When Does the Set of $(a, b, c)$-Core Partitions Have a Unique Maximal Element?

Abstract

In 2007, Olsson and Stanton gave an explicit form for the largest $(a, b)$-core partition, for any relatively prime positive integers $a$ and $b$, and asked whether there exists an $(a, b)$-core that contains all other $(a, b)$-cores as subpartitions; this question was answered in the affirmative first by Vandehey and later by Fayers independently. In this paper we investigate a generalization of this question, which was originally posed by Fayers: for what triples of positive integers $(a, b, c)$ does there exist an $(a, b, c)$-core that contains all other $(a, b, c)$-cores as subpartitions? We completely answer this question when $a$, $b$, and $c$ are pairwise relatively prime; we then use this to generalize the result of Olsson and Stanton.