On the numbers of faces of low-dimensional regular triangulations and shellable balls (Q658380)

The \(h\)-vector of a simplicial complex \(\Delta\) is, as usual, defined through \[ h_k := \sum_{ j=0 }^k (-1)^{ j-k } {{ d-j } \choose { d-k }} f_{ j-1 } \, , \] where \(f_k\) denotes the number of \(k\)-dimensional simplices in \(\Delta\); here \(f_{ -1 } := 1\) and \(h_k := 0\) for \(k > d\). A vector \(\left( a_0, a_1, \dots, a_d \right)\) is an \textit{\(M\)-vector} if \(a_0 = 1\) and for all \(j = 1, 2, \dots, n-1\) \[ a_{ j+1 } \leq {{ b_j + 1 } \choose { j+1 }} + {{ b_{ j-1 } + 1 } \choose { j }} + \cdots + {{ b_k + 1 } \choose { k+1 }} \] when \(a_j\) is written (uniquely) as \[ a_j = {{ b_j } \choose { j }} + {{ b_{ j-1 } } \choose { j-1 }} + \cdots + {{ b_k } \choose { k }} \] where \(b_j > b_{ j-1 } > \cdots > b_k \geq k \geq 1\). A consequence of the celebrated \textit{\(g\)-theorem} is that a necessary condition for \(\left( h_0, h_1, \dots, h_d \right)\) to be the \(h\)-vector of a regular \((d-1)\)-triangulation is that \(\left( h_0 - h_{ d+k } , h_1 - h_{ d+k-1 } , \dots, h_m - h_{ d+k-m } \right)\) is an \(M\)-vector for all \(k=0, 1, \dots, d+1\), \(m = \lfloor {{ d+k-1 } \over { 2 }} \rfloor\). This was proved by \textit{L. J. Billera} and \textit{C. W. Lee} [``A proof of the sufficiency of McMullen's conditions for \(f\)-vectors of simplicial convex polytopes'', J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 31, 237--255 (1981; Zbl 0479.52006)], who conjectured that the condition is also necessary. The paper under review proves this in the special cases \(h_1 \geq h_2 \geq \cdots \geq h_d\), \(d = 3\), and \(d=4\) and \(h_4 = 0\) or \(h_4 = h_1\). The conjectured necessity was subsequently disproved for \(d \geq 5\) by \textit{S. Kolins} [``\(f\)-vectors of triangulated balls'', Discrete Comput. Geom. 46, No. 3, 427--446 (2011; Zbl 1270.52012)].