q-Stirling numbers in type B

Abstract

Stirling numbers, which count partitions of a set and permutations in the symmetric group, have found extensive application in combinatorics, geometry, and algebra. We study analogues and q-analogues of these numbers corresponding to the Coxeter group of type B. In particular, we show how they are related to complete homogeneous and elementary symmetric polynomials; demonstrate how they q-count signed partitions and permutations; compute their ordinary, exponential, and q-exponential generating functions; and prove various identities about them. Ordered analogues of the q-Stirling numbers of the second kind have recently appeared in conjectures of Zabrocki and of Swanson--Wallach concerning the Hilbert series of certain super coinvariant algebras. We provide conjectural bases for these algebras and show that they have the correct Hilbert series.