Forest Polynomials and Pattern Avoidance

Abstract

Forest polynomials, recently introduced by Nadeau and Tewari, can be thought of as a quasisymmetric analogue for Schubert polynomials. They have already been shown to exhibit interesting interactions with Schubert polynomials; for example, Schubert polynomials decompose positively into forest polynomials. We further describe this relationship by showing that a Schubert polynomial ${\mathfrak{S}}_w$ is a forest polynomial exactly when $w$ avoids a set of $6$ patterns. This result adds to the long list of properties of Schubert polynomials that are controlled by pattern avoidance.