Sign-graded posets, unimodality of $W$-polynomials and the Charney-Davis Conjecture
We generalize the notion of graded posets to what we call sign-graded (labeled) posets. We prove that the $W$-polynomial of a sign-graded poset is symmetric and unimodal. This extends a recent result of Reiner and Welker who proved it for graded posets by associating a simplicial polytopal sphere to each graded poset $P$. By proving that the $W$-polynomials of sign-graded posets has the right sign at -1, we are able to prove the Charney-Davis Conjecture for these spheres (whenever they are flag).
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