Related papers: Separation probabilities and analogues of a Zagier…

We study the mixing properties of permutations obtained as a product of two uniformly random permutations of fixed cycle types. For instance, we give an exact formula for the probability that elements $1,2,...,k$ are in distinct cycles of…

Generalizing a formula of Stanley, we prove combinatorially that the probability that $1, 2, \dots, k$ are contained in the same cycle of a product of two random $n$-cycles is \[\frac{1}{k} + \frac{4 (-1)^n}{ \binom{2k}{k}}…

In symmetric groups, studies of permutation factorizations or triples of permutations satisfying certain conditions have a long history. One particular interesting case is when two of the involved permutations are long cycles, for which…

We present various results on multiplying cycles in the symmetric group. Our first result is a generalisation of the following theorem of Boccara (1980): the number of ways of writing an odd permutation in the symmetric group on $n$ symbols…

In this paper, we enumerate the pairs of permutations that are long cycles and whose product has a given cycle-type. Our main result is a simple relation concerning the desired numbers for a few related cycle-types. The relation refines a…

In this paper we generalize permutations to plane permutations. We employ this framework to derive a combinatorial proof of a result of Zagier and Stanley, that enumerates the number of $n$-cycles $\omega$, for which $\omega(12\cdots n)$…

A general explicit upper bound is obtained for the proportion $P(n,m)$ of elements of order dividing $m$, where $n-1 \le m \le cn$ for some constant $c$, in the finite symmetric group $S_n$. This is used to find lower bounds for the…

Consider n unit intervals, say [1,2], [3,4], ..., [2n-1,2n]. Identify their endpoints in pairs at random, with all (2n-1)!! = (2n-1) (2n-3) ... 3 1 pairings being equally likely. The result is a collection of cycles of various lengths, and…

We show that the probability that two permutations of $n$ letters have the same number of cycles is \[\sim \frac{1}{2\sqrt{\pi\log{n}}}.\]

We find exact and asymptotic formulas for the number of pairs $(p,q)$ of $N$-cycles such that the all cycles of the product $p\cdot q$ have lengths from a given integer set. We then apply these results to prove a surprisingly high lower…

Answering a question of Bona, it is shown that for n>1 the probability that 1 and 2 are in the same cycle of a product of two n-cycles on the set {1,2,...,n} is 1/2 if n is odd and 1/2 - 2/(n-1){n+2) if n is even. Another result concerns…

In the symmetric group on a set of size 2n, let P_{2n} denote the conjugacy class of involutions with no fixed points (equivalently, we refer to these as ``pairings'', since each disjoint cycle has length 2). Harer and Zagier explicitly…

We study random surfaces constructed by glueing together $N/k$ filled $k$-gons along their edges, with all $(N-1)!! = (N-1)(N-3)...3\cdot 1$ pairings of the edges being equally likely. (We assume that lcm $\{2,k\}$ divides $N$.) The Euler…

In this paper, we study the distribution of the number of occurrences of the simplest frame pattern, called the $\mu$ pattern, in $n$-cycles. Given an $n$-cycle $C$, we say that a pair $\langle i,j \rangle$ matches the $\mu$ pattern if $i <…

A consequence of Bertrand's postulate, proved by L. Greenfield and S. Greenfield in 1998, assures that the set of integers $\{1,2,\cdots, 2n\}$ can be partitioned into pairs so that the sum of each pair is a prime number for any positive…

It is a well known that, for odd $n$, the number of subsets of $\{1,2,\dots,n\}$ the sum of whose elements is divisible by $n$ equals the number of binary necklaces of length $n$. In this paper generalize this result in two directions. On…

For which values of $k$ does a uniformly chosen $3$-regular graph $G$ on $n$ vertices typically contain $ n/k$ vertex-disjoint $k$-cycles (a $k$-cycle factor)? To date, this has been answered for $k=n$ and for $k \ll \log n$; the former,…

Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. We say that $M$ and $S$ form a \textsl{splitting} of $G$ if every nonzero element $g$ of $G$ has a unique representation of the form $g=ms$ with $m\in M$ and $s\in S$, while $0$ has no such representation.…

In a uniform random permutation \Pi of [n] := {1,2,...,n}, the set of elements k in [n-1] such that \Pi(k+1) = \Pi(k) + 1 has the same distribution as the set of fixed points of \Pi that lie in [n-1]. We give three different proofs of this…

In this paper we study different restrictions imposed over the set of permutations of size $n$, $S_n$, and for specific classes of restrictions study the cycle structure of corresponding permutations. More specifically, we prove that for…