Lambda-determinants and domino-tilings (Q2483917)

The author uses \(\lambda\)-determinants to count domino-tilings of a \(2n\times 2n\) square. The \(\lambda\)-determinant is a generalization of the determinant of a matrix and was introduced by \textit{D. P. Robbins} and \textit{H. Rumsey jun.} [Adv. Math. 62, 169--184 (1986; Zbl 0611.15008)]. Consider the \(2n\times 2n\) matrix \(M=(m_{ij})_{i,j=1}^{2n}\) with \(m_{ij}=1\) if \(| 2i-2n-1| + | 2j-2n-1| \leq 2n\) and \(m_{ij}=0\) for all other \(i,j\) (thus \(M\) consists of a central diamond of \(1\)'s surrounded by \(0\)'s). When the \(0\)'s in \(M\) are replaced by a parameter \(t\), the \(\lambda\)-determinant of the resulting matrix is well-defined and is a polynomial in \(\lambda\) and \(t\). The limit of this polynomial as \(t \rightarrow 0\) is a polynomial in \(\lambda\) whose value at \(\lambda =1\) is the number of domino-tilings of a \(2n\times 2n\) square.