Some combinatorial and algebraic properties of Coxeter complexes and Tits buildings (Q798337)

In this long paper, which is both an excellent survey and the further development of a theory to which the author has made many major contributions, Coxeter complexes and Tits buildings are considered from the point of view of shellable and Cohen-Macaulay complexes. Thus, if \(G=\overset\bullet\bigcup_{w\in W}BWB\), where \(W=N/B\cap N\) is the Weyl-group of the BN-pair of \(G\), then \(W=(W,S)\), where \(S\) is a determined set of Coxeter generators of \(W\), with \(| S|\) the rank of \(G\) (and the Bruhat decomposition given). If \(W_{(s)}=W_ J\) with \(J=S\backslash\{s\}\), then the Coxeter complex \(\Delta(W,S)\) is the simplicial complex on \(V=\overset\bullet\bigcup_{s\in S}W/W_{(s)}\), with \(G_ J=BW_ JB\). If \(S\) is finite, then \(g\to C_ g\) determines a bijection \(C/B\leftrightarrow CH(\Delta)\), the set of chambers of \(\Delta=\Delta(G,B,N)\), i.e., \(C_ g=\{gC_{(s)}\mid s\in S,\;g\in G\}\). Using these observations the author is able to duplicate for groups with BN-pairs and Tits buildings many of the results which are available in the (combinatorial) theory of Cohen-Macaulay complexes. Although conclusions drawn are known results in many cases, the methods used to do so represent the author's style and contribution. In order to accomplish this, the author first discusses enough basic combinatorial, algebraic and topological properties of shellable balanced complexes to form a good introduction to the subject and in rewriting the material he adds improvements in the form of extensions and simplifications. In discussing Coxeter groups it is a fundamental result that linear extensions of weak or Bruhat order yield shelling orders to the chambers \(\Delta(W,S)\), whence the algebraic (combinatorial, topological) consequences follow from the algebraic (combinatorial, topological) theory of shellable complexes. The analogy in the construction of Coxeter complexes and Tits buildings is exploited maximally to yield corresponding results in the second case. With numerous results and comparisons made with existing observations in the literature, the paper provides the student a good central point whence to start investigating this area of research in addition to being a reflection of current progress in that same interesting area at a triple-point of algebra, topology-geometry and combinatorics.