Face vectors of simplicial cell decompositions of manifolds (Q375845)

A simplicial poset is a finite poset in which each interval is isomorphic to a Boolean lattice. Any simplicial poset can be realized geometrically as a regular CW-complex in which each cell is a simplex of some dimension. For this reason, a simplicial poset may also be called a simplicial cell complex. As with simplicial complexes, the \(f\)-vector of a \((d-1)\)-dimensional simplicial poset \(P\), is the vector \((f_{-1}, f_0, f_1, \ldots, f_{d-1})\), where \(f_i\) counts the number of \(i\)-dimensional cells in \(P\). The primary difference between a simplicial poset and a simplicial complex is that any two faces in a simplicial complex intersect along a (possibly empty) face, whereas two faces of a simplicial poset may intersect along an arbitrary subcomplex of their boundaries. As a consequence of this fact, there are often fewer restrictions on the set of \(f\)-vectors arising from certain families of simplicial posets than there are for the corresponding families of simplicial complexes. For example, the family of \(f\)-vectors arising from simplicial cell spheres (i.e., simplicial posets whose geometric realizations are homeomorphic to a sphere) were characterized by \textit{R. P. Stanley} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 71, No. 2--3, 319--331 (1991; Zbl 0727.06009)] and \textit{M. Masuda} [Adv. Math. 194, No. 2, 332--344 (2005; Zbl 1063.05010)]. In contrast, it is currently unknown whether the conditions of the \(g\)-theorem of \textit{R. P. Stanley} [Adv. Math. 35, 236--238 (1980; Zbl 0427.52006)] and \textit{L. J. Billera} and \textit{C. W. Lee} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 31, 237--255 (1981; Zbl 0479.52006)], which characterizes \(f\)-vectors of simplicial polytopes, continues to hold for arbitrary simplicial complexes that triangulate a sphere. It is often more convenient to study the \(h\)-numbers of a simplicial poset instead of its \(f\)-numbers. For example, the \(h\)-numbers of a simplicial cell sphere are symmetric and nonnegative. As an extension of this, the \(h''\)-numbers of a simplicial cell manifold are defined in terms of its \(h\)-numbers and Betti numbers. The \(h''\)-numbers of an orientable simplicial cell manifold without boundary are also symmetric and nonnegative. The present paper gives the following characterization of all possible face vectors of simplicial posets whose geometric realizations are homeomorphic to a product of spheres. Fix an integer \(d\) and positive integers \(m\) and \(n\) for which \(m+n=d-1\). A vector \(h = (h_0, h_1, \ldots, h_d)\) is the \(h''\)-vector of a simplicial cell decomposition of \(\mathbb{S}^n \times \mathbb{S}^m\) if and only if \(h\) is the \(h\)-vector of a simplicial cell decomposition of \(\mathbb{S}^{d-1}\). As a corollary, the paper also characterizes the family of \(h\)-vectors arising from simplicial cell decompositions of real projective spaces and arbitrary odd-dimensional manifolds without boundary.