English

Preservation of log-concavity on gamma polynomials

Combinatorics 2025-06-17 v2

Abstract

Every symmetric polynomial h(x)h(x) with center of symmetry n/2n/2 can be expressed as a linear combination in the basis xi(1+x)n2ix^i(1+x)^{n-2i}. The γ\gamma-polynomial of h(x)h(x), which we denote γh(x)\gamma_h(x), records the coefficients of this linear combination. Two decades ago, Br\"and\'en and Gal independently showed that if γh(x)\gamma_h(x) has nonpositive real roots only, then so does h(x)h(x). More recently, Br\"and\'en, Ferroni, and Jochemko proved using Lorentzian polynomials that if γh(x)\gamma_h(x) is ultra log-concave, then so is h(x)h(x), and they raised the question of whether a similar statement can be proved for the usual notion of log-concavity. The purpose of this article is to show that the answer to the question of Br\"and\'en, Ferroni, and Jochemko is affirmative. One of the crucial ingredients of the proof is an inequality involving binomial numbers that we establish via a path-counting argument.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.08948,
  title  = {Preservation of log-concavity on gamma polynomials},
  author = {Luis Ferroni and Greta Panova and Lorenzo Venturello},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.08948},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

13 pages, 4 figures. Final version, to appear in Proc. Amer. Math. Soc