Laurent Phenomenon Sequences

Abstract

In this paper, we undertake a systematic study of recurrences x_{m+n}x_{m} = P(x_{m+1}, ..., x_{m+n-1}) which exhibit the Laurent phenomenon. Some of the most famous among these sequences come from the Somos and the Gale-Robinson recurrences. Our approach is based on finding period 1 seeds of Laurent phenomenon algebras of Lam-Pylyavskyy. We completely classify polynomials P that generate period 1 seeds in the cases of n=2,3 and of mutual binomial seeds. We also find several other interesting families of polynomials P whose generated sequences exhibit the Laurent phenomenon. Our classification for binomial seeds is a direct generalization of a result by Fordy and Marsh, that employs a new combinatorial gadget we call a double quiver.