The Pfaffian Transform
Tracale Austin
3824 Teton Pass
Ellenwood, GA 30294
USA
Hans Bantilan
Department of Physics
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
USA
Eric S. Egge
Department of Mathematics
Carleton College
Northfield, MN 55057
USA
Isao Jonas
Challenge Online Games, Inc.
816 Congress Ave, Suite 1470
Austin, TX 78701
USA
Paul Kory
Department of Mathematics
Indiana University
831 East 3rd Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
USA
Abstract:
We introduce a function on sequences, which we call the Pfaffian
transform, using the Pfaffian of a skew-symmetric matrix. We establish
several basic properties of the Pfaffian transform, and we use the
transfer matrix method to show that the set of sequences with rational
generating functions is closed under the Pfaffian transform. We
conclude by computing the Pfaffian transform of a variety of sequences,
including geometric sequences, the sequence of Fibonacci numbers, the
sequence of Pell numbers, the sequence of Jacobsthal numbers, and the
sequence of Tribonacci numbers. Throughout we describe a
generalization of our results to Pfaffians of skew-symmetric matrices
whose entries satisfy a Pascal-like relation.
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(Concerned with sequences
A000045
A000073
A000079
A000108
A000244
A001006
and
A001045.)
Received June 8 2008;
revised version received December 16 2008.
Published in Journal of Integer Sequences, December 17 2008.
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