Enumeration of tilings of diamonds and hexagons with defects (Q1277784)

The paper concerns the enumeration of tilings of Aztec diamonds by dominoes and of triangulated hexagons by lozenges (rhombi consisting of two adjacent triangles). Motived by problems posed by J. Propp, the enumeration is done in cases where certain defects in the tilings are imposed. In particular, the following three problems are solved: 1. Show that in the hexagon with side lengths \((2n-1, 2n, 2n-1, 2n-1, 2n, 2n-1)\), the central vertical lozenge (consisting of the two innermost triangles) is covered by a lozenge in exactly one-third of the tilings. 2. Enumerate the lozenge-tilings of the region obtained from the \((n, n+1, n, n+1, n, n+1)\) hexagon by removing the central triangle. 3. Find the number of domino tilings of a \((2k-1)\) by \(2k\) undented Aztec rectangle with a square adjoing the central square removed, where the \(a\) by \(b\) undented Aztec rectangle is defined as the union of the square bounded by \(x+y \leq b+1, x+y \geq b-2a-1, y-x \leq b+1, y-x \geq -(b+1)\). The method involves (1) counting the number of tilings of half of the hexagon or half of the diamond, with dents at given places, (2) expressing the total number of tilings as a sum of squares of the expressions obtain in the first step, (3) expressing the sum of squares as a Hankel determinant, and (4) evaluating the determinant using continued fractions or Jacobi's theorem.