Enumeration of three-quadrant walks via invariants: some diagonally symmetric models (2112.05776v1)

Abstract: In the past 20 years, the enumeration of plane lattice walks confined to a convex cone -- normalized into the first quadrant -- has received a lot of attention, stimulated the development of several original approaches, and led to a rich collection of results. Most of them deal with the nature of the associated generating function: for which models is it algebraic, D-finite, D-algebraic? By model, what we mean is a finite collection of allowed steps. More recently, similar questions have been raised for non-convex cones, typically the three-quadrant cone $C = { (i,j) : i \geq 0 \text{ or } j \geq 0 }$. They turn out to be more difficult than their quadrant counterparts. In this paper, we investigate a collection of eight models in $C$. This collection consists of diagonally symmetric models in ${-1, 0,1}^2\setminus{(-1,1), (1,-1)}$. Three of them are known not to be D-algebraic. We show that the remaining five can be solved in a uniform fashion using Tutte's notion of \emph{invariants}, which has already proved useful for some quadrant models. Three models are found to be algebraic, one is (only) D-finite, and the last one is (only) D-algebraic. We also solve in the same fashion the diagonal model ${ \nearrow, \nwarrow, \swarrow, \searrow}$, which is D-finite. The three algebraic models are those of the Kreweras trilogy, $S={\nearrow, \leftarrow, \downarrow}$, $S'={\rightarrow, \uparrow, \swarrow}$, and $S\cup S'$. Our solutions take similar forms for all six models. Roughly speaking, the square of the generating function of three-quadrant walks with steps in $S$ is an explicit rational function in the quadrant generating function with steps in ${(j-i,j): (i,j) \in S}$. We derive various corollaries, including an explicit algebraic description of the positive harmonic function in $C$ for the five models that are at least D-finite.