Linear Discrepancy and Bandwidth

The linear discrepancy of a partially ordered set P=(X,), denoted by ld(P), is the least integer k for which there exists an injection f:XZ satisfying (i) if xy, then f(x)<f(y); and (ii) if x and y are incomparable, then |f(x)–f(y)|k. There is an apparent connection between ld(P) and the bandwidth of the incomparability graph of P. We prove that, in fact, these two quantities are always equal.     

A Characterization of Partially Ordered Sets with Linear Discrepancy Equal to 2

The linear discrepancy of a poset P is the least k such that there is a linear extension L of P such that if x and y are incomparable in P, then |h _L (x)–h _L (y)|≤k, where h _L (x) is the height of x in L. Tanenbaum, Trenk, and Fishburn characterized the posets of linear discrepancy 1 as the semiorders of width 2 and posed the problem of characterizing the posets of linear discrepancy 2. We show that this problem is equivalent to finding the posets with linear discrepancy equal to 3 having the property that the deletion of any point results in a reduction in the linear discrepancy. Howard determined that there are infinitely many such posets of width 2. We complete the forbidden subposet characterization of posets with linear discrepancy equal to 2 by finding the minimal posets of width 3 with linear discrepancy equal to 3. We do so by showing that, with a small number of exceptions, they can all be derived from the list for width 2 by the removal of specific comparisons. The first and second authors were supported during this research by National Science Foundation VIGRE grant DMS-0135290.     

Linear Discrepancy and Weak Discrepancy of Partially Ordered Sets

The linear discrepancy of a partially ordered set P=(X,) is the least integer k for which there exists an injection f: XZ satisfying (i) if xy then f(x)<f(y) and (ii) if xy then |f(x)–f(y)|k. This concept is closely related to the weak discrepancy of P studied previously. We prove a number of properties of linear and weak discrepancies and relate them to other poset parameters. Both parameters have applications in ranking the elements of a partially ordered set so that the difference in rank of incomparable elements is minimized.     

Linear Discrepancy of the Product of Two Chains

The linear discrepancy of a partially ordered set P = (X, ≺) is the minimum integer l such that ∣f(a) − f(b)∣ ≤ l for any injective isotone and any pair of incomparable elements a, b in X. It measures the degree of difference of P from a chain. Despite of increasing demands to the applications, the discrepancies of just few simple partially ordered sets are known. In this paper, we obtain the linear discrepancy of the product of two chains. For this, we firstly give a lower bound of the linear discrepancy and then we construct injective isotones on the product of two chains, which show that the obtained lower bound is tight.     

The Fixed Point Property for Posets of Small Width

The fixed point property for finite posets of width 3 and 4 is studied in terms of forbidden retracts. The ranked forbidden retracts for width 3 and 4 are determined explicitly. The ranked forbidden retracts for the width 3 case that are linearly indecomposable are examined to see which are minimal automorphic. Part of a problem of Niederle from 1989 is thus solved.     

The fractional weak discrepancy of a partially ordered set

In this paper we introduce the notion of the fractional weak discrepancy of a poset, building on previous work on weak discrepancy in [J.G. Gimbel and A.N. Trenk, On the weakness of an ordered set, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 11 (1998) 655-663; P.J. Tanenbaum, A.N. Trenk, P.C. Fishburn, Linear discrepancy and weak discrepancy of partially ordered sets, ORDER 18 (2001) 201-225; A.N. Trenk, On k-weak orders: recognition and a tolerance result, Discrete Math. 181 (1998) 223-237]. The fractional weak discrepancywd_F(P) of a poset P=(V,?) is the minimum nonnegative k for which there exists a function f:V→R satisfying (1) if a?b then f(a)+1?f(b) and (2) if a∥b then |f(a)-f(b)|?k. We formulate the fractional weak discrepancy problem as a linear program and show how its solution can also be used to calculate the (integral) weak discrepancy. We interpret the dual linear program as a circulation problem in a related directed graph and use this to give a structural characterization of the fractional weak discrepancy of a poset.     

Linear Discrepancy of Chain Products and Posets with Bounded Degree

The linear discrepancy of a poset P, denoted ld(P), is the minimum, over all linear extensions L, of the maximum distance in L between two elements incomparable in P. With r denoting the maximum vertex degree in the incomparability graph of P, we prove that \({\rm ld}(P)\le \left\lfloor (3r-1)/2 \right\rfloor\) when P has width 2. Tanenbaum, Trenk, and Fishburn asked whether this upper bound holds for all posets. We give a negative answer using a randomized construction of bipartite posets whose linear discrepancy is asymptotic to the trivial upper bound 2r???1. For products of chains, we give alternative proofs of results obtained independently elsewhere.     

Linear extensions of orderings

A construction is given which makes it possible to find all linear extensions of a given ordered set and, conversely, to find all orderings on a given set with a prescribed linear extension. Further, dense subsets of ordered sets are studied and a procedure is presented which extends a linear extension constructed on a dense subset to the whole set.     

Fractional weak discrepancy and interval orders

The fractional weak discrepancywd_F(P) of a poset P=(V,?) was introduced in [A. Shuchat, R. Shull, A. Trenk, The fractional weak discrepancy of a partially ordered set, Discrete Applied Mathematics 155 (2007) 2227-2235] as the minimum nonnegative k for which there exists a function satisfying (i) if a?b then f(a)+1≤f(b) and (ii) if a∥b then |f(a)−f(b)|≤k. In this paper we generalize results in [A. Shuchat, R. Shull, A. Trenk, Range of the fractional weak discrepancy function, ORDER 23 (2006) 51-63; A. Shuchat, R. Shull, A. Trenk, Fractional weak discrepancy of posets and certain forbidden configurations, in: S.J. Brams, W.V. Gehrlein, F.S. Roberts (Eds.), The Mathematics of Preference, Choice, and Order: Essays in Honor of Peter C. Fishburn, Springer, New York, 2009, pp. 291-302] on the range of the wd_F function for semiorders (interval orders with no induced ) to interval orders with no , where n≥3. In particular, we prove that the range for such posets P is the set of rationals that can be written as r/s, where 0≤s−1≤r<(n−2)s. If wd_F(P)=r/s and P has an optimal forcing cycle C with and , then r≤(n−2)(s−1). Moreover when s≥2, for each r satisfying s−1≤r≤(n−2)(s−1) there is an interval order having such an optimal forcing cycle and containing no.     

On the size of maximal antichains and the number of pairwise disjoint maximal chains

Fix integers n and k with n≥k≥3. Duffus and Sands proved that if P is a finite poset and n≤|C|≤n+(n−k)/(k−2) for every maximal chain in P, then P must contain k pairwise disjoint maximal antichains. They also constructed a family of examples to show that these inequalities are tight. These examples are two-dimensional which suggests that the dual statement may also hold. In this paper, we show that this is correct. Specifically, we show that if P is a finite poset and n≤|A|≤n+(n−k)/(k−2) for every maximal antichain in P, then P has k pairwise disjoint maximal chains. Our argument actually proves a somewhat stronger result, and we are able to show that an analogous result holds for antichains.     

Order-couniversality of the complete infinitary tree: An application of zero-divisor graphs

Let

be the class of countably infinite bounded partially ordered sets

such that every non-minimum element of

has only finitely many successors, and has infinitely many immediate predecessors. Write

for the poset obtained by introducing maximum and minimum elements to the complete infinitary tree of nonempty finite sequences

of positive integers, where

if

is an extension of

. A poset

is called

-couniversal if

and for every

there is a bijective poset-homomorphism

. In this paper, couniversality is linked to zero-divisor graphs of partially ordered sets. It is proved that

is

-couniversal if and only if every non-maximum element of

is a (poset-theoretic) zero-divisor of

, and the zero-divisor graph of

is a spanning subgraph of the zero-divisor graph of

.     

偏序集的关联环的同构问题

设Ｘ是局部有限偏序集（或拟序集），Ｒ是含１的结合环，Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｒ）是Ｒ上Ｘ的关联环，关联环的同构问题是指：问题１：怎样的环，能使环同构Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｒ）Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｒ）推出偏序集之间的同构Ｘ芒Ｘ’？问题２：怎样的环或偏序集，能使环同构Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｒ）Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｓ）推出Ｒ　Ｓ？本文证明了对唯一幂等元环（非交换），问题１有正面回答；对问题２，我们证明了对交换不可分解环Ｒ、Ｓ，由环同构Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｒ）Ⅰ（Ｘ，Ｒ）可得到Ｒ＝Ｓ，Ｘ＝Ｘ’。     

A Characterisation of Posets that Are nearly Antichains

We present a characterisation of posets of size n with linear discrepancy n − 2. These are the posets that are “furthest” from a linear order without being an antichain. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Can transitive orientation make sandwich problems easier?

A graph G_s=(V,E_s) is a sandwich for a pair of graphs G_t=(V,E_t) and G=(V,E) if E_t⊆E_s⊆E. A sandwich problem asks for the existence of a sandwich graph having an expected property. In a seminal paper, Golumbic et al. [Graph sandwich problems, J. Algorithms 19 (1995) 449-473] present many results on sub-families of perfect graphs. We are especially interested in comparability (resp., co-comparability) graphs because these graphs (resp., their complements) admit one or more transitive orientations (each orientation is a partially ordered set or poset). Thus, fixing the orientations of the edges of G_t and G restricts the number of possible sandwiches. We study whether adding an orientation can decrease the complexity of the problem. Two different types of problems should be considered depending on the transitivity of the orientation: the poset sandwich problems and the directed sandwich problems. The orientations added to both graphs G and G_s are transitive in the first type of problem but arbitrary for the second type.     

On the partial order polytope of a digraph

We introduce the partial order polytope of a digraphD, defined as the convex hull of the incidence vectors of all transitive acyclic arc sets ofD. For this polytope we prove some classes of inequalities to be facet-defining and show that there is a polynomial separation algorithm for each of these classes. The results imply a polynomial separation algorithm for a class of valid inequalities of the clique partitioning polytope that includes the two-chorded odd cycle inequalities. The polyhedral results concerning the partial order polytope are of interest since a cutting plane based algorithm to solve the maximum weighted transitive acyclic subdigraph problem can be used to solve the maximum weighted acyclic subdigraph problem, the maximum weighted linear ordering problem and a flexible manufacturing problem. For the acyclic subdigraph polytope we show that the separation of simplet-reinforcedk-fence-inequalities is -complete.     

Combinatorial Criteria for Ramifiable Ordered Sets

The tree‐property (classica in cardina theory) and its variants make sense also for directed sets and even for partially ordered sets. A combinatoria approach is developed here, with characterizations and criteria involving (inter alia) adequate families of special substructures of directed sets. These substructures form a natural hierarchy that is also investigated.     

Matrices of Formal Power Series Associated to Binomial Posets

We introduce an operation that assigns to each binomial poset a partially ordered set for which the number of saturated chains in any interval is a function of two parameters. We develop a corresponding theory of generating functions involving noncommutative formal power series modulo the closure of a principal ideal, which may be faithfully represented by the limit of an infinite sequence of lower triangular matrix representations. The framework allows us to construct matrices of formal power series whose inverse may be easily calculated using the relation between the Möbius and zeta functions, and to find a unified model for the Tchebyshev polynomials of the first kind and for the derivative polynomials used to express the derivatives of the secant function as a polynomial of the tangent function.On leave from the Rényi Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.     

Hierarchies of Partially Ordered Connectives and Quantifiers

Connections between partially ordered connectives and Henkin quantifiers are considered. It is proved that the logic with all partially ordered connectives and the logic with all Henkin quantifiers coincide. This implies that the hierarchy of partially ordered connectives is strongly hierarchical and gives several nondefinability results between some of them. It is also deduced that each Henkin quantifier can be defined by a quantifier of the form what is a strengthening of the Walkoe result. MSC: 03C80.     

Preemptive scheduling and antichain polyhedra

We present a theoretical framework, which is based upon notions of ordered hypergraphs and antichain polyhedra, and which is dedicated to the combinatorial analysis of preemptive scheduling problems submitted to parallelization constraints.This framework allows us to characterize specific partially ordered structures which are such that induced preemptive scheduling problems may be solved through linear programming. To prove that, in the general case, optimal preemptive schedules may be searched inside some connected subset of the vertex set of an Antichain Polyhedron.