As is well known, h-vectors of simple (or simplicial) convex polytopes are characterized. In fact, those h-vectors must satisfy Dehn-Sommerville equations and some other inequalities. Simple convex polytopes determine Gorenstein* simplicial posets and h-vectors are defined for simplicial posets. It is known that h-vectors of Gorenstein* simplicial posets must satisfy Dehn-Sommerville equations and that every component in the h-vectors must be non-negative. In this paper we will show that h-vectors of Gorenstein* simplicial posets must satisfy one more subtle condition conjectured by R. Stanley and complete characterization of those h-vectors. Our proof is purely algebraic but the idea of the proof stems from topology.
We prove a decomposition theorem for the cd-index of a Gorenstein* poset analogous to the decomposition theorem for the intersection cohomology of a toric variety. From this we settle a conjecture of Stanley that the cd-index of Gorenstein* lattices is minimized on Boolean algebras.
We consider the orbit type filtration on a manifold $X$ with locally standard action of a compact torus and the corresponding homological spectral sequence $(E_X)^r_{*,*}$. If all proper faces of the orbit space $Q=X/T$ are acyclic, and the free part of the action is trivial, this spectral sequence can be described in full. The ranks of diagonal terms are equal to the $h'$-numbers of the Buchsbaum simplicial poset $S_Q$ dual to $Q$. Betti numbers of $X$ depend only on the orbit space $Q$ but not on the characteristic function. If $X$ is a slightly different object, namely the model space $X=(P…
The family of Buchsbaum simplicial posets generalizes the family of simplicial cell manifolds. The $h'$-vector of a simplicial complex or simplicial poset encodes the combinatorial and topological data of its face numbers and the reduced Betti numbers of its geometric realization. Novik and Swartz showed that the $h'$-vector of a Buchsbaum simplicial poset satisfies certain simple inequalities; in this paper we show that these necessary conditions are in fact sufficient to characterize the $h'$-vectors of Buchsbaum simplicial posets with prescribed Betti numbers.
We introduce Artinian Gorenstein algebras defined by the face posets of regular polyhedra. We consider the strong Lefschetz property and Hodge--Riemann relation for the algebras. We show the strong Lefschetz property of the algebras for all Platonic solids. On the other hand, for some Platonic solids, we show that the algebras do not satisfy the Hodge--Riemann relation with respect to some strong Lefschetz elements.
We establish an upper bound on the cardinality of a minimal generating set for the fundamental group of a large family of connected, balanced simplicial complexes and, more generally, simplicial posets.
We give a description of a new Macaulay2 package called SimplicialPosets. This package provides functions for working with simplicial posets and calculating their generalized Stanley-Reisner ideals. For practical purposes, we also introduce of a new random model for a class of simplicial posets which generalizes existing models for random simplicial complexes such as the Kahle model.
For several important classes of manifolds acted on by the torus, the information about the action can be encoded combinatorially by a regular n-valent graph with vector labels on its edges, which we refer to as the torus graph. By analogy with the GKM-graphs, we introduce the notion of equivariant cohomology of a torus graph, and show that it is isomorphic to the face ring of the associated simplicial poset. This extends a series of previous results on the equivariant cohomology of torus manifolds. As a primary combinatorial application, we show that a simplicial poset is Cohen-Macaulay if it…
There are a large number of theorems detailing the homological properties of the Stanley--Reisner ring of a simplicial complex. Here we attempt to generalize some of these results to the case of a simplicial poset. By investigating the combinatorics of certain modules associated with the face ring of a simplicial poset from a topological viewpoint, we extend some results of Miyazaki and Gräbe to a wider setting.
Results of R. Stanley and M. Masuda completely characterize the h-vectors of simplicial posets whose order complexes are spheres. In this paper we examine the corresponding question in the case where the order complex is a ball. Using the face rings of these posets, we develop a series of new conditions on their h-vectors. We also present new methods for constructing poset balls with specific h-vectors. These results allow us to give a complete characterization of the h-vectors of simplicial poset balls up through dimension six.
In this paper, we study face vectors of simplicial posets that are the face posets of cell decompositions of topological manifolds without boundary. We characterize all possible face vectors of simplicial posets whose geometric realizations are homeomorphic to the product of spheres. As a corollary, we obtain the characterization of face vectors of simplicial posets whose geometric realizations are odd dimensional manifolds without boundary.
We introduce the notion of nonevasive reduction, and show that for any monotone poset map $ϕ:P\to P$, the simplicial complex $Δ(P)$ {\tt NE}-reduces to $Δ(Q)$, for any $Q\supseteq{\text{\rm Fix}}ϕ$. As a corollary, we prove that for any order-preserving map $ϕ:P\to P$ satisfying $ϕ(x)\geq x$, for any $x\in P$, the simplicial complex $Δ(P)$ collapses to $Δ(ϕ(P))$. We also obtain a generalization of Crapo's closure theorem.
We study dismantlability in graphs. In order to compare this notion to similar operations in posets (partially ordered sets) or in simplicial complexes, we prove that a graph G dismants on a subgraph H if and only if H is a strong deformation retract of G. Then, by looking at a triangle relating graphs, posets and simplicial complexes, we get a precise correspondence of the various notions of dismantlability in each framework. As an application, we study the link between the graph of morphisms from a graph G to a graph H and the polyhedral complex Hom(G,H); this gives a more precise statement …
We extend the notion of face rings of simplicial complexes and simplicial posets to the case of finite-length (possibly infinite) simplicial posets with a group action. The action on the complex induces an action on the face ring, and we prove that the ring of invariants is isomorphic to the face ring of the quotient simplicial poset under a mild condition on the group action. We also identify a class of actions on simplicial complexes that preserve the homotopical Cohen-Macaulay property under quotients. When the acted-upon poset is the independence complex of a semimatroid, the $h$-polynomia…
We characterize the cd-indices of Gorenstein* posets of rank 5, equivalently the flag f-vectors of Gorenstein* order complexes of dimension 3. As a corollary, we characterize the f-vectors of Gorenstein* order complexes in dimensions 3 and 4. This characterization rise a speculated intimate connection between the f-vectors of flag homology spheres and the f-vectors of Gorenstein* order complexes.
Let $P$ be a finite poset, $K$ a field, and $O(P)$ (resp. $C(P)$) the order (resp. chain) polytope of $P$. We study the non-Gorenstein locus of $E_K[O(P)]$ (resp. $E_K[C(P)]$), the Ehrhart ring of $O(P)$ (resp. $C(P)$) over $K$, which are each normal toric rings associated $P$. In particular, we show that the dimension of non-Gorenstein loci of $E_K[O(P)]$ and $E_K[C(P)]$ are the same. Further, we show that $E_K[C(P)]$ is nearly Gorenstein if and only if $P$ is the disjoint union of pure posets $P_1, \ldots, P_s$ with $|\mathrm{rank} P_i-\mathrm{rank} P_j|\leq 1$ for any $i$ and $j$.
Q-factorial Gorenstein toric Fano varieties X of dimension d with Picard number rho(X) correspond to simplicial reflexive d-polytopes with rho(X)+d vertices. Casagrande showed that any simplicial reflexive d-polytope has at most 3d vertices, if d is even, respectively, 3d-1, if d is odd. Moreover, it is known that equality for d even implies uniqueness up to unimodular equivalence. In this paper we completely classify all simplicial reflexive d-polytopes having 3d-1 vertices, corresponding to d-dimensional Q-factorial Gorenstein toric Fano varieties with Picard number 2d-1. For d even, there e…
In 1992 Thomas Bier presented a strikingly simple method to produce a huge number of simplicial (n-2)-spheres on 2n vertices as deleted joins of a simplicial complex on n vertices with its combinatorial Alexander dual. Here we interpret his construction as giving the poset of all the intervals in a boolean algebra that "cut across an ideal." Thus we arrive at a substantial generalization of Bier's construction: the Bier posets Bier(P,I) of an arbitrary bounded poset P of finite length. In the case of face posets of PL spheres this yields cellular "generalized Bier spheres." In the case of Eule…
The socle of a graded Buchsbaum module is studied and is related to its local cohomology modules. This algebraic result is then applied to face enumeration of Buchsbaum simplicial complexes and posets. In particular, new necessary conditions on face numbers and Betti numbers of such complexes and posets are established. These conditions are used to settle in the affirmative Kühnel's conjecture for the maximum value of the Euler characteristic of a $2k$-dimensional simplicial manifold on $n$ vertices as well as Kalai's conjecture providing a lower bound on the number of edges of a simplicial ma…
With any locally finite partially ordered set $K$ its incidence algebra $Ω(K)$ is associated. We shall consider algebras over fields with characteristic zero. In this case there is a correspondence $K \leftrightarrow Ω(K)$ such that the poset $K$ can be reconstructed from its incidence algebra up to an isomorphism -- due to Stanley theorem. In the meantime, a monotone mapping between two posets in general induces no homomorphism of their incidence algebras. In this paper I show that if the class of posets is confined to simplicial complexes then their incidence algebras acquire the structure o…
This is both an expository and research paper where we advocate a systematic study of continuous analogues of finite partially ordered sets, convex polytopes, oriented matroids, arrangements of subspaces, finite simplicial complexes, and other combinatorial structures. Among the illustrative examples are an Euler formula for a class of `continuous convex polytopes' (conjectured by Kalai and Wigderson), a duality result for a class of `continuous matroids', a calculation of the Euler characteristic of ideals in the Grassmannian poset (related to a problem of Gian-Carlo Rota), an exposition of t…
The classical Dehn--Sommerville relations assert that the $h$-vector of an Eulerian simplicial complex is symmetric. We establish three generalizations of the Dehn--Sommerville relations: one for the $h$-vectors of pure simplicial complexes, another one for the flag $h$-vectors of balanced simplicial complexes and graded posets, and yet another one for the toric $h$-vectors of graded posets with restricted singularities. In all of these cases, we express any failure of symmetry in terms of "errors coming from the links." For simplicial complexes, this further extends Klee's semi-Eulerian relat…
The construction of the Bier sphere Bier(K) for a simplicial complex K is due to Bier. Björner, Paffenholz, Sjöstrand and Ziegler generalize this construction to obtain a Bier poset Bier(P,I) from any bounded poset P and any proper ideal I of P. They show shellability of Bier(P,I) for the case where P is the boolean lattice, and obtain thereby 'many shellable spheres' in the sense of Kalai. We put the Bier construction into the general framework of the theory of nested set complexes of Feichtner and Kozlov. We obtain 'more shellable spheres' by proving the general statement that combinatorial …
We develop a tighter implementation of basic PL topology, which keeps track of some combinatorial structure beyond PL homeomorphism type. With this technique we clarify some aspects of PL transversality and give combinatorial proofs of a number of known results. New results include a combinatorial characterization of collapsible polyhedra in terms of constructible posets (generalizing face posets of constructible simplicial complexes in the sense of Hochster). The relevant constructible posets are also characterized in terms of Reading's zipping of posets, which is a variation of edge contract…
We consider a simplicial complex generaliztion of a result of Billera and Meyers that every nonshellable poset contains the smallest nonshellable poset as an induced subposet. We prove that every nonshellable $2$-dimensional simplicial complex contains a nonshellable induced subcomplex with less than $8$ vertices. We also establish CL-shellability of interval orders and as a consequence obtain a formula for the Betti numbers of any interval order.
Local to global machinery plays an important role in the study of simplicial complexes, since the seminal work of Garland [G] to our days. In this work we develop a local to global machinery for general posets. We show that the high dimensional expansion notions and many recent expansion results have a generalization to posets. Examples are fast convergence of high dimensional random walks generalizing [KO,AL], an equivalence with a global random walk definition, generalizing [DDFH] and a trickling down theorem, generalizing [O]. In particular, we show that some posets, such as the Grassmannia…
There is a canonical way to associate two simplicial complexes K, L to any relation $R\subset X\times Y$. Moreover, the geometric realizations of K and L are homotopy equivalent. This was studied in the fifties by C.H. Dowker. In this article we prove a Galois-type correspondence for relations $R\subset X\times Y$ when X is fixed and use these constructions to investigate finite posets (or equivalently, finite topological spaces) from a geometrical point of view. Given any poset $(X, \leq)$, we define the simplicial complexes K, L associated to the relation $\leq$. In many cases these polyhedr…
We study degree sequences for simplicial posets and polyhedral complexes, generalizing the well-studied graphical degree sequences. Here we extend the more common generalization of vertex-to-facet degree sequences by considering arbitrary face-to-flag degree sequences. In particular, these may be viewed as natural refinements of the flag f-vector of the poset. We investigate properties and relations of these generalized degree sequences, proving linear relations between flag degree sequences in terms of the composition of rank jumps of the flag. As a corollary, we recover an f-vector inequalit…
Any manifold with boundary gives rise to a Poincare duality algebra in a natural way. Given a simplicial poset $S$ whose geometric realization is a closed orientable homology manifold, and a characteristic function, we construct a manifold with boundary such that graded components of its Poincare duality algebra have dimensions $h_k"(S)$. This gives a clear topological evidence for two well-known facts about simplicial manifolds: the nonnegativity of $h"$-numbers (Novik--Swartz theorem) and the symmetry $h"_k=h"_{n-k}$ (generalized Dehn--Sommerville relations).
A simplicial cell ball is a simplicial poset whose geometric realization is homeomorphic to a ball. Recently, Samuel Kolins gave a series of necessary conditions and sufficient conditions on $h$-vectors of simplicial cell balls, and characterized them up to dimension 6. In this paper, we extend Kolins' results. We characterize all possible $h$-vectors of simplicial cell balls in arbitrary dimension.
The flag vector contains all the face incidence data of a polytope, and in the poset setting, the chain enumerative data. It is a classical result due to Bayer and Klapper that for face lattices of polytopes, and more generally, Eulerian graded posets, the flag vector can be written as a cd-index, a non-commutative polynomial which removes all the linear redundancies among the flag vector entries. This result holds for regular CW complexes. We relax the regularity condition to show the cd-index exists for Whitney stratified manifolds by extending the notion of a graded poset to that of a quasi…
Discrete normal surfaces are normal surfaces whose intersection with each tetrahedron of a triangulation has at most one component. They are also natural Poincaré duals to 1-cocycles with $\ZZ/2\ZZ$-coefficients. For a fixed cohomology class in a simplicial poset the average Euler characteristic of the associated discrete normal surfaces only depends on the $f$-vector of the triangulation. As an application we determine the minimum simplicial poset representations, also known as crystallizations, of lens spaces $L(2k,q),$ where $2k=qr+1.$ Higher dimensional analogs of discrete normal surfaces …
This thesis aims to give the reader an introduction and overview of the cd-index of a poset, as well as establish some new results. We give a combinatorial proof of Ehrenborg and Karu's cd-index subdivision decomposition for Gorenstein* complexes and extend it to a wider class of subdivisions. In doing so, we define a local cd-index that behaves analogously to the well studied local h-vector. We examine known cd-index and h-vector bounds, and then use the local cd-index to bound a particular class of polytopes with the cd-index of a stacked polytope. We conclude by investigating the h-vector a…
Hypertrees and noncrossing trees are well-established objects in the combinatorics literature, but the hybrid notion of a noncrossing hypertree has received less attention. In this article I investigate the poset of noncrossing hypertrees as an induced subposet of the hypertree poset. Its dual is the face poset of a simplicial complex, one that can be identified with a generalized cluster complex of type $A$. The first main result is that this noncrossing hypertree complex is homeomorphic to a piecewise spherical complex associated with the noncrossing partition lattice and thus it has a natur…
We study the equivariant flag $f$-vector and equivariant flag $h$-vector of a balanced relative simplicial complex with respect to a group action. When the complex satisfies Serre's condition $(S_{\ell}),$ we show that the equivariant flag $h$-vector, the equivariant $h$-vector, and the equivariant $f$-vector satisfy several inequalities. We apply these results to the study of $P$-partitions of double posets, and weak colorings of mixed graphs.
The Dushnik-Miller dimension of a poset $\le$ is the minimal number $d$ of linear extensions $\le_1, \ldots , \le_d$ of $\le$ such that $\le$ is the intersection of $\le_1, \ldots , \le_d$. Supremum sections are simplicial complexes introduced by Scarf and are linked to the Dushnik-Miller as follows: the inclusion poset of a simplicial complex is of Dushnik-Miller dimension at most $d$ if and only if it is included in a supremum section coming from a representation of dimension $d$. Collapsibility is a topoligical property of simplicial complexes which has been introduced by Whitehead and whic…
We construct many nonpolytopal nonsimplicial Gorenstein* meet semi-lattices with nonnegative toric g-vector, supporting a conjecture of Stanley. These are formed as Bier spheres over the face posets of multiplexes, polytopes constructed by Bisztriczky as generalizations of simplices.
This thesis focuses on algebraic shifting and its applications to f-vector theory of simplicial complexes and more general graded posets. In particular, several approaches and partial results concerning the g-conjecture for simplicial spheres are presented here.
We show that the Ehrhart h-vector of an integer Gorenstein polytope with a regular unimodular triangulation satisfies McMullen's g-theorem; in particular, it is unimodal. This result generalizes a recent theorem of Athanasiadis (conjectured by Stanley) for compressed polytopes. It is derived from a more general theorem on Gorenstein affine normal monoids M: one can factor K[M] (K a field) by a "long" regular sequence in such a way that the quotient is still a normal affine monoid algebra. This technique reduces all questions about the Ehrhart h-vector of P to the Ehrhart h-vector of a Gorenste…
We prove a number of new restrictions on the enumerative properties of homology manifolds and semi-Eulerian complexes and posets. These include a determination of the affine span of the fine $h$-vector of balanced semi-Eulerian complexes and the toric $h$-vector of semi-Eulerian posets. The lower bounds on simplicial homology manifolds, when combined with higher dimensional analogues of Walkup's 3-dimensional constructions \cite{Wal}, allow us to give a complete characterization of the $f$-vectors of arbitrary simplicial triangulations of $S^1 \times S^3, \C P^2,$ $ K3$ surfaces, and $(S^2 \ti…
An h-tiling on a finite simplicial complex is a partition of its geometric realization by maximal simplices deprived of several codimension one faces together with possibly their remaining face of highest codimension. In this last case, the tiles are said to be critical. An h-tiling thus induces a partitioning of its face poset by closed or semi-open intervals. We prove the existence of h-tilings on every finite simplicial complex after finitely many stellar subdivisions at maximal simplices. These tilings are moreover shellable. We also prove that the number of tiles of each type used by a ti…
