Shellability and the strong gcd-condition (Q1010948)

Let \(\Delta\) be a simplicial complex, and \(\Delta^{\!\vee}\) its Alexander dual. The author proves that if \(\Delta^{\!\vee}\) is shellable, then \(\Delta\) satisfies the strong GCD condition. This combinatorial result is then related to the algebraic properties of the face (Stanley-Reisner) ring \(k[\Delta]\) of \(\Delta\); namely, it is known that if \(\Delta\) satisfies the strong GCD condition, then \(k[\Delta]\) satisfies the Golod property. The above result then shows that the shellability of \(\Delta^{\!\vee}\) implies that the ring \(k[\Delta]\) is Golod. This is compared to the alternate string of implications: \(\Delta^{\!\vee}\) is shellable implies that \(\Delta^{\!\vee}\) is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay, which in turn implies that \(k[\Delta]\) is Golod. The author supplies examples for which both strings of implications are strict (barring one case), and a class of simplicial complexes for which all implications are equivalences. On the combinatorial level, the article is largely self-contained and accessible to readers familiar with simplicial complexes. However on the algebraic level, a more in-depth knowledge of the commutative algebraic properties of the face ring is assumed.