Gatzweiler–Krattenthaler positivity conjecture for quotients of Gaussian binomials

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Let n,k,l∈Z⁡≥0n,k,l\in\operatorname{\mathbb{Z}}_{\geq 0}, and write [r]q!=∏i=1r[i]q[r]_q!=\prod_{i=1}^r[i]_q. Consider

(nk)q(nl)q=[l]q![n−l]q![k]q![n−k]q!=∏i=1l(1−qi)∏i=1n−l(1−qi)∏i=1k(1−qi)∏i=1n−k(1−qi).\frac{\binom{n}{k}_q}{\binom{n}{l}_q}=\frac{[l]_q![n-l]_q!}{[k]_q![n-k]_q!}=\frac{\prod_{i=1}^l(1-q^i)\prod_{i=1}^{n-l}(1-q^i)}{\prod_{i=1}^k(1-q^i)\prod_{i=1}^{n-k}(1-q^i)}.

Gatzweiler–Krattenthaler conjecture. If this quotient is a polynomial, then it has non-negative integer coefficients. The conjecture is a positivity assertion for polynomial quotients of Gaussian binomial coefficients. The source reports that it is proved in several special cases, including l=k,k−1,k−2,k−3l=k,k-1,k-2,k-3 and l=0,1,2l=0,1,2, but leaves the general statement unresolved.

References

Primary source

Mona Gatzweiler, Fabián Levicán-Santibáñez and Atsuro Yoshida, “Cyclotomic generating functions, empty weighted complete intersections and positivity”, arXiv:2603.22226 (2026).

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