Some irreducibility results for truncated binomial expansions

Abstract

For positive integers $n>k$, let $P_{n,k}(x)=\displaystyle\sum_{j=0}^k \binom{n}{j}x^j $ be the polynomial obtained by truncating the binomial expansion of $(1+x)^n$ at the $k^{th}$ stage. These polynomials arose in the investigation of Schubert calculus in Grassmannians. In this paper, the authors prove the irreducibility of $P_{n,k}(x)$ over the field of rational numbers when $2\leqslant 2k \leqslant n<(k+1)^3$.