The toric ℎ-vectors of partially ordered sets (Q4501115)

The authors consider a generalization of the toric \(h\)-vector to Eulerian graded partially ordered sets, following \textit{R. P. Stanley} [Enumerative combinatorics, Vol. 2 (1999; Zbl 0928.05001)], and they give formulas for this poset invariant respectively in terms of the flag \(h\)-vector and the \(cd\)-index of the posets, two invariants for posets. The paper also includes a proof that the Kalai relation on dual posets (\(g_{n/2}(P) = g_{n/2}(P^*)\)) is the only non-trivial relation between the poset and its dual. For a graded poset \(P\) of rank \(n+1\) and \(S \subset \{1, 2, \dots, n\}\), let \(f_S\) be the number of chains in the poset \(P\) such that the set of ranks in the chain is equal to \(S\). The flag \(h\)-vector of a poset is defined by \(h_S = \sum _{T \subseteq S} \;(-1)^{|S-T|} \;f_T.\) On the other hand, the \(cd\)-index is defined as follows: One assigns a weight to each subset \(S\) by \(w(S) = w_1 \dots w_n\), where \(w_i = b\) if \(i \in S\), otherwise \(w_i = a\). Then the \(ab\)-index of \(P\) is \(\sum_{S \subset \{1, 2, \dots, n \} } w(S)\). Let \(c = a + b\) and \(d = ab + ba\). The resulting polynomial in \(c\) and \(d\) is called the \(cd\)-index of \(P\). The \(cd\)-index is a coalgebra homomorphism of \(\mathbb{Z}\langle c,d\rangle\).