Exterior pairs and up step statistics on Dyck paths (Q540090)

Summary: Let \(\mathcal{C}_n\) be the set of Dyck paths of length \(n\). In this paper, by a new automorphism of ordered trees, we prove that the statistic `number of exterior pairs', introduced by A. Denise and R. Simion, on the set \(\mathcal{C}_n\) is equidistributed with the statistic `number of up steps at height \(h\) with \(h\equiv 0\pmod 3\)'. Moreover, for \(m\geq 3\), we prove that the two statistics `number of up steps at height \(h\) with \(h\equiv 0 \pmod m\)' and `number of up steps at height \(h\) with \(h\equiv m-1 \pmod m\)' on the set \(\mathcal{C}_n\) are `almost equidistributed'. Both results are proved combinatorially.