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The $q$-analog of Kostant's partition function and the highest root of the classical Lie algebras

Kostant's partition function counts the number of ways to represent a particular vector (weight) as a nonnegative integral sum of positive roots of a Lie algebra. For a given weight the $q$-analog of Kostant's partition function is a polynomial where the coefficient of $q^k$ is the number of ways the weight can be written as a nonnegative integral sum of exactly $k$ positive roots. In this paper we determine generating functions for the $q$-analog of Kostant's partition function when the weight in question is the highest root of the classical Lie algebras of types $B$, $C$ and $D$.