English

On symmetric pattern avoidance sets

Combinatorics 2026-01-14 v2

Abstract

For a set of permutations SSnS\subseteq S_n, consider the quasisymmetric generating function Q(S):=wSFn,Des(w),Q(S): = \sum_{w\in S}F_{n, \mathrm{Des}(w)}, where Des(w):={iw(i)>w(i+1)}\mathrm{Des}(w) := \{i\mid w(i)> w(i+1)\} is the descent set of ww and Fn,Des(w)F_{n, \mathrm{Des}(w)} is Gessel's fundamental quasisymmetric function. A set of permutations is said to be symmetric (respectively, Schur-positive) if its quasisymmetric generating function is symmetric (respectively, Schur-positive). Given a set Π\Pi of permutations, let Sn(Π)S_n(\Pi) denote the set of permutations in SnS_n that avoid all patterns in Π.\Pi. A set Π\Pi is said to be symmetrically avoided (respectively, Schur-positively avoided) if Sn(Π)S_n(\Pi) is symmetric (respectively, Schur-positive) for all n.n. Marmor proved in 2025 that for n5n\ge 5, a symmetric set SSnS\subseteq S_n has size at least n1n-1 unless S{12n,n21}S\subseteq \{12\cdots n, n\cdots 21\} and asked for a general classification of the possible sizes of symmetric sets not containing the monotone elements 12n12\cdots n and n21n\cdots 21. We give a complete answer to this question for n52.n\ge 52. We also give a classification of symmetric sets of size at most n1n-1, thereby showing that they are actually Schur-positive, resolving a conjecture of Marmor. Finally, we give a classification of symmetrically avoided sets of size at most n1n-1, thereby showing that they are actually Schur-positively avoided.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.07195,
  title  = {On symmetric pattern avoidance sets},
  author = {Tuong Le},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.07195},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

35 pages, 4 figures. v2: fix latex issues

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:00:04.342Z