A-BASIS-FOR-THE-RIGHT-QUANTUM-ALGEBRA-AND-THE-“1-=-q”-PRINCIPLE.pdfVIP

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Volume 00, Number 0, Xxxx 1997 A BASIS FOR THE RIGHT QUANTUM ALGEBRA AND THE “1 = q” PRINCIPLE DOMINIQUE FOATA AND GUO-NIU HAN 1. Introduction In their search for a natural q-analogue of the MacMahon Master Theorem Garoufalidis et al. [3] have introduced the right quantum algebra Rq defined to be the associative algebra over a commutative ring K , generated by r2 elements Xxa (1 ≤ x, a ≤ r) (r ≥ 2) subject to the following commutation relations: XybXxa − XxaXyb = q−1XxbXya − qXyaXxb , (x y , a b); XyaXxa = q−1XxaXya , (x y, all a); with q belonging to K . The right quantum algebra in the case r = 2 has already been studied by Rodr´ıguez-Romo and Taft [10], who set up an explicit basis for it. On the other hand, a basis for the full quantum algebra has been duly constructed (see [9, Theorem 3.5.1, p. 38]) for an arbitrary r ≥ 2. It then seems natural to do the same with the right quantum algebra for each r ≥ 2. This is the first goal of the paper. In fact, the paper originated from a discussion with Doron Zeilberger, when he explained to the first author how he verified the quantum MacMahon Master identity for each fixed r by computer code. His computer program uses the fact, as he is perfectly aware, that the set of irreducible biwords—which will be introduced in the sequel—generates the right quantum algebra. For a better understanding of his joint paper [3] and also for deriving the “1 = q” principle, it seems essential to see whether the set of irreducible biwords has the further property of being a basis and it does. Thanks to this result, a strong quantum MacMahon Master Theorem can be further derived.