A geometric grid class consists of those permutations that can be drawn on a specified set of line segments of slope ±1 arranged in a rectangular pattern governed by a matrix. Using a mixture of geometric and language theoretic methods, we prove that such classes are specified by finite sets of forbidden permutations, are partially well ordered, and have rational generating functions. Furthermore, we show that these properties are inherited by the subclasses (under permutation involvement) of such classes, and establish the basic lattice theoretic properties of the collection of all such subclasses.
We prove that it is decidable if a finitely based permutation class contains infinitely many simple permutations, and establish an unavoidable substructure result for simple permutations: every sufficiently long simple permutation contains an alternation or oscillation of length k.
A simple permutation is one that never maps a nontrivial contiguous set of indices contiguously. Given a set of permutations that is closed under taking subpermutations and contains only finitely many simple permutations, we provide a framework for enumerating subsets that are restricted by properties belonging to a finite "query-complete set." Such properties include being even, being an alternating permutation, and avoiding a given generalised (blocked or barred) pattern. We show that the generating functions for these subsets are always algebraic, thereby generalising recent results of Albert and Atkinson. We also apply these techniques to the enumeration of involutions and cyclic closures.
We establish a phase transition for permutation classes (downsets of permutations under the permutation containment order): there is an algebraic number κ, approximately 2.20557, for which there are only countably many permutation classes of growth rate (a.k.a. Stanley-Wilf limit) less than κ but uncountably many permutation classes of growth rate κ, answering a question of Klazar. We go on to completely characterize the possible sub-κ growth rates of permutation classes, answering a question of Kaiser and Klazar. Central to our proofs are the concepts of generalized grid classes (introduced herein), partial well-order, the substitution decomposition, and atomicity (a.k.a. the joint embedding property).
We investigate a generalization of stacks that we call C-machines. We show how this viewpoint rapidly leads to functional equations for the classes of permutations that C-machines generate, and how these systems of functional equations can be iterated and sometimes solved. General results about the rationality, algebraicity, and the existence of Wilfian formulas for some classes generated by C-machines are given. We also draw attention to some relatively small permutation classes which, although we can generate thousands of terms of their counting sequences, seem to not have D-finite generating functions.
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