The Catalan simplicial set

The Catalan numbers are well-known to be the answer to many different counting problems, and so there are many different families of sets whose cardinalities are the Catalan numbers. We show how such a family can be given the structure of a simplicial set. We show how the low-dimensional parts of this simplicial set classify, in a precise sense, the structures of monoid and of monoidal category. This involves aspects of combinatorics, algebraic topology, quantum groups, logic, and category theory.Comment: 15 pages. Replaces and expands upon parts of arXiv:1307.0265; remaining parts of arXiv:1307.0265 will be incorporated into a sequel. Version 2: minor revision; to appear in Math. Proc. Camb. Phil. So

Rational associahedra and noncrossing partitions

Each positive rational number x>0 can be written uniquely as x=a/(b-a) for coprime positive integers 0<a<b. We will identify x with the pair (a,b). In this paper we define for each positive rational x>0 a simplicial complex \Ass(x)=\Ass(a,b) called the {\sf rational associahedron}. It is a pure simplicial complex of dimension a-2, and its maximal faces are counted by the {\sf rational Catalan number} \Cat(x)=\Cat(a,b):=\frac{(a+b-1)!}{a!\,b!}. The cases (a,b)=(n,n+1) and (a,b)=(n,kn+1) recover the classical associahedron and its "Fuss-Catalan" generalization studied by Athanasiadis-Tzanaki and Fomin-Reading. We prove that \Ass(a,b) is shellable and give nice product formulas for its h-vector (the {\sf rational Narayana numbers}) and f-vector (the {\sf rational Kirkman numbers}). We define \Ass(a,b) via {\sf rational Dyck paths}: lattice paths from (0,0) to (b,a) staying above the line y = \frac{a}{b}x. We also use rational Dyck paths to define a rational generalization of noncrossing perfect matchings of [2n]. In the case (a,b) = (n, mn+1), our construction produces the noncrossing partitions of [(m+1)n] in which each block has size m+1.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Alexander Duality and Rational Associahedra

A recent pair of papers of Armstrong, Loehr, and Warrington and Armstrong, Williams, and the author initiated the systematic study of {\em rational Catalan combinatorics} which is a generalization of Fuss-Catalan combinatorics (which is in turn a generalization of classical Catalan combinatorics). The latter paper gave two possible models for a rational analog of the associahedron which attach simplicial complexes to any pair of coprime positive integers a < b. These complexes coincide up to the Fuss-Catalan level of generality, but in general one may be a strict subcomplex of the other. Verifying a conjecture of Armstrong, Williams, and the author, we prove that these complexes agree up to homotopy and, in fact, that one complex collapses onto the other. This reconciles the two competing models for rational associahedra. As a corollary, we get that the involution (a < b) \longleftrightarrow (b-a < b) on pairs of coprime positive integers manifests itself topologically as Alexander duality of rational associahedra. This collapsing and Alexander duality are new features of rational Catalan combinatorics which are invisible at the Fuss-Catalan level of generality.Comment: 23 page

A new graph invariant arises in toric topology

In this paper, we introduce new combinatorial invariants of any finite simple graph, which arise in toric topology. We compute the $i$-th (rational) Betti number and Euler characteristic of the real toric variety associated to a graph associahedron P_{\B(G)}. They can be calculated by a purely combinatorial method (in terms of graphs) and are named $a_i(G)$ and $b(G)$, respectively. To our surprise, for specific families of the graph $G$, our invariants are deeply related to well-known combinatorial sequences such as the Catalan numbers and Euler zigzag numbers.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 4 table

Polygon dissections and some generalizations of cluster complexes

Let $W$ be a Weyl group corresponding to the root system $A_{n-1}$ or $B_n$. We define a simplicial complex $\Delta^m_W$ in terms of polygon dissections for such a group and any positive integer $m$. For $m=1$, $\Delta^m_W$ is isomorphic to the cluster complex corresponding to $W$, defined in \cite{FZ}. We enumerate the faces of $\Delta^m_W$ and show that the entries of its $h$-vector are given by the generalized Narayana numbers $N^m_W(i)$, defined in \cite{Atha3}. We also prove that for any $m \geq 1$ the complex $\Delta^m_W$ is shellable and hence Cohen-Macaulay.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, the type D case has been removed, some corrections on the proof of Theorem 3.1 have been made. To appear in JCT

Stokes posets and serpent nests

We study two different objects attached to an arbitrary quadrangulation of a regular polygon. The first one is a poset, closely related to the Stokes polytopes introduced by Baryshnikov. The second one is a set of some paths configurations inside the quadrangulation, satisfying some specific constraints. These objects provide a generalisation of the existing combinatorics of cluster algebras and nonnesting partitions of type A.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure