On the cross-product conjecture for the number of linear extensions

Abstract

We prove a weak version of the cross-product conjecture: $\textrm {F}(k+1,\ell ) \hskip .06cm \textrm {F}(k,\ell +1) \ge (\frac 12+\varepsilon ) \hskip .06cm \textrm {F}(k,\ell ) \hskip .06cm \textrm {F}(k+1,\ell +1)$, where $\textrm {F}(k,\ell )$ is the number of linear extensions for which the values at fixed elements $x,y,z$ are k and $\ell $ apart, respectively, and where $\varepsilon>0$ depends on the poset. We also prove the converse inequality and disprove the generalized cross-product conjecture. The proofs use geometric inequalities for mixed volumes and combinatorics of words.