A noncommutative approach to the Schur positivity of chromatic symmetric functions

Abstract

We obtain the Schur positivity of spider graphs of the forms $S(a,2,1)$ and $S(a,4,1)$, which are considered to have the simpliest structures for which the Schur positivity was unknown. The proof outline has four steps. First, we find noncommutative analogs for the chromatic symmetric functions of the spider graphs $S(a,b,1)$. Secondly, we expand the analogs under the $\Lambda$- and $R$-bases, whose commutative images are the elementary and skew Schur symmetric functions, respectively. Thirdly, we recognize the Schur coefficients via the Littlewood--Richardson rule in terms of norms of multisets of Yamanouchi words. At last we establish the Schur positivity combinatorially together with the aid of computer assistance.