Multislant matrices and Jacobi--Trudi determinants over finite fields

Abstract

The problem of counting the $\mathbb{F}_q$-valued points of a variety has been well-studied from algebro-geometric, topological, and combinatorial perspectives. We explore a combinatorially flavored version of this problem studied by Anzis et al. (2018), which is similar to work of Kontsevich, Elkies, and Haglund. Anzis et al. considered the question: what is the probability that the determinant of a Jacobi-Trudi matrix vanishes if the variables are chosen uniformly at random from a finite field? They gave a formula for various partitions such as hooks, staircases, and rectangles. We give a formula for partitions whose parts form an arithmetic progression, verifying and generalizing one of their conjectures. More generally, we compute the probability of the determinant vanishing for a class of matrices (``multislant matrices'') made of Toeplitz blocks with certain properties. We furthermore show that the determinant of a skew Jacobi-Trudi matrix is equidistributed across the finite field if the skew partition is a ribbon.