1. Introduction
Many structures arise from the action of the symmetric group on polynomials in
N variables. Among them are the Hecke algebra and the affine Hecke algebra of type
A. This paper concerns polynomials with noteworthy properties with respect to these algebras. The symmetric group
is generated by the simple reflections
, where
they satisfy the braid relations
and
for
. Let
be parameters satisfying
for
and
. Define
where
is a field containing
. The Hecke algebra
is generated by Demazure operators (with
and
)
they satisfy the same braid relations
and
for
, as well as the quadratic relations
. The affine Hecke algebra
is obtained by adjoining the
q-shift
and defining
Then
where the indices are taken
. (That is,
.) The quadratic relations imply
. There are two commutative families of operators in
(each indexed
): the Cherednik operators (see [
1])
and the Jucys–Murphy operators
Note that
and
for
. The simultaneous eigenfunctions of the Cherednik operators are the nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials and the simultaneous eigenvectors of the Jucys–Murphy operators span irreducible representations of
. Our concern is to determine all polynomials which are simultaneous eigenfunctions of both sets of operators, more specifically, when
satisfy a relation of the form
to determine the homogeneous polynomials
p such that
for all
i. These are called
singular polynomials with singular parameter
. In a previous paper [
2] Colmenarejo and the author found a large class of such polynomials associated with tableaux of quasi-staircase shape. In this paper, we will show that there are no other occurrences.
Affine Hecke algebras were used by Kirillov and Noumi [
3] to derive important results about the coefficients of Macdonald polynomials. Mimachi and Noumi [
4] found double sums for reproducing kernels for series in nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials. The paper [
5] by Baker and Forrester is a source of some background for the present paper.
In
Section 2, we collect the needed definitions and results about the Hecke algebra action on polynomials, Cherednik operators, nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials, and the representation theory of Hecke algebra of type
A. The definition of singular polynomials and its consequences, that is, necessary conditions, are presented in
Section 3. This section also explains the known existence theorem.
Section 4 concerns the method of restriction to produce singular polynomials with a smaller number of variables and this leads into
Section 5 where our main nonexistence theorem is proved.
2. Preliminary Results
In this section, we present background information and computational results dealing with and the action on polynomials.
Lemma 1. If or then , and , .
Proof. If
then
commutes with each factor of
. Suppose
then by the braid relations
Suppose
then
and
commutes with each factor in this product. If
then
and similarly
. □
Lemma 2. If or then , and .
Proof. Recall
. Suppose
then
The analogous argument as in the previous lemma shows
for
Suppose
then
The modified braid relations
imply
and thus
. As before
□
Polynomials are spanned by monomials
. For
set
for
, and
(the degree of
). Let
, the set of partitions of length
. Let
denote the nonincreasing rearrangement of
(thus
). There is a partial order on
and a rank function (
)
Note
.
2.1. Nonsymmetric Macdonald Polynomials
The key fact about the Cherednik operators is the triangular property (see [
5])
where the coefficients
are polynomials in
. For generic
(this means
for
and
) there is a basis of
, for
(where
is a rational function of
with no poles when
is generic) and for
The exponents are
and
with
; there is an equivalent formula:
These powers arise from the Yang-Baxter graph method of constructing the
, and are not actually needed here. The
spectral vector of
is
with
. We will need the formulas for the action of
on
. Suppose
and
then
If
then
. The quadratic relation appears as
2.2. Action of on Polynomials and ⊳-Maximal
Terms
The following are routine computations:
Lemma 3. Suppose and . Set . Then
(1) implies ;
(2) implies
(3) implies ;
(4) implies
(5) implies .
Lemma 4. Suppose () and , such that for , then .
(The proof is left as an exercise.)
In (1) above let for and with then the Lemma with and shows (the other term in (1) is and ). Similarly in (5) let with , thus (the other term in (5) for is and .
Proposition 1. Suppose α is ⊳-maximal in (a homogeneous polynomial, ), that is, and if some with then . Furthermore suppose for some i and with appears in then and .
Proof. Suppose appears in (with ) in one of the five cases of Lemma 3 and Every term satisfies or but then and , a contradiction. Suppose then implies . □
Corollary 1. If α is ⊳-maximal in and appears in with then either or and with where appears in p.
Proof. If occurs in case (1) or case (5) of Lemma 3 and (for appearing in p) then which violates the ⊳-maximality of , this leaves only . □
Note does not imply , for example let and then but and are not ⊳-comparable.
2.3. Irreducible Representations of the Hecke Algebra
Irreducible representations of
are indexed by partitions of
N (for background see Dipper and James [
6]). Given a partition
with
there is a
Ferrers diagram: boxes at
with
and
. The module is spanned by reverse standard Young tableaux (abbr. RSYT) of shape
(denoted
: the numbers
are inserted into the Ferrers diagram so that the entries in each row and in each column are decreasing. The module
is said to be of isotype
. If
k is in cell
of RSYT
Y (denoted
) then the
content ; the
content vector determines
Y uniquely. The action of
is specified by the formulas for
:
If then ;
If then
If
then let
denote the RSYT obtained by interchanging
i and
in
Y and set
: if
, then
if
, then
From these relations it follows that for . Call the vector the t-exponential content vector of Y, or the -vector for short. Note always and
So if one finds a simultaneous eigenfunction of then the eigenvalues determine an RSYT and the isotype (partition) of an irreducible representation.
2.4. Singular Parameters
For integers m and n such that and we consider singular parameters satisfying with the property that if then for some .
Definition 1. Let and let with , that is, is a primitive root of unity. If then set Define where u is not a root of unity and .
Lemma 5. If for some integers then for some .
Proof. By hypothesis and, since u is not a root of unity, . From , it follows that and , for some . Thus, . Moreover, since , with . Hence and . □
In fact, to describe all the possibilities for , it suffices to let . To be precise, is not a single point but a variety in .
3. Necessary Conditions for Singular Polynomials
By using the degree-lowering (
q-Dunkl) operators defined by Baker and Forrester [
5] we find another characterization of singular polynomials.
Proposition 2. A polynomial p is singular if and only if for .
Proof. The proof is by downward induction on i. Since , it follows that iff . Suppose that iff for all p and Then iff iff iff iff . □
First we show that any singular polynomial generates an -module consisting of singular polynomials. This allows the use of the representation theory of .
Proposition 3. Suppose p is singular and , then is singular.
Proof. The commutation relations from Lemmas 1 and 2 are used. Suppose
or
then
. Case
:
Case
□
Proposition 4. Suppose p is singular then is a linear space of singular polynomials, and it is closed under the actions of . for , and .
Proof. By definition of
we see that
implies
, and by definition
. Also
thus
. □
Note that
is also a module of the affine Hecke algebra. By the representation theory of
the module has a basis of
-simultaneous eigenfunctions and by definition these are
-simultaneous eigenfunctions - note we are not claiming they are specializations of nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials at
. Suppose
f is such an eigenfunction and let
be ⊳-maximal in the expression
. Then
because by the triangularity property of
(see (
1))
can only appear in
in the term
. Furthermore
implies
for some RSYT
Y, at
. As well we can conclude
for some
(Lemma 5). The next step is to produce a simultaneous eigenfunction which has a ⊳-maximal term
with
.
Proposition 5. There exists which is a simultaneous -eigenfunction and where γ is not ⊳-comparable to λ, and .
Proof. Suppose
is an eigenfunction and there is a ⊳-maximal
with
(i.e.,
) appearing in
f, and
then
and the coefficient of
is
; let
for
and
(because
for any RSYT) so that
is a simultaneous eigenfunction with ⊳-maximal
such that
and
, (by Proposition 1) and eigenvalues …
In general this formula could produce a zero function
g but this does not happen here because the coefficient of
in
g is not zero. Repeating these steps eventually produces a ⊳-maximal term
with
(at most
steps). □
At this point we have shown if there is a singular polynomial then there is a partition and an RSYT Y such that at , for . Next we determine necessary conditions on for the existence of Y, in other words, when at is a valid -vector. The equations for show that can be replaced by and by (simply ), also .
The following is a restatement of the development in [
2] with significant differences in notation. First there is an informal discussion of the beginning of the process of building
Y by placing
in possible locations and determining
accordingly. Abbreviate
.
Suppose is the last nonzero entry of ( for ) then ( for implies ); the entry in Y is at or thus (contra) or . Set and The entry in Y is in one of with contents , respectively, yielding the equations , respectively. If then only is possible and . If then and are possible.
Theorem 1. There are numbers such that with and the entries in row s of Y are for , and for . The isotype of Y is .
Proof. By way of induction suppose there are numbers
such that the entries in row
s of
Y are
and
for
. Assume this has been proven for
and for row
k up to
with
(the length
of row
). Consider the possible locations for the next entry
. The possible boxes are (1)
(
and
or
), (2)
, (3)
with contents
, respectively. The equations
must hold;
and
by inductive hypothesis, so the left side
and there is a contradiction.
and the inductive hypothesis is proved for
, entries in row
k.
set
and
. The inductive step has been proven for
k and for
with
. By induction this uses up all the entries. Let row
be the last row of
Y and of length
, then
and
. □
Corollary 2. Suppose as in Definition 1 and p is singular. Then contains a simultaneous eigenfunction with γ not ⊳-comparable to λ so that if , in the notation of the Theorem.
We have shown if is ⊳-maximal in a simultaneous eigenfunction then there is an eigenfunction in which is ⊳-maximal. Now the eigenvalues are determined by Y and it follows that as constructed above. Hence each term in an eigenfunction satisfies . (Suppose at some stage is ⊳-maximal then there is a simultaneous eigenfunction with being ⊳-maximal and the construction produces an RSYT of the same isotype and the numbers are entered row-by-row forcing .)
Theorem 2 ([
2]).
In the notation of Theorem 1 if for then specialized to ϖ has no poles and is singular. The module is spanned by where , and if for and some k, otherwise . The Ferrers diagram of (from Theorem 1) is called a quasi-staircase, the shape suggested when French notation with row 1 on the bottom is used.
We have reached the main purpose of this paper: to show there are no other singular polynomials.
4. Restrictions
In this section, we show that the desired nonexistence result can be reduced to the simpler two-row situation.
Suppose
and
(that is,
for all
i). Let
and
(the RSYT where the entry 1 is deleted) and
f satisfies
, at
. First we will show that
is an eigenfunction of
with eigenvalue
for
where
Lemma 6. Let with then Proof. By definition
then
The highest power of
in the first term is
thus
and the right hand side is
. □
Let .
Theorem 3. Suppose with then for .
Proof. Let
then
this uses the Lemma and the fact that
and
are sums of monomials
with
for
(properties of the order ⊳ and of
). If
then the empty product
reduces to 1. □
Suppose (indexed ) and set (so that
Lemma 7. Suppose and then and iff , iff .
Proof. By hypothesis
and
, similarly
. Furthermore
Then
and
. □
Proposition 6. Let f be the simultaneous eigenfunction from Corollary 2 with eigenvalues at for and . Then is a nonzero simultaneous eigenfunction with the same eigenvalues as f for with . Here is the RSYT obtained by removing the box containing 1 from Y.
Proof. We showed that each term appearing in f satisfies and for all i. Apply to f then by Lemma 7 for each appearing in . For commutes with and by Theorem 3 = . Thus for . Furthermore, is ⊳-maximal in . □
The definition of RSYT has been slightly modified to allow filling with . The isotype of is
Theorem 4. In the notation of Theorem 1 if then there is a singular polynomial for the parameter ϖ in variables with , of isotype
Proof. Apply Proposition 6 repeatedly, and by hypothesis
. The remaining RSYT is
and has the
-vector
□
5. Concluding Argument
Re-index the variables by replacing
(implied by
) by
d,
N by
and
Proposition 7. Suppose and for some satisfies and for (setting for ) then or
Proof. By condition we have so that and thus or . If then , which implies for and for If and then by so that implies . Since we see that implies and in fact for , since and is impossible for any . If then and , thus satisfying . The other conditions are verified similarly. Thus, .
If then and . Suppose then states and the bounds imply and thus . □
Corollary 3. Suppose . The coefficients of have no poles at ϖ.
Proof. is a nonzero multiple of
. For each
there is at least one index
such that
at
or else
for all
. In this case by Lemma 5
for some
. Set
then
for all
i and by the Proposition
or
but the latter is impossible because
. Finally (this works because there is a triangular expansion
which holds for generic
)
This shows that the poles of
are of the form
and
is not a pole. □
Proposition 8. Suppose f is as in Theorem 4 then at ϖ for some constant .
Proof. By matching coefficients of find c so that . If then there exists such that is ⊳-maximal in g. By ⊳-triangularity (at ) for all i. However, g has the same eigenvalues as , that is, at and the proof of the Corollary showed that , contradicting . □
Recall the transformation Formula (3) for
for
with
If
has no pole at
and
then
has no pole at
. When
then
implies
and
at
. In the substring
there are
values
and
zeros, thus
. Thus,
with
. Suppose
, thus
and
can act on
without introducing a pole at
if
, that is
. The last permitted occurrence of
in
is
Next move the second last occurrence of
in
as far as possible without a pole: set
and require
, that is,
, thus
is the last permitted value. More generally let
(with
) then require
, that is,
or
; the last permitted value is
Let
We showed that
has no poles at
, and if
at
is singular then so is
. The spectral vector
at
coincides with the
-vector of the RSYT
and thus
; by construction
. If
at
is singular then
; this means
For the next step we recall some standard definitions: the
q-Pochhammer symbol is
and the generalized
-Pochhammer symbol for
is
In the context of the Ferrers diagram representation of a composition
,
(the rows with
are empty) define the arm-length and leg-length of a box in the diagram (
)
The
-hook product is
There is an evaluation at a special point (see [Cor. 7] [
7]): let
, then for any
where
.
Theorem 5. at ϖ and is not singular.
Proof. For any polynomial
p let
in
then
(since
). Set
,
then
The numerator is
where the only term vanishing at
is for
(for suppose
with
for some
then
and
, that is,
, hence
). For the hook product observe that if
then
because there are
zero values in
and
values of
in
. Since
we find that the boxes
contribute
to
. This term becomes
at
. The other boxes in the diagram of
are
and
,
. Thus
The only term in the product vanishing at
is for
. Thus, the term
cancels out in
and
. □
Example 1. Let , , , then and (that is, ) The spectral vector of α is which equals at . The expression for is too large to display here (32 monomials); the denominators of the coefficients are factors of andwhich does not vanish at . However, the same polynomial is singular with , , and (that is, but ). The singularity can be proven by direct computation and the vanishing of is only a necessary condition. We have shown if there is a singular polynomial as described in Theorem 1 and then by using the restriction Proposition 6 repeatedly there is a singular polynomial of isotype , which in turn implies that is singular. This is impossible and we conclude that is necessary, and all singular polynomials have been determined.