Macaulay2 » Documentation
Packages » SchurRings :: Basis
next | previous | forward | backward | up | index | toc

Basis -- Specifies the basis to use for a Schur ring

Description

This is an optional argument for the schurRing and symmetricRing functions. It selects how the partition-indexed generators of the ring are interpreted as symmetric functions. The possible values are "Schur" (the default) and "Monomial".

When Basis => "Schur", the ring generator s_\lambda represents the Schur function indexed by \lambda. Multiplication uses the Littlewood-Richardson rule supplied by the Macaulay2 engine.

i1 : S = schurRing(QQ,s,4);
i2 : s_{2,1} * s_{1}

o2 = s    + s    + s
      3,1    2,2    2,1,1

o2 : S

When Basis => "Monomial", the ring generator m_\lambda instead represents the monomial symmetric function indexed by \lambda. Multiplication is implemented by converting to the Schur basis, multiplying there via Littlewood-Richardson, and converting back to the monomial basis using Kostka numbers. The resulting ring is abstractly isomorphic to the Schur-basis ring but its elements are displayed and stored as linear combinations of monomial symmetric functions.

i3 : M = schurRing(QQ,m,4,Basis => "Monomial");
i4 : m_{1} * m_{1}

o4 = m  + 2m
      2     1,1

o4 : M
i5 : m_{2,1} * m_{1}

o5 = m    + 2m    + 2m
      3,1     2,2     2,1,1

o5 : M

The consistency of the two bases can be verified against toM, which converts a symmetric function to the monomial basis:

i6 : S = schurRing(QQ,s,4);
i7 : M = schurRing(QQ,m,4,Basis => "Monomial");
i8 : toM(s_{1} * s_{1},M) == m_{1} * m_{1}

o8 = true

A monomial-basis product agrees with the Schur-basis product after round-tripping through toS, verifying that the two rings are isomorphic with isomorphism toM/toS:

i9 : x = s_{2,1} * s_{1};
i10 : y = toM(x,M);
i11 : y

o11 = m    + 2m    + 4m      + 8m
       3,1     2,2     2,1,1     1,1,1,1

o11 : M
i12 : toS(y,S) == x

o12 = true

Converting back from the monomial basis to the Schur basis recovers the original Schur element:

i13 : toS(m_{2,1} + m_{1,1,1}, S)

o13 = s    - s
       2,1    1,1,1

o13 : S

The monomial-to-Schur transition is essentially indexed by kostkaNumber: the coefficient of m_\mu in s_\lambda equals K_{\lambda,\mu}. For example, the Kostka numbers with \lambda = (2,1) reproduce the monomial expansion of s_{(2,1)}:

i14 : toM s_{2,1}

o14 = m    + 2m
       2,1     1,1,1

o14 : schurRing (QQ, m, 4)
i15 : kostkaNumber({2,1},{2,1})

o15 = 1
i16 : kostkaNumber({2,1},{1,1,1})

o16 = 2

See also

Functions with optional argument named Basis:

  • schurRing(...,Basis=>...)
  • symmetricRing(...,Basis=>...)

For the programmer

The object Basis is a symbol.


The source of this document is in /build/reproducible-path/macaulay2-1.26.05+ds/M2/Macaulay2/packages/SchurRings.m2:8010:0.