A Variation of the Morris Constant Term

Abstract

The Morris constant term identity is important due to its equivalence with the well-known Selberg integral. We find a variation of the Morris constant term, denoted $h_n(t)$, in the study of the Ehrhart polynomial $H_n(t)$ of the $n$-th Birkhoff polytope, which consists of all doubly stochastic matrices of order $n$. The constant term $h_n(t)$ corresponds to a particular constant term in the study of $H_n(t)$. We give a characterization of $h_n(t)$ as a polynomial of degree $(n-1)^2$ with additional nice properties involving the Morris constant term. We also construct a recursion for $h_n(t)$ using a technique that is similar to the one used by Baldoni-Silva and Vergne, and by Xin in their proofs of the Morris constant term identity. Using this method, we obtain explicit formulas of $h_n(t)$ for $3 \le n \le 29$ without difficulty.