in reply to memory use array vs ref to array

I'm not familiar with Memory::Usage - but the sizes shouldn't differ.
The containers of arrays are exactly the same, be they arrays declared with our, my, or anonymous arrays assigned to a (global/package scoped/pure lexical) variable.
The only difference between these arrays is the label/accessor tacked onto the container, and the place where they are annotated (symbol table, lexical pad, variable).

perl -le'print map{pack c,($-++?1:13)+ord}split//,ESEL'