Pascal, Catalan, Motzkin triangles and tensor product multiplicities

TL;DR

This paper explores the combinatorial structures of Catalan and Motzkin triangles, linking them to $sl_2$ representation theory, and provides elementary derivations of their properties and multiplicities in tensor products.

Contribution

It introduces generalizations of Catalan and Motzkin triangles, showing they arise from Pascal's rule and connect to tensor product multiplicities in $sl_2$ representations.

Findings

Triangles are generated by Pascal's rule with specific initial conditions.

Numbers in the triangles correspond to multiplicities in $sl_2$ tensor products.

The 'sum of squares' phenomenon is explained via representation theory.

Abstract

The main purpose of this note is to provide an elementary discussion of some simple triangles of integer numbers in particular through their connections with representation theory of $sl_2$. The triangles under consideration are the Catalan triangle and the Motzkin triangle together with their generalisations that we introduce here. We advocate the point of view that these triangles are given by the well-known and classical Pascal rule starting from a well-chosen initial condition. We give an elementary derivation of the fact that the numbers in these triangles are multiplicities appearing in tensor products of $sl_2$-representations and that they are simply expressed as a difference of generalised binomial coefficients. We also take the opportunity to discuss the ``sum of squares'' phenomenon that happens in these triangles through the lense of representation theory.