Starting with Knutson and Tao's hive model (in J. Amer. Math. Soc., 1999) we characterize the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient $c_{ \lambda,\mu}^\nu$ of given partitions $\lambda,\mu,\nu\in N^n$ as the number of capacity achieving hive flows on the honeycomb graph. Based on this, we design a polynomial time algorithm for deciding $c_{ \lambda,\mu}^\nu >0$. This algorithm is easy to state and takes $O(n^3 \log \nu_1)$ arithmetic operations and comparisons. We further show that the capacity achieving hive flows can be seen as the vertices of a connected graph, which leads to new structural insights into Littlewood-Richardson coefficients.
Categories: math.RT math.CO