A Note about Iterated Arithmetic Functions

Let $f\colon\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}_0$ be a multiplicative arithmetic function such that for all primes $p$ and positive integers $\alpha$, $f(p^{\alpha})<p^{\alpha}$ and $f(p)\vert f(p^{\alpha})$. Suppose also that any prime that divides $f(p^{\alpha})$ also divides $pf(p)$. Define $f(0)=0$, and let $H(n)=\displaystyle{\lim_{m\rightarrow\infty}f^m(n)}$, where $f^m$ denotes the $m^{th}$ iterate of $f$. We prove that the function $H$ is completely multiplicative.Comment: 5 pages, 0 figure

Enumeration of Stack-Sorting Preimages via a Decomposition Lemma

We give three applications of a recently-proven "Decomposition Lemma," which allows one to count preimages of certain sets of permutations under West's stack-sorting map $s$. We first enumerate the permutation class $s^{-1}(\text{Av}(231,321))=\text{Av}(2341,3241,45231)$, finding a new example of an unbalanced Wilf equivalence. This result is equivalent to the enumeration of permutations sortable by ${\bf B}\circ s$, where ${\bf B}$ is the bubble sort map. We then prove that the sets $s^{-1}(\text{Av}(231,312))$, $s^{-1}(\text{Av}(132,231))=\text{Av}(2341,1342,\underline{32}41,\underline{31}42)$, and $s^{-1}(\text{Av}(132,312))=\text{Av}(1342,3142,3412,34\underline{21})$ are counted by the so-called "Boolean-Catalan numbers," settling a conjecture of the current author and another conjecture of Hossain. This completes the enumerations of all sets of the form $s^{-1}(\text{Av}(\tau^{(1)},\ldots,\tau^{(r)}))$ for $\{\tau^{(1)},\ldots,\tau^{(r)}\}\subseteq S_3$ with the exception of the set $\{321\}$. We also find an explicit formula for $|s^{-1}(\text{Av}_{n,k}(231,312,321))|$, where $\text{Av}_{n,k}(231,312,321)$ is the set of permutations in $\text{Av}_n(231,312,321)$ with $k$ descents. This allows us to prove a conjectured identity involving Catalan numbers and order ideals in Young's lattice.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1903.0913

Connected Components of Complex Divisor Functions

For any complex number $c$, define the divisor function $\sigma_c\colon\mathbb N\to\mathbb C$ by $\displaystyle\sigma_c(n)=\sum_{d\mid n}d^c$. Let $\overline{\sigma_c(\mathbb N)}$ denote the topological closure of the range of $\sigma_c$. Extending previous work of the current author and Sanna, we prove that $\overline{\sigma_c(\mathbb N)}$ has nonempty interior and has finitely many connected components if $\Re(c)\leq 0$ and $c\neq 0$. We end with some open problems.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure