Asymptotics and statistics on Fishburn Matrices: dimension distribution and a conjecture of Stoimenow

Abstract: We establish the asymptotic normality of the dimension of large-size random Fishburn matrices by a complex-analytic approach. The corresponding dual problem of size distribution under large dimension is also addressed and follows a quadratic type normal limit law. These results represent the first of their kind and solve two open questions raised in the combinatorial literature. They are presented in a general framework where the entries of the Fishburn matrices are not limited to binary or nonnegative integers. The analytic saddle-point approach we apply, based on a powerful transformation for $q$-series due to Andrews and Jel\'inek, is also useful in solving a conjecture of Stoimenow in Vassiliev invariants.