The structure of alternative tableaux

In this paper we study alternative tableaux introduced by Viennot. These tableaux are in simple bijection with permutation tableaux, defined previously by Postnikov . We exhibit a simple recursive structure for alternative tableaux. From this decomposition, we can easily deduce a number of enumerative results. We also give bijections between these tableaux and certain classes of labeled trees. Finally, we exhibit a bijection with permutations, and relate it to some other bijections that already appeared in the literature.