Séminaire Lotharingien de Combinatoire, 80B.50 (2018), 12 pp.

Marko Thiel and Nathan Williams

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Strange Expectations

Abstract. We prove that the expected norm of a weight in a highest weight representation g(λ) of a complex simple Lie algebra g is (1/(h+1))(λ,λ + 2ρ) by relating it to the "Winnie-the-Pooh problem." This proof method applies to all types except A and C; the same formula holds in these two remaining types, but we are forced to provide a direct computation.


Received: November 14, 2017. Accepted: February 17, 2018. Final version: April 1, 2018.

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