h-vector inequalities under weak maps

Abstract: We study the behavior of

h

-vectors associated to matroid complexes under weak maps, or inclusions of matroid polytopes. Specifically, we show that the

h

-vector of the order complex of the lattice of flats of a matroid is component-wise non-increasing under a weak map. This result extends to the flag

h

-vector. We note that the analogous result also holds for independence complexes and rank-preserving weak maps.

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