Puzzles, tableaux, and mosaics (Q1016024)

Littlewood-Richardson (LR) numbers are structure constants of the cohomology ring of Grassmannians, as well as structure constants of the representation ring of \(GL(d)\). They are non-negative integers, indexed by three partitions; or, equivalently, by three 0-1 strings. Several combinatorial interpretations are known for LR numbers. The original LR-rule claims that LR numbers can be obtained by counting so-called LR-tableaux. Another one, due to Knutson, Tao, and Woodward, claims that LR numbers count so-called puzzles. The paper under review introduces a new combinatorial interpretation of LR numbers. Namely, the author defines mosaics, ie. certain tilings of hexagonalal shapes. He proves that mosaics are in a natural bijection with puzzles. With the help of an operation on mosaics a bijection with LR-tableaux is also obtained. The relation with another known construction (like jeu de taquin) is also discussed. The proof of the mosaic law is obtained by proving that the ring defined by structure constants the mosaic-numbers is associative, commutative, and satisfies the Pieri rule. All three proofs are short and elegant. The paper is very well written, it is illustrated by illuminating examples, making even the flexible uses of standard notions (right, left, north, east, south, west) clear.