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# Vertex operators and the class algebras of symmetric groups

## 1 Introduction

Convolution of central functions, or multiplication in the center of the group algebra of the symmetric group $`𝔖_n`$ can be realized by means of differential operators acting on symmetric functions. This is due to the existence of the Frobenius map, which sends a permutation $`\sigma `$ of cycle type $`\alpha `$ to the product of power sums $`p_\alpha `$. Since the power sums are algebraically independent, any linear operator on the space $`Sym_n`$ of homogeneous symmetric functions of degree $`n`$ can be realized as a differential operator in the variables $`p_k`$, and the above statement is therefore trivial. More interesting is the existence of infinite order differential operators implementing simultaneously for all symmetric groups the multiplication by families of elements $`\eta _n`$ in the center $`Z𝔖_n`$ of $`𝔖_n`$.

The first example of such an operator has been given by Goulden , for the case where $`\eta _n=𝒞_{(2,1^{n2})}`$ is the sum of all transpositions in $`𝔖_n`$, and similar operators for $`\eta _n=𝒞_{(\rho ,1^{nr})}`$ (where $`\rho `$ is a partition of $`r`$) have been recently described by Goupil, Poulalhon and Schaeffer .

Convolution of central functions is not the only operation which presents stability properties allowing to deal simultaneously with all symmetric groups. This is also the case of pointwise multiplication, which, applied to characters, corresponds to the tensor product of representations. Here, the stability properties are best explained in terms of vertex operators , which can also produce stable formulas for outer or inner plethysms, character values or branching multiplicities .

One might therefore expect that vertex operators play a role in the simultaneous description of the centers of all symmetric group algebras. A further hint that this should be the case is the observation by Frenkel and Wang  that the commutators of Goulden’s operator with the operators $`\alpha _k=`$ “multiplication by $`p_k`$” and their adjoints $`\alpha _k`$, generate a representation of the Virasoro algebra.

Actually, vertex operators arise when one generalizes Goulden’s formula in another direction. Rather than considering the sum of all transpositions in $`𝔖_n`$ as the conjugacy class $`𝒞_{(2,1^{n2})}`$, one can view it as the sum $`p_1(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)=_{i=1}^n\xi _i`$ of the Jucys-Murphy elements, and look for a generating function of the differential operators $`𝖣_k`$ implementing the multiplication by power sums $`p_k(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)`$ for all $`n`$.

One finds that the required generating function has a simple expression in terms of the classical vertex operator $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(z_1,z_2)`$ describing the Fock space representations of $`𝔤l_{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`\widehat{𝔤l}_{\mathrm{}}`$. Then, one can see that the brackets $`[𝖣_k,\alpha _l]`$ generate a charge 1 representation of the Lie algebra $`𝒲_{1+\mathrm{}}`$, by expressing them in closed form in terms of the standard generators of this algebra (for $`k=1`$, this is the result of Frenkel and Wang).

In Section 4, we remark that our vertex operator provides a new approach to the results of Kerov and Olshanski . What we prove is that the coefficients of the products of power-sums of Jucys-Murphy elements $`p_\mu (\mathrm{\Xi }_n)`$ on the normalized conjugacy classes of  are independent of $`n`$, which is equivalent to Proposition 3 of .

In Section 5, we give an alternative derivation of the operators of  in terms of matrix integrals. We start, following Hanlon, Stanley and Stembridge , with the observation that the theory of spherical functions on the cone of positive definite Hermitian matrices allows one to write generating functions for connection coefficients as Gaussian integrals over the space of complex $`N\times N`$ matrices, $`N`$ being sufficiently large (actually, it is the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ which is relevant, and we are in fact considering functional integrals). Then, we combine the generating functions for all $`n`$, and we are reduced to the evaluation of similar integrals, but for a modified Gaussian measure, which can be performed by means of Wick’s formula. On the way, we observe that this method of calculation can give a direct combinatorial proof of the generating function of , whithout any reference to spherical functions (this answers a question raised in the last section of ).

Finally, we observe that the results of Kerov and Olshanski rederived in Section 4 imply that the Goupil-Poulalhon-Schaeffer operators form a linear basis of the commutative subalgebra of $`U(𝒲_{1+\mathrm{}})`$ generated by the $`𝖣_k`$.

## 2 Notations and background

### 2.1 Symmetric functions

We denote by $`Sym`$ the (abstract) algebra of symmetric functions, with complex coefficients, and by $`Sym(X)=Sym(x_1,\mathrm{},x_n)`$ the algebra of symmetric polynomials in $`n`$ variables. The homogeneous component of degree $`k`$ is denoted by $`Sym_k`$. The scalar product on $`Sym`$ is the standard one, for which the Schur functions $`s_\lambda `$ form an orthonormal basis. For $`fSym`$, $`D_f`$ denotes the adjoint of the operator $`gfg`$.

For $`A=\{a_1,a_2,\mathrm{}\}`$ we denote by $`\sigma _z(A)=_i(1za_i)^1`$ and $`\lambda _z(A)=\sigma _z(A)^1`$ the generating series of complete and elementary symmetric functions of $`A`$. Other notations for symmetric functions are as in .

### 2.2 The Frobenius characteristic map

The conjugacy class of permutations with cycle type $`\mu `$ is denoted by $`𝒞_\mu `$. A central function $`f`$ on $`𝔖_n`$ is identified to the element $`F=_\sigma f(\sigma )\sigma Z𝔖_n`$. The Frobenius characteristic map is the linear map $`\mathrm{ch}:𝔖_nSym_n`$ defined by $`\mathrm{ch}(\sigma )=p_\mu `$ is $`\sigma `$ is of cycle type $`\mu `$. The structure constants $`c_{\alpha \beta }^\gamma `$ of $`Z𝔖_n`$ are defined by $`𝒞_\alpha 𝒞_\beta =_\gamma c_{\alpha \beta }^\gamma 𝒞_\gamma `$.

The Frobenius map allows one to define a new product $`\times `$ on each $`Sym_n`$ by $`\mathrm{ch}(F)\times \mathrm{ch}(G)=\mathrm{ch}(FG)`$. We extend it to $`Sym`$ by setting $`u\times v=0`$ if $`u`$ and $`v`$ are homogeneous of different degrees. Then, $`s_\lambda \times s_\mu =\frac{1}{f^\lambda }\delta _{\lambda \mu }s_\lambda `$, where $`f^\lambda `$ is the dimension of the representation $`\lambda `$ of $`𝔖_n`$. We denote by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the comultiplication dual to $`\times `$, that is, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(s_\lambda )=\frac{1}{f^\lambda }s_\lambda s_\lambda `$.

### 2.3 Jucys-Murphy elements

The Jucys-Murphy elements of $`𝔖_n`$ are the $`n`$ sums of transpositions

$$\xi _j=\xi _{j;n}=\underset{i<j}{}(i,j).$$
(1)
Note that $`\xi _1`$ is zero, but it is convenient to include it as well. These elements generate a maximal commutative algebra $`GZ_n`$ of $`𝔖_n`$ (the Gelfand-Zetlin subalgebra), and the center of $`𝔖_n`$ is $`Sym(\xi _1,\mathrm{},\xi _n)`$. Young’s othogonal idempotents $`e_{𝐭,𝐭}`$ ($`𝐭`$ a standard tableau) belong to $`GZ_n`$, and $`\xi _ie_{𝐭,𝐭}=c_i(𝐭)e_{𝐭,𝐭}`$ where $`c_i(𝐭)`$ is the content of the box labelled $`i`$ in $`𝐭`$ (the content of the box in row $`k`$ and column $`l`$ of a Young diagram is defined as $`lk`$). The multiset of contents of a partition $`\lambda `$ is denoted by $`C(\lambda )=\{c_{\mathrm{}}|\mathrm{}\lambda \}`$ (where $`\mathrm{}`$ runs over all boxes in the diagram of $`\lambda `$).

Jucys has shown that the elementary symmetric function $`e_k`$ of the $`\xi _i`$ is equal to the sum of all permutations having exactly $`nk`$ cycles. One can check that the products

$$e_{\overline{\alpha }}=e_{\alpha _2}e_{\alpha _3}\mathrm{}e_{\alpha _r},\alpha =(\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{}\alpha _r)n$$

form a linear basis of $`Z𝔖_n`$. For example, for $`n=4`$, a basis is $`\{e_0,e_1,e_2,e_3,e_{11}=2𝒞_{22}+3𝒞_{31}+6𝒞_{1111}\}`$. However, in the sequel, we shall rather work with power sums.

### 2.4 The Fock space formalism

We will also identify $`Sym`$ with the infinite wedge space $`^{(0)}`$, spanned by semi-infinite products $`w=v_{i_1}v_{i_2}\mathrm{}`$ ($`i_k`$) such that $`i_1>i_2>\mathrm{}`$, and $`i_k=1k`$ for $`k>>0`$. Such a vector will be denoted by $`|\lambda `$, where the partition $`\lambda `$ is defined by $`\lambda _k=i_k+k1`$. This space is the basic representation $`L(\mathrm{\Lambda }_0)`$ of the affine Lie algebra $`\widehat{𝔤l}_{\mathrm{}}=𝔄_{\mathrm{}}`$, the universal central extension of the Lie algebra of $`\times `$-matrices with a finite number of nonzero diagonals. The generators $`E_{ij}`$ act in a simple way of the semi-infinite wedges. For $`ij`$, if $`v_j`$ occurs in a wedge $`w`$, $`E_{ij}`$ replaces it with $`v_i`$, otherwise the result is 0. For $`i>0`$, $`E_{ii}w=w`$ if $`v_i`$ occurs in $`w`$, and 0 otherwise. For $`i0`$, the result is $`0`$ if $`v_i`$ occurs in $`w`$, and $`w`$ otherwise.

The Boson-Fermion correspondence produces differential operators transporting this action on $`Sym`$ under the linear isomorphism $`|\lambda s_\lambda `$ (see , Chap. 14). More generally, the space $`^{(m)}`$ is spanned by wedges such that $`i_k=1k+m`$ for $`k>>0`$. Their direct sum (for $`m`$) is called the fermionic Fock space, and $`^{(m)}`$ is called the charge $`m`$ sector.

## 3 A vertex operator for power sums of Jucys-Murphy elements

### 3.1 A differential operator for $`𝔖_n`$

In this section, we will compute the differential operator $`𝖣^{(n)}`$ acting on $`Sym_n`$ as the generating function

$$F_n(t)=\underset{k1}{}p_k(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)\frac{t^k}{k!}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}(e^{t\xi _i}1),$$
(2)
that is, for $`PSym_n`$, $`𝖣^{(n)}P:=\mathrm{ch}(F_n(t))\times P`$.

We know that the eigenvalue of $`p_k(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)`$ on the central idempotent $`e_\lambda `$ is $`p_k(C(\lambda ))`$. Therefore, the eigenvalue of $`𝖣^{(n)}`$ on $`s_\lambda `$ is

$$\underset{\mathrm{}\lambda }{}\left(e^{tc_{\mathrm{}}}1\right)=\underset{\mathrm{}\lambda }{}(q^c_{\mathrm{}}1)$$
(3)
if we set $`q=e^t`$. This sum is easily evaluated in terms of the parts of $`\lambda `$:

###### Lemma 3.1

Let $`\lambda `$ be a non zero partition of length at most $`n`$. Then,

$$\underset{\mathrm{}\lambda }{}q^c_{\mathrm{}}=\frac{q}{q1}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\left(q^{\lambda _ii}q^i\right).$$

Proof – The contents of $`\lambda `$ are the numbers $`i+1,i+2,\mathrm{},\lambda _i1`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}(\lambda )`$.

Therefore,

$$\underset{\mathrm{}\lambda }{}(q^c_{\mathrm{}}1)=\frac{q}{q1}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\left(q^{\lambda _ii}q^i\right)\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\lambda _i.$$
(4)
Our first task is to express the operator induced by $`𝖣^{(n)}`$ on the space of symmetric polynomials $`Sym(x_1,\mathrm{},x_n)`$ in terms of the variables $`x_i`$. We set

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_n=\underset{i<j}{}(x_ix_j)\mathrm{and}\mathrm{}_n=(x_1x_2\mathrm{}x_n)^n.$$
(5)
Let $`D_i=x_i\frac{}{x_i}`$. We have

###### Lemma 3.2

$$\frac{\mathrm{}_n}{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}q^{D_i}\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}{\mathrm{}_n}s_\lambda =\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}q^{\lambda _ii}\right)s_\lambda .$$

Proof – Multiplication of $`s_\lambda `$ by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n\mathrm{}_n^1`$ results in the determinant $`det(x_j^{\lambda _ii})`$. Applying $`_iq^{D_i}`$ to this determinant amounts to apply the one-variable operator $`q^D`$ to each row of the determinant, and then take the sum. This produces the same result as applying the operator to each column succesively, since both expressions are equal to the coefficient of $`ϵ`$ in $`det((1+ϵq^D)(x_j^{\lambda _ii}))`$.

Therefore, the operator

$$\frac{q}{q1}\frac{\mathrm{}_n}{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}q^{D_i}q^i\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}{\mathrm{}_n}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}D_i$$
(6)
has the same eigenvalues as $`𝖣^{(n)}`$ on Schur functions $`s_\lambda `$ in $`n`$ variables, and must therefore coincide with it. We can now let $`n\mathrm{}`$, and see that $`𝖣^{(n)}`$ is the restriction to $`Sym_n`$ of the well-defined limit

$$𝖣=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}𝖣^{(n)}.$$
(7)
Hence, all symmetric groups can be dealt with simultaneously by the single operator $`𝖣`$.

### 3.2 Bosonization

The next step is to express $`𝖣`$ in terms of the power sums. To avoid confusion, we reserve the letter $`X`$ for finite sets of variables, and introduce an infinite alphabet $`A`$ as argument of our symmetric functions. So, we want to express the action of $`𝖣`$ on $`Sym(A)`$ in terms of the operators

$$\alpha _k=p_k(A),\alpha _k=\alpha _k^{}=D_{p_k}=k\frac{}{p_k(A)}(k1).$$
(8)
This procedure is called bosonization in the physics literature (see, e.g., ), for the $`\alpha _k`$ satisfy the commutation relations

$$[\alpha _j,\alpha _k]=j\delta _{j,k}$$
(9)
of the modes of a free boson field (a Heisenberg algebra).

To compute the bosonization of $`𝖣`$, we have to calculate the bi-symmetric kernel

$$K(X,A)=\lambda _1(XA)𝖣^{(n)}\sigma _1(XA)$$
(10)
where $`𝖣^{(n)}`$ acts on functions of $`X=\{x_1,\mathrm{},x_n\}`$, and to express it in the form

$$K(X,A)=\underset{\mu ,\nu }{}k_{\mu \nu }p_\mu (X)p_\nu (A).$$
(11)
Then, we will have

$$𝖣=\underset{\mu ,\nu }{}k_{\mu \nu }p_\mu (A)D_{p_\nu (A)}.$$
(12)
Indeed, writing $`,`$ for the scalar product of $`Sym(A)`$, we have $`f(X)=\sigma _1(XA),f(A)`$, so that

$$𝖣^{(n)}f(X)=𝖣^{(n)}\sigma _1(XA),f(A)=1,D_{𝖣^{(n)}\sigma _1(XA)}f(A)=\sigma _1(XA),𝖣f(A).$$

Let $`_i`$ be the partial $`q`$-derivative with respect to $`x_i`$, i.e.

$$_i=\frac{q^{D_i}1}{(q1)x_i}.$$

We have, for any function $`f(X)=f(x_1,\mathrm{},x_n)`$,

$$\frac{q}{q1}\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}q^{\lambda _ii}\right)f(X)=\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}_ix_i\right)f(X)+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}[i]_{1/q}\right)f(X).$$

To apply this to $`f(X)=\mathrm{\Delta }_n\sigma _1(XA)/\mathrm{}_n`$, we note that

$$\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}_ix_i\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}{\mathrm{}_n}=\left[\frac{n}{1q}+\frac{q(1q^n)}{(1q)^2}\right]\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}{\mathrm{}_n}$$
(13)
and

$$\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}_ix_i\right)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}{\mathrm{}_n}\sigma _1(XA)=\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}_ix_i\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_n}{\mathrm{}_n}\right)\sigma _1(XA)+\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{qx_i\mathrm{\Delta }^{(i)}}{q^n\mathrm{}_n}_i\sigma _1(XA)$$
(14)
where

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^{(i)}=q^{D_i}\mathrm{\Delta }_n=\mathrm{\Delta }_nA_i(X;q),A_i(X;q)=\underset{ji}{}\frac{qx_ix_j}{x_ix_j}.$$

Hence, setting $`\overline{𝖣}^{(n)}=𝖣^{(n)}+𝖤^{(n)}`$, where $`𝖤^{(n)}`$ is the Euler operator, we have

$`\overline{𝖣}^{(n)}\sigma _1(XA)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{n}{1q}}+{\displaystyle \frac{q(1q^n)}{(1q)^2}}i\right)+{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}[i]_{1/q}\right]\sigma _1(XA)`$
$`+q^{1n}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}x_iA_i(X;q)_i\sigma _1(XA)`$
$`=`$ $`q^n{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}A_i(X;q){\displaystyle \frac{qx_i}{(q1)x_i}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _{qx_i}(A)\sigma _1(XA)}{\sigma _{x_i}(A)}}\sigma _1(XA)\right)`$
$`=`$ $`\sigma _1(XA){\displaystyle \frac{q^n}{q1}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}A_i(X;q)(\sigma _{qx_i}(A)\lambda _{x_i}(A)1)`$
$`=`$ $`\sigma _1(XA){\displaystyle \frac{q^n}{q1}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}A_i(X;q)(\sigma _{x_i}((q1)A)1)`$
$`=`$ $`\sigma _1(XA){\displaystyle \frac{q^n}{q1}}{\displaystyle \underset{m1}{}}h_m((q1)A){\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}A_i(X;q)x_i^m`$
$`=`$ $`\sigma _1(XA){\displaystyle \frac{q^n}{q1}}{\displaystyle \underset{m1}{}}h_m((q1)A)q^n{\displaystyle \frac{h_m((1q^1)A)}{1q^1}}.`$
Rewriting this expression in a more symmetric form, we obtain the kernel of $`\overline{𝖣}=𝖣+𝖤`$

$$\overline{K}(X;A)=\frac{q}{(q1)^2}\underset{m1}{}q^mh_m((q1)A)h_m((q1)X).$$
(15)
The bosonization of the Euler operator being obviously $`𝖤=_{k1}p_kD_{p_k}`$, we have

###### Proposition 3.3

The differential operator corresponding to $`_{i1}(q^{\xi _i}1)`$ is

$$𝖣=\frac{q}{(q1)^2}\underset{m1}{}q^mh_m((q1)A)D_{h_m((q1)A)}𝖤.$$

On this expression, it is clear that $`𝖣`$ can be written

$$𝖣=\frac{V_01}{(q1)(1q^1)}𝖤$$

where $`V_0`$ is the zero mode of the vertex operator

$`V(z;q)`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _z((q1)A)D_{\sigma _{1/z}((1q^1)A)}`$
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}(q^k1)p_k{\displaystyle \frac{z^k}{k}}\right\}\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \underset{l1}{}}(1q^l)z^l{\displaystyle \frac{}{p_l}}\right\}`$
$`=`$ $`:\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \underset{k0}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1q^k)z^k}{k}}\alpha _k\right\}:`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{m=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}V_m(q)z^m.`$
This operator satisfies the commutation relations

$$[V,\alpha _k]=z^k(1q^k)V(k0)$$
(16)
so that

$$[V_l,\alpha _k]=(1q^k)V_{k+l}(k,l,k0).$$
(17)
In particular,

$$V_k=(1q^k)^1[V_0,\alpha _k](k0)$$
(18)
that is, all the modes are generated by the action of the bosonic operators on $`V_0`$.

### 3.3 Class algebras and infinite dimensional Lie algebras

The vertex operator $`V(z;q)`$ is well-known to be related to the Fock space representations of various infinite dimensional Lie algebras (see e.g., , Corollary 14.10). In the notation of , $`V(z;q)=\mathrm{\Gamma }(qz,z)`$, and if $`\widehat{r}_m`$ denotes the representation of $`\widehat{𝔤l}_{\mathrm{}}`$ in the charge $`m`$ sector $`^{(m)}`$ of the fermionic Fock space $``$, one has in particular

$$W(z;q)=\frac{1}{1q^1}\left(V(z;q)1\right)=\underset{i,j}{}q^iz^j\widehat{r}_0(E_{i,ij}).$$
(19)
Write $`W(z;q)=_kW_k(q)z^k`$, so that

$$W_k(q)=\widehat{r}_0\left(\underset{i}{}q^iE_{i,i+k}\right).$$
(20)
The commutation relations between the operators $`W_k(q)`$ are easily determined from the defining relations of $`\widehat{𝔤l}_{\mathrm{}}`$, which read

$$[E_{ij},E_{kl}]=\delta _{jk}E_{il}\delta _{li}E_{ki}+\mathrm{\Psi }(E_{ij},E_{kl})c$$
(21)
where $`c`$ is the central charge, and $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is the 2-cocycle of $`𝔤l_{\mathrm{}}`$ given by

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(E_{ij},E_{ji})=\mathrm{\Psi }(E_{ji},E_{ij})=1\mathrm{if}i0,j1$$
(22)
and $`\mathrm{\Psi }(E_{ij},E_{kl})=0`$ in all other cases. One has $`\widehat{r}_0(c)=1`$, and a short calculation yields

$$[W_k(a),W_l(b)]=(b^ka^l)W_{k+l}(ab)+\delta _{k,l}\frac{b^la^k}{1(ab)^1}.$$
(23)
One recognize that these relations are almost the standard presentation (in generating function form such as in , Eq. (2.2.2)) of the Lie algebra usually denoted by $`\widehat{𝒟}`$ or $`𝒲_{1+\mathrm{}}`$, the universal central extension of the Lie algebra $`𝒟`$ of all differential operators on the circle. The generators of $`𝒟`$ are the $`z^kD^n`$, where $`D=z_z`$, and the corresponding elements of the central extension $`\widehat{𝒟}`$ are denoted by $`L_k^n`$. The cocycle of the central extension is given by

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(z^kf(D),z^lg(D))=\underset{j1}{}kf(j)g(kj)\mathrm{if}k=l0$$
(24)
and is 0 in all other cases. With this at hand, we see that the operators

$$T_k(q)=q^1W_k(q)$$
(25)
satisfy

$$[T_k(a),T_l(b)]=(a^lb^k)T_{k+l}(ab)+\delta _{k,l}\frac{a^kb^l}{1ab}$$
(26)
which is exactly Eq. (2.2.2) of  with $`C=1`$. Therefore, the coefficients $`T_{k,n}`$ defined by

$$T_k(e^t)=\underset{n0}{}\frac{t^n}{n!}T_{k,n}$$
(27)
are the images of the $`L_n^k`$ in a representation $`R_0`$ of charge 1.

Now, our differential operator $`𝖣`$ reads

$`𝖣`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1q^1}}T_0(e^t)𝖤={\displaystyle \frac{1}{t}}{\displaystyle \frac{t}{e^t1}}{\displaystyle \underset{l0}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{t^l}{l!}}T_{0l}𝖤`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{t^n}{n!}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{n}{}}}(1)^{k1}\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{k}}\right)B_k{\displaystyle \frac{T_{0,n+1k}}{n+1k}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{t^n}{n!}}𝖣_n.`$
We have $`T_{00}=0`$, $`T_{01}=𝖤`$, and Goulden’s operator is $`𝖣_1=\frac{1}{2}(T_{02}+T_{01})`$. Also, $`T_{k,1}=\alpha _k`$, $`T_{k,2}=2L_k`$ where the $`L_k`$ are the charge 1 Virasoro operators considered in . Since $`[T_0(q),\alpha _k]=(1q^k)T_k(q)`$, we find that the result of  stating that the commutators $`[𝖣_1,\alpha _k]`$ generate a Virasoro algebra can be extended as follows:

###### Proposition 3.4

The commutators $`[𝖣_j,\alpha _k]`$ generate a charge 1 representation of $`𝒲_{1+\mathrm{}}`$.

### 3.4 Interpretation of the Virasoro operators

It would be of interest to have interpretations of the other generators $`T_{ij}`$ ($`i0`$) in terms of natural operations on $`Z𝔖=_{n0}Z𝔖_n`$. As a step in this direction, we can propose such an interpretation for the positive part of the Virasoro algebra.

Let, for $`k1`$

$`d_k^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j0}{}}p_jD_{p_{j+k}}={\displaystyle \underset{j0}{}}\alpha _j\alpha _{j+k},`$ (28)
$`d_k^{\prime \prime }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{1i,j}{i+j=k}}{}}\alpha _i\alpha _j,`$ (29)
$`d_k`$ $`=`$ $`d_k^{}+d_k^{\prime \prime },`$ (30)
where $`p_0=1`$.

Let also $`\delta _k`$, $`\delta _k^{}`$ and $`\delta _k^{\prime \prime }`$ be the linear maps $`𝔖_n𝔖_{nk}`$ defined on permutations by

$`\delta _k^{}(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(l1)(l2)\mathrm{}(lk)}}\sigma ^{(k)},`$ (31)
$`\delta _k^{\prime \prime }(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2k!}}{\displaystyle \underset{\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{1i,j}{i+j=k}}{}}ij\sigma ^{(i,j)},`$ (32)
$`\delta _k(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _k^{}(\sigma )+\delta _k^{\prime \prime }(\sigma ),`$ (33)
where $`\sigma ^{(k)}`$ (resp. $`\sigma ^{(i,j)}`$) are defined to be $`0`$ if $`n,n1,\mathrm{},nk+1`$ do not belong to the same cycle of length $`l`$ (resp. do not constitute two cycles of lengths $`i`$, $`j`$), and otherwise, $`\sigma ^{(k)}`$ and $`\sigma ^{(i,j)}`$ are the permutations whose cycle decomposition is obtained by erasing $`n,n1,\mathrm{},nk+1`$ in the cycle decomposition of $`\sigma `$.

###### Proposition 3.5

For $`uZ𝔖_n`$, one has

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n)_k}}\mathrm{ch}(\delta _ku)`$ $`=`$ $`d_k\mathrm{ch}(u),`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n)_k}}\mathrm{ch}(\delta _k^{}u)`$ $`=`$ $`d_k^{}\mathrm{ch}(u).`$
Proof – A direct calculation. The numerical factors account for the orders of conjugacy classes, and could have been suppressed by using instead the basis

$$b_\mu =\frac{1}{n!}\underset{\tau 𝔖_n}{}\tau ^1\sigma \tau $$

where $`\sigma `$ is any permutation of cycle type $`\mu `$.

The operators $`d_i`$ are the images of the generators $`L_i`$ of the Virasoro subalgebra of $`𝒲_{1+\mathrm{}}`$ under the above representation, while the $`d_i^{}`$ correspond to the Witt algebra. Therefore, $`L_1`$ corresponds to the map considered in , and $`L_2`$ amounts to erasing $`n`$ and $`n1`$ if they are both in the same cycle, or both fixed points. Similarly, $`L_3`$ erases $`n,n1,n2`$ if they are in the same cycle, or constitute two cycles of lengths $`1`$ and $`2`$.

## 4 A stability property

The previous result can be used to express the power-sums of Jucys-Murphy elements as linear combinations of conjugacy classes. Indeed, for fixed $`n`$, the generating function

$$J_n(t)=\underset{k0}{}\mathrm{ch}(p_k(\mathrm{\Xi }_n))\frac{t^k}{k!}=\underset{k0}{}J_n^k\frac{t^k}{k!}$$

is equal to the constant term of $`\frac{1}{(q1)(1q^1)}(V(z;q)1)p_1^n`$, that is, to

$$\frac{1}{(q1)(1q^1)}\left[\underset{k=0}{\overset{n}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{k}\right)p_1^{nk}h_k((q1)A)(1q^1)^k\right]$$

which has to be expanded with $`q=e^t`$ and

$$h_k((q1)A)=\underset{\mu k}{}\left[\underset{i}{}(e^{\mu _it}1)\right]z_\mu ^1p_\mu (A).$$

This is best accomplished by means of a generating function. We have

$`𝒥(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n0}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n!}}J_n(t)=[z^0]{\displaystyle \frac{(V(z;q)1)e^{p_1}}{(q1)(1q^1)}}`$
$`=`$ $`e^{p_1}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1q^1)^{k1}}{k!}}{\displaystyle \frac{h_k((q1)A)}{q1}}`$
$`=`$ $`e^{p_1}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1q^1)^{k1}}{k!}}{\displaystyle \underset{\kappa k}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{p_\kappa (q1)}{q1}}{\displaystyle \frac{p_\kappa (A)}{z_\kappa }}.`$
For $`\kappa k1`$, let

$$\varphi _\kappa (t)=\frac{(1q^1)^{k1}}{k!z_\kappa }\frac{p_\kappa (q1)}{q1}|_{q=e^t}$$
(34)
so that if $`\kappa =(1^{k_1}2^{k_2}\mathrm{})`$,

$$\varphi _\kappa (t)=\frac{t^{|\kappa |+\mathrm{}(\kappa )2}}{k!k_1!k_2!\mathrm{}}\left(1+O(t)\right),$$
(35)
and

$`𝒥(t)`$ $`=`$ $`e^{p_1}{\displaystyle \underset{|\kappa |1}{}}\varphi _\kappa (t)p_\kappa (A)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n0}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n!}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\kappa k}{}}\varphi _\kappa (t)𝖺_{\kappa ;n}`$
where we have set $`𝖺_{\kappa ;n}=(n)_kp_{\kappa ,1^{nk}}=\mathrm{ch}(a_{\kappa ;n})`$, where $`a_{\kappa ;n}`$ are the normalized conjugacy classes defined in . Hence, if

$$\varphi _\kappa (t)=\underset{m|\kappa |+\mathrm{}(\kappa )2}{}\varphi _{\kappa ;m}\frac{t^m}{m!}$$
(36)
we obtain

$$J_n^m=\mathrm{ch}(p_m(\mathrm{\Xi }_n))=\underset{k=1}{\overset{m+1}{}}\underset{\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\kappa k}{\mathrm{}(\kappa )mk+2}}{}\varphi _{\kappa ;m}𝖺_{\kappa ;n}.$$
(37)
Observe that the coefficients are independent of $`n`$. Actually, this is a special case of a result of Kerov and Olshanski , which is equivalent to the existence of a similar $`n`$-independent expansion of all products of power sums $`p_\mu (\mathrm{\Xi }_n)`$ as linear combinations of the $`a_{\kappa ;n}`$. This more general result can also be obtained by the same method, but the expressions of the coefficients $`\varphi _{\kappa ;\mu }`$ become more cumbersome. Instead, we observe that if we can prove that the coefficients of the expansion $`p_m((\mathrm{\Xi }_n)\times 𝖺_{\kappa ;n}`$ on the basis $`𝖺_{\nu ;n}`$ are independent of $`n`$, the general result will follow by induction.

To prove this, consider the generating function

$$G(t;A,B)=\underset{n0}{}\underset{m0}{}\underset{\kappa }{}\frac{1}{n!m!}t^mJ_n^m\times 𝖺_{\kappa ;n}(A)\frac{p_\kappa (B)}{z_\kappa }.$$
(38)
A calculation similar to the previous one (which is the case $`B=0`$) shows that

$$G(t;A,B)=e^{p_1(A)}\sigma _1(AB)\underset{r1}{}\frac{h_r((q1)A)h_r((1q^1)(B+E))}{(q1)(1q^1)}$$
(39)
where symmetric functions of the “exponential alphabet” $`E`$ are defined by $`\sigma _t(E)=e^t`$ (i.e. $`p_1(E)=1`$ and $`p_k(E)=0`$ for $`k>1`$). On this expression, it is clear that the coefficient of $`\frac{t^m}{m!}\frac{p_\kappa (B)}{z_\kappa }`$ in $`e^{p_1(A)}G(t;A,B)`$ is a polynomial $`_\mu d_{\kappa ;m}^\mu p_\mu (A)`$, so that

$$p_m(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)a_{\kappa ;n}=\underset{\mu }{}d_{\kappa ;m}^\mu a_{\mu ;n}$$
(40)
the coefficients being independent of $`n`$, as required.

Here is a table of $`n`$-independent expressions of the first power-sums of Jucys-Murphy elements in terms of normalized conjugacy classes.

$`p_1(\mathrm{\Xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_2`$
$`p_2(\mathrm{\Xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}a_3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_{11}`$
$`p_3(\mathrm{\Xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}a_4+a_{21}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_2`$
$`p_4(\mathrm{\Xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{5}}a_5+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_{22}+a_{31}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}a_{111}+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{3}}a_3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_{11}`$
$`p_5(\mathrm{\Xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}a_6+a_{32}+a_{41}+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}a_{211}+{\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}a_4+5a_{21}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_2`$
$`p_6(\mathrm{\Xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{7}}a_7+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_{33}+a_{42}+a_{51}+3a_{221}+3a_{311}+7a_5`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{4}}a_{1111}+{\displaystyle \frac{25}{4}}a_{22}+15a_{31}+{\displaystyle \frac{10}{3}}a_{111}+7a_3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a_{11}`$
One obtains the expression of each $`p_m(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)`$ from the table by substituting $`[(nk)!]^1z_{\kappa ,1^{nk}}𝒞_{\kappa ,1^{nk}}`$ to $`a_\kappa `$, $`\kappa k`$. For example,

$`p_2(\mathrm{\Xi }_n)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{3(n3)!}{(n3)!}}𝒞_{3,1^{n3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{n!}{(n2)!}}𝒞_{1,1,1^{n2}}`$
$`=`$ $`𝒞_{3,1^{n3}}+\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{2}}\right)𝒞_{1^n}.`$
## 5 A matrix integral approach

In this section, we will express generating functions for the coproducts of the elements $`𝖺_{\rho ;n}`$ as certain Gaussian integrals over the space of $`N\times N`$ complex matrices. Evaluating these integrals by Wick’s formula, we obtain as a byproduct a new derivation of the differential operators of .

The zonal spherical functions of the Gelfand pair $`(GL(N,),U(N))`$ are known to be expressible in terms of Schur functions (see , Chap. VII, Sec. 5):

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\lambda (Z)=\frac{s_\lambda (ZZ^{})}{s_\lambda (N)}.$$

As a consequence, we have closed form evaluations of the matrix integrals

$$_{M_N()}s_\lambda (AZBZ^{})𝑑\nu (Z)=2^{|\lambda |}h(\lambda )s_\lambda (A)s_\lambda (B)$$
(41)
where $`h(\lambda )`$ is the product of the hook-lengths of $`\lambda `$, $`A`$ and $`B`$ are arbitrary Hermitian matrices, and $`d\nu `$ is the Gaussian probability measure

$$d\nu (Z)=(2\pi )^{N^2}e^{\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{tr}(ZZ^{})}dZ,dZ=\underset{k,l=1}{\overset{N}{}}dx_{kl}dy_{kl},z_{kl}=x_{kl}+iy_{kl}.$$
(42)
If $`|\lambda |=n`$, the right-hand side of (41) is

$$2^nn!\frac{s_\lambda (A)s_\lambda (B)}{f_\lambda }=2^nn!\mathrm{\Gamma }(s_\lambda )(AB)$$

where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the comultiplication dual to the $`\times `$-product, induced on $`Sym`$ by the convolution of central functions, and elements of $`SymSym`$ are interpreted as functions of tensor product of (square) matrices. Therefore, denoting by $`u_\lambda ^{}`$ the adjoint of a basis $`u_\lambda `$,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(p_\lambda )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha ,\beta }{}}\mathrm{\Gamma }(p_\lambda ),p_\alpha ^{}p_\beta ^{}p_\alpha p_\beta `$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n!)^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha ,\beta }{}}p_\lambda ,C_\alpha \times C_\beta p_\alpha p_\beta `$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n!}}{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha ,\beta }{}}c_{\alpha \beta }^\lambda p_\alpha p_\beta `$
(where we have set $`C_\alpha =\mathrm{ch}𝒞_\alpha `$), so that

$$_{M_N()}p_\lambda (AZBZ^{})𝑑\nu (Z)=2^n\underset{\alpha ,\beta n}{}c_{\alpha \beta }^\lambda p_\alpha (A)p_\beta (B).$$
(43)
We will now form generating functions for the coproducts. Let $`\rho `$ be a partition of $`r`$. Then,

$`{\displaystyle _{M_N()}}p_\rho (AZBZ^{}){\displaystyle \frac{[p_1(AZBZ^{})]^{nr}}{2^{nr}}}𝑑\nu (Z)`$ $`=`$ $`2^r{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha ,\beta r}{}}c_{\alpha \beta }^{\rho 1^{nr}}p_\alpha (A)p_\beta (B)`$
$`=`$ $`2^rn!\mathrm{\Gamma }(p_{\rho 1^{nr}}).`$
Therefore, the coproduct of the element $`𝖺_\rho =_n𝖺_{\rho ;n}`$ is given by

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }\left({\displaystyle \underset{nr}{}}(n)_rp_{\rho 1^{nr}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{M_N()}}p_\rho (AZBZ^{})e^{\frac{1}{2}p_1(AZBZ^{})}𝑑\nu (Z)`$ (44)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{M_N()}}p_\rho (AZBZ^{})𝑑\mu (Z)`$ (45)
where

$$d\mu (Z)=d\mu _{A,B}(Z)=(2\pi )^{N^2}e^{\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{tr}(ZZ^{}AZBZ^{})}dZ$$
(46)
is again a Gaussian measure if we assume that the eigenvalues of $`A`$ and $`B`$ are $`<1`$. Indeed, one can assume that $`A=\mathrm{diag}(a_i)`$, $`B=\mathrm{diag}(b_i)`$, and in this case, $`\mathrm{tr}(ZZ^{}AZBZ^{})=_{i,j}(1a_ib_j)|z_{ij}|^2`$.

The total mass of $`d\mu `$ is

$$𝒵=_{M_N()}𝑑\mu (Z)=\underset{i,j}{}\frac{1}{1a_ib_j}.$$
(47)
For a function $`f`$ on $`M_N()`$, let

$$f=\frac{1}{𝒵}_{M_N()}f(Z)𝑑\mu (Z)$$
(48)
denote its expectation value. Since $`d\mu `$ is Gaussian, we can make use of Wick’s formula, which in this context says the following: if $`f_1,f_2,\mathrm{},f_m`$ are $``$-linear forms on $`M_N()`$, we have

$`f_1\mathrm{}f_{2k1}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (49)
$`f_1\mathrm{}f_{2k}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{Hf}(f_if_j)`$ (50)
where the Hafnian of the matrix $`(f_if_j)`$ is defined by

$$\mathrm{Hf}(f_if_j)_{1i,j2k}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}f_{l_i}f_{m_j}$$
(51)
the sum being taken over all pairs of $`k`$-uples $`L=(l_1<l_2<\mathrm{}<l_k)`$ and $`M`$ such that $`l_i<m_i`$ and $`LM=[1,2k]`$.

In the case at hand, the “propagators” are given by

$`z_{ij}z_{kl}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (52)
$`z_{ij}^{}z_{kl}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (53)
$`z_{ij}z_{kl}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{il}\delta _{jk}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1a_ib_j}}.`$ (54)
Let $`M=AZBZ^{}`$, and let $`\sigma `$ be the following permutation of cycle type $`\rho `$

$$\sigma =(12\mathrm{}\rho _1)(\rho _1+1,\rho _1+2,\mathrm{},\rho _1+\rho _2)\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}r).$$
(55)
Then, our generating function reads

$`p_\rho (M)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i_1,\mathrm{},i_r}{}}M_{i_1,i_{\sigma (1)}}M_{i_2,i_{\sigma (2)}}\mathrm{}M_{i_r,i_{\sigma (r)}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{i_1,\mathrm{},i_r}{j_1,\mathrm{},j_r}}{}}a_{i_1}b_{j_1}a_{i_2}b_{j_2}\mathrm{}a_{i_r}b_{j_r}z_{i_1j_1}z_{i_2j_2}\mathrm{}z_{i_rj_r}z_{i_{\sigma (1)}j_1}^{}\mathrm{}z_{i_{\sigma (r)}j_r}^{}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{I,J}{}}a_Ib_J{\displaystyle \underset{\tau 𝔖_r}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{r}{}}}\delta _{i_k,i_{\sigma \tau (k)}}\delta _{j_k,j_{\tau (k)}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1a_{i_k}b_{j_k}}}`$
$`=`$ $`2^r{\displaystyle \underset{I,J}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\tau 𝔖_r}{}}G_{I,J}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{r}{}}}\delta _{i_k,i_{\sigma \tau (k)}}\delta _{j_k,j_{\tau (k)}}`$
where we have set $`G_{i,j}=a_ib_j(1a_ib_j)^1`$ and $`G_{I,J}=_kG_{i_k,j_k}`$ Let us regard the multindices $`I,J`$ as functions $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},r\}^{}`$. Then, the above product of Kronecker deltas is zero unless $`I`$ is constant on the orbits of $`\sigma \tau `$, and $`J`$ is constant on the orbits of $`\tau `$. To express the final result, we introduce the following notation. Given a permutation $`\tau 𝔖_r`$ and a vector $`L=(l_1,l_2,\mathrm{},l_r)`$ of positive integers, let

$$p_L^\tau =\underset{k}{}\underset{\gamma k\mathrm{Cycles}(\tau )}{}p_{l_{\gamma _1}+l_{\gamma _2}+\mathrm{}l_{\gamma _k}}$$
(56)
product on all $`k`$-cycles $`\gamma =(\gamma _1,\mathrm{},\gamma _k)`$ of $`\tau `$. Then,

###### Proposition 5.1

As a symmetric function of the eigenvalues of $`A`$ and $`B`$,

$$p_\rho (AZBZ^{})=2^r\underset{l_1,\mathrm{},l_r1}{}\underset{\tau 𝔖_r}{}p_L^{\sigma \tau }(A)p_L^\tau (B).$$

where $`\sigma `$ is defined in (55).

Note that the above calculation provides an answer to a question raised at the end of , namely, to find a direct combinatorial proof of (43). Indeed, to obtain the expectations with respect to $`d\nu `$ rather than $`d\mu `$, one just has to replace the propagators by $`G_{i,j}=a_ib_j/2`$, in which case the sum over $`L`$ disappears (the only remaining term being for $`L=(1,1,\mathrm{},1)`$) and one finds exactly (43).

Now, if $`\rho `$ is a reduced partition (no part equal to 1),

$$\sigma _1(AB)p_\rho (AZBZ^{})=2^rz_\rho \underset{nr}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }(C_{\rho ,1^{nr}})(AB)$$
(57)
and in general, the $`\times `$-multiplication by any symmetric function $`F`$ can be implemented by a differential operator as soon as its coproduct is known in the form

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(F)=\delta \sigma _1f_{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha p_\beta ,$$
(58)
where $`\delta `$ is the comultiplication defined by $`\delta (p_\mu )=p_\mu p_\mu `$. Indeed, for any symmetric functions $`G,H`$,

$`F\times G,H`$ $`=`$ $`F,H\times G=\mathrm{\Gamma }(F),HG`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha \beta }{}}f_{\alpha \beta }\delta \sigma _1p_\alpha p_\beta ,HG`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha \beta }{}}f_{\alpha \beta }\delta \sigma _1,D_{p_\alpha }HD_{p_\beta }G`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha \beta }{}}f_{\alpha \beta }\sigma _1,D_{p_\alpha }HD_{p_\beta }G`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha \beta }{}}f_{\alpha \beta }D_{p_\beta }G,D_{p_\alpha }H`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha \beta }{}}f_{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha D_{p_\beta }G,H.`$
Hence, we recover the result of , proving conjectures of Katriel :

###### Proposition 5.2

Let $`\rho `$ be a reduced partition of $`r`$. For any homogeneous symmetric function $`G`$ of degree $`nr`$,

$$C_{\rho ,1^{nr}}\times G=𝖧_\rho (G)$$

where $`𝖧_\rho `$ is the differential operator

$$𝖧_\rho =\frac{1}{z_\rho }\underset{l_1,\mathrm{},l_r1}{}\underset{\tau 𝔖_r}{}p_L^{\sigma \tau }D_{p_L^\tau }.$$

## 6 Final remarks

Recall that $`p_\nu \times s_\lambda =(\chi _\nu ^\lambda /f^\lambda )s_\lambda `$, where $`f^\lambda `$ is the number of standard tableaux of shape $`\lambda `$. Kerov and Olshanski have shown that for a partition $`\rho `$ of $`r`$, the function

$$f_\rho (\lambda )=(n)_r\frac{\chi _{\rho ,1^{nr}}^\lambda }{f^\lambda }$$
(59)
is a polynomial in the “shifted power-sums”

$$\stackrel{~}{p}_k(\lambda )=\underset{i1}{}(\lambda _ii)^k(i)^k$$

which are the eigenvalues on $`|\lambda =s_\lambda `$ of the operators

$$P_k=\widehat{r}_0\left(\underset{i}{}i^kE_{ii}\right)$$

of the Fock space representation of $`\widehat{𝔤l}_{\mathrm{}}`$. (We have proved an equivalent result in Section 4.)

A first consequence of this result is that the elements $`𝖺_{\rho ;n}=\mathrm{ch}(a_{\rho ;n})`$ ($`a_{\rho ;n}Z𝔖_n`$ are the normalized conjugacy classes of ) have structure constants independent of $`n`$: there exist nonnegative integers $`g_{\alpha \beta }^\gamma `$ such that

$$𝖺_{\alpha ;n}\times 𝖺_{\beta ;n}=\underset{\gamma }{}g_{\alpha \beta }^\gamma 𝖺_{\gamma ;n}$$
(60)
for all $`n`$. Therefore, the operators $`𝖠_\rho `$ implementing simultaneously the multiplication by all $`𝖺_{\rho ;n}`$ also satisfy

$$𝖠_\alpha 𝖠_\beta =\underset{\gamma }{}g_{\alpha \beta }^\gamma 𝖠_\gamma $$
(61)
so that they form a linear basis of commutative subalgebra of $`U(\widehat{𝔤l}_{\mathrm{}})`$. When $`\rho `$ is reduced, $`𝖠_\rho =z_\rho 𝖧_\rho `$.

A second consequence is that these operators actually belong to the image of $`U(𝒲_{1+\mathrm{}})`$ under the representation $`R_0`$ of Section 3. Indeed, (59) show that $`𝖠_\rho `$ is a polynomial in the commuting operators $`P_k`$, which are related to the $`𝖣_k`$ of the previous section by

$$P_n=\underset{k=0}{\overset{n1}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{k}\right)𝖣_k$$
(62)
where we have set $`𝖣_0=𝖤`$.

Kerov and Olshanski also identified the algebra of the $`a_{\rho ;n}`$ to an algebra of differential operators $`A_{\rho ;N}`$ living in the center of $`U(𝔤l_N)`$ for $`Nn`$. Since these operators commute with the adjoint representation, they preserve the space of functions on $`GL_N()`$ which are symmetric functions of the eigenvalues. The previous considerations show then that if we set

$$\stackrel{~}{p}_k(D)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}D_i^k(i)^k$$

and $`f_\rho (\lambda )=_\nu k_{\rho \nu }\stackrel{~}{p}_\nu (\lambda )`$, the restriction of $`A_{\rho ;N}`$ to invariant functions is given by

$$A_{\rho ;N}=\frac{\mathrm{}_N}{\mathrm{\Delta }_N}\underset{\nu }{}k_{\rho \nu }\stackrel{~}{p}_\nu (D)\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_N}{\mathrm{}_N}.$$
(63)
Institut Gaspard Monge,
Université de Marne-la-Vallée,
77454 Marne-la-Vallée cedex,
FRANCE