Matchings and Radon transforms in lattices. I: Consistent lattices (Q1068863)

An element in a lattice is join-irreducible if \(x=a\vee b\) implies \(x=a\) or \(x=b\). A meet-irreducible is a join-irreducible in the order dual. A lattice is consistent if for every element x and every join-irreducible j, the element \(x\vee j\) is a join-irreducible in the upper interval [x,1]. This paper shows that in a finite consistent lattice, the incidence matrix of meet-irreducibles versus join-irreducibles has rank the number of join-irreducibles. Since modular lattices and their order duals are consistent, this settles a conjecture of Rival on matchings in modular lattices.