Asymptotic fixed point theorem for infinite partially ordered sets (Q1331973)

If \(P\) is a poset and if \(f:P\to P\) is a comparability preserving map \((x\lesseqqgtr y\) implies \(f(x) \lesseqqgtr f(y)\), where \(x\lesseqqgtr y\) means \(x<y\), \(x=y\) or \(y<x\)), then \(f\) satisfies condition (C1) if there is a finite subset \(P'\) such that for all \(x\in P\), there exists an \(n(x)= n\) such that \(f^n (x)\in P'\). This condition permits the authors to extend certain fixed point results for finite posets to the class of mappings satisfying condition (C1). Fixed point properties of mappings are always of interest and usually powerful tools in many types of further analysis. Classifying posets with suitable fixed point properties for mappings is no exception and has a relatively long history leading from certain lattice examples to classes of lattices and thence to classes of posets. In this paper an ``analogy method'' starting with results obtained via homological methods on order- complexes of finite posets, and thus quite combinatorial in nature, is employed to extend the computations via suitable refinements to a result (Proposition 4.3) from which several corollaries are obtained generalizing results obtained in the case of finite posets. Thus, e.g., if \(P\) is \(Q\)-acyclic then every increasing mapping possesses a fixed point, generalizing a result of Baclawski and Fournier.