Linear relations of refined enumerations of alternating sign matrices (Q662029)

\textit{Alternating sign matrices} (ASM) are square matrices with entries \(1, \, -1, \, 0\) such that every row and column satisfies the following: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[a)]the sum of entries is 1; \item[b)]the non-zero entries alternate in sign. \end{itemize}} The interest in these matrices stems from the fact that they belong to that class of combinatorial objects with the property that their enumerations subject to a variety of different constraints lead to more or less simple product formulas while at the same time proving these formulas turns out to be a highly non-trivial task. This paper deals with refined enumerations of ASM. Let \(\overline{\overline{\underline{A_{n;s;i;j}}}}\) denote the number of \(n\)-square ASM whose only non-zero entries in the first two rows and in the last row are ones in positions \((1,i), \, (2,j), \, (n,s),\) and let \(|\overline{A}|_{n,s,i,t}\) denote the number of \(n\)-square ASM whose only non-zero entries in the first row and in the left-most and right-most columns are ones in positions \((1,i), \, (s,1), \, (t,n)\). Extending the results by \textit{I. Fischer} and \textit{D. Romik} [Adv. Math. 222, No. 6, 2004--2035 (2009; Zbl 1188.05008)] and \textit{I. Fischer} [J. Alg. Comb. 33, No. 2, 239--257 (2011; Zbl 1229.05019)], the author obtains a nice linear relation (with coefficients \(1, \, -1\)) between the numbers \(\overline{\overline{\underline{A_{n;s;i;j}}}}\) and \(|\overline{A}|_{n,s,i,t}\) which generalizes a theorem by Yu. G. Stroganov. This main result (Theorem 1) is used to motivate the conjectured fact that the refined enumerations of ASM with respect to a fixed set of top and bottom rows as well as left and right columns can be reduced to the refined enumerations of ASM where only some top and bottom rows are fixed (Conjecture 1). The possibility of a bijective proof of the combinatorially meaningful part of Theorem 1 is discussed in a final paragraph.