The odd--even invariant of an oriented matroid (Q2493101)

In the case of a real central hyperplane arrangement in \(\mathbb R^d\), the invariant referred to in the title equals \(| e-o| \), where \(e\)~is the number of \(d\)-cells of the arrangement separated from a fixed \(d\)-cell~\(T_0\) by an even number of hyperplanes, and \(o\)~the number of \(d\)-cells separated from~\(T_0\) by an odd number of hyperplanes. (The only interesting case is \(d\)~odd, as \(| e-o| \) vanishes for even~\(d\)). For an arbitrary oriented matroid \(M\), the author generalizes \(| e-o| \) to the expressions \[ \text{soe}(M) \;= \;\sum_{T \text{ a tope of }M} (-1)^{T\cap E^+} \] and \[ \text{oe}(M) \;= \;| \text{soe}(M)| , \] where \(E=E^+\cup E^-\) is the ground set of~\(M\). A main result of this article is that \(\text{oe}(M)\) is invariant under reorientation and dualization of~\(M\), while \(\text{soe}(\widehat M)=(-1)^r\text{soe}(M)\), with \(r\)~the rank and \(\widehat M\)~the dual of~\(M\). In the remainder of the article, the author shows that \(\text{soe}(M)\) is the coefficient of \(x^n\) in the polynomial \(R_{\widehat M}(-x,x)\), where \(R_{\widehat M}(x,y)\) is the Radon catalog of the dual of~\(M\) [\textit{J. Lawrence}, Discrete Comput. Geom. 24, No.2--3, 365--389 (2000; Zbl 0958.52025)], and proves the formula \[ \text{soe}\big(A(n,r)\big) \;= \;2\,(-1)^{\frac{r-1}{2}}\binom{\frac{n}{2}-1}{\frac{r-1}{2}} \] for the odd-even invariant of the alternating oriented matroid of rank~\(r\) on \(2n\)~elements. The article closes with several open problems.