The number of rhombus tilings of a symmetric hexagon which contain a fixed rhombus on the symmetry axis. II (Q1580673)

This paper is a sequel to \textit{M. Fulmek} and \textit{C. Krattenhalter} [Ann. Comb. 2, No. 1, 19-41 (1998; Zbl 0917.05004)]. The formula for the total number of rhombus tilings of a hexagon with side lengths \(a\), \(b\), \(c\), \(a\), \(b\), \(c\) goes back to MacMahon. In the paper cited above, the authors enumerated the number of rhombus tilings of a hexagon with side lengths \(N\), \(M\), \(N\), \(N\), \(M\), \(N\), such that the tiling contains an arbitrary fixed rhombus on the symmetry axis cutting through the sides of length \(M\). The present paper counts the number of rhombus tilings of a hexagon with side lengths \(N\), \(M\), \(N\), \(N\), \(M\), \(N\), such that the tiling contains an arbitrary fixed rhombus on the symmetry axis parallel to the sides of length \(M\). However, the results yield a formula only if the fixed hexagon is ``close'' to the center of symmetry.