Abstract. Motivated by results for the HCIZ integral in Part I of this paper, we study the structure of monotone Hurwitz numbers, which are a desymmetrized version of classical Hurwitz numbers. We prove a number of results for monotone Hurwitz numbers and their generating series that are striking analogues of known results for the classical Hurwtiz numbers. These include explicit formulas for monotone Hurwitz numbers in genus 0 and 1, for all partitions, and an explicit rational form for the generating series in arbitrary genus. This rational form implies that, up to an explicit combinatorial scaling, monotone Hurwitz numbers are polynomial in the parts of the partition.

In this paper, we study the relationship between polynomial integrals on the unitary group and the conjugacy class expansion of symmetric functions in Jucys-Murphy elements. Our main result is an explicit formula for the top coefficients in the class expansion of monomial symmetric functions in Jucys-Murphy elements, from which we recover the first order asymptotics of polynomial integrals over U(N ) as N → ∞. Our results on class expansion include an analogue of Macdonald's result for the top connection coefficients of the class algebra, a generalization of Stanley and Olshanski's result on the polynomiality of content statistics on Plancherel-random partitions, and an exact formula for the multiplicity of the class of full cycles in the expansion of a complete symmetric function in Jucys-Murphy elements. The latter leads to a new combinatorial interpretation of the Carlitz-Riordan central factorial numbers.are the Catalan numbers. This estimate has been known to physicists for some time, see e.g.[1] for an application to quantum transport in mesoscopic systems.The first proof of (1.2) is due to Collins [4], and is quite involved. The appearance of the Catalan numbers, which are ubiquitous in enumerative combinatorics [44, Exercise 6.19], motivates the search for combinatorial structure underlying the averages u 11 . . . u nn , u 1π(1) . . . u nπ(n) N which might lead to a conceptually simple proof of (1.2). Along these lines, it was observed in [33] that the evaluation of the basic inner products is intimately related to a certain "inverse problem" in the character theory of the symmetric groups. This connection is explored in the present article. Working on the symmetric group side, we obtain a number of results concerning this "inverse problem" which give a new perspective on the structure of polynomial integrals on the unitary group (leading in particular to a new proof of (1.2)) and are moreover of significant interest in their own right.

Abstract. Hurwitz numbers count branched covers of the Riemann sphere with specified ramification data, or equivalently, transitive permutation factorizations in the symmetric group with specified cycle types. Monotone Hurwitz numbers count a restricted subset of these branched covers related to the expansion of complete symmetric functions in the Jucys-Murphy elements, and have arisen in recent work on the the asymptotic expansion of the Harish-Chandra-Itzykson-Zuber integral. In this paper we begin a detailed study of monotone Hurwitz numbers. We prove two results that are reminiscent of those for classical Hurwitz numbers. The first is the monotone join-cut equation, a partial differential equation with initial conditions that characterizes the generating function for monotone Hurwitz numbers in arbitrary genus. The second is our main result, in which we give an explicit formula for monotone Hurwitz numbers in genus zero.

Hurwitz numbers count branched covers of the Riemann sphere with specified ramification, or equivalently, transitive permutation factorizations in the symmetric group with specified cycle types. Monotone Hurwitz numbers count a restricted subset of these branched covers, related to the expansion of complete symmetric functions in the Jucys-Murphy elements, and have arisen in recent work on the the asymptotic expansion of the Harish-Chandra-Itzykson-Zuber integral. In previous work we gave an explicit formula for monotone Hurwitz numbers in genus zero. In this paper we consider monotone Hurwitz numbers in higher genera, and prove a number of results that are reminiscent of those for classical Hurwitz numbers. These include an explicit formula for monotone Hurwitz numbers in genus one, and an explicit form for the generating function in arbitrary positive genus. From the form of the generating function we are able to prove that monotone Hurwitz numbers exhibit a polynomiality that is reminiscent of that for the classical Hurwitz numbers, i.e., up to a specified combinatorial factor, the monotone Hurwitz number in genus g with ramification specified by a given partition is a polynomial indexed by g in the parts of the partition.

This article introduces mixed double Hurwitz numbers, which interpolate combinatorially between the classical double Hurwitz numbers studied by Okounkov and the monotone double Hurwitz numbers introduced recently by Goulden, Guay-Paquet and Novak. Generalizing a result of Okounkov, we prove that a certain generating series for the mixed double Hurwitz numbers solves the 2-Toda hierarchy of partial differential equations. We also prove that the mixed double Hurwitz numbers are piecewise polynomial, thereby generalizing a result of Goulden, Jackson and Vakil.