Limit shapes for random square Young tableaux and plane partitions

Our main result is a limit shape theorem for the two-dimensional surface defined by a uniform random n-by-n square Young tableau. The analysis leads to a calculus of variations minimization problem that resembles the minimization problems studied by Logan-Shepp, Vershik-Kerov, and Cohn-Larsen-Propp. Our solution involves methods from the theory of singular integral equations, and sheds light on the somewhat mysterious derivations in these works. An extension to rectangular diagrams, using the same ideas but involving some nontrivial computations, is also given. We give several applications of the main result. First, we show that the location of a particular entry in the tableau is in the limit governed by a semicircle distribution. Next, we derive a result on the length of the longest increasing subsequence in segments of a minimal Erdos-Szekeres permutation, namely a permutation of the numbers 1,2,...,n^2 whose longest monotone subsequence is of length n (and hence minimal by the Erdos-Szekeres theorem). Finally, we prove a limit shape theorem for the surface defined by a random plane partition of a very large integer over a large square (and more generally rectangular) diagram.