We introduce and prove a one-parameter refinement of the Razumov-Stroganov correspondence. This is achieved for fully-packed loop configurations (FPL) on domains which generalize the square domain, and which are endowed with the gyration operation. We consider one given side of the domain, and FPLs such that the only straight-line tile on this side is black. We show that the enumeration vector associated to such FPLs, weighted according to the position of the straight line and refined according to the link pattern for the black boundary points, is the ground state of the scattering matrix, an integrable one-parameter deformation of the O(1) Dense Loop Model Hamiltonian. We show how the original Razumov-Stroganov correspondence, and a conjecture formulated by Di Francesco in 2004, follow from our results.

The Abelian Sandpile Model is a cellular automaton whose discrete dynamics reaches an out-of-equilibrium steady state resembling avalanches in piles of sand. The fundamental moves defining the dynamics are encoded by the toppling rules. The transition monoid corresponding to this dynamics in the set of stable configurations is abelian, a property which seems at the basis of our understanding of the model. By including also antitoppling rules, we introduce and investigate a larger monoid, which is not abelian anymore. We prove a number of algebraic properties of this monoid, and describe their practical implications on the emerging structures of the model.

We determine the asymptotic proportion of minimal automata, within n-state accessible deterministic complete automata over a k-letter alphabet, with the uniform distribution over the possible transition structures, and a binomial distribution over terminal states, with arbitrary parameter b. It turns out that a fraction ~ 1-C(k,b) n^{-k+2} of automata is minimal, with C(k,b) a function, explicitly determined, involving the solution of a transcendental equation.

The classic Cayley identity states that det(D) (det X)^s = s(s+1)...(s+n-1) (det X)^(s-1), where X=(x_{ij}) is an n-by-n matrix of indeterminates and D=(d/d x_{ij}) is the corresponding matrix of partial derivatives. In this paper we present straightforward combinatorial proofs of a variety of Cayley-type identities, both old and new. The most powerful of these proofs employ Grassmann algebra (= exterior algebra) and Grassmann-Berezin integration. Among the new identities proven here are the two-matrix and multi-matrix rectangular Cayley identities, the one-matrix rectangular antisymmetric Cayley identity, a pair of "diagonal-parametrized" Cayley identities, a pair of "Laplacian-parametrized" Cayley identities, and the "product-parametrized" and "border-parametrized" rectangular Cayley identities.

We prove a determinantal identity concerning Schur functions for 2-staircase diagrams lambda=(ln+l',ln,l(n-1)+l',l(n-1),...,l+l',l,l',0). When l=1 and l'=0 these functions are related to the partition function of the 6-vertex model at the combinatorial point and hence to enumerations of Alternating Sign Matrices. A consequence of our result is an identity concerning the doubly-refined enumerations of Alternating Sign Matrices.

The Razumov-Stroganov conjecture relates the ground-state coefficients in the even-length dense O(1) loop model to the enumeration of fully-packed loop configuration on the square, with alternating boundary conditions, refined according to the link pattern for the boundary points. Here we prove this conjecture, by mean of purely combinatorial methods. The main ingredient is a generalization of the Wieland proof technique for the dihedral symmetry of these classes, based on the `gyration' operation, whose full strength we will investigate in a companion paper.

The Abelian Sandpile generates complex and beautiful patterns and seems to display allometry. On the plane, beyond patches, patterns periodic in both dimensions, we remark the presence of structures periodic in one dimension, that we call strings. We classify completely their constituents in terms of their principal periodic vector k, that we call momentum. We derive a simple relation between the momentum of a string and its density of particles, E, which is reminiscent of a dispersion relation, E=k^2. Strings interact: they can merge and split and within these processes momentum is conserved. We reveal the role of the modular group SL(2,Z) behind these laws.

By using our novel Grassmann formulation we study the phase transition of the spanning-hyperforest model of the k-uniform complete hypergraph for any k>=2. The case k=2 reduces to the spanning-forest model on the complete graph. Different k are studied at once by using a microcanonical ensemble in which the number of components is fixed. The low-temperature phase is characterized by the appearance of a giant hypertree. The phase transition occurs when the number of hypertrees is a fraction (k-1)/k of the total number of vertices. The behaviour at criticality is also studied by means of the coalescence of two saddle points. As the Grassmann formulation exhibits a global supersymmetry we show that the phase transition is second order and is associated to supersymmetry breaking and we explore the pure thermodynamical phase at low temperature by introducing an explicit breaking field.

We introduce several infinite families of new critical exponents for the random-cluster model, and give heuristic scaling arguments determining all but one of these exponents as a function of q in the two-dimensional case. We then give Monte Carlo simulations confirming these predictions. For the shortest-path fractal dimension we give the conjectured exact formula d_min = (g+2)(g+18)/(32g) where g is the Coulomb-gas coupling. Finally, we apply these exponents to provide a radically improved implementation of the Sweeny Monte Carlo algorithm.

The generating function for spanning forests on a lattice is related to the q-state Potts model in a certain q -> 0 limit, and extends the analogous notion for spanning trees, or dense self-avoiding branched polymers. Recent works have found a combinatorial perturbative equivalence also with the (quadratic action) O(n) model in the limit n -> -1, the expansion parameter t counting the number of components in the forest. We give a random-matrix formulation of this model on the ensemble of degree-k random planar lattices. For k = 3, a correspondence is found with the Kostov solution of the loop-gas problem, which arise as a reformulation of the (logarithmic action) O(n) model, at n = -2. Then, we show how to perform an expansion around the t = 0 theory. In the thermodynamic limit, at any order in t we have a finite sum of finite-dimensional Cauchy integrals. The leading contribution comes from a peculiar class of terms, for which a resummation can be performed exactly.

Consider the problem of determining whether there exists a spanning hypertree in a given k-uniform hypergraph. This problem is trivially in P for k=2, and is NP-complete for k>= 4, whereas for k=3, there exists a polynomial-time algorithm based on Lovasz' theory of polymatroid matching. Here we give a completely different, randomized polynomial-time algorithm in the case k=3. The main ingredients are a Pfaffian formula by Vaintrob and one of the authors (G.M.) for a polynomial that enumerates spanning hypertrees with some signs, and a lemma on the number of roots of polynomials over a finite field.

We discuss an algorithm for the exact sampling of vectors v in [0,1]^N satisfying a set of pairwise difference inequalities. Applications include the exact sampling of skew Young Tableaux, of configurations in the Bead Model, and of corrugated surfaces on a graph, that is random landscapes in which at each vertex corresponds a local maximum or minimum. As an example, we numerically evaluate with high-precision the number of corrugated surfaces on the square lattice. After an extrapolation to the thermodynamic limit, controlled by an exact formula, we put into evidence a discrepancy with previous numerical results.

We prove, by simple manipulation of commutators, two noncommutative generalizations of the Cauchy-Binet formula for the determinant of a product. As special cases we obtain elementary proofs of the Capelli identity from classical invariant theory and of Turnbull's Capelli-type identities for symmetric and antisymmetric matrices.

Since the work of Creutz, identifying the group identities for the Abelian Sandpile Model (ASM) on a given lattice is a puzzling issue: on rectangular portions of Z^2 complex quasi-self-similar structures arise. We study the ASM on the square lattice, in different geometries, and a variant with directed edges. Cylinders, through their extra symmetry, allow an easy determination of the identity, which is a homogeneous function. The directed variant on square geometry shows a remarkable exact structure, asymptotically self-similar.

We study the generating function of rooted and unrooted hyperforests in a general complete hypergraph with n vertices by using a novel Grassmann representation of their generating functions. We show that this new approach encodes the known results about the exponential generating functions for the different number of vertices. We consider also some applications as counting hyperforests in the k-uniform complete hypergraph and the one complete in hyperedges of all dimensions. Some general feature of the asymptotic regimes for large number of connected components is discussed.

Given a hypergraph G, we introduce a Grassmann algebra over the vertex set, and show that a class of Grassmann integrals permits an expansion in terms of spanning hyperforests. Special cases provide the generating functions for rooted and unrooted spanning (hyper)forests and spanning (hyper)trees. All these results are generalizations of Kirchhoff's matrix-tree theorem. Furthermore, we show that the class of integrals describing unrooted spanning (hyper)forests is induced by a theory with an underlying OSP(1|2) supersymmetry.

We compute in small temperature expansion the two-loop renormalization constants and the three-loop coefficient of the beta-function, that is the first non-universal term, for the sigma-model with O(N) invariance on the triangular lattice at N=-1. The partition function of the corresponding Grassmann theory is, for negative temperature, the generating function of unrooted forests on such a lattice, where the temperature acts as a chemical potential for the number of trees in the forest. To evaluate Feynman diagrams we extend the coordinate space method to the triangular lattice.

We study the typical case properties of the 1-in-3 satisfiability problem, the boolean satisfaction problem where a clause is satisfied by exactly one literal, in an enlarged random ensemble parametrized by average connectivity and probability of negation of a variable in a clause. Random 1-in-3 Satisfiability and Exact 3-Cover are special cases of this ensemble. We interpolate between these cases from a region where satisfiability can be typically decided for all connectivities in polynomial time to a region where deciding satisfiability is hard, in some interval of connectivities. We derive several rigorous results in the first region, and develop the one-step--replica-symmetry-breaking cavity analysis in the second one. We discuss the prediction for the transition between the almost surely satisfiable and the almost surely unsatisfiable phase, and other structural properties of the phase diagram, in light of cavity method results.

We summarise our results for the random $\epsilon$--1-in-3 satisfiability problem, where $\epsilon$ is a probability of negation of the variable. We employ both rigorous and heuristic methods to describe the SAT/UNSAT and Hard/Easy transitions.

2-dimensional Matching Problem, which requires to find a matching of left- to right-vertices in a balanced $2n$-vertex bipartite graph, is a well-known polynomial problem, while various variants, like the 3-dimensional analogoue (3DM, with triangles on a tripartite graph), or the Hamiltonian Circuit Problem (HC, a restriction to ``unicyclic'' matchings) are among the main examples of NP-hard problems, since the first Karp reduction series of 1972. The same holds for the weighted variants of these problems, the Linear Assignment Problem being polynomial, and the Numerical 3-Dimensional Matching and Travelling Salesman Problem being NP-complete.

In this paper we show that a small modification of the 2-dimensional Matching and Assignment Problems in which for each $i \leq n/2$ it is required that either $\pi(2i-1)=2i-1$ or $\pi(2i)=2i$, is a NP-complete problem. The proof is by linear reduction from SAT (or NAE-SAT), with the size $n$ of the Matching Problem being four times the number of edges in the factor graph representation of the boolean problem. As a corollary, in combination with the simple linear reduction of One-in-Two Matching to 3-Dimensional Matching, we show that SAT can be linearly reduced to 3DM, while the original Karp reduction was only cubic.

The O(n) vector model with logarithmic action on a lattice of coordination 3 is related to a gas of self-avoiding loops on the lattice. This formulation allows for analytical continuation in n: critical behaviour is found in the real interval [-2,2]. The solution of the model on random planar lattices, recovered by random matrices, also involves an analytic continuation in the number n of auxiliary matrices. Here we show that, in the two cases n=-1, -2, a combinatorial reformulation of the loop gas problem allows to achieve the random matrix solution with no need of this analytical continuation.

We prove a generalization of Kirchhoff's matrix-tree theorem in which a large class of combinatorial objects are represented by non-Gaussian Grassmann integrals. As a special case, we show that unrooted spanning forests, which arise as a q \to 0 limit of the Potts model, can be represented by a Grassmann theory involving a Gaussian term and a particular bilocal four-fermion term. We show that this latter model can be mapped, to all orders in perturbation theory, onto the N-vector model at N=-1 or, equivalently, onto the sigma-model taking values in the unit supersphere in R^{1|2}. It follows that, in two dimensions, this fermionic model is perturbatively asymptotically free.

We introduce a general class of statistical-mechanics models, taking values in an abelian group, which includes examples of both spin and gauge models, both ordered and disordered. The model is described by a set of ``variables'' and a set of ``interactions''. A Gibbs factor is associated to each variable and to each interaction. We introduce a duality transformation for systems in this class. The duality exchanges the abelian group with its dual, the Gibbs factors with their Fourier transforms, and the interactions with the variables. High (low) couplings in the interaction terms are mapped into low (high) couplings in the one-body terms. The idea is that our class of systems extends the one for which the classical procedure 'a la Kramers and Wannier holds, up to include randomness into the pattern of interaction. We introduce and study some physical examples: a random Gaussian Model, a random Potts-like model, and a random variant of discrete scalar QED. We shortly describe the consequence of duality for each example.

We introduce a new model for the generation of random satisfiability problems. It is an extension of the hyper-SAT model of Ricci-Tersenghi, Weigt and Zecchina, which is a variant of the famous K-SAT model: it is extended to q-state variables and relates to a different choice of the statistical ensemble. The model has an exactly solvable statistic: the critical exponents and scaling functions of the SAT/UNSAT transition are calculable at zero temperature, with no need of replicas, also with exact finite-size corrections. We also introduce an exact duality of the model, and show an analogy of thermodynamic properties with the Random Energy Model of disordered spin systems theory. Relations with Error-Correcting Codes are also discussed.