Collapsing along monotone poset maps (Q2468979)

The set of all vertices of an abstract simplicial complex \(X\) is denoted by \(V(X)\). An \textit{elementary collapse} in a simplicial complex \(X\) is the removal of two open simplices \(\sigma\) and \(\tau\) such that \(\text{dim}\sigma =\text{dim}\tau+1\), and \(\sigma\) is the only simplex of \(X\) different from \(\tau\) itself which contains the simplex \(\tau\) in its closure. \(X\) \textit{collapses} onto its subcomplex \(Y\) if there is a sequence of elementary collapses leading from \(X\) to \(Y\). A finite nonempty abstract simplicial complex \(X\) is \textit{nonevasive} if either it is a point or, inductively, there is a vertex \(v\) in \(X\) such that both \(X\smallsetminus \{v\}\) and \(\text{lk}_X v\) are nonevasive. For two nonempty simplicial complexes \(X\) and \(Y\), \(X\) \textit{NE-reduces} to \(Y\) if there is a sequence \(X=A_1\supset A_2\supset\dots\supset A_t=Y\) such that for every \(i\in\{1,\dots,t-1\}\) there exists \(x_i\) such that \(V(A_i)=V(A_{i+1})\cup\{x_i\}\) and \(\text{lk}_{A_i}x_i\) is nonevasive. An order-preserving map \(\phi:P\to P\) of a poset \(P\) is \textit{monotone} if \(p\) and \(\phi(p)\) are comparable for every \(p\in P\). For a poset \(P\), \(\Delta(P)\) denotes its \textit{nerve}, the simplicial complex whose simplices are all chains in \(P\). The results are as follows. For any monotone map \(\phi:P\to P\), the simplicial complex \(\Delta(P)\) NE-reduces to \(\Delta(Q)\) whenever \(\text{Fix}\phi\subseteq Q\). For any order-preserving map \(\phi:P\to P\) satisfying \(p\leq \phi(p)\) for every \(p\), the simplicial complex \(\Delta(P)\) collapses to \(\Delta(\phi(P))\).