In mathematics, particularly linear algebra and functional analysis, a spectral theorem is a result about when a linear operator or matrix can be diagonalized. This is extremely useful because computations involving a diagonalizable matrix can often be reduced to much simpler computations involving the corresponding diagonal matrix. The concept of diagonalization is relatively straightforward for operators on finite-dimensional vector spaces but requires some modification for operators on infinite-dimensional spaces. In general, the spectral theorem identifies a class of linear operators that can be modeled by multiplication operators, which are as simple as one can hope to find. In more abstract language, the spectral theorem is a statement about commutative C*-algebras. See also spectral theory for a historical perspective.
In mathematics, a Young tableau is a combinatorial object useful in representation theory and Schubert calculus. It provides a convenient way to describe the group representations of the symmetric and general linear groups and to study their properties. Young tableaux were introduced by Alfred Young, a mathematician at Cambridge University, in 1900. They were then applied to the study of the symmetric group by Georg Frobenius in 1903. Their theory was further developed by many mathematicians, including Percy MacMahon, W. V. D. Hodge, G. de B. Robinson, Gian-Carlo Rota, Alain Lascoux, Marcel-Paul Schützenberger and Richard P. Stanley.
In mathematics, Schur polynomials, named after Issai Schur, are certain symmetric polynomials in n variables, indexed by partitions, that generalize the elementary symmetric polynomials and the complete homogeneous symmetric polynomials. In representation theory they are the characters of polynomial irreducible representations of the general linear groups. The Schur polynomials form a linear basis for the space of all symmetric polynomials. Any product of Schur polynomials can be written as a linear combination of Schur polynomials with non-negative integral coefficients; the values of these coefficients is given combinatorially by the Littlewood–Richardson rule. More generally, skew Schur polynomials are associated with pairs of partitions and have similar properties to Schur polynomials.
In mathematics, the Harish-Chandra isomorphism, introduced by Harish-Chandra (1951), is an isomorphism of commutative rings constructed in the theory of Lie algebras. The isomorphism maps the center Z(U ) of the universal enveloping algebra U(g) of a reductive Lie algebra g to the elements S(h)W of the symmetric algebra S(h) of a Cartan subalgebra h that are invariant under the Weyl group W.
In mathematics, the Hall algebra is an associative algebra with a basis corresponding to isomorphism classes of finite abelian p-groups. It was first discussed by Steinitz (1901) but forgotten until it was rediscovered by Philip Hall (1959), both of whom published no more than brief summaries of their work. The Hall polynomials are the structure constants of the Hall algebra. The Hall algebra plays an important role in the theory of Masaki Kashiwara and George Lusztig regarding canonical bases in quantum groups. Ringel (1990) generalized Hall algebras to more general categories, such as the category of representations of a quiver.
In mathematics, the Jack function is a generalization of the Jack polynomial, introduced by Henry Jack. The Jack polynomial is a homogeneous, symmetric polynomial which generalizes the Schur and zonal polynomials, and is in turn generalized by the Heckman–Opdam polynomials and Macdonald polynomials.
In mathematics, Macdonald polynomialsPλ(x; t,q) are a family of orthogonal symmetric polynomials in several variables, introduced by Macdonald in 1987. He later introduced a non-symmetric generalization in 1995. Macdonald originally associated his polynomials with weights λ of finite root systems and used just one variable t, but later realized that it is more natural to associate them with affine root systems rather than finite root systems, in which case the variable t can be replaced by several different variables t=(t1,...,tk), one for each of the k orbits of roots in the affine root system. The Macdonald polynomials are polynomials in n variables x=(x1,...,xn), where n is the rank of the affine root system. They generalize many other families of orthogonal polynomials, such as Jack polynomials and Hall–Littlewood polynomials and Askey–Wilson polynomials, which in turn include most of the named 1-variable orthogonal polynomials as special cases. Koornwinder polynomials are Macdonald polynomials of certain non-reduced root systems. They have deep relationships with affine Hecke algebras and Hilbert schemes, which were used to prove several conjectures made by Macdonald about them.
In mathematics, especially in the field of representation theory, Schur functors are certain functors from the category of modules over a fixed commutative ring to itself. They generalize the constructions of exterior powers and symmetric powers of a vector space. Schur functors are indexed by Young diagrams in such a way that the horizontal diagram with n cells corresponds to the nth exterior power functor, and the vertical diagram with n cells corresponds to the nth symmetric power functor. If a vector space V is a representation of a group G, then also has a natural action of G for any Schur functor .
In mathematics, the Littlewood–Richardson rule is a combinatorial description of the coefficients that arise when decomposing a product of two Schur functions as a linear combination of other Schur functions. These coefficients are natural numbers, which the Littlewood–Richardson rule describes as counting certain skew tableaux. They occur in many other mathematical contexts, for instance as multiplicity in the decomposition of tensor products of irreducible representations of general linear groups, or in the decomposition of certain induced representations in the representation theory of the symmetric group, or in the area of algebraic combinatorics dealing with Young tableaux and symmetric polynomials.
In mathematics, the Hall–Littlewood polynomials are symmetric functions depending on a parameter t and a partition λ. They are Schur functions when t is 0 and monomial symmetric functions when t is 1 and are special cases of Macdonald polynomials. They were first defined indirectly by Philip Hall using the Hall algebra, and later defined directly by Dudley E. Littlewood (1961).
In mathematics, Giambelli's formula, named after Giovanni Giambelli, expresses Schubert classes in terms of special Schubert classes, or Schur functions in terms of complete symmetric functions.
In mathematics, the Kostka numberKλμ is a non-negative integer that is equal to the number of semistandard Young tableaux of shape λ and weight μ. They were introduced by the mathematician Carl Kostka in his study of symmetric functions.
In mathematics, Kostka polynomials, named after the mathematician Carl Kostka, are families of polynomials that generalize the Kostka numbers. They are studied primarily in algebraic combinatorics and representation theory.
In representation theory, a branch of mathematics, the Kostant partition function, introduced by Bertram Kostant, of a root system is the number of ways one can represent a vector (weight) as a non-negative integer linear combination of the positive roots . Kostant used it to rewrite the Weyl character formula as a formula for the multiplicity of a weight of an irreducible representation of a semisimple Lie algebra. An alternative formula, that is more computationally efficient in some cases, is Freudenthal's formula.
In algebra and in particular in algebraic combinatorics, a quasisymmetric function is any element in the ring of quasisymmetric functions which is in turn a subring of the formal power series ring with a countable number of variables. This ring generalizes the ring of symmetric functions. This ring can be realized as a specific limit of the rings of quasisymmetric polynomials in n variables, as n goes to infinity. This ring serves as universal structure in which relations between quasisymmetric polynomials can be expressed in a way independent of the number n of variables.
In mathematics, Kronecker coefficientsgλμν describe the decomposition of the tensor product of two irreducible representations of a symmetric group into irreducible representations. They play an important role algebraic combinatorics and geometric complexity theory. They were introduced by Murnaghan in 1938.
In mathematics, Schubert polynomials are generalizations of Schur polynomials that represent cohomology classes of Schubert cycles in flag varieties. They were introduced by Lascoux & Schützenberger (1982) and are named after Hermann Schubert.
In algebra, plethysm is an operation on symmetric functions introduced by Dudley E. Littlewood, who denoted it by {λ} ⊗ {μ}. The word "plethysm" for this operation was introduced later by Littlewood, who said that the name was suggested by M. L. Clark.
In combinatorial mathematics, the hook length formula is a formula for the number of standard Young tableaux whose shape is a given Young diagram. It has applications in diverse areas such as representation theory, probability, and algorithm analysis; for example, the problem of longest increasing subsequences. A related formula counts the number of semi-standard Young tableaux, which is a specialization of a Schur polynomial.
In mathematics, specifically in representation theory, the Frobenius formula, introduced by G. Frobenius, computes the characters of irreducible representations of the symmetric group Sn. Among the other applications, the formula can be used to derive the hook length formula.
