MERW transition probabilities for the growing pyramidal model

Determine whether the unique maximal-entropy random walk for the growing pyramidal model with bases of maximum size three has transition probabilities \[ p((x,y,z);(u,v,w))=\frac{H_{v-u,v-w}}{3H_{y-x,y-z}}, \] whenever the permissible configuration \((u,v,w)\) is obtained from \((x,y,z)\) by incrementing one coordinate, where \(H\) is the unique non-negative function on \(\mathbb Z^2\) satisfying \(H_{i,j}=0\) for \(i,j<0\), \(H_{0,0}=1\), and \(3H_{i,j}=H_{i-1,j}+H_{i,j-1}+H_{i,j}\) whenever \(i\geq 0\) or \(j\geq 0\).

Background

The paper studies a pyramidal growth model in which boxes are added above, to the right, or to the left of an existing tower, subject to a condition preserving the pyramidal shape. For pyramids whose bases have maximum size three, configurations can be encoded by triples and the model is related to Kreweras’s random walk in the three-quarter plane.

To identify the corresponding maximal-entropy random walk, one must determine asymptotic ratios of walk counts starting from arbitrary states relative to the total number of walks from the origin. The paper notes that available generating-function results concern endpoint counts rather than these required starting-point counts. The conjectured harmonic function and transition kernel would resolve this gap and characterize the MERW.

References

Unfortunately, the generating functions in focus on $c_n(i,j)$, the number of walks of length $n$ starting from the origin and ending at $(i,j)$, which is not directly applicable here. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to conjecture that $a_n(i,j)$ adheres to the same asymptotic as $a_n(0,0)$, modulo a constant $H_{i,j}$. Consequently, $H$ can be identified as a unique positive harmonic function for Kreweras's random walk in the three-quarter plane, with $H_{0,0} = 1$, as established by . We make the following conjecture. The unique MERW for the growing pyramidal model depicted in Figure \ref{krew} is characterized by the following transition probabilities. Given $(u,v,w)$ as a permissible configuration derived from $(x,y,z)$ by incrementing one of its coordinates by $1$:

p((x,y,z);(u,v,w)) = \frac{H_{v-u,v-w}}{3 H_{y-x,y-z}},

where $H$ is the unique non-negative solution on $\mathbb Z2$ of $H_{i,j}=0$ for $i,j< 0$, $H_{0,0}=1$ and for all $i\geq 0$ or $j\geq 0$, $3 H_{i,j}=H_{i-1,j}+H_{i,j-1}+H_{i,j}$.

Maximal entropy random walks and central Markov chains  (2503.08172 - Offret et al., 11 Mar 2025) in Conjecture in Section 5, “Growing pyramidal diagrams,” following the discussion of the Kreweras random walk in the three-quarter plane