We study ordered matroids and generalized permutohedra from a Hopf theoretic point of view. Our main object is a Hopf monoid in the vector species of extended generalized permutahedra equipped with an order of the coordinates; this monoid extends the Hopf monoid of generalized permutahedra studied by Aguiar and Ardila. Our formula for the antipode is cancellation-free and multiplicity-free, and is supported only on terms that are compatible with the local geometry of the polyhedron. Our result is part of a larger program to understand orderings on ground sets of simplicial complexes (for instance, on shifted and matroid independence complexes). In this vein, we show that shifted simplicial complexes and broken circuit complexes generate Hopf monoids that are expected to exhibit similar behavior.
Many families of combinatorial objects have a Hopf monoid structure. Aguiar and Ardila introduced the Hopf monoid of generalized permutahedra and showed that it contains various other notable combinatorial families as Hopf submonoids, including graphs, posets, and matroids. We introduce the Hopf monoid of orbit polytopes, which is generated by the generalized permutahedra that are invariant under the action of the symmetric group. We show that modulo normal equivalence, these polytopes are in bijection with integer compositions. We interpret the Hopf structure through this lens, and we show th…
We investigate quasisymmetric functions coming from combinatorial Hopf monoids. We show that these invariants arise naturally in Ehrhart theory, and that some of their specializations are Hilbert functions for relative simplicial complexes. This class of complexes, called forbidden composition complexes, also forms a Hopf monoid, thus demonstrating a link between Hopf algebras, Ehrhart theory, and commutative algebra. We also study various specializations of quasisymmetric functions.
In arXiv:1709.07504 Ardila and Aguiar give a Hopf monoid structure on hypergraphs as well as a general construction of polynomial invariants on Hopf monoids. Using these results, we define in this paper a new polynomial invariant on hypergraphs. We give a combinatorial interpretation of this invariant on negative integers which leads to a reciprocity theorem on hypergraphs. Finally, we use this invariant to recover well-known invariants on other combinatorial objects (graphs, simplicial complexes, building sets etc) as well as the associated reciprocity theorems.
We study Cohen-Macaulay Hopf monoids in the category of species. The goal is to apply techniques from topological combinatorics to the study of polynomial invariants arising from combinatorial Hopf algebras. Given a polynomial invariant arising from a linearized Hopf monoid, we show that under certain conditions it is the Hilbert polynomial of a relative simplicial complex. If the Hopf monoid is Cohen-Macaulay, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the corresponding relative simplicial complex to be relatively Cohen-Macaulay, which implies that the polynomial has a nonnegative $h$-ve…
We initiate the study of a large class of species monoids and comonoids which come equipped with a poset structure that is compatible with the multiplication and comultiplication maps. We show that if a monoid and a comonoid are related through a Galois connection, then they are dual to each other. This duality is best understood by introducing a new basis constructed through Möbius inversion. We use this new basis to give uniform proofs for cofreeness and calculations of primitives for the Hopf monoids of set partitions, graphs, hypergraphs, and simplicial complexes. Further, we show that the…
In arXiv:1709.07504 Aguiar and Ardila give a Hopf monoid structure on hypergraphs as well as a general construction of polynomial invariants on Hopf monoids. Using these results, we define in this paper a new polynomial invariant on hypergraphs. We give a combinatorial interpretation of this invariant on negative integers which leads to a reciprocity theorem on hypergraphs. Finally, we use this invariant to recover well-known invariants on other combinatorial objects (graphs, simplicial complexes, building sets etc) as well as the associated reciprocity theorems.
The goal of this paper is to show that valuation theory and Hopf theory are compatible on the class of generalized permutahedra. We prove that the Hopf structure $\mathbf{GP}^+$ on these polyhedra descends, modulo the inclusion-exclusion relations, to an indicator Hopf monoid $\mathbb{I}(\mathbf{GP}^+)$ of generalized permutahedra that is isomorphic to the Hopf monoid of weighted ordered set partitions. This quotient Hopf monoid $\mathbb{I}(\mathbf{GP}^+)$ is cofree. It is the terminal object in the category of Hopf monoids with polynomial characters; this partially explains the ubiquity of ge…
We consider a Hopf algebra of simplicial complexes and provide a cancellation-free formula for its antipode. We then obtain a family of combinatorial Hopf algebras by defining a family of characters on this Hopf algebra. The characters of these combinatorial Hopf algebras give rise to symmetric functions that encode information about colorings of simplicial complexes and their $f$-vectors. We also use characters to give a generalization of Stanley's $(-1)$-color theorem. A $q$-analog version of this family of characters is also studied.
It is well known that the underlying simplicial set of any simplicial group is a Kan complex. Roughly speaking, Kan complex is an infinite-dimensional analogue of groupoid, and the relation between groupoids and categories resembles that between groups and monoids. Thus one may ask if the underlying simplicial set of each simplicial monoid is a quasi-category. In this short note, we construct a simplicial monoid whose underlying simplicial set is not a quasi-category.
We introduce megagreedoids, which generalize polymatroids, megamatroids, and greedoids. We define a quasisymmetric function invariant for a megagreedoid, and show that it has a positive expansion in the basis of fundamental quasisymmetric functions. Our proof involves lexicographic shellability. We also show that megagreedoids form a Hopf monoid. A running example is a megagreedoid associated to a rooted connected graph, and the resulting generalization of the chromatic symmetric function.
We generalize the notion of a coloring complex of a graph to linearized combinatorial Hopf monoids. We determine when a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid has such a construction, and discover some inequalities that are satisfied by the quasisymmetric function invariants associated to the combinatorial Hopf monoid. We show that the collection of all such coloring complexes forms a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid, which is the terminal object in the category of combinatorial Hopf monoids with convex characters. We also study several examples of combinatorial Hopf monoids.
We study the chromatic quasisymmetric class function of a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid. Given a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid $H$, and an $H$-structure $h$ on a set $N$, there are proper colorings of $h$, generalizing graph colorings and poset partitions. We show that the automorphism group of $h$ acts on the set of proper colorings. The chromatic quasisymmetric class function enumerates the fixed points of this action, weighting each coloring with a monomial. For the Hopf monoid of graphs this invariant generalizes Stanley's chromatic symmetric function and specializes to the o…
We construct supercharacter theories for a collection of unipotent matrix groups and produce a Hopf monoid from the supercharacters. These supercharacter theories are coarser than those defined by Diaconis--Isaacs for algebra groups and have supercharacters and superclasses indexed by nonnesting labeled set partitions. We compute the supercharacter tables and describe the product and coproduct of the Hopf monoid combinatorially. We also show that this Hopf monoid is free.
Combinatorial Hopf algebras arise in a variety of applications. Recently, Aguiar and Mahajan showed how many well-studied Hopf algebras are closely related to Hopf monoids in species. In this paper, we study Hopf monoids in graphical species, giving a `graph-theoretic' analogue to the work of Aguiar and Mahajan. In particular, several examples of Hopf monoids in graphical species are detailed, most of which are related to graph coloring, or hyperplane arrangements associated to graphs.
Aguiar and Ardila defined the Hopf monoid GP of generalized permutahedra and showed that it contains many submonoids that correspond to combinatorial objects. They also give a basic polynomial invariant of generalized permutahedra, which then specializes to the submonoids. We define the Hopf monoid of directed graphs and show that it also embeds in GP. The resulting basic invariant coincides with the strict chromatic polynomial of Awan and Bernardi.
From a recent paper, we recall the Hopf monoid structure on the supercharacters of the unipotent uppertriangular groups over a finite field. We give cancelation free formula for the antipode applied to the bases of class functions and power sum functions, giving new cancelation free formulae for the standard Hopf algebra of supercharacters and symmetric functions in noncommuting variables. We also give partial results for the antipode on the supercharacter basis, and explicitly describe the primitives of this Hopf monoid.
Generalized permutahedra are a family of polytopes with a rich combinatorial structure and strong connections to optimization. We prove that they are the universal family of polyhedra with a certain Hopf algebraic structure. Their antipode is remarkably simple: the antipode of a polytope is the alternating sum of its faces. Our construction provides a unifying framework to organize numerous combinatorial structures, including graphs, matroids, posets, set partitions, linear graphs, hypergraphs, simplicial complexes, building sets, and simple graphs. We highlight three applications: 1. We obtai…
A vector species is a functor from the category of finite sets with bijections to vector spaces; informally, one can view this as a sequence of $S_n$-modules. A Hopf monoid (in the category of vector species) consists of a vector species with unit, counit, product, and coproduct morphisms satisfying several compatibility conditions, analogous to a graded Hopf algebra. We say that a Hopf monoid is strongly linearized if it has a "basis" preserved by its product and coproduct in a certain sense. We prove several equivalent characterizations of this property, and show that any strongly linearized…
Combinatorial structures which compose and decompose give rise to Hopf monoids in Joyal's category of species. The Hadamard product of two Hopf monoids is another Hopf monoid. We prove two main results regarding freeness of Hadamard products. The first one states that if one factor is connected and the other is free as a monoid, their Hadamard product is free (and connected). The second provides an explicit basis for the Hadamard product when both factors are free. The first main result is obtained by showing the existence of a one-parameter deformation of the comonoid structure and appealing …
A vector species is a functor from the category of finite sets with bijections to vector spaces (over a fixed field); informally, one can view this as a sequence of $S_n$-modules. A Hopf monoid (in the category of vector species) consists of a vector species with unit, counit, product, and coproduct morphisms satisfying several compatibility conditions, analogous to a graded Hopf algebra. A vector species has a basis if and only if it is given by a sequence of $S_n$-modules which are permutation representations. We say that a Hopf monoid is freely self-dual if it is connected and finite-dimens…
Following Radford's proof of Lagrange's theorem for pointed Hopf algebras, we prove Lagrange's theorem for Hopf monoids in the category of connected species. As a corollary, we obtain necessary conditions for a given subspecies K of a Hopf monoid H to be a Hopf submonoid: the quotient of any one of the generating series of H by the corresponding generating series of K must have nonnegative coefficients. Other corollaries include a necessary condition for a sequence of nonnegative integers to be the sequence of dimensions of a Hopf monoid in the form of certain polynomial inequalities, and of a…
The supercharacter theory of algebra groups gave us a representation theoretic realization of the Hopf algebra of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables. The underlying representation theoretic framework comes equipped with two canonical bases, one of which was completely new in terms of symmetric functions. This paper simultaneously generalizes this Hopf structure by considering a larger class of groups while also restricting the representation theory to a more combinatorially tractable one. Using the normal lattice supercharacter theory of pattern groups, we not only gain a third cano…
We build, from the collection of all groups of unitriangular matrices, Hopf monoids in Joyal's category of species. Such structure is carried by the collection of class function spaces on those groups, and also by the collection of superclass function spaces, in the sense of Diaconis and Isaacs. Superclasses of unitriangular matrices admit a simple description from which we deduce a combinatorial model for the Hopf monoid of superclass functions, in terms of the Hadamard product of the Hopf monoids of linear orders and of set partitions. This implies a recent result relating the Hopf algebra o…
We give a new construction of a Hopf subalgebra of the Hopf algebra of Free quasi-symmetric functions whose bases are indexed by objects belonging to the Baxter combinatorial family (i.e. Baxter permutations, pairs of twin binary trees, etc.). This construction relies on the definition of the Baxter monoid, analog of the plactic monoid and the sylvester monoid, and on a Robinson-Schensted-like insertion algorithm. The algebraic properties of this Hopf algebra are studied. This Hopf algebra appeared for the first time in the work of Reading [Lattice congruences, fans and Hopf algebras, Journal …
Many combinatorial Hopf algebras $H$ in the literature are the functorial image of a linearized Hopf monoid $\bf H$. That is, $H={\mathcal K} ({\bf H})$ or $H=\overline{\mathcal K} ({\bf H})$. Unlike the functor $\overline{\mathcal K}$, the functor ${\mathcal K}$ applied to ${\bf H}$ may not preserve the antipode of ${\bf H}$. In this case, one needs to consider the larger Hopf monoid ${\bf L}\times{\bf H}$ to get $H={\mathcal K} ({\bf H})=\overline{\mathcal K}({\bf L}\times{\bf H})$ and study the antipode in ${\bf L}\times{\bf H}$. One of the main results in this paper provides a cancelation …
For a Kan complex with a vertex, we have the notion of its simplicial homotopy groups. In this paper, for a weak complicial set in the sense of Verity with a vertex, we construct monoids which are a generalization of simplicial homotopy groups.
We give a new construction of a Hopf algebra defined first by Reading whose bases are indexed by objects belonging to the Baxter combinatorial family (i.e., Baxter permutations, pairs of twin binary trees, etc.). Our construction relies on the definition of the Baxter monoid, analog of the plactic monoid and the sylvester monoid, and on a Robinson-Schensted-like correspondence and insertion algorithm. Indeed, the Baxter monoid leads to the definition of a lattice structure over pairs of twin binary trees and the definition of a Hopf algebra. The algebraic properties of this Hopf algebra are st…
We introduce the Hopf monoid of sets of cycles and paths, which contains the Faà di Bruno Hopf monoid as a submonoid. We give cancellation-free and grouping-free formulas for its antipode, one in terms of tubings and one in terms of \emph{pointed} noncrossing partitions. We provide an explicit description of the group of characters of this Hopf monoid in terms of pairs of power series. Using graph associahedra, we relate paths and cycles to associahedra and cyclohedra, respectively. We give formulas for inversion in the group of characters in terms of the faces of these polytopes.
In 2017 Aguiar and Ardila provided a generic way to construct polynomial invariants of combinatorial objects using the notions of Hopf monoids and characters of Hopf monoids. They show that it is possible to find a combinatorial interpretation of these polynomials over negative integers using the antipode and give a cancellation-free grouping-free formula for the antipode on generalized permutahedra. In this work, we give a combinatorial interpretation of these polynomials over both positive integers and negative integers for the Hopf monoids of generalized permutahedra and hypergraphs and for…
The commutative Hopf monoid of set compositions is a fundamental Hopf monoid internal to vector species, having undecorated bosonic Fock space the combinatorial Hopf algebra of quasisymmetric functions. We construct a geometric realization of this Hopf monoid over the adjoint of the (essentialized) braid hyperplane arrangement, which identifies the monomial basis with signed characteristic functions of the interiors of permutohedral tangent cones. We show that the indecomposable quotient Lie coalgebra is obtained by restricting functions to chambers of the adjoint arrangement, i.e. by quotient…
We develop an algebraic formalism for perturbative quantum field theory (pQFT) which is based on Joyal's combinatorial species. We show that certain basic structures of pQFT are correctly viewed as algebraic structures internal to species, constructed with respect to the Cauchy monoidal product. Aspects of this formalism have appeared in the physics literature, particularly in the work of Bogoliubov-Shirkov, Steinmann, Ruelle, and Epstein-Glaser-Stora. In this paper, we give a fully explicit account in terms of modern theory developed by Aguiar-Mahajan. We describe the central construction of …
We study ideals in Hall algebras of monoid representations on pointed sets corresponding to certain conditions on the representations. These conditions include the property that the monoid act via partial permutations, that the representation possess a compatible grading, and conditions on the support of the module. Quotients by these ideals lead to combinatorial Hopf algebras which can be interpreted as Hall algebras of certain sub-categories of modules. In the case of the free commutative monoid on n generators, we obtain a co-commutative Hopf algebra structure on $n$-dimensional skew shapes…
We develop an algebraic formalism for perturbative quantum field theory (pQFT) which is based on Joyal's combinatorial species. We show that certain basic structures of pQFT are correctly viewed as algebraic structures internal to species, constructed with respect to the Cauchy monoidal product. Aspects of this formalism have appeared in the physics literature, particularly in the work of Bogoliubov-Shirkov, Steinmann, Ruelle, and Epstein-Glaser-Stora. In this paper, we give a fully explicit account in terms of modern theory developed by Aguiar-Mahajan. We describe the central construction of …
We generalize the Poincare-Hopf theorem sum_v i(v) = X(G) to vector fields on a finite simple graph (V,E) with Whitney complex G. To do so, we define a directed simplicial complex as a finite abstract simplicial complex equipped with a bundle map F: G to V telling which vertex T(x) in x dominates the simplex x. The index i(v) of a vertex v is defined as X(F^-1(v)), where X is the Euler characteristic. We get a flow by adding a section map F: V to G. The resulting map T on G is a discrete model for a differential equation x'=F(x) on a compact manifold. Examples of directed complexes are defined…
