Corners in Tree-Like Tableaux

Abstract

In this paper, we study tree–like tableaux, combinatorial objects which exhibit a natural tree structure and are connected to the partially asymmetric simple exclusion process (PASEP). There was a conjecture made on the total number of corners in tree–like tableaux and the total number of corners in symmetric tree–like tableaux. In this paper, we prove both conjectures. Our proofs are based off of the bijection with permutation tableaux or type–B permutation tableaux and consequently, we also prove results for these tableaux. In addition, we derive the limiting distribution of the number of occupied corners in random tree–like tableaux and random symmetric tree–like tableaux.