Generalizations of Eulerian partially ordered sets, flag numbers, and the Möbius function (Q1849972)

Given a graded (finite) poset \(P\) with rank function \(\rho:P\to N\) such that \(\rho(\widehat 0)=0\) and \(\rho(y)-\rho(x)=1\) if \(y\) covers \(x\), and \(\rho(P)=\rho (\widehat 1)\) \((\widehat 0,\widehat 1\), the minimal and maximal elements of \(P\) respectively), and \(P_S=\{x\in P\mid \rho(x)\in S\}\cup\{ \widehat 0,\widehat 1\}\), \(S\subseteq\{1, \dots,n\}\), \(\rho(P)=n+1\), \(f(P_S)\), the number of maximal chains of \((f_S(P):S\subseteq\{1,\dots,n\})\), is the flag \(f\)-vector of \(P\), a surprisingly revealing parameter of graded posets, studied in important special cases, e.g. Eulerian posets, along with their closed cones. The class of \(r\)-thick posets consists of those (finite) posets such that every non-empty open interval contains at least \(r\) elements, Eulerian posets being 2-thick. It is shown that the closed cone of flag-\(f\)-vectors of (graded) \(r\)-thick posets is linearly equivalent to the closed cone of flag-\(f\)-vectors of all graded posets. For finite graded posets \(P\) the Möbius function \(\mu([x,y])=1\) if \(x=y\), \(-\sum_{x\leq z<y}\mu ([x,z])\) otherwise, and Eulerian means \(\mu([x,y])=(-1)^{\rho(x,y)}\), \(\rho(x,y)=\rho(y)-\rho (x)\). The \(k\)-Möbius function is defined as \(\mu_k([x,y])=1\) if \(x=y\), \(-1-{1\over k}\sum_{x<z<y} \mu_k([x,z])\) otherwise, and \(k\)-Eulerian meaning \(\mu_k ([x,y])= (-1)^{\rho(x,y)}\) found to be \(2k\)-thick, with behaviour interestingly analogous to the \(k=1\) (i.e., the ordinary Möbius functions) case including generalizations of Dehn-Sommerville equations, e.g., leading to observations on closed cones of flag vectors of \(k\)-Eulerian posets of rank \(n+1\) as an intersection of closed cones of \(2k\)-thick graded posets of rank \(n+1\) with a naturally defined (generalized Dehn-Sommerville) space in this context.