Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2509.17170

Two combinatorial puzzles arising from the theory of Kohnert polynomials

Theo Koss·Nicholas Mayers·Alex Moon
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Motivated by recent work of Hanser and Mayers, we study two combinatorial puzzles arising from the theory of Kohnert polynomials. Such polynomials are defined as generating polynomials for certain collections of diagrams consisting of unit cells arranged in the first quadrant generated from an initial "seed diagram" by applying what are called "Kohnert moves". Each Kohnert move affects the position of at most cell of a diagram, attempting to move the rightmost cell of a given row to the first available position below and in the same column. In this paper, we study the combinatorial puzzles defined as follows: given a diagram $D$, form a diagram that is fixed by all Kohnert moves by applying either the fewest or most possible number of Kohnert moves. For both puzzles, we find complete solutions as well as methods for combinatorially computing the associated number of Kohnert moves in terms of the initial diagram $D$.

Explore related subjects

math.CO

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Theo Koss, Nicholas Mayers, Alex Moon. 2025-09-21. Two combinatorial puzzles arising from the theory of Kohnert polynomials. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.17170

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Adjunctions, Box Products, and Forcing Families

Sidorenko's conjecture states that the number of copies of any given bipartite graph in another graph of given density is asymptotically minimized by a random graph. For bipartite graphs containing a cycle, the forcing conjecture further asserts that asymptotic equality characterizes quasi-random graphs. We establish an adjoint identity for a general class of graph-substitution operators and use it to obtain Sidorenko and forcing results for balanced blow-ups, subdivisions, Cartesian products, and strong products.

math.CO↗
arXiv2026

On the Cost Number of Graphs with Determining Number Two

A distinguishing vertex coloring of a graph $G$ is a vertex coloring such that only the identity automorphism of $G$ preserves the coloring. A graph is $2$-distinguishable if it admits a distinguishing vertex coloring with two colors, and its cost $ρ(G)$ is the minimum size of a color class in such a coloring. The determining number of a graph $G$, denoted by $Det(G)$, is the minimum size of a subset $S\subseteq V(G)$ such that only the trivial automorphism fixes every element of $S$ pointwise. Boutin (J. Combin. Math. Combin. Comput. 85: 161-171, 2013) asked if $ρ(G)$ and $Det(G)$ can be arbitrarily far apart. While the case for $Det(G) = 1$ is trivial, the answer remained unknown for $Det(G) \ge 2$. In this manuscript, we show that if $Det(G)=2$ then not only is $ρ(G)$ bounded, but in fact $ρ(G) \leq 4$. This is the first resolution of Boutin's question for any nontrivial fixed determining number. Moreover, for every fixed $Det(G)= n$, we construct examples giving a lower bound on any possible upper bound for $ρ(G)$ in terms of $n$.

math.CO↗