Motivated by the recent work of Zhi-Wei Sun [‘Problems and results on determinants involving Legendre symbols’, Preprint, arXiv:2405.03626], we study some matrices concerning subgroups of finite fields. For example, let $q\equiv 3\pmod 4$ be an odd prime power and let $\phi $ be the unique quadratic multiplicative character of the finite field $\mathbb {F}_q$. If the set $\{s_1,\ldots ,s_{(q-1)/2}\}=\{x^2:\ x\in \mathbb {F}_q\setminus \{0\}\}$, then we prove that

$$ \begin{align*}\det[t+\phi(s_i+s_j)+\phi(s_i-s_j)]_{1\le i,j\le (q-1)/2}=\bigg(\frac{q-1}{2}t-1\bigg)q^{{(q-3)}/{4}}.\end{align*} $$

This confirms a conjecture of Zhi-Wei Sun.

We present a new explicit formula for the determinant that contains superexponentially fewer terms than the usual Leibniz formula. As an immediate corollary of our formula, we show that the tensor rank of the $n \times n$ determinant tensor is no larger than the $n$-th Bell number, which is much smaller than the previously best-known upper bounds when $n \geq 4$. Over fields of non-zero characteristic we obtain even tighter upper bounds, and we also slightly improve the known lower bounds. In particular, we show that the $4 \times 4$ determinant over ${\mathbb{F}}_2$ has tensor rank exactly equal to $12$. Our results also improve upon the best-known upper bound for the Waring rank of the determinant when $n \geq 17$, and lead to a new family of axis-aligned polytopes that tile ${\mathbb{R}}^n$.

We determine the characteristic polynomials of the matrices $[q^{\,j-k}+t]_{1\le \,j,k\le n}$ and $[q^{\,j+k}+t]_{1\le \,j,k\le n}$ for any complex number $q\not =0,1$. As an application, for complex numbers $a,b,c$ with $b\not =0$ and $a^2\not =4b$, and the sequence $(w_m)_{m\in \mathbb Z}$ with $w_{m+1}=aw_m-bw_{m-1}$ for all $m\in \mathbb Z$, we determine the exact value of $\det [w_{\,j-k}+c\delta _{jk}]_{1\le \,j,k\le n}$.

We introduce a generalization of immanants of matrices, using partition algebra characters in place of symmetric group characters. We prove that our immanant-like function on square matrices, which we refer to as the recombinant, agrees with the usual definition for immanants for the special case whereby the vacillating tableaux associated with the irreducible characters correspond, according to the Bratteli diagram for partition algebra representations, to the integer partition shapes for symmetric group characters. In contrast to previously studied variants and generalizations of immanants, as in Temperley–Lieb immanants and f-immanants, the sum that we use to define recombinants is indexed by a full set of partition diagrams, as opposed to permutations.

To every finite metric space X, including all connected unweighted graphs with the minimum edge-distance metric, we attach an invariant that we call its blowup-polynomial $p_X(\{ n_x : x \in X \})$. This is obtained from the blowup $X[\mathbf {n}]$ – which contains $n_x$ copies of each point x – by computing the determinant of the distance matrix of $X[\mathbf {n}]$ and removing an exponential factor. We prove that as a function of the sizes $n_x$, $p_X(\mathbf {n})$ is a polynomial, is multi-affine, and is real-stable. This naturally associates a hitherto unstudied delta-matroid to each metric space X; we produce another novel delta-matroid for each tree, which interestingly does not generalize to all graphs. We next specialize to the case of $X = G$ a connected unweighted graph – so $p_G$ is “partially symmetric” in $\{ n_v : v \in V(G) \}$ – and show three further results: (a) We show that the polynomial $p_G$ is indeed a graph invariant, in that $p_G$ and its symmetries recover the graph G and its isometries, respectively. (b) We show that the univariate specialization $u_G(x) := p_G(x,\dots ,x)$ is a transform of the characteristic polynomial of the distance matrix $D_G$; this connects the blowup-polynomial of G to the well-studied “distance spectrum” of G. (c) We obtain a novel characterization of complete multipartite graphs, as precisely those for which the “homogenization at $-1$” of $p_G(\mathbf { n})$ is real-stable (equivalently, Lorentzian, or strongly/completely log-concave), if and only if the normalization of $p_G(-\mathbf { n})$ is strongly Rayleigh.

We introduce a notion of barycenter of a probability measure related to the symmetric mean of a collection of non-negative real numbers. Our definition is inspired by the work of Halász and Székely, who in 1976 proved a law of large numbers for symmetric means. We study the analytic properties of this Halász–Székely barycenter. We establish fundamental inequalities that relate the symmetric mean of a list of non-negative real numbers with the barycenter of the measure uniformly supported on these points. As consequence, we go on to establish an ergodic theorem stating that the symmetric means of a sequence of dynamical observations converge to the Halász–Székely barycenter of the corresponding distribution.

For a not-necessarily commutative ring $R$ we define an abelian group $W(R;M)$ of Witt vectors with coefficients in an $R$-bimodule $M$. These groups generalize the usual big Witt vectors of commutative rings and we prove that they have analogous formal properties and structure. One main result is that $W(R) := W(R;R)$ is Morita invariant in $R$. For an $R$-linear endomorphism $f$ of a finitely generated projective $R$-module we define a characteristic element $\chi _f \in W(R)$. This element is a non-commutative analogue of the classical characteristic polynomial and we show that it has similar properties. The assignment $f \mapsto \chi _f$ induces an isomorphism between a suitable completion of cyclic $K$-theory $K_0^{\mathrm {cyc}}(R)$ and $W(R)$.

By making use of the Cauchy double alternant and the Laplace expansion formula, we establish two closed formulae for the determinants of factorial fractions that are then utilised to evaluate several determinants of binomial coefficients and Catalan numbers, including those obtained recently by Chammam [‘Generalized harmonic numbers, Jacobi numbers and a Hankel determinant evaluation’, Integral Transforms Spec. Funct. 30(7) (2019), 581–593].

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the equality of the determinant and permanent for all powers of a given matrix are provided. The characterisation is based on a condition on merely one power.

Immanants are functions on square matrices generalizing the determinant and permanent. Kazhdan–Lusztig immanants, which are indexed by permutations, involve $q=1$ specializations of Type A Kazhdan–Lusztig polynomials, and were defined by Rhoades and Skandera (2006, Journal of Algebra 304, 793–811). Using results of Haiman (1993, Journal of the American Mathematical Society 6, 569–595) and Stembridge (1991, Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society 23, 422–428), Rhoades and Skandera showed that Kazhdan–Lusztig immanants are nonnegative on matrices whose minors are nonnegative. We investigate which Kazhdan–Lusztig immanants are positive on k-positive matrices (matrices whose minors of size $k \times k$ and smaller are positive). The Kazhdan–Lusztig immanant indexed by v is positive on k-positive matrices if v avoids 1324 and 2143 and for all noninversions $i< j$ of v, either $j-i \leq k$ or $v_j-v_i \leq k$ . Our main tool is Lewis Carroll’s identity.

We provide a generalised Laplace expansion for the permanent function and, as a consequence, we re-prove a multinomial Vandermonde convolution. Some combinatorial identities are derived by applying special matrices to the expansion.

The Toda equation and its variants are studied in the filed of integrable systems. One particularly generalized time discretisation of the Toda equation is known as the discrete hungry Toda (dhToda) equation, which has two main variants referred to as the dhTodaI equation and dhTodaII equation. The dhToda equations have both been shown to be applicable to the computation of eigenvalues of totally nonnegative (TN) matrices, which are matrices without negative minors. The dhTodaI equation has been investigated with respect to the properties of integrable systems, but the dhTodaII equation has not. Explicit solutions using determinants and matrix representations called Lax pairs are often considered as symbolic properties of discrete integrable systems. In this paper, we clarify the determinant solution and Lax pair of the dhTodaII equation by focusing on an infinite sequence. We show that the resulting determinant solution firmly covers the general solution to the dhTodaII equation, and provide an asymptotic analysis of the general solution as discrete-time variable goes to infinity.

Nuij's theorem states that if a polynomial $p\in \mathbb{R}[z]$ is hyperbolic (i.e., has only real roots), then $p+s{{p}^{'}}$ is also hyperbolic for any $s\in \mathbb{R}$. We study other perturbations of hyperbolic polynomials of the form ${{p}_{a}}(z,s)\,\,:=\,\,\,p\,(z)+\,\sum\nolimits_{k=1}^{d}{{{a}_{k}}{{s}^{k}}{{p}^{(k)}}(z)}$. We give a full characterization of those $a=({{a}_{1}},...,{{a}_{d}})\,\in \,{{\mathbb{R}}^{d}}$ for which ${{p}_{a}}(z,s)$ is a pencil of hyperbolic polynomials. We also give a full characterization of those $a=({{a}_{1}},...,{{a}_{d}})\,\in \,{{\mathbb{R}}^{d}}$ for which the associated families $ $ admit universal determinantal representations. In fact, we show that all these sequences come fromspecial symmetric Toeplitz matrices.

A tournament matrix and its corresponding directed graph both arise as a record of the outcomes of a round robin competition. An n × n complex matrix A is called h-pseudo-tournament if there exists a complex or real nonzero column vector h such that A + A* = hh* − I. This class of matrices is a generalisation of well-studied tournament-like matrices such as h-hypertournament matrices, generalised tournament matrices, tournament matrices, and elliptic matrices. We discuss the eigen-properties of an h-pseudo-tournament matrix, and obtain new results when the matrix specialises to one of these tournament-like matrices. Further, several results derived in previous articles prove to be corollaries of those reached here.

We propose a direct solver for the three-dimensional Poisson equation with a variable coefficient, and an algorithm to directly solve the associated sparse linear systems that exploits the sparsity pattern of the coefficient matrix. Introducing some appropriate finite difference operators, we derive a second-order scheme for the solver, and then two suitable high-order compact schemes are also discussed. For a cube containing N nodes, the solver requires arithmetic operations and memory to store the necessary information. Its efficiency is illustrated with examples, and the numerical results are analysed.

Certain polynomials in ${{n}^{2}}$ variables that serve as generating functions for symmetric group characters are sometimes called $\left( {{S}_{n}} \right)$ character immanants. We point out a close connection between the identities of Littlewood–Merris–Watkins and Goulden–Jackson, which relate ${{S}_{n}}$ character immanants to the determinant, the permanent and MacMahon's Master Theorem. From these results we obtain a generalization of Muir's identity. Working with the quantum polynomial ring and the Hecke algebra ${{H}_{n}}\left( q \right)$, we define quantum immanants that are generating functions for Hecke algebra characters. We then prove quantum analogs of the Littlewood–Merris–Watkins identities and selected Goulden–Jackson identities that relate ${{H}_{n}}\left( q \right)$ character immanants to the quantum determinant, quantum permanent, and quantum Master Theorem of Garoufalidis–Lê–Zeilberger. We also obtain a generalization of Zhang's quantization of Muir's identity.

We present two new proofs of the q-commuting property holding among certain pairs of quantum minors of a q-generic matrix. The first uses elementary quasi-determinantal arithmetic; the second involves paths in a directed graph. Together, they indicate a means to build the multi-homogeneous coordinate rings of flag varieties in other non-commutative settings.

The structure of Schur multiplicative maps on matrices over a field is studied. The result is then used to characterize Schur multiplicative maps f satisfying for different subsets S of matrices including the set of rank k matrices, the set of singular matrices, and the set of invertible matrices. Characterizations are also obtained for maps on matrices such that Γ(f(A))=Γ(A) for various functions Γ including the rank function, the determinant function, and the elementary symmetric functions of the eigenvalues. These results include analogs of the theorems of Frobenius and Dieudonné on linear maps preserving the determinant functions and linear maps preserving the set of singular matrices, respectively.

The question of counting minimal factorizations of permutations into transpositions that act transitively on a set has been studied extensively in the geometrical setting of ramified coverings of the sphere and in the algebraic setting of symmetric functions.

It is natural, however, from a combinatorial point of view to ask how such results are affected by counting up to equivalence of factorizations, where two factorizations are equivalent if they differ only by the interchange of adjacent factors that commute. We obtain an explicit and elegant result for the number of such factorizations of permutations with precisely two factors. The approach used is a combinatorial one that rests on two constructions.

We believe that this approach, and the combinatorial primitives that have been developed for the “cut and join” analysis, will also assist with the general case.

We obtain a new version of the Sergeev–Pragacz formula for supersymmetric functions of standard shape–one applicable to arbitrary skew shape. The result involves an antisymmetrized sum of determinants that are themselves flagged supersymmetric functions. The proof is combinatorial, and follows by means of lattice path transformations.