Core-quotient bijection for partitions 2026-10-05
Fix a positive integer . A partition of an integer is uniquely specified by its core of a partition for modulus and its ordered quotient of a partition for that modulus. More precisely, for every -core and ordered tuple of partitions, there is a unique partition such thatThe ordered runners use the usual abacus of a partition convention with a number of beads divisible by . Adding beads preserves both the tuple and its runner labels. The core fixes the relative runner offsets, and each component partition fixes the displacement of the beads on that runner, giving existence and uniqueness.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 103 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
We use the core-quotient bijection for partitions: an ordered -tuple and a fixed -core determine a unique partition of an integer, withThe irreducible characters in both and therefore correspond to the same ordered tuples of total size . Replacing the empty core of a partition by while keeping the quotient of a partition fixed gives a bijection from to . In particular .
For such a pair, all levels of the core tower of a partition above level zero agree. At level zero, their sizes are and , respectively. Put . When , the base-p digit sum satisfiesThe P-adic valuation of a symmetric-group character degree from the core tower then givesThus the same bijection preserves degree coprimality to and restricts to a bijection between the indicated sets of irreducible characters of degree coprime to p. ConsequentlyFor , take to be the empty partition; the construction becomes the identity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 103 4 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
We use the abacus divisible-hook correspondence in its multiset form: the hook lengths of that are divisible by , divided by , form exactly the disjoint union of the multisets of hook lengths of the components of its quotient of a partition for modulus .
Iterating this correspondence gives, for every ,as multisets. Each Young diagram has one hook for every cell, so the cardinality of the right-hand side is , the sum of the component sizes.
For any positive integer , its P-adic valuation is the number of positive for which . Summing this identity over hooks and interchanging the finite sums provesThusThe sums are finite because hook lengths are bounded by , and the total size at each level of the quotient tower of a partition decreases by at least a factor until it reaches zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 160 3 c Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
Apply the Murnaghan–Nakayama rule successively to the disjoint -cycles. A complete term requires a sequence of removable -hooks. If , no such sequence exists after the Weight of a partition is exhausted, so the character value is zero.
Suppose . Every complete sequence ends at the Core of a partition . Under the abacus divisible-hook correspondence, a removal chooses one cell from one component of the quotient of a partition. The choices of which runner is used occur inorders. Within runner , the signed complete removal sum is the degree , and all inter-runner removal orders have the common Sign of an abacus hook-removal sequence . The remaining permutation acts on the core, giving
Power-core truncation of a prime-core tower 2026-10-05
For a prime number , integer , and , taking the -core of a partition preserves the entries of the core tower of a partition at levels and makes every level at least empty. Also the weight of a partition equals the total size at level of the quotient tower of a partition.
For the first claim, a removable rim hook of length is a bead move by on the abacus of a partition. It preserves the numbers of beads on the runners and hence the -core. Under the abacus divisible-hook correspondence, it becomes removal of a -hook in one quotient component; iteration preserves the cores at the next levels. After all -hooks are removed, every component at quotient level is empty, so every higher core level is empty as well. The weight assertion follows from iterated quotient equals a power quotient up to permutation and the size formula for the quotient of a partition.