Towards the Calculation of Jack Polynomials

Abstract

Jack polynomials are useful in mathematical statistics, but they are awkward to calculate, and their uses have chiefly been theoretical. In this thesis a determinantal expansion of Jack polynomials in elementary symmetric polynomials is found, complementing a recent result in the literature on expansions as determinants in monomial symmetric functions. These results offer enhanced possibilities for the calculation of these polynomials, and for finding workable approximations to them. The thesis investigates the structure of the determinants concerned, finding which terms can be expected to dominate, and quantifying the sparsity of the matrices involved. Expressions are found for the elementary and monomial symmetric polynomials when the variates involved assume the form of arithmetic and geometric progressions. The latter case in particular is expected to facilitate the construction of algorithms suitable for approximating Jack polynomials.