On Hankel determinants for Dyck paths with peaks avoiding multiple classes of heights (Q2066016): Difference between revisions

To give an overview of this work we first need to set up some notation and mention some preliminary results. We recall that a Dyck path of size \(n\) is a lattice path from the origin to the point \((2n, 0)\), using only \((1, 1)\) up-steps and \((1, -1)\) down-steps. It is well known that the number of Dyck paths of length \(n\) is given by the \(n\)-th Catalan number \[ \frac{1}{n+1}\binom{2n}{n}. \] A peak of a Dyck path is defined to be an up-step followed by a down-step, and the height of a peak is defined to be the \(y\)-coordinate of the intersection point of its steps. It is also known that the Dyck paths with no peaks at respectively odd or even heights are counted by Riordan and shifted Motzkin numbers. Let \([n] := \{1, 2,\dots, n\}\) denote the set of the first \(n\) positive integers, with \(V\subset [n]\), and define \((m, V)\) to be the union of the congruence classes of the elements in \(V\pmod{m}\), so that \[ (m, V) := \{k\in \mathbb{Z}^+ \mid k \equiv j \pmod{m} \text{ for some } j\in V\}. \] The authors study the number of Dyck paths with peaks avoiding the heights in the set \((m, V)\) using corresponding Hankel determinants. For a specified set \(V\) of even elements with even modulus \(m\), explicit descriptions of the sequence of Hankel determinants in terms of subsequences of arithmetic progression of integers are given. Conditions on \((m, V)\) with periodic sequences of Hankel determinants are discussed, and a sufficient condition on the set \((m, V)\) is given to guarantee that the sequence of Hankel determinants is periodic for both even and odd moduli.