A local-global principle for Macaulay posets (Q1970934)

Let \(P\) be a finite set, \(\leq\) a partial order on \(P\), and \(\preceq\) a total order on \(P\). It is supposed that \((P,\leq)\) is a ranked poset with levels \(P_t:= \{x\in P\mid r(x)= t\}\). For \(z\in P_t\) let \({\mathcal F}_t(z):=\{x\in P_t\mid x\preceq z\}\). For \(A\subseteq P_t\) let \(\Delta(A):= \{x\in P_{t- 1}\mid x\leq y\) for some \(y\in A\}\). The triple \((P,\leq,\preceq)\) is called Macaulay poset if, for all \(t>0\), we have: (1) For any \(z\in P_t\) the set \({\mathcal F}_t(z)\) has minimum shadow among all subsets of \(P_t\) of the same cardinality. (2) For any \(z\in P_t\) there is \(z'\in P_{t- 1}\) such that \(\Delta({\mathcal F}_t(z))={\mathcal F}_{t- 1}(z')\). Let \((P^n,\leq^n)\) be the Cartesian power of \((P,\leq)\) and let \(\preceq_n\) be the lexicographic order on \(P^n\) given by \(\preceq\), i.e. for different \(n\)-tuples we have \((x_1,\dots, x_n)\preceq_n(y_1,\dots, y_n)\) if there is some \(i\) such that \(x_j= y_j\) for \(j< i\) and \(x_i\neq y_i\) and \(x_i\preceq y_i\). The authors prove that under certain additional conditions on the Macaulay poset \((P,\leq,\preceq)\) the following implication is true: If \((P^2,\leq^2,\preceq_2)\) is Macaulay, then so is \((P^n,\leq^n,\preceq_n)\) for all \(n\geq 2\). Moreover they show that these additional conditions are necessary for this implication and remain true for the Cartesian powers.