Lattice congruences, fans and Hopf algebras

We give a unified explanation of the geometric and algebraic properties of two well-known maps, one from permutations to triangulations, and another from permutations to subsets. Furthermore we give a broad generalization of the maps. Specifically, for any lattice congruence of the weak order on a Coxeter group we construct a complete fan of convex cones with strong properties relative to the corresponding lattice quotient of the weak order. We show that if a family of lattice congruences on the symmetric groups satisfies certain compatibility conditions then the family defines a sub Hopf algebra of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations. Such a sub Hopf algebra has a basis which is described by a type of pattern-avoidance. Applying these results, we build the Malvenuto-Reutenauer algebra as the limit of an infinite sequence of smaller algebras, where the second algebra in the sequence is the Hopf algebra of non-commutative symmetric functions. We also associate both a fan and a Hopf algebra to a set of permutations which appears to be equinumerous with the Baxter permutations.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figur

Koszul incidence algebras, affine semigroups, and Stanley-Reisner ideals

We prove a theorem unifying three results from combinatorial homological and commutative algebra, characterizing the Koszul property for incidence algebras of posets and affine semigroup rings, and characterizing linear resolutions of squarefree monomial ideals. The characterization in the graded setting is via the Cohen-Macaulay property of certain posets or simplicial complexes, and in the more general nongraded setting, via the sequential Cohen-Macaulay property.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure. Minor changes from previous version. To appear in Advances in Mathematic