Ascent sequences avoiding pairs of patterns (Q2260633)

Summary: Ascent sequences were introduced by \textit{M. Bousquet-Melou} et al. [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 117, No. 7, 884--909 (2010; Zbl 1225.05026)] in connection with \((2+2)\)-avoiding posets and their pattern avoidance properties were first considered by \textit{P. Duncan} and \textit{E. Steingrímsson} [Electron. J. Comb. 18, No. 1, Research Paper P226, 17 p. (2011; Zbl 1243.05010)]. In this paper, we consider ascent sequences of length \(n\) avoiding two patterns of length 3, and we determine an exact enumeration for 16 different pairs of patterns. Methods include simple recurrences, bijections to other combinatorial objects (including Dyck paths and pattern-avoiding permutations), and generating trees. We also provide an analogue of the Erdős-Szekeres theorem to prove that any sufficiently long ascent sequence contains either many copies of the same number or a long increasing subsequence, with a precise bound.