Asymmetric Exclusion Model and Weighted Lattice Paths

Abstract

We show that the known matrix representations of the stationary state algebra of the
Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (ASEP) can be interpreted combinatorially as various
weighted lattice paths. This interpretation enables us to use the constant term method
(CTM) and bijective combinatorial methods to express many forms of the ASEP normalisation
factor in terms of Ballot numbers. One particular lattice path representation shows
that the coefficients in the recurrence relation for the ASEP correlation functions are also
Ballot numbers. Additionally, the CTM has a strong combinatorial connection which leads
to a new 'canonical' lattice path representation and to the 'W-expansion' which provides a uniform approach to computing the asymptotic behaviour in the various phases of the ASEP. The path representations enable the ASEP normalization factor to be seen as the partition function of a more general polymer chain model having a two-parameter interaction with a surface.

We show, in the case alpha = beta = 1, that the probability of finding a given number of particles in the stationary state can be expressed via non-intersecting lattice paths and hence as a simple determinant.