A symmetry theorem on a modified jeu de taquin

Abstract

For their bijective proof of the hook-length formula for the number of standard tableaux of a fixed shape Novelli, Pak and Stoyanovskii define a modified jeu de taquin which transforms an arbitrary filling of the Ferrers diagram with $1,2,...,n$ (tabloid) into a standard tableau. Their definition relies on a total order of the cells in the Ferrers diagram induced by a special standard tableau, however, this definition also makes sense for the total order induced by any other standard tableau. Given two standard tableaux $P,Q$ of the same shape we show that the number of tabloids which result in $P$ if we perform modified jeu de taquin with respect to the total order induced by $Q$ is equal to the number of tabloids which result in $Q$ if we perform modified jeu de taquin with respect to $P$. This symmetry theorem extends to skew shapes and shifted skew shapes.