Proof of a conjecture on permutations

Abstract

Given a positive integer $n$, define a function on the symmetric group $S_n$ by $$F(τ) = \sum_{k=1}^{n}k^2τ(k)^2.$$ Motivated by a conjecture of Zhi-Wei Sun, we investigate the residue classes attained by $F(τ)$ modulo $2n+1$. We prove that for every integer $n>4$, the set $\{F(τ):τ\in S_n\}$ contains a complete residue system modulo $2n+1$. The proof is based on a family of involutions whose values are controlled by subset sums of squares.