We consider planar lattice walks that start from a prescribed position, take their steps in a given finite subset of Z^2, and always stay in the quadrant x >= 0, y >= 0. We first give a criterion which guarantees that the length generating function of these walks is D-finite, that is, satisfies a linear differential equation with polynomial coefficients. This criterion applies, among others, to the ordinary square lattice walks. Then, we prove that walks that start from (1,1), take their steps in {(2,-1), (-1,2)} and stay in the first quadrant have a non-D-finite generating function. Our proof relies on a functional equation satisfied by this generating function, and on elementary complex analysis.
A lattice walk model is said to be reluctant if the defining step set has a strong drift towards the boundaries. We describe efficient random generation strategies for these walks.
We investigate a functional equation which resembles the functional equation for the generating function of a lattice walk model for the quarter plane. The interesting feature of this equation is that its orbit sum is zero while its solution is not algebraic. The solution can be interpreted as the generating function of lattice walks in $\mathbb{Z}^2$ starting at $(-1,-1)$ and subject to the restriction that the coordinate axes can be crossed only in one direction. We also consider certain variants of the equation, all of which seem to have transcendental solutions. In one case, the solution i…
We study the nature of the generating series of some models of walks with small steps in the three quarter plane. More precisely, we restrict ourselves to the situation where the group is infinite, the kernel has genus one, and the step set is diagonally symmetric (i.e., with no steps in anti-diagonal directions). In that situation, after a transformation of the plane, we derive a quadrant-like functional equation. Among the four models of walks, we obtain, using difference Galois theory, that three of them have a differentially transcendental generating series, and one has a differentially al…
Two-dimensional (random) walks in cones are very natural both in combinatorics and probability theory: they are interesting for themselves and also because they are strongly related to other discrete structures. While walks restricted to the first quadrant have been studied a lot, the case of planar, non-convex cones---equivalent to the three-quarter plane after a linear transform---has been approached only recently. In this article we develop an analytic approach to the case of walks in three quadrants. The advantage of this method is to provide uniform treatment in the study of models corres…
We consider weighted small step walks in the positive quadrant, and provide algebraicity and differential transcendence results for the underlying generating functions: we prove that depending on the probabilities of allowed steps, certain of the generating functions are algebraic over the field of rational functions, while some others do not satisfy any algebraic differential equation with rational function coefficients. Our techniques involve differential Galois theory for difference equations as well as complex analysis (Weierstrass parameterization of elliptic curves). We also extend to th…
The aim of this article is to introduce a unified method to obtain explicit integral representations of the trivariate generating function counting the walks with small steps which are confined to a quarter plane. For many models, this yields for the first time an explicit expression of the counting generating function. Moreover, the nature of the integrand of the integral formulations is shown to be directly dependent on the finiteness of a naturally attached group of birational transformations as well as on the sign of the covariance of the walk
Bipolar orientations of planar maps have recently attracted some interest in combinatorics, probability theory and theoretical physics. Plane bipolar orientations with $n$ edges are known to be counted by the $n$th Baxter number $b(n)$, which can be defined by a linear recurrence relation with polynomial coefficients. Equivalently, the associated generating function $\sum_n b(n)t^n$ is D-finite. In this paper, we address a much refined enumeration problem, where we record for every $r$ the number of faces of degree $r$. When these degrees are bounded, we show that the associated generating fun…
We consider planar lattice walks that start from (0,0), remain inthe first quadrant i, j >= 0, and are made of three types of steps: North-East, West and South. These walks are known to have remarkable enumerative and probabilistic properties: -- they are counted by nice numbers (Kreweras 1965), -- the generating function of these numbers is algebraic (Gessel 1986), -- the stationary distribution of the corresponding Markov chain in the quadrant has an algebraic probability generating function (Flatto and Hahn 1984). These results are not well understood, and have been established via complica…
We consider lattice walks in the plane starting at the origin, remaining in the first quadrant and made of West, South and North-East steps. In 1965, Germain Kreweras discovered a remarkably simple formula giving the number of these walks (with prescribed length and endpoint). Kreweras' proof was very involved and several alternative derivations have been proposed since then. But the elegant simplicity of the counting formula remained unexplained. We give the first purely combinatorial explanation of this formula. Our approach is based on a bijection between Kreweras walks and triangulations w…
Gessel's walks are the planar walks that move within the positive quadrant $\mathbb{Z}_{+}^{2}$ by unit steps in any of the following directions: West, North-East, East and South-West. In this paper, we find an explicit expression for the trivariate generating function counting the Gessel's walks with $k\geq 0$ steps, which start at $(0,0)$ and end at a given point $(i,j) \in \mathbb{Z}^2_+$.
We consider Gessel walks in the plane starting at the origin $(0, 0)$ remaining in the first quadrant $i, j \geq 0$ and made of West, North-East, East and South-West steps. Let $F(m; n_1, n_2)$ denote the number of these walks with exact $m$ steps ending at the point $(n_1, n_2)$, Petkovšek and Wilf posed several analogous conjectures similar to the famous Gessel's conjecture. We establish a probabilistic model of Gessel walks which is concerned with the problem of vicious walkers. This model helps us to obtain the linear homogeneous recurrence relations with binomial coefficients for both $F(…
We study planar walks that start from a given point (i\_0, j\_0), take their steps in a finite set S, and are confined in the first quadrant of the plane. Their enumeration can be attacked in a systematic way: the generating function Q(x, y, t) that counts them by their length (variable t) and the coordinates of their endpoint (variables x, y) satisfies a linear functional equation encoding the step-by-step description of walks. For instance, for the square lattice walks starting from the origin, this equation reads (xy-t(x + y + x^2 y + x y^2)) Q(x, y, t) = xy-xtQ(x, 0, t)-ytQ(O, y, t). The c…
We interpret walks in the first quadrant with steps {(1,1),(1,0),(-1,0), (-1,-1)} as a generalization of Dyck words with two sets of letters. Using this language, we give a formal expression for the number of walks in the steps above beginning and ending at the origin. We give an explicit formula for a restricted class of such words using a correspondance between such words and Dyck paths. This explicit formula is exactly the same as that for the degree of the polynomial satisfied by the square of the area of cyclic n-gons conjectured by Dave Robbins although the connection is a mystery. Final…
It is a classical result in combinatorics that among lattice paths with 2m steps U=(1,1) and D=(1,-1) starting at the origin, the number of those that do not go below the x-axis equals the number of those that end on the x-axis. A much more unfamiliar fact is that the analogous equality obtained by replacing single paths with k-tuples of non-crossing paths holds for every k. This result has appeared in the literature in different contexts involving plane partitions (where it was proved by Proctor), partially ordered sets, Young tableaux, and lattice walks, but no bijective proof for k>1 seems …
On an $r\times (n-r)$ lattice rectangle, we first consider walks that begin at the SW corner, proceed with unit steps in either of the directions E or N, and terminate at the NE corner of the rectangle. For each integer $k$ we ask for $N_k^{n,r}$, the number of {\em ordered\/} pairs of these walks that intersect in exactly $k$ points. The number of points in the intersection of two such walks is defined as the cardinality of the intersection of their two sets of vertices, excluding the initial and terminal vertices. We find two explicit formulas for the numbers $N_k^{n,r}$. Next we note that $…
In the past fifteen years, the enumeration of lattice walks with steps takenin a prescribed set S and confined to a given cone, especially the firstquadrant of the plane, has been intensely studied. As a result, the generating functions ofquadrant walks are now well-understood, provided the allowed steps aresmall, that is $S \subset \{-1, 0,1\}^2$. In particular, having smallsteps is crucial for the definition of a certain group of bi-rationaltransformations of the plane. It has been proved that this group is finite ifand only if the corresponding generating function is D-finite (that is, it s…
Gessel and Zeilberger generalized the reflection principle to handle walks confined to Weyl chambers, under some restrictions on the allowable steps. For those models that are invariant under the Weyl group action, they express the counting function for the walks with fixed starting and endpoint as a constant term in the Taylor series expansion of a rational function. Here, we focus on the simplest case, the Weyl groups $A_1^d$, which correspond to walks in the first orthant $\mathbb{N}^d$ taking steps from a subset of $\{\pm1, 0\}^d$ which is invariant under reflection across any axis. The pr…
In this work we consider two different aspects of weighted walks in cones. To begin we examine a particular weighted model, known as the Gouyou-Beauchamps model. Using the theory of analytic combinatorics in several variables we obtain the asymptotic expansion of the total number of Gouyou-Beauchamps walks confined to the quarter plane. Our formulas are parametrized by weights and starting point, and we identify six different asymptotic regimes (called universality classes) which arise according to the values of the weights. The weights allowed in this model satisfy natural algebraic identitie…
In the field of enumeration of walks in cones, it is known how to compute asymptotically the number of excursions (finite paths in the cone with fixed length, starting and ending points, using jumps from a given step set). As it turns out, the associated critical exponent is related to the eigenvalues of a certain Dirichlet problem on a spherical domain. An important underlying question is to decide whether this asymptotic exponent is a (non-)rational number, as this has important consequences on the algebraic nature of the associated generating function. In this paper, we ask whether such an …
We determine the asymptotic behavior of the Green function for zero-drift random walks confined to multidimensional convex cones. As a consequence, we prove that there is a unique positive discrete harmonic function for these processes (up to a multiplicative constant); in other words, the Martin boundary reduces to a singleton.
A method is described to count simple diagonal walks on $\mathbb{Z}^2$ with a fixed starting point and endpoint on one of the axes and a fixed winding angle around the origin. The method involves the decomposition of such walks into smaller pieces, the generating functions of which are encoded in a commuting set of Hilbert space operators. The general enumeration problem is then solved by obtaining an explicit eigenvalue decomposition of these operators involving elliptic functions. By further restricting the intermediate winding angles of the walks to some open interval, the method can be use…
The exact solution of directed self-avoiding walks confined to a slit of finite width and interacting with the walls of the slit via an attractive potential has been calculated recently. The walks can be considered to model the polymer-induced steric stabilisation and sensitised floculation of colloidal dispersions. The large width asymptotics led to a phase diagram different to that of a polymer attached to, and attracted to, a single wall. The question that arises is: can one interpolate between the single wall and two wall cases? In this paper we calculate the exact scaling functions for th…
Gessel walks are lattice paths confined to the quarter plane that start at the origin and consist of unit steps going either West, East, South-West or North-East. In 2001, Ira Gessel conjectured a nice closed-form expression for the number of Gessel walks ending at the origin. In 2008, Kauers, Koutschan and Zeilberger gave a computer-aided proof of this conjecture. The same year, Bostan and Kauers showed, again using computer algebra tools, that the complete generating function of Gessel walks is algebraic. In this article we propose the first "human proofs" of these results. They are derived …
We address the problem of counting walks by winding angle on the Kreweras lattice, an oriented version of the triangular lattice. Our method uses a new decomposition of the lattice, which allows us to write functional equations characterising a generating function of walks counted by length, endpoint and winding angle. We then solve these functional equations in terms of Jacobi theta functions. By using this result in conjunction with the reflection principle, we count walks confined to a cone of opening angle any multiple of $\fracπ{3}$, allowing us to extract asymptotic and algebraic informa…
In this paper we explore the asymptotic enumeration of three-dimensional excursions confined to the positive octant. As shown in [29], both the exponential growth and the critical exponent admit universal formulas, respectively in terms of the inventory of the step set and of the principal Dirichlet eigenvalue of a certain spherical triangle, itself being characterized by the steps of the model. We focus on the critical exponent, and our main objective is to relate combinatorial properties of the step set (structure of the so-called group of the walk, existence of a Hadamard factorization, exi…
