Proof of Blum's conjecture on hexagonal dungeons

Abstract

Matt Blum conjectured that the number of tilings of the Hexagonal Dungeon of sides $a,\ 2a,\ b,\ a,\ 2a,\ b$ (where $b\geq 2a$) is $13^{2a^2}14^{\lfloor\frac{a^2}{2}\rfloor}$ (J. Propp, New Perspectives in Geometric Combinatorics, Cambridge University Press, 1999). In this paper we present a proof for this conjecture using Kuo's Graphical Condensation Theorem (E. Kuo, Applications of Graphical Condensation for Enumerating Matchings and Tilings, Theoretical Computer Science, 2004).