The chromatic symmetric function of graphs glued at a single vertex

Abstract

We describe how the chromatic symmetric function of two graphs glued at a single vertex can be expressed as a matrix multiplication using certain information of the two individual graphs. We then prove new $e$-positivity results by using a connection between forest triples, defined by the first author, and Hikita's probabilities associated to standard Young tableaux. Specifically, we prove that gluing a sequence of unit interval graphs and cycles results in an $e$-positive graph. We also prove $e$-positivity for a graph obtained by gluing the first and last vertices of such a sequence. This generalizes $e$-positivity of cycle-chord graphs and supports Ellzey's conjectured $e$-positivity for proper circular arc digraphs.