The octahedron recurrence and \(\mathfrak{gl}_n\) crystals (Q850069)

A hive is a triangular array of integers which satisfies certain ``rhombus'' inequalities. The paper [\textit{A. Knutson, T. Tao} and \textit{C. Woodward}, Electron. J. Comb. 11, No.\,1, Research paper R61 (2004; Zbl 1053.05119)] established that the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients \(c_{\lambda\mu}^{\nu}\) count the size of hives \(\text{HIVE}_{\lambda\mu}^{\nu}\) with boundary values determined by \(\lambda,\mu,\nu\). The proof is bijective and uses the so called octahedron recurrence. Crystals \(B_{\lambda}\) are thought of as combinatorial models for representations of the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{gl}_n\). Again, the tensor product of crystals \(B_{\lambda} \otimes B_{\mu}\) decomposes into a disjoint union of crystals \(B_{\nu}\) with multiplicities \(c_{\lambda\mu}^{\nu}\). In the paper under review the authors construct a bijection \(\text{HIVE}_{\lambda\mu}^{\nu} \to \text{HIVE}_{\mu\lambda}^{\nu}\) based on a modification of the octahedron recurrence which lives on a bounded space \([0,n]\times [0,n]\times {\mathbb R}\). They construct also a bijection between the occurrences of \(B_{\nu}\) in \(B_{\lambda}\otimes B_{\mu}\) and \({\mathtt HIVE}_{\lambda\mu}^{\nu}\). These bijections can be restated to give an equivalence of categories between the categories \(\text{Hives}\) and \(\mathfrak {gl}_n\)-\text{Crystals} which respects the associator \(A\otimes(B\otimes C)\to (A\otimes B)\otimes C\) and the commutor \(A\otimes B \to B \otimes A\). This allows to transfer properties from one category to the other. In particular, the Yang--Baxter equation does not hold in \(\mathfrak{gl}_n\)-\text{Crystals} (contrary to a conjecture of Danilov--Koshevoy from 2004) because it does not hold in \text{Hives}. The essential part of the considerations are in the language of Young tableaux since \(\mathfrak{gl}_n\)-crystals can be understood very well in terms of tableaux and standard operations on them like Jeu de Taquin and Schützenberger involution. The authors establish analogues giving a new connection between these procedures on Young tableaux and the octahedron recurrence.