Equivariant inverse $Z$-polynomials of matroids

Abstract

Motivated by the notion of the inverse $Z$-polynomial introduced by Ferroni, Matherne, Stevens, and Vecchi, we study the equivariant inverse $Z$-polynomial of a matroid equipped with a finite group. We prove that the coefficients of the equivariant inverse $Z$-polynomials are honest representations and that these polynomials are palindromic. Explicit formulas are obtained for uniform matroids equipped with the symmetric group. The corresponding formulas for $q$-niform matroids are derived using the Comparison Theorem for unipotent representations. For arbitrary equivariant paving matroids, explicit expressions are obtained by relating the polynomials of a matroid to those of its relaxation. We show that these polynomials are equivariantly unimodal and strongly inductively log-concave for both uniform and $q$-niform matroids. Motivated by the properties of equivariant $Z$-polynomials, we conjecture that the coefficients of the equivariant inverse $Z$-polynomials are equivariantly unimodal and strongly equivariantly log-concave.