Refined enumeration of planar Eulerian orientations

Abstract: We address the enumeration of Eulerian orientations of 4-valent planar maps according to three parameters: the number of vertices, the number of alternating vertices (having in/out/in/out incident edges), and the number of clockwise oriented faces. This is a refinement of the six vertex model studied by Kostov, then Zinn-Justin and Elvey Price, where one only considers the first two parameters. Via a bijection of Ambjorn and Budd, our problem is equivalent to the enumeration of Eulerian partial orientations of general planar maps, counted by the number of edges, the number of undirected edges, and the number of vertices. We first derive from combinatorial arguments a system of functional equations characterising the associated trivariate series $Q(t,\omega,v)$. We then derive from this system a compact characterisation of this series. We use it to determine $Q(t,\omega,v)$ in three two-parameter cases. The first two cases correspond to setting the variable $\omega$ counting alternating vertices (or undirected edges after the AB bijection) to $0$ or $1$: when $\omega=0$ we count Eulerian orientations of general planar maps by edges and vertices, and when $\omega=1$ we count Eulerian orientations of quartic maps by vertices and clockwise faces. The final forms of these two series, namely $Q(t,0, v)$ and $Q(t,1,v)$, refine those obtained by the authors in an earlier paper for $v=1$. The third case that we solve, namely $v=1$ (but $\omega$ arbitrary), is the standard six-vertex model, for which we provide a new proof of the formula of Elvey Price and Zinn-Justin involving Jacobi theta functions. This new derivation remains purely in the world of formal power series, not relying on complex analysis. Our results also use a more direct approach to solving the functional equations, in contrast to the guess and check approaches used in previous work.