English

The cross-product conjecture for width two posets

Combinatorics 2022-12-05 v3 Probability

Abstract

The cross--product conjecture (CPC) of Brightwell, Felsner and Trotter (1995) is a two-parameter quadratic inequality for the number of linear extensions of a poset P=(X,)P= (X, \prec) with given value differences on three distinct elements in XX. We give two different proofs of this inequality for posets of width two. The first proof is algebraic and generalizes CPC to a four-parameter family. The second proof is combinatorial and extends CPC to a qq-analogue. Further applications include relationships between CPC and other poset inequalities, including a new qq-analogue of the Kahn--Saks inequality.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2104.09009,
  title  = {The cross-product conjecture for width two posets},
  author = {Swee Hong Chan and Igor Pak and Greta Panova},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.09009},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

31 pages, 7 figures. Counterexamples to Conjecture 11.2, 11.3, and 11.4 in v2 were found, and are now included in Section 11.5 and 11.10 of v3. To appear in Trans. Amer. Math. Soc

R2 v1 2026-06-24T01:18:30.099Z