  There is the same number of $n \times n$ alternating sign matrices (ASMs) as
there is of descending plane partitions (DPPs) with parts no greater than $n$,
but finding an explicit bijection is an open problem for about $40$ years now.
So far, quadruples of statistics on ASMs and on DPPs that have the same joint
distribution have been identified. We introduce extensions of ASMs and of DPPs
along with $n+3$ statistics on each extension, and show that the two families
of statistics have the same joint distribution. The ASM-DPP equinumerosity is
obtained as an easy consequence by considering the $(-1)$-enumerations of these
extended objects with respect to one pair of the $n+3$ pairs of statistics. One
may speculate that the fact that these extensions might be necessary to have
this significance increase in the number of statistics, as well as the
involvement of signs when specializing to ASMs and DPPs may hint at the
obstacles in finding an explicit bijection between ASMs and DPPs. One important
tool for our proof is a multivariate generalization of the operator formula for
the number of monotone triangles with prescribed bottom row that generalizes
Schur functions.
