Refined enumeration of halved monotone triangles and applications to vertically symmetric alternating sign trapezoids

Abstract

Halved monotone triangles are a generalisation of vertically symmetric alternating sign matrices (VSASMs). We provide a weighted enumeration of halved monotone triangles with respect to a parameter which generalises the number of −1s in a VSASM. Among other things, this enables us to establish a generating function for vertically symmetric alternating sign trapezoids. Our results are mainly presented in terms of constant term expressions. For the proofs, we exploit Fischer's method of operator formulae as a key tool.