On pattern-avoiding permutons

Abstract

The theory of limits of permutations leads to limit objects called permutons, which are certain Borel measures on the unit square. We prove that permutons avoiding a given permutation of order $k$ have a particularly simple structure. Namely, almost every fiber of the disintegration of the permuton (say, along the x-axis) consists only of atoms, at most $(k-1)$ many, and this bound is sharp. We use this to give a simple proof of the “permutation removal lemma.”