Symmetries of plane partitions and the permanent-determinant method

Abstract

In the paper [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 43 (1986), 103--113], Stanley gives formulas for the number of plane partitions in each of ten symmetry classes. This paper together with results by Andrews [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 66 (1994), 28-39] and Stembridge [Adv. Math 111 (1995), 227-243] completes the project of proving all ten formulas. We enumerate cyclically symmetric, self-complementary plane partitions. We first convert plane partitions to tilings of a hexagon in the plane by rhombuses, or equivalently to matchings in a certain planar graph. We can then use the permanent-determinant method or a variant, the Hafnian-Pfaffian method, to obtain the answer as the determinant or Pfaffian of a matrix in each of the ten cases. We row-reduce the resulting matrix in the case under consideration to prove the formula. A similar row-reduction process can be carried out in many of the other cases, and we analyze three other symmetry classes of plane partitions for comparison.