Algebraic shifting and basic constructions on simplicial complexes (Q2490391)

By algebraic shifting with each simplicial complex another such complex is associated whose combinatorial structure is simpler, but which still has some basic properties of the original complex. The author tries to understand the behavior of this shifting procedure with respect to basic constructions like union, cone and, more generally, join. In particular, he confirms a conjecture of G. Kalai by showing that the disjoint union of simplicial complexes satisfies within this framework \[ \Delta(K\dot\cup L) =\Delta\bigl(\Delta(K)\dot\cup\Delta (L)\bigr), \] and he gives also an explicit description of \(\Delta(K\dot\cup L)\) in terms of \(\Delta(K)\) and \(\Delta(L)\). The theorem presented below is basic for these results. Namely, define \(init_j(S)\) to be the set of lexicographically least \(j\) elements in \(S\subseteq N\), where \(N\) is the set of positive integers endowed with the usual order. For every \(i>0\) define \(I^i_S=\{T:T \subseteq[n],\;|T|=|S|+i,\;init_{|S|}(T)=S\}\), and denote by \(K_i\) the \(i\) skeleton of a simplicial complex \(K\). If \(K,L\) are two simplicial complexes, with \(d\) as dimension of their intersection, then for every subset \(A\) of the set of vertices \([n]=(K\cup L)_0\) the following additive formula holds: \[ \bigl| I_A^{d+2}\cap\Delta(K\cup L)\bigr|=\bigl| I_A^{d+2}\cap\Delta(K)\bigr|+\bigl| I_A^{d+2}\cap\Delta(L)\bigr|. \] For the join a conjecture of Kalai is disproved, by giving an example of simplicial complexes \(K,L\) for which \[ \Delta(K*L)\neq \Delta\bigl(\Delta (K)*\Delta(L)\bigr) \] with \(*\) as the join operator. The author develops a ``homological'' point of view on algebraic shifting which is used throughout the paper.