Universal enveloping algebra expression for the Burnside transition matrices

From papers

Let e,f,he,f,h be the basis elements of sl2\mathfrak{sl}_2, and define the 2×22\times 2 matrices

p+=12(1+e+f),p=12(1ef),p+h=12(1+e+f)h.p^+ = \frac{1}{2}(1+e+f),\qquad p^- = \frac{1}{2}(1-e-f),\qquad p^+h = \frac{1}{2}(1+e+f)h.

For nonnegative integers x,y,zx,y,z, let f(x,y,z)f(x,y,z) be the sum over all orders of taking the matrix tensor product of xx copies of p+p^+, yy copies of pp^-, and zz copies of p+hp^+h. The universal enveloping algebra conjecture. The transition matrix KnK_n satisfies

Kn=x+y+z=ncy,zf(x,y,z),K_n = \sum_{x+y+z=n} c_{y,z} f(x,y,z),

where

cy,z={(y!z!(y2)!(z2)!(y+z2)!2y+z)2if y,z are nonnegative even integers,0otherwise.c_{y,z}=\begin{cases}\left(\frac{y!z!}{\left(\frac{y}{2}\right)!\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)!\left(\frac{y+z}{2}\right)!2^{y+z}}\right)^2 & \text{if } y,z \text{ are nonnegative even integers},\\ 0 & \text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

This identity has been checked up to n=10n=10 and is proposed as an algebraic explanation for the relations among the matrices KnK_n and their nonzero eigenvalues.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Persi Diaconis, Andrew Lin and Arun Ram, “A curiously slowly mixing Markov chain”, arXiv:2511.01245 (2025).

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