Distinguishability and linear independence for $H$-chromatic symmetric functions

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Lin, Shao Yuan, Pierson, Laura
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866918197096087552
author Lin, Shao Yuan
Pierson, Laura
author_facet Lin, Shao Yuan
Pierson, Laura
contents We study the $H$-chromatic symmetric functions $X_G^H$ (introduced in (arXiv:2011.06063) as a generalization of the chromatic symmetric function (CSF) $X_G$), which track homomorphisms from the graph $G$ to the graph $H$. We focus first on the case of self-chromatic symmetric functions (self-CSFs) $X_G^G$, making some progress toward a conjecture from (arXiv:2011.06063) that the self-CSF, like the normal CSF, is always different for different trees. In particular, we show that the self-CSF distinguishes trees from non-trees with just one exception, we check using Sage that it distinguishes all trees on up to 12 vertices, and we show that it determines the number of legs of a spider and the degree sequence of a caterpillar given its spine length. We also show that the self-CSF detects the number of connected components of a forest, again with just one exception. Then we prove some results about the power sum expansions for $H$-CSFs when $H$ is a complete bipartite graph, in particular proving that the conjecture from (arXiv:2011.06063) about $p$-monotonicity of $ω(X_G^H)$ for $H$ a star holds as long as $H$ is sufficiently large compared to $G$. We also show that the self-CSFs of complete multipartite graphs form a basis for the ring $Λ$ of symmetric functions, and we give some construction of bases for the vector space $Λ^n$ of degree $n$ symmetric functions using $H$-CSFs $X_G^H$ where $H$ is a fixed graph that is not a complete graph, answering a question from (arXiv:2011.06063) about whether such bases exist. However, we show that there generally do not exist such bases with $G$ fixed, even with loops, answering another question from (arXiv:2011.06063). We also define the $H$-chromatic polynomial as an analogue of the chromatic polynomial, and ask when it is the same for different graphs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_08665
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Distinguishability and linear independence for $H$-chromatic symmetric functions
Lin, Shao Yuan
Pierson, Laura
Combinatorics
05E05, 05C25, 05C31, 05C50, 05C60
We study the $H$-chromatic symmetric functions $X_G^H$ (introduced in (arXiv:2011.06063) as a generalization of the chromatic symmetric function (CSF) $X_G$), which track homomorphisms from the graph $G$ to the graph $H$. We focus first on the case of self-chromatic symmetric functions (self-CSFs) $X_G^G$, making some progress toward a conjecture from (arXiv:2011.06063) that the self-CSF, like the normal CSF, is always different for different trees. In particular, we show that the self-CSF distinguishes trees from non-trees with just one exception, we check using Sage that it distinguishes all trees on up to 12 vertices, and we show that it determines the number of legs of a spider and the degree sequence of a caterpillar given its spine length. We also show that the self-CSF detects the number of connected components of a forest, again with just one exception. Then we prove some results about the power sum expansions for $H$-CSFs when $H$ is a complete bipartite graph, in particular proving that the conjecture from (arXiv:2011.06063) about $p$-monotonicity of $ω(X_G^H)$ for $H$ a star holds as long as $H$ is sufficiently large compared to $G$. We also show that the self-CSFs of complete multipartite graphs form a basis for the ring $Λ$ of symmetric functions, and we give some construction of bases for the vector space $Λ^n$ of degree $n$ symmetric functions using $H$-CSFs $X_G^H$ where $H$ is a fixed graph that is not a complete graph, answering a question from (arXiv:2011.06063) about whether such bases exist. However, we show that there generally do not exist such bases with $G$ fixed, even with loops, answering another question from (arXiv:2011.06063). We also define the $H$-chromatic polynomial as an analogue of the chromatic polynomial, and ask when it is the same for different graphs.
title Distinguishability and linear independence for $H$-chromatic symmetric functions
topic Combinatorics
05E05, 05C25, 05C31, 05C50, 05C60
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.08665