Generating Functions for Inverted Semistandard Young Tableaux and Generalized Ballot Numbers

An inverted semistandard Young tableau is a row-standard tableau along with a collection of inversion pairs that quantify how far the tableau is from being column semistandard. Such a tableau with precisely $k$ inversion pairs is said to be a $k$-inverted semistandard Young tableau. Building upon earlier work by Fresse and the author, this paper develops generating functions for the numbers of $k$-inverted semistandard Young tableaux of various shapes $\lambda$ and contents $\mu$. An easily-calculable generating function is given for the number of $k$-inverted semistandard Young tableaux that "standardize" to a fixed semistandard Young tableau. For $m$-row shapes $\lambda$ and standard content $\mu$, the total number of $k$-inverted standard Young tableaux of shape $\lambda$ is then enumerated by relating such tableaux to $m$-dimensional generalizations of Dyck paths and counting the numbers of "returns to ground" in those paths. In the rectangular specialization of $\lambda = n^m$ this yields a generating function that involves $m$-dimensional analogues of the famed Ballot numbers. Our various results are then used to directly enumerate all $k$-inverted semistandard Young tableaux with arbitrary content and two-row shape $\lambda = a^1 b^1$, as well as all $k$-inverted standard Young tableaux with two-column shape $\lambda=2^n$.