FI–sets with relations

Let FI denote the category whose objects are the sets $[n] = \{1,\ldots, n\}$, and whose morphisms are injections. We study functors from the category FI into the category of sets. We write $\mathfrak{S}_n$ for the symmetric group on $[n]$. Our first main result is that, if the functor $[n] \mapsto X_n$ is "finitely generated" there there is a finite sequence of integers $m_i$ and a finite sequence of subgroups $H_i$ of $\mathfrak{S}_{m_i}$ such that, for $n$ sufficiently large, $X_n \cong \bigsqcup_i \mathfrak{S}_n/(H_i \times \mathfrak{S}_{n-m_i})$ as a set with $\mathfrak{S}_n$ action. Our second main result is that, if $[n] \mapsto X_n$ and $[n] \mapsto Y_n$ are two such finitely generated functors and $R_n \subset X_n \times Y_n$ is an FI-invariant family of relations, then the $(0,1)$ matrices encoding the relation $R_n$, when written in an appropriate basis, vary polynomially with $n$. In particular, if $R_n$ is an FI-invariant family of relations from $X_n$ to itself, then the eigenvalues of this matrix are algebraic functions of $n$. As an application of this theorem we provide a proof of a result about eigenvalues of adjacency matrices claimed by the first and last author. This result recovers, for instance, that the adjacency matrices of the Kneser graphs have eigenvalues which are algebraic functions of $n$, while also expanding this result to a larger family of graphs.