An analogue of distributivity for ungraded lattices

In this paper, we define a property, trimness, for lattices. Trimness is a not-necessarily-graded generalization of distributivity; in particular, if a lattice is trim and graded, it is distributive. Trimness is preserved under taking intervals and suitable sublattices. Trim lattices satisfy a weakened form of modularity. The order complex of a trim lattice is contractible or homotopic to a sphere; the latter holds exactly if the maximum element of the lattice is a join of atoms. Other than distributive lattices, the main examples of trim lattices are the Tamari lattices and various generalizations of them. We show that the Cambrian lattices in types A and B defined by Reading are trim, and we conjecture that all Cambrian lattices are trim.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. Version 2 includes small improvements to exposition, corrections of typos, and a new section showing that if a group G acts on a trim lattice by lattice automorphisms, then the sublattice of L consisting of elements fixed by G is tri

Graded left modular lattices are supersolvable

We provide a direct proof that a finite graded lattice with a maximal chain of left modular elements is supersolvable. This result was first established via a detour through EL-labellings in [McNamara-Thomas] by combining results of McNamara and Liu. As part of our proof, we show that the maximum graded quotient of the free product of a chain and a single-element lattice is finite and distributive.Comment: 7 pages; 2 figures. Version 2: typos and a small error corrected; diagrams prettier; exposition improved following referee's suggestions; version to appear in Algebra Universali

Trimness of Closed Intervals in Cambrian Semilattices

In this article, we give a short algebraic proof that all closed intervals in a $\gamma$-Cambrian semilattice $\mathcal{C}_{\gamma}$ are trim for any Coxeter group $W$ and any Coxeter element $\gamma\in W$. This means that if such an interval has length $k$, then there exists a maximal chain of length $k$ consisting of left-modular elements, and there are precisely $k$ join- and $k$ meet-irreducible elements in this interval. Consequently every graded interval in $\mathcal{C}_{\gamma}$ is distributive. This problem was open for any Coxeter group that is not a Weyl group.Comment: Final version. The contents of this paper were formerly part of my now withdrawn submission arXiv:1312.4449. 12 pages, 3 figure

A new subgroup lattice characterization of finite solvable groups

We show that if G is a finite group then no chain of modular elements in its subgroup lattice L(G) is longer than a chief series. Also, we show that if G is a nonsolvable finite group then every maximal chain in L(G) has length at least two more than that of the chief length of G, thereby providing a converse of a result of J. Kohler. Our results enable us to give a new characterization of finite solvable groups involving only the combinatorics of subgroup lattices. Namely, a finite group G is solvable if and only if L(G) contains a maximal chain X and a chain M consisting entirely of modular elements, such that X and M have the same length.Comment: 15 pages; v2 has minor changes for publication; v3 minor typos fixe