Promotion Digraphs: Combinatorial Dynamics

Updated 8 July 2026

Promotion digraphs are directed graphs on combinatorial objects, where the promotion operator acts bijectively to form disjoint cycles.
They provide a unifying framework to study orbit structures in settings such as standard Young tableaux, Kreweras words, and graph labelings.
Recent advances extend these models to non-bijective and diagrammatic settings, linking combinatorial dynamics with geometric rotations and cyclic sieving phenomena.

Promotion digraphs are directed graphs whose vertices are combinatorial objects and whose directed edges record one application of a promotion operator. In the classical Schützenberger setting, the objects are linear extensions of a finite poset or standard Young tableaux of a fixed shape, and the operator is bijective; accordingly, the promotion digraph decomposes into disjoint directed cycles (0806.4717). Later work transported the same dynamical viewpoint to Kreweras words, graph labelings, oscillating and alternating tableaux, webs, matchings, permutations, fans of Dyck paths, vacillating tableaux, and cluster-theoretic maps, while preserving the central question: how the orbit structure of promotion reflects the combinatorics and geometry of the underlying model (Hopkins et al., 2020).

1. Classical definition and foundational structure

For a finite poset $P$ with $\#P=p$ , a linear extension is a bijection $f:P\to[p]$ such that $s<t$ in $P$ implies $f(s)<f(t)$ . Writing a linear extension as a word $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ , with $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ , one defines involutions $\tau_i$ by swapping $u_i$ and $\#P=p$ 0 precisely when they are incomparable in $\#P=p$ 1. Schützenberger’s promotion is the product

$\#P=p$ 2

equivalently the usual sliding procedure that removes the label $\#P=p$ 3, follows the promotion chain through covering relations, inserts $\#P=p$ 4, and then subtracts $\#P=p$ 5 from every label (0806.4717).

This yields the basic promotion digraph of $\#P=p$ 6: its vertices are the linear extensions $\#P=p$ 7, and there is a directed edge $\#P=p$ 8. Because promotion is a bijection, every vertex has out-degree $\#P=p$ 9 and in-degree $f:P\to[p]$ 0, so the digraph is a disjoint union of directed cycles (0806.4717). Evacuation $f:P\to[p]$ 1 and dual evacuation $f:P\to[p]$ 2 give additional symmetries, with

$f:P\to[p]$ 3

so the subgroup generated by $f:P\to[p]$ 4 and $f:P\to[p]$ 5 is dihedral, and evacuation acts as a reflection on promotion cycles (0806.4717).

The same framework specializes to standard Young tableaux. Promotion on tableaux is the jeu-de-taquin operation that removes $f:P\to[p]$ 6, slides the empty box, inserts the largest label, and relabels. In this guise, promotion digraphs are the functional digraphs of promotion on $f:P\to[p]$ 7 for a fixed shape $f:P\to[p]$ 8 (Pon et al., 2010).

For rectangular standard Young tableaux of shape $f:P\to[p]$ 9, Haiman’s theorem implies that

$s<t$ 0

for all $s<t$ 1, so every promotion cycle length divides $s<t$ 2 (Purbhoo et al., 2014). The minimal possible orbit length is exactly $s<t$ 3, and the set $s<t$ 4 of tableaux of promotion order $s<t$ 5 has cardinality $s<t$ 6. Purbhoo and Rhee give a bijection

$s<t$ 7

such that

$s<t$ 8

where $s<t$ 9. Consequently, the induced sub-digraph on $P$ 0 is a disjoint union of $P$ 1-cycles, indexed by the right cosets of $P$ 2; since $P$ 3, there are exactly $P$ 4 such cycles (Purbhoo et al., 2014).

Pon and Wang analyze promotion and evacuation on standard Young tableaux of rectangular and staircase shape from the digraph perspective. For a rectangle $P$ 5 with $P$ 6, promotion satisfies

$P$ 7

for all $P$ 8. For staircase shape $P$ 9 with $f(s)<f(t)$ 0, one has

$f(s)<f(t)$ 1

Thus rectangular promotion digraphs decompose into cycles whose lengths divide $f(s)<f(t)$ 2, while staircase promotion digraphs decompose into cycles whose lengths divide $f(s)<f(t)$ 3, with the half-power acting by transpose (Pon et al., 2010).

The same paper constructs a promotion- and evacuation-preserving embedding

$f(s)<f(t)$ 4

so the promotion digraph on staircase tableaux embeds into the promotion digraph on a rectangle, and promotion orbit sizes are preserved under this embedding (Pon et al., 2010).

3. Kreweras words, the poset $f(s)<f(t)$ 5, and exceptional regularity

A particularly symmetric promotion digraph arises from Kreweras words, which are words of length $f(s)<f(t)$ 6 with exactly $f(s)<f(t)$ 7 copies of each of $f(s)<f(t)$ 8 such that every prefix has at least as many $f(s)<f(t)$ 9's as $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 0's and at least as many $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 1's as $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 2's. Equivalently, they are the linear extensions of the poset

$u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 3

where $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 4 is the 3-element $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 5-shaped poset with relations $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 6 and $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 7 (Hopkins et al., 2020).

Hopkins and Rubey prove the central dynamical theorem

$u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 8

where $u_1u_2\cdots u_p$ 9 is obtained from $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 0 by swapping all $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 1's and $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 2's. Hence

$u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 3

and every orbit in the promotion digraph has size either $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 4 or $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 5 (Hopkins et al., 2020). In digraph terms, the graph on Kreweras words is a disjoint union of directed cycles, and the $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 6-th power of promotion acts as a global involution.

This is significant because it gives the first answer to Stanley’s question about posets with “good” behavior under promotion outside the four families classified by Haiman: for $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 7, the power $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 8 is a simple symmetry, namely $u_i=f^{-1}(i)$ 9 (Hopkins et al., 2020).

The same paper transports the promotion digraph to two other models. First, Kreweras words map to irreducible $\tau_i$ 0-webs, and promotion corresponds to rotation of the web: $\tau_i$ 1 Second, the associated trip permutation $\tau_i$ 2 satisfies

$\tau_i$ 3

so promotion becomes literal rotation on permutations and on webs (Hopkins et al., 2020).

4. Graph-labeling analogues: toric and permutoric promotion

Defant’s toric promotion reframes promotion on graph labelings. For a simple graph $\tau_i$ 4 with $\tau_i$ 5 vertices, a labeling is a bijection $\tau_i$ 6. For adjacent labels $\tau_i$ 7, one defines toggles $\tau_i$ 8 that swap them precisely when their vertices are nonadjacent. Classical promotion becomes

$\tau_i$ 9

and toric promotion is the cyclic analogue

$u_i$ 0

where $u_i$ 1 (Defant, 2021).

The toric promotion digraph has vertex set $u_i$ 2 and edges $u_i$ 3. Since $u_i$ 4 is a bijection, it is again a disjoint union of directed cycles. For forests, the orbit lengths admit a closed formula: if $u_i$ 5 is the size of the connected component containing the vertex labeled $u_i$ 6, then the orbit size is

$u_i$ 7

In particular, if $u_i$ 8 is a tree, every orbit has size $u_i$ 9 (Defant, 2021).

Permutoric promotion replaces the natural cyclic order of the toggles by an arbitrary cyclic order $\#P=p$ 00. For $\#P=p$ 01, if $\#P=p$ 02 is the number of cyclic descents of $\#P=p$ 03, then the order of the operator is

$\#P=p$ 04

and the full orbit structure satisfies a cyclic sieving phenomenon (Defant et al., 2023). The same paper also proves that every orbit size is divisible by

$\#P=p$ 05

which imposes strong arithmetic constraints on the promotion digraph (Defant et al., 2023).

More recent work studies the effect of graph operations on these digraphs. For toric promotion on bridge sums, uniform cycle lengths reappear: a complete graph $\#P=p$ 06 has orbit length $\#P=p$ 07, a tree on $\#P=p$ 08 vertices has orbit length $\#P=p$ 09, and a bridge sum of trees and complete graphs with total vertex count $\#P=p$ 10 has orbit length $\#P=p$ 11; the orbit length does not depend on the initial labeling in these cases (Seekamp, 30 Nov 2025).

5. Diagrammatic realizations: matchings, permutations, webs, and chord diagrams

Promotion digraphs often admit a second realization as rotation digraphs on planar diagrams. For $\#P=p$ 12-symplectic oscillating tableaux of empty shape, Sundaram’s map sends the tableau to an $\#P=p$ 13-noncrossing perfect matching, and promotion becomes rotation of the chord diagram: $\#P=p$ 14 Thus the promotion digraph on oscillating tableaux is isomorphic to the rotation digraph on noncrossing matchings (Pfannerer et al., 2018).

For alternating tableaux associated with the adjoint representation of $\#P=p$ 15, the analogous map sends empty-shape tableaux to permutations. Under suitable bounds on $\#P=p$ 16, promotion again becomes rotation: $\#P=p$ 17 while evacuation becomes reverse-complement, or inverse reverse-complement in the $\#P=p$ 18 case (Pfannerer et al., 2018). In the $\#P=p$ 19 case, this identifies promotion with rotation on noncrossing set partitions (Pfannerer et al., 2018).

A further chord-diagram model appears for $\#P=p$ 20-fans of Dyck paths and vacillating tableaux. These objects are highest weight elements of weight zero in crystals of type $\#P=p$ 21 and $\#P=p$ 22, respectively, and there is an injection into chord diagrams on $\#P=p$ 23 that intertwines promotion and rotation; the same framework yields a cyclic sieving phenomenon for the promotion action (Pappe et al., 2022).

The web model for Kreweras words fits the same template. There, promotion is not merely analogous to rotation; it is rotation of the boundary labels on a family of irreducible $\#P=p$ 24-webs, and evacuation is reflection (Hopkins et al., 2020). Across these settings, the promotion digraph is transported to a geometric rotation digraph, making cycle structure visible in planar terms.

6. Encodings by permutations, matrices, and $\#P=p$ 25-diagrams

Recent work has emphasized explicit encodings of promotion orbits. For rectangular fluctuating tableaux, promotion matrices and promotion permutations provide a canonical permutation-theoretic model. If $\#P=p$ 26 is rectangular of length $\#P=p$ 27, then

$\#P=p$ 28

and for each $\#P=p$ 29 the promotion function $\#P=p$ 30 is a permutation. These satisfy

$\#P=p$ 31

and under promotion,

$\#P=p$ 32

with $\#P=p$ 33. Under evacuation,

$\#P=p$ 34

Hence promotion acts by conjugation with a long cycle, evacuation by conjugation with the longest element, and the resulting digraph carries an explicit dihedral symmetry (Gaetz et al., 2023).

For rectangular standard Young tableaux, $\#P=p$ 35-diagrams give a different orbit-length algorithm. The tableau $\#P=p$ 36 determines an $\#P=p$ 37-diagram $\#P=p$ 38, which decomposes into uniform components. Minimal uniformly proper rectangular subtableaux correspond exactly to uniform components of $\#P=p$ 39, and promotion preserves these components up to cyclic shift of their boundary labels (Catania et al., 27 Jun 2025). If $\#P=p$ 40 is the rotational symmetry order of the partition of boundary labels coming from the components, and $\#P=p$ 41 is the smallest integer for which the promoted component tableaux match after $\#P=p$ 42-step shifts, then

$\#P=p$ 43

This turns orbit-length computation into a decomposition problem on the diagram (Catania et al., 27 Jun 2025).

For the minimal orbits in rectangular $\#P=p$ 44, the Purbhoo–Rhee bijection already gives a group-theoretic encoding: promotion is right multiplication by a fixed $\#P=p$ 45-cycle on $\#P=p$ 46, so the corresponding sub-digraph is a disjoint union of Cayley-type $\#P=p$ 47-cycles (Purbhoo et al., 2014).

7. Extensions, non-bijective variants, and current directions

Promotion digraphs need not always be unions of cycles. Defant and Kravitz’s extended promotion $\#P=p$ 48 acts on all labelings of a poset, not only on linear extensions. It agrees with Schützenberger promotion on linear extensions, but is not invertible in general. The resulting digraph is a functional digraph: every vertex has out-degree $\#P=p$ 49, linear extensions form the cyclic core, and directed trees of nonsorted labelings feed into those cycles (Hodges, 2022). The sorting theorem states that for an $\#P=p$ 50-element poset,

$\#P=p$ 51

for every labeling $\#P=p$ 52, so every path enters the linear-extension region after at most $\#P=p$ 53 steps (Hodges, 2022).

Other recent generalizations preserve the cycle-union paradigm. For rectangular $\#P=p$ 54-semistandard tableaux, the promotion operators attached to cyclically rotated orientation strings satisfy

$\#P=p$ 55

and the associated cyclic action exhibits cyclic sieving with the generalized Kostka polynomial (Akhmejanov et al., 2020). In rational Catalan combinatorics, promotion on generalized Dyck paths is conjugate to rowmotion, so the promotion digraph and rowmotion digraph are isomorphic after an explicit matching map (Shigechi, 18 Mar 2026).

At a more geometric extreme, plabic tangles define promotion maps between products of Grassmannians. These maps form a colored operad under composition, and for several classes of tangles they are quasi-cluster homomorphisms. In that setting, the “promotion digraph” is a network of rational maps between Grassmannians, positroid varieties, and cluster seeds, with composition corresponding to operadic insertion (Even-Zohar et al., 4 Aug 2025).

Taken together, these developments show that promotion digraphs are not a single construction but a family of tightly related dynamical graphs. In the classical cases they are permutation digraphs with dihedral symmetry; in graph-labeling and rational-Catalan settings they often admit explicit orbit formulas; in diagrammatic realizations they become rotation digraphs on webs, matchings, permutations, and chord diagrams; and in non-bijective extensions they become functional digraphs whose trees record sorting depth rather than cyclic orbit structure (0806.4717).