Face numbers of sequentially Cohen-Macaulay complexes and Betti numbers of componentwise linear ideals (Q1687389)

The notion of sequentially Cohen-Macaulay complexes first arose in combinatorics. Motivated by questions concerning subspace arrangements, \textit{A. Björner} and \textit{M. L. Wachs} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, No. 4, 1299--1327 (1996; Zbl 0857.05102)] introduced the notion of nonpure shellability. \textit{R. P. Stanley} [in:Higher combinatorics. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Berlin (West Germany), September 1--10, 1976. Dordrecht - Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company. 51--62 (1977; Zbl 0376.55007)] then introduced the sequential Cohen-Macaulay property in order to have a ring-theoretic analogue of nonpure shellability. \textit{P. Schenzel} [Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 206, 245--264 (1999; Zbl 0942.13015)] independently defined the notion of sequentially Cohen-Macaulay modules, inspired by earlier work of Goto. In essence, a simplicial complex is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay if and only if it is naturally composed of a sequence of Cohen-Macaulay subcomplexes, namely the pure skeleta of the complex, graded by dimension. They come with an associated numerical invariant, the so-called \(h\)-triangle, which measures the face numbers of each component according to a doubly indexed grading. In the paper under review, the authors provide a numerical characterization of the \(h\)-triangles of sequentially Cohen-Macaulay simplicial complexes. Their result determines the number of faces of various dimensions and codimensions that are possible in such a complex, generalizing the classical Macaulay-Stanley theorem to the nonpure case. Moreover, the authors characterize the possible Betti tables of componentwise linear ideals. A key tool in this investigation is a bijection between shifted multicomplexes of degree \(\leq d\) and shifted pure \((d-1)\)-dimensional simplicial complexes.