Chan–Pak conjecture on the log-concavity of minimum positions in linear extensions

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Let PP be a finite poset, let A⊆PA\subseteq P, and let ℓ\ell be a uniformly random linear extension of PP. Define

ℓmin⁡(A)=min⁡{ℓ(a):a∈A}.\ell_{\min}(A)=\min\{\ell(a):a\in A\}.

Chan–Pak conjecture. For every A⊆PA\subseteq P, the sequence of probabilities of the minimum position is log-concave:

[ℓmin⁡(A)=k]2≥[ℓmin⁡(A)=k−1]⋅[ℓmin⁡(A)=k+1].\P[\ell_{\min}(A)=k]^2 \geq \P[\ell_{\min}(A)=k-1]\cdot\P[\ell_{\min}(A)=k+1].

This conjecture generalizes Stanley's log-concavity theorem, recovered when ∣A∣=1|A|=1. The source presents it as a conjecture, and no resolution is supplied here.

References

Primary source

Jonathan Leake, Kasper Lindberg and Shayan Oveis Gharan, “Optimal Trickle-Down Theorems for Path Complexes via C-Lorentzian Polynomials with Applications to Sampling and Log-Concave Sequences”, arXiv:2503.01005 (2025).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2023–2025). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:2311.02203.

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