Constructing explicit Sperner chain decompositions for $L(3,n)$ and $L(4,n)$ via Greedy Algorithms and chain tableaux

Abstract

Let $L(m,n)$ denote Young's lattice, consisting of all partitions whose Young diagrams are contained within an $m\times n$ rectangle. It is a classical result that the partially ordered set $L(m,n)$ is rank-symmetric, rank-unimodal, and Sperner; however, finding a direct combinatorial proof via an explicit order matching remains a prominent open problem in the field. In this paper, we address this challenge by constructing explicit order matchings for $L(3,n)$ and extending our methods to comprehensively cover $L(4,n)$. To achieve this, we introduce a novel ``chain tableau" representation, which serves as a powerful tool for identifying and characterizing complex combinatorial patterns. Notably, we demonstrate that the same order matchings can be independently derived using both a greedy algorithm and a recursive kneading process. This work not only resolves the explicit matching problem for $m=3$ and $m=4$ but also establishes robust structural tools that may offer valuable insights into the general $L(m,n)$ case.