The geometry of relations (Q981684)

Classically a finite poset \((X, \leq)\) gives rise to a topological space by constructing the simplicial complex \(\Delta_{X}\) of its finite chains. This paper defines two simplicial complexes \(K_{X}\) and \(L_{X}\) associated to a relation \(\leq\) on \(X\). Roughly these complexes are defined from the subset \(R \subset X \times X\) given by the relation. The \(n\)-simplexes of \(L_{X}\) are the subsets \(\{ x_{0},\dots,x_{n}\}\) of \(X\) such that there exists \(y \in X\) with \(x_{i} \leq y\) for all \(i\). The simplexes of \(L_{X}\) are the subsets of \(X\) with a common lower bound \(z \in X\). In many cases these polyhedra have the same homotopy type as \(\Delta_{X}\). The paper gives a complete characterization of the simplicial complexes that are the \(K\) or \(L\) complexes of some finite poset and shows that the complexes are topologically equivalent to the ones obtained from the smaller poset induced by \(<\) (as opposed to \(\leq\)). In fact the author shows that the larger complexes collapse onto the smaller ones.