Weighted $K$-$k$-Schur functions and their application to the $K$-$k$-Schur alternating conjecture

Abstract: We introduce the new concept of weighted $K$-$k$-Schur functions -- a novel family within the broader class of Katalan functions -- that unifies and extends both $K$-$k$-Schur functions and closed $k$-Schur Katalan functions. This new notion exhibits a fundamental alternating property under certain conditions on the indexed $k$-bounded partitions. As a central application, we resolve the $K$-$k$-Schur alternating conjecture -- posed by Blasiak, Morse, and Seelinger in 2022 -- for a wide class of $k$-bounded partitions, including all strictly decreasing $k$-bounded partitions. Our results shed new light on the combinatorial structure of $K$-theoretic symmetric functions.