Bóna's log-concavity conjecture for parking-function polynomials

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Let PFn\mathsf{PF}_n be the set of parking functions of length nn, and define the sum statistic by ∑(π)=a1+a2+…+an\mathsf{\sum}(\pi)=a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n for π=(a1,a2,…,an)∈PFn\pi=(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n)\in\mathsf{PF}_n. Define the parking-function polynomial

Pn(x)=∑π∈PFnx∑(π).P_n(x)=\sum_{\pi\in\mathsf{PF}_n}x^{\mathsf{\sum}(\pi)}.

A sequence of real numbers is log-concave if each interior term squared is at least the product of its two neighboring terms; a polynomial is log-concave when its coefficient sequence is log-concave. Bóna's conjecture. The polynomial Pn(x)P_n(x) is log-concave for all n≥1n\geq 1. This conjecture is recorded as resolved in the supplied status information; log-concavity is stronger than unimodality and belongs to the broader study of log-concavity phenomena for combinatorial and matroid-related invariants.

References

Primary source

Joseph Pappe, “A note on the log-concavity of parking functions”, arXiv:2412.19783 (2024).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2019–2024). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1903.09138.

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