Boolean term orders and the root system \(B_n\) (Q1304915)

The set of subsets \(2^n\) of \([n]=\{1,\dots,n\}\) can be provided with total (irreflexive) orders in \(2^n\)! ways and thus for even small \(n\) provides sets impossibly large to deal with unless preliminary restrictions are imposed. A generalized partial term order on \(2^n\) is a partial order such that (1) \(\alpha<\beta \Leftrightarrow a\cup\gamma< \beta\cup\gamma\) when \(\gamma \cap(\alpha \cup\beta)= \varnothing\) and (2) if \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) are not comparable then \(\{\gamma\mid \gamma< \alpha\}= \{\gamma\mid \gamma<\beta\}\) and \(\{\gamma\mid \alpha< \gamma\} =\{\gamma\mid \beta< \gamma\}\), which is Boolean if \(\varnothing< \alpha\) for all \(\alpha\) and a (general) term order if total. Such orders occur in a variety of settings including Gröbner basis theory and comparative probability and are quite numerous although relatively thinning to density \(o\) as \(n\) becomes infinite. The author shows that if \(H_n\) denotes the hyperplane arrangement consisting of all the hyperplanes with normal in \(\{0,1,-1\}^n\setminus o^n\), then the \(n\)-dimensional regions of \(H_n\) are in bijection with coherent (there is a weight vector \(w=(w_1, \dots, w_n)\in \mathbb{N}^n\) such that \(\alpha< \beta\Leftrightarrow \sum_{i\in\alpha} w_i< \sum_{j \in \beta} w_j)\) generalized term orders, and via a ``flipping'' operation defined by the author between coherent term orders passes (equivalently) from one \(n\)-dimensional region of \(H_n\) to an adjacent region, while she also observes that \(H_n\) is the collection of hyperplanes \(\{H\mid H\) is spanned by a subset of \(B_n\}\), with \(B_n\) the root system \(\{e_i\mid 1\leq i\leq n\}\cup\{e_i-e_j,\;e_i+ e_j\mid 1\leq i<j\leq n\}\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), with \(e_i\) the \(i\)th standard basis vector. Taking advantage of this identification the author demonstrates that the Boolean term orders correspond quite naturally to one-element extensions of the oriented matroid \(M(B_n)\), which permits her to make various other observations of interest in these various settings as well including providing a setting involving the Baues problem and a collection of questions for the interested investigator to look at.