Enumerating meandric systems with large number of loops (Q2286576)

Summary: We investigate meandric systems with a large number of loops using tools inspired by free probability. For any fixed integer \(r\), we express the generating function of meandric systems on \(2n\) points with \(n - r\) loops in terms of a finite (the size depends on \(r)\) subclass of irreducible meandric systems, via the moment-cumulant formula from free probability theory. We show that the generating function, after an appropriate change of variable, is a rational function, and we bound its degree. Exact expressions for the generating functions are obtained for \(r \leq 6\), as well as the asymptotic behavior of the meandric numbers for general \(r\).