LLT polynomials, elementary symmetric functions and melting lollipops

We conjecture an explicit positive combinatorial formula for the expansion of unicellular LLT polynomials in the elementary symmetric basis. This is an analogue of the Shareshian-Wachs conjecture and previously studied by Panova and the author in 2018. We show that the conjecture for unicellular LLT polynomials implies a similar formula for vertical-strip LLT polynomials. We prove positivity in the elementary basis in for the class of graphs called `melting lollipops' previously considered by Huh, Nam and Yoo. This is done by proving a curious relationship between a generalization of charge and orientations of unit-interval graphs. We also provide short bijective proofs of Lee's three-term recurrences for unicellular LLT polynomials and we show that these recurrences are enough to generate all unicellular LLT polynomials associated with abelian area sequences.