Flag-symmetry of the poset of shuffles and a local action of the symmetric group (Q1300987)

In analyzing (finite) posets one usually deals with subclasses which are axiomatically interesting or constructively interesting. The best example of a class of the first type in this context may be the class of ranked posets, while it is certainly demonstrated in this paper and earlier results that posets of shuffles \(W_{MN}\) form a large constructively defined class originating in the ``real world'' of mathematical biology, some of whose ``physiology'' was determined in previous papers. In this paper the authors undertake to extend the study of the ``physiology of these posets of shuffles through their discussion of the existence of the somewhat standard machinery of various combinatorially interesting objects, in this case including \(C\)-labeling which ``lends itself naturally to the description of the desired local action of \(S_{M+N}\)'' on the maximal chains of \(W_{MN}\). As is usual in these papers, the arguments include a wealth of techniques, asides and insights falling naturally out of the discussion, and in addition to new and other results \((W_{MN}\) is locally rank-symmetric; the order of \(W_{MN}\) is \(\sum_{k\geq 0}{m\choose k}{n\choose k}2^{M+N-2k}\); the Möbius function \(\mu W_{MN}(0,1)=(-1)^{M+N}{M+N\choose M}\), e.g.) there is ample opportunity to indulge in some formidable manipulation of generating functions as power-series of infinite products leading to interesting and sometimes surprising results and insights one is never surprised to discover in the setting as provided.