions as kk grows. For other necklaces, we prove that the generating functions are rational and provide a bound for their denominator and numerator degrees.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2208.14496,
  title  = {Limiting behavior in growth of Bulgarian Solitaire orbits},
  author = {Nhung Pham},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.14496},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

14 pages, 10 figures