In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, the Dyson conjecture is a
conjecture
In mathematics, a conjecture is a conclusion or a proposition that is proffered on a tentative basis without proof. Some conjectures, such as the Riemann hypothesis or Fermat's conjecture (now a theorem, proven in 1995 by Andrew Wiles), ha ...
about the constant term of certain
Laurent polynomial
In mathematics, a Laurent polynomial (named
after Pierre Alphonse Laurent) in one variable over a field \mathbb is a linear combination of positive and negative powers of the variable with coefficients in \mathbb. Laurent polynomials in X form a ...
s,
proved independently in 1962 by
Wilson and Gunson.
Andrews Andrews may refer to:
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United States
*Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places
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generalized it to the q-Dyson conjecture, proved by
Zeilberger and
Bressoud and sometimes called the Zeilberger–Bressoud theorem.
Macdonald generalized it further to more general
root system
In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vector space, vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. The concept is fundamental in the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, especially the classification and ...
s with the Macdonald constant term conjecture, proved by
Cherednik.
Dyson conjecture
The Dyson conjecture states that the Laurent polynomial
:
has constant term
:
The conjecture was first proved independently by and . later found a short proof, by observing that the Laurent polynomials, and therefore their constant terms, satisfy the recursion relations
:
The case ''n'' = 3 of Dyson's conjecture follows from the
Dixon identity.
and used a computer to find expressions for non-constant coefficients of
Dyson's Laurent polynomial.
Dyson integral
When all the values ''a''
''i'' are equal to β/2, the constant term in Dyson's conjecture is the value of Dyson's integral
:
Dyson's integral is a special case of
Selberg's integral after a change of variable and has value
:
which gives another proof of Dyson's conjecture in this special case.
''q''-Dyson conjecture
found a
q-analog
In mathematics, a ''q''-analog of a theorem, identity or expression is a generalization involving a new parameter ''q'' that returns the original theorem, identity or expression in the limit as . Typically, mathematicians are interested in ''q'' ...
of Dyson's conjecture, stating that the constant term of
:
is
:
Here (''a'';''q'')
''n'' is the
q-Pochhammer symbol
In the mathematical field of combinatorics, the ''q''-Pochhammer symbol, also called the ''q''-shifted factorial, is the product
(a;q)_n = \prod_^ (1-aq^k)=(1-a)(1-aq)(1-aq^2)\cdots(1-aq^),
with (a;q)_0 = 1.
It is a ''q''-analog of the Pochhammer ...
.
This conjecture reduces to Dyson's conjecture for ''q'' = 1, and was proved by , using a
combinatorial
Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...
approach inspired by
previous work of
Ira Gessel and
Dominique Foata. A shorter proof, using
formal Laurent series
In mathematics, a formal series is an infinite sum that is considered independently from any notion of convergence, and can be manipulated with the usual algebraic operations on series (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, partial su ...
, was given in 2004 by Ira Gessel and Guoce Xin, and
an even shorter proof, using a quantitative form, due to Karasev and Petrov, and independently to Lason, of Noga Alon's Combinatorial Nullstellensatz,
was given in 2012 by Gyula Karolyi and Zoltan Lorant Nagy.
The latter method was extended, in 2013, by Shalosh B. Ekhad and Doron Zeilberger to derive explicit expressions of any specific coefficient, not just the
constant term; see http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/mamarim/mamarimhtml/qdyson.html, for detailed references.
Macdonald conjectures
extended the conjecture to arbitrary finite or affine
root system
In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vector space, vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. The concept is fundamental in the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, especially the classification and ...
s, with Dyson's original conjecture corresponding to
the case of the ''A''
''n''−1 root system and Andrews's conjecture corresponding to the affine ''A''
''n''−1 root system. Macdonald reformulated these conjectures as conjectures about the norms of
Macdonald polynomial
In mathematics, Macdonald polynomials ''P''λ(''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 orig ...
s. Macdonald's conjectures were proved by using doubly affine Hecke algebras.
Macdonald's form of Dyson's conjecture for root systems of type BC is closely related to
Selberg's integral.
References
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*{{Citation , last1=Zeilberger , first1=Doron , author1-link=Doron Zeilberger , last2=Bressoud , first2=David M. , author2-link=David Bressoud , title=A proof of Andrews' q-Dyson conjecture , doi=10.1016/0012-365X(85)90081-0 , mr=791661 , year=1985 , journal=
Discrete Mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous f ...
, issn=0012-365X , volume=54 , issue=2 , pages=201–224, doi-access=free
Enumerative combinatorics
Algebraic combinatorics
Factorial and binomial topics
Mathematical identities
Freeman Dyson
Conjectures that have been proved