The number of centered lozenge tilings of a symmetric hexagon (Q1284471)

This paper considers lozenge (rhombic) tilings of semi-regular hexagons of sides \(a, a, b\) where \(a\) and \(b\) have opposite parity. The authors give explicit formulas for the number of centered tilings, i.e., the ones which contain the central lozenge. In case \(a\) is odd and \(b = a + 1\), the proportion of tilings which are centered is shown to be 1/3, confirming a conjecture of J. Propp. As a further corollary, a general asymptotic formula for that proportion is given. The derivation of the formulas begins with a reformulation of the problem in terms of lozenge tilings of simply connected regions. These tilings are then identified with nonintersecting lattice paths which can be counted via determinants, using methods of \textit{I. Gessel} and \textit{R. Viennot} [Adv. Math. 58, 300-321 (1985; Zbl 0579.05004)]. The (very technical) evaluation of these determinants is accomplished using hypergeometric series methods of the second author.