Homotopy type of the boolean complex of a Coxeter system

In any Coxeter group, the set of elements whose principal order ideals are boolean forms a simplicial poset under the Bruhat order. This simplicial poset defines a cell complex, called the boolean complex. In this paper it is shown that, for any Coxeter system of rank n, the boolean complex is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of (n−1)-dimensional spheres. The number of such spheres can be computed recursively from the unlabeled Coxeter graph, and defines a new graph invariant called the boolean number. Specific calculations of the boolean number are given for all finite and affine irreducible Coxeter systems, as well as for systems with graphs that are disconnected, complete, or stars. One implication of these results is that the boolean complex is contractible if and only if a generator of the Coxeter system is in the center of the group.     

Subword complexes, cluster complexes, and generalized multi-associahedra

In this paper, we use subword complexes to provide a uniform approach to finite-type cluster complexes and multi-associahedra. We introduce, for any finite Coxeter group and any nonnegative integer k, a spherical subword complex called multi-cluster complex. For k=1, we show that this subword complex is isomorphic to the cluster complex of the given type. We show that multi-cluster complexes of types A and B coincide with known simplicial complexes, namely with the simplicial complexes of multi-triangulations and centrally symmetric multi-triangulations, respectively. Furthermore, we show that the multi-cluster complex is universal in the sense that every spherical subword complex can be realized as a link of a face of the multi-cluster complex.     

Special matchings and Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials

In 1979 Kazhdan and Lusztig defined, for every Coxeter group W, a family of polynomials, indexed by pairs of elements of W, which have become known as the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of W, and which have proven to be of importance in several areas of mathematics. In this paper, we show that the combinatorial concept of a special matching plays a fundamental role in the computation of these polynomials. Our results also imply, and generalize, the recent one in [Adv. in Math. 180 (2003) 146-175] on the combinatorial invariance of Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials.     

On the monodromy action on Milnor fibers of graphic arrangements

We analyze the monodromy action, over the rationals, on the first homology group of the Milnor fiber, for arbitrary subarrangements of Coxeter arrangements. We propose a combinatorial formula for the monodromy action, involving Aomoto complexes in positive characteristic. We verify the formula, in cases A, B and D.     

Reflection groups of geodesic spaces and Coxeter groups

H.S.M. Coxeter showed that a group Γ is a finite reflection group of an Euclidean space if and only if Γ is a finite Coxeter group. In this paper, we define reflections of geodesic spaces in general, and we prove that Γ is a cocompact discrete reflection group of some geodesic space if and only if Γ is a Coxeter group.     

Minimal length elements in some double cosets of Coxeter groups

We study the minimal length elements in some double cosets of Coxeter groups and use them to study Lusztig's G-stable pieces and the generalization of G-stable pieces introduced by Lu and Yakimov. We also use them to study the minimal length elements in a conjugacy class of a finite Coxeter group and prove a conjecture in [M. Geck, S. Kim, G. Pfeiffer, Minimal length elements in twisted conjugacy classes of finite Coxeter groups, J. Algebra 229 (2) (2000) 570-600].     

Hyperbolic Coxeter groups of large dimension

We construct examples of Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter groups of arbitrarily large dimension. We also extend Vinbergs theorem to show that if a Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter group is a virtual Poincaré duality group of dimension n, then n 61.Coxeter groups acting on their associated complexes have been extremely useful source of examples and insight into nonpositively curved spaces over last several years. Negatively curved (or Gromov hyperbolic) Coxeter groups were much more elusive. In particular their existence in high dimensions was in doubt.In 1987 Gabor Moussong [M] conjectured that there is a universal bound on the virtual cohomological dimension of any Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter group. This question was also raised by Misha Gromov [G] (who thought that perhaps any construction of high dimensional negatively curved spaces requires nontrivial number theory in the guise of arithmetic groups in an essential way), and by Mladen Bestvina [B2].In the present paper we show that high dimensional Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter groups do exist, and we construct them by geometric or group theoretic but not arithmetic means.     

Comparing cohomology obstructions

We show that three different kinds of cohomologies - Baues-Wirsching cohomology, the (S_∗,O)-cohomology of Dwyer and Kan, and the André-Quillen cohomology of aΠ-algebra  - are isomorphic, under certain assumptions. This is then used to identify the cohomological obstructions in three general approaches to realizability problems: the track category version of Baues and Wirsching, the diagram rectifications of Dwyer, Kan, and Smith, and the Π-algebra realization of Dwyer, Kan, and Stover. Our main tool in this identification is the notion of a mapping algebra: a simplicially enriched version of an algebra over a theory.     

Salem numbers defined by Coxeter transformation

A real algebraic integer α>1 is called a Salem number if all its remaining conjugates have modulus at most 1 with at least one having modulus exactly 1. It is known [J.A. de la Peña, Coxeter transformations and the representation theory of algebras, in: V. Dlab et al. (Eds.), Finite Dimensional Algebras and Related Topics, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Representations of Algebras and Related Topics, Ottawa, Canada, Kluwer, August 10-18, 1992, pp. 223-253; J.F. McKee, P. Rowlinson, C.J. Smyth, Salem numbers and Pisot numbers from stars, Number theory in progress. in: K. Gy?ry et al. (Eds.), Proc. Int. Conf. Banach Int. Math. Center, Diophantine problems and polynomials, vol. 1, de Gruyter, Berlin, 1999, pp. 309-319; P. Lakatos, On Coxeter polynomials of wild stars, Linear Algebra Appl. 293 (1999) 159-170] that the spectral radii of Coxeter transformation defined by stars, which are neither of Dynkin nor of extended Dynkin type, are Salem numbers. We prove that the spectral radii of the Coxeter transformation of generalized stars are also Salem numbers. A generalized star is a connected graph without multiple edges and loops that has exactly one vertex of degree at least 3.     

A geometric characterization of Coxeter matroids

Coxeter matroids, introduced by Gelfand and Serganova, are combinatorial structures associated with any finite Coxeter group and its parabolic subgroup they include ordinary matroids as a specia case. A basic result in the subject is a geometric characterization of Coxeter matroids first stated by Gelfand and Serganova. This paper presents a self-contained, simple proof of a more general version of this geometric characterization.     

Cohen-Macaulay, shellable and unmixed clutters with a perfect matching of König type

Let C be a clutter with a perfect matching e₁,…,e_g of König type and let Δ_C be the Stanley-Reisner complex of the edge ideal of C. If all c-minors of C have a free vertex and C is unmixed, we show that Δ_C is pure shellable. We are able to describe, in combinatorial and algebraic terms, when Δ_C is pure. If C has no cycles of length 3 or 4, then it is shown that Δ_C is pure if and only if Δ_C is pure shellable (in this case e_i has a free vertex for all i), and that Δ_C is pure if and only if for any two edges f₁,f₂ of C and for any e_i, one has that f₁∩e_i⊂f₂∩e_i or f₂∩e_i⊂f₁∩e_i. It is also shown that this ordering condition implies that Δ_C is pure shellable, without any assumption on the cycles of C. Then we prove that complete admissible uniform clutters and their Alexander duals are unmixed. In addition, the edge ideals of complete admissible uniform clutters are facet ideals of shellable simplicial complexes, they are Cohen-Macaulay, and they have linear resolutions. Furthermore if C is admissible and complete, then C is unmixed. We characterize certain conditions that occur in a Cohen-Macaulay criterion for bipartite graphs of Herzog and Hibi, and extend some results of Faridi-on the structure of unmixed simplicial trees-to clutters with the König property without 3-cycles or 4-cycles.     

Permutahedra and generalized associahedra

Given a finite Coxeter system (W,S) and a Coxeter element c, or equivalently an orientation of the Coxeter graph of W, we construct a simple polytope whose outer normal fan is N. Reading's Cambrian fan Fc, settling a conjecture of Reading that this is possible. We call this polytope the c-generalized associahedron. Our approach generalizes Loday's realization of the associahedron (a type A c-generalized associahedron whose outer normal fan is not the cluster fan but a coarsening of the Coxeter fan arising from the Tamari lattice) to any finite Coxeter group. A crucial role in the construction is played by the c-singleton cones, the cones in the c-Cambrian fan which consist of a single maximal cone from the Coxeter fan.Moreover, if W is a Weyl group and the vertices of the permutahedron are chosen in a lattice associated to W, then we show that our realizations have integer coordinates in this lattice.     

Cambrian lattices

For an arbitrary finite Coxeter group W, we define the family of Cambrian lattices for W as quotients of the weak order on W with respect to certain lattice congruences. We associate to each Cambrian lattice a complete fan, which we conjecture is the normal fan of a polytope combinatorially isomorphic to the generalized associahedron for W. In types A and B we obtain, by means of a fiber-polytope construction, combinatorial realizations of the Cambrian lattices in terms of triangulations and in terms of permutations. Using this combinatorial information, we prove in types A and B that the Cambrian fans are combinatorially isomorphic to the normal fans of the generalized associahedra and that one of the Cambrian fans is linearly isomorphic to Fomin and Zelevinsky's construction of the normal fan as a “cluster fan.” Our construction does not require a crystallographic Coxeter group and therefore suggests a definition, at least on the level of cellular spheres, of a generalized associahedron for any finite Coxeter group. The Tamari lattice is one of the Cambrian lattices of type A, and two “Tamari” lattices in type B are identified and characterized in terms of signed pattern avoidance. We also show that open intervals in Cambrian lattices are either contractible or homotopy equivalent to spheres.     

Coxeter matroid polytopes

If Δ is a polytope in real affine space, each edge of Δ determines a reflection in the perpendicular bisector of the edge. The exchange groupW (Δ) is the group generated by these reflections, and Δ is a (Coxeter) matroid polytope if this group is finite. This simple concept of matroid polytope turns out to be an equivalent way to define Coxeter matroids. The Gelfand-Serganova Theorem and the structure of the exchange group both give us information about the matroid polytope. We then specialize this information to the case of ordinary matroids; the matroid polytope by our definition in this case turns out to be a facet of the classical matroid polytope familiar to matroid theorists. This work was supported in part by NSA grant MDA904-95-1-1056.     

CAT(0) groups and Coxeter groups whose boundaries are scrambled sets

In this paper, we study CAT(0) groups and Coxeter groups whose boundaries are scrambled sets. Suppose that a group G acts geometrically (i.e. properly and cocompactly by isometries) on a proper CAT(0) space X. (Such a group G is called a CAT(0) group.) Then the group G acts by homeomorphisms on the boundary ∂X of X and we can define a metric d_∂X on the boundary ∂X. The boundary ∂X is called a scrambled set if, for any α,β∈∂X with α≠β, (1) lim sup{d_∂X(gα,gβ)∣g∈G}>0 and (2) lim inf{d_∂X(gα,gβ)∣g∈G}=0. We investigate when boundaries of CAT(0) groups (and Coxeter groups) are scrambled sets.     

FUNCTORIAL PROPERTIES OF THE HOPF INVARIANT I

Abstract

Homotopy operations Θ: [ΣY, U] → [ΣY, V] which are natural in Y are considered. In particular a technique used in the definition of the Hopf invariant (as treated by Berstein-Hilton) shows that any fibration p: E → B with fiber V, when provided with a homotopy section of Ωp, determines such a homotopy operation [ΣY, E] → [ΣY, V]. More generally, starting from a track class of homotopies α º f ? β º g we adapt this fibration technique to construct a homotopy operation [ΣY, M(f,g)] → [ΣY, F _α * F _β] called a Hopf invariant. The intervening fibration in the definition of this Hopf invariant arises via the fiberwise join construction.     

Subword complexes and edge subdivisions

For a finite Coxeter group, a subword complex is a simplicial complex associated with a pair (Q, π), where Q is a word in the alphabet of simple reflections and π is a group element. We discuss the transformations of such a complex that are induced by braid moves of the word Q. We show that under certain conditions, such a transformation is a composition of edge subdivisions and inverse edge subdivisions. In this case, we describe how the H- and γ-polynomials change under the transformation. This case includes all braid moves for groups with simply laced Coxeter diagrams.     

A quiver presentation for Solomon's descent algebra

The descent algebra Σ(W) is a subalgebra of the group algebra QW of a finite Coxeter group W, which supports a homomorphism with nilpotent kernel and commutative image in the character ring of W. Thus Σ(W) is a basic algebra, and as such it has a presentation as a quiver with relations. Here we construct Σ(W) as a quotient of a subalgebra of the path algebra of the Hasse diagram of the Boolean lattice of all subsets of S, the set of simple reflections in W. From this construction we obtain some general information about the quiver of Σ(W) and an algorithm for the construction of a quiver presentation for the descent algebra Σ(W) of any given finite Coxeter group W.