Shellability of interval orders (Q1300331)

Since McMullen's proof of the ``Upper Bound Theorem'' in 1970, shellability of posets has been intensively investigated. Originally this notion was not defined for complexes that are not pure. However, it turned out in recent works by \textit{A.~Björner} and \textit{M.~Wachs} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, No.~4, 1299-1327 (1996; Zbl 0857.05102) and 349, No.~10, 3945-3975 (1997; Zbl 0886.05126)] that an extension of shellability to nonpure complexes is possible and useful. A poset \({\mathcal P}\) is an interval order if and only if for any \(a,b,c,d\in{\mathcal P}\) satisfying \(a<b\) and \(c<d\) there holds either \(a<d\) or \(c<b\) or both. Note that interval orders are not usually ranked and so its order complexes are not pure in general. The main result of the paper under review is the following: Order complexes of finite interval orders are shellable in the non-pure sense. An alternative proof has been offered recently by M.~Wachs.