1. What are the contributions in this paper?
Although the original motivation for the definition of these objects was the study of Macdonald polynomials and the representation theory of diagonal harmonics, in this account the authors focus only on the combinatorics associated to their description in terms of lattice paths.. Section 5 contains a brief account of the recent exciting extensions of these objects which have arisen in the study of string theory, knot invariants, and the Hilbert scheme from algebraic geometry.
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2. What is the quotient of a symmetric polynomial?
The quotient ring Rn = C[x1, . . . , xn]/ < e1, e2, . . . , en >, or equivalently C[x1, . . . , xn]/ < p1, p2, . . . , pn >, obtained by forming the quotient by the ideal generated by all symmetric polynomials of positive degree, is known as the ring of coinvariants.
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3. What is the common way to leave off explicit mention of variables?
In a symmetric function it is typical to leave off explicit mention of the variables, with a set of variables being understood from context, so mλ = mλ(X).
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4. What is the sign character of a given cycle?
χ1 n (β) = (−1)n−ℓ(β) for all β ⊢ n, so χ1 n is called the sign character, since (−1)n−ℓ(β) is the sign of any permutation of cycle type β.
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