Socles of Buchsbaum modules, complexes and posets (Q1034088)

The face numbers of simplicial polytopes and spheres were successfully studied from the point of view of the Stanley-Reisner ring. R. Stanley proved a characterization of the possible \(f\)-vectors by using the fact that these rings are Cohen-Macaulay. In particular this includes the Upper Bound Theorem (UBT). The analogous problem for simplicial manifolds have been partially attacked by several authors, including the first author. In the present paper the Stanley-Reisner ring is examined for the case of a graded Buchsbaum module, and a face enumeration of Buchsbaum simplicial complexes and posets is obtained in terms of the Betti numbers. Again this includes an UBT for simplicial manifolds. As a consequence, the authors prove a conjecture made by the reviewer in [Proceedings Scarborough (Ontario) 1993, NATO ASI Ser., Ser. C, Math. Phys. Sci. 440, 241--247 (1994; Zbl 0811.52006)]. This concerns a lower bound for the number of vertices of an even-dimensional manifold in terms of the Euler characteristic. In the present paper the authors extend this statement to homology manifolds. Moreover they prove a conjecture made by \textit{G. Kalai} in [Invent. Math. 88, 125--151 (1987; Zbl 0624.52004)]. This concerns a lower bound for the number of edges in terms of the first Betti number and the number of vertices. At the end a strategy toward the \(g\)-conjecture for manifolds or homology manifolds is discussed. The main ingredient of the proof is an investigation of properties of socles of Buchsbaum modules. In particular in Theorem 2.2 a formula is obtained which relates the socle with the cohomology of a Buchsbaum module. Remarkably enough, this result could be translated into the combinatorial-topological context leading to new results for the face numbers of manifolds and homology manifolds.