Squarefree \( P\)-modules and the \({\mathbf {cd}}\)-index (Q406296)

After Stanley gave a beautiful proof of the upper bound theorem for triangulated spheres by using Reisner's criterion, the study of Stanley--Reisner rings and its applications to \(f\)-vector theory have been of great interest both in combinatorics and in commutative algebra. In the paper under review, the authors introduce a new algebraic concept to study flag \(f\)-vectors of finite posets, which is called squarefree \(P\)-modules, and consider its applications. Squarefree \(P\)-modules are defined as an analogue of squarefree modules which are module-theoretic generalization of Stanley--Reisner rings. The concept of square-free \(P\)-modules is inspired from the work of Karu who proved the non-negativity of the \textbf{cd}-indices of Gorenstein* posets by using sheaves of finite vector spaces on posets. The authors show that there is a one to one correspondence between the squarefree \(P\)-modules and the sheaves on a poset \(P\), and that squarefree \(P\)-modules give a way to interpret Karu's proof of the non-negativity of \textbf{cd}-indices in terms of commutative algebra. The authors define an analogue of the \textbf{cd}-index for any CW-poset and prove its non-negativity when a CW-poset is Cohen--Macaulay. This result proves that the \(h\)-vector of the barycentric subdivision of a Cohen-Macaulay regular CW-complex is unimodal. Then, they prove that the Stanley-Reisner ring of the barycentric subdivision of an odd dimensional Cohen-Macaulay polyhedral complex has the weak Lefschetz property. The authors also obtain sharp upper bounds of the \textbf{cd}-indices of Gorenstein* posets for a fixed rank generating function.