Polytopes, Fibonacci numbers, Hopf algebras, and quasi-symmetric functions

DOI10.1070/RM2011V066N02ABEH004741zbMATH Open1239.52006arXiv1011.1536MaRDI QIDQ5198629FDOQ5198629

N. Yu. Erokhovets, V. M. Buchstaber

Publication date: 9 August 2011

Published in: Russian Mathematical Surveys (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In this paper we use the technique of Hopf algebras and quasi-symmetric functions to study the combinatorial polytopes. Consider the free abelian group $mathcalP$ generated by all combinatorial polytopes. There are two natural bilinear operations on this group defined by a direct product $imes$ and a join $divideontimes$ of polytopes. $(mathcalP,imes)$ is a commutative associative bigraded ring of polynomials, and $mathcalRP=(mathbbZvarnothingoplusmathcalP,divideontimes)$ is a commutative associative threegraded ring of polynomials. The ring $mathcalRP$ has the structure of a graded Hopf algebra. It turns out that $mathcalP$ has a natural Hopf comodule structure over $mathcalRP$. Faces operators $d_k$ that send a polytope to the sum of all its $(n-k)$-dimensional faces define on both rings the Hopf module structures over the universal Leibnitz-Hopf algebra $mathcalZ$. This structure gives a ring homomorphism $RoQsotimesR$, where $R$ is $mathcalP$ or $mathcalRP$. Composing this homomorphism with the characters $P^{n}oalph{a}^n$ of $mathcalP$, $P^{n}oalph{a}^{n+1}$ of $mathcalRP$, and with the counit we obtain the ring homomorphisms $fcolonmathcalPoQs[alpha]$, $f_{mathcalRP}colonmathcalRPoQs[alpha]$, and $F^{*}:mathcalRPoQs$, where $F$ is the Ehrenborg transformation. We describe the images of these homomorphisms in terms of functional equations, prove that these images are rings of polynomials over $mathbbQ$, and find the relations between the images, the homomorphisms and the Hopf comodule structures. For each homomorphism $f,;f_{mathcalRP}$, and $F$ the images of two polytopes coincide if and only if they have equal flag $f$-vectors. Therefore algebraic structures on the images give the information about flag $f$-vectors of polytopes.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1011.1536

zbMATH Keywords

Lyndon wordsflag numbersLeibniz-Hopf algebraDehn-Sommerville relations\(\mathbf {cd}\)-indexflag polynomialsuniversal \( G\)-polynomial

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Combinatorial properties of polytopes and polyhedra (number of faces, shortest paths, etc.) (52B05) Symmetric functions and generalizations (05E05) Combinatorial aspects of simplicial complexes (05E45) Combinatorics of partially ordered sets (06A07) Fibonacci and Lucas numbers and polynomials and generalizations (11B39) Hopf algebras and their applications (16T05) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to convex and discrete geometry (52-02)

Cited In (7)

• Fiber polytopes and fractional power series
• Massey products, toric topology and combinatorics of polytopes
• Families of tight inequalities for polytopes
• Petrie polygons, Fibonacci sequences and Farey maps
• The flag polynomial of the Minkowski sum of simplices
• Buchstaber invariant theory of simplicial complexes and convex polytopes
• Viktor Matveevich Buchstaber (on his 70th birthday)

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