Hankel Determinants of q-Stirling Numbers

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the q-analogue of the Hankel determinants of the Bell numbers and give combinatorial proofs of these results. We show that the Hankel determinants of the q-Stirling numbers can be simplified to a determinant that is almost upper-triangular, and then construct sign-reversing involutions on certain sets of RG-words that give rise to the determinants.