The minimum number of idempotent generators is calculated for an incidence algebra of a finite poset over a commutative ring. This quantity equals either $\lceil \log _2 n\rceil $ or $\lceil \log _2 n\rceil +1$, where n is the cardinality of the poset. The two cases are separated in terms of the embedding of the Hasse diagram of the poset into the complement of the hypercube graph.

For any given subgroup H of a finite group G, the Quillen poset ${\mathcal {A}}_p(G)$ of nontrivial elementary abelian p-subgroups is obtained from ${\mathcal {A}}_p(H)$ by attaching elements via their centralisers in H. We exploit this idea to study Quillen’s conjecture, which asserts that if ${\mathcal {A}}_p(G)$ is contractible then G has a nontrivial normal p-subgroup. We prove that the original conjecture is equivalent to the ${{\mathbb {Z}}}$-acyclic version of the conjecture (obtained by replacing ‘contractible’ by ‘${{\mathbb {Z}}}$-acyclic’). We also work with the ${\mathbb {Q}}$-acyclic (strong) version of the conjecture, reducing its study to extensions of direct products of simple groups of p-rank at least $2$. This allows us to extend results of Aschbacher and Smith and to establish the strong conjecture for groups of p-rank at most $4$.

To a pair $P$ and $Q$ of finite posets we attach the toric ring $K[P,Q]$ whose generators are in bijection to the isotone maps from $P$ to $Q$. This class of algebras, called isotonian, are natural generalizations of the so-called Hibi rings. We determine the Krull dimension of these algebras and for particular classes of posets $P$ and $Q$ we show that $K[P,Q]$ is normal and that their defining ideal admits a quadratic Gröbner basis.

We consider weighted sums over points of lattice polytopes, where the weight of a point v is the monomial qλ(v) for some linear form λ. We propose a q-analogue of the classical theory of Ehrhart series and Ehrhart polynomials, including Ehrhart reciprocity and involving evaluation at the q-integers. The main novelty is the proposal to consider q-Ehrhart polynomials. This general theory is then applied to the special case of order polytopes associated with partially ordered sets. Some more specific properties are described in the case of empty polytopes.

We classify flag complexes on at most 12 vertices with torsion in the first homology group. The result is moderately computer-aided.

As a consequence we confirm a folklore conjecture that the smallest poset whose order complex is homotopy equivalent to the real projective plane (and also the smallest poset with torsion in the first homology group) has exactly 13 elements.

A relation between the anticyclic structure of the dendriform operad and the Coxeter transformations in the Grothendieck groups of the derived categories of modules over the Tamari posets is obtained.

A combinatorial Hopf algebra is a graded connected Hopf algebra over a field $\Bbbk$ equipped with a character (multiplicative linear functional) $\zeta\colon{\mathcal H}\to \Bbbk$. We show that the terminal object in the category of combinatorial Hopf algebras is the algebra ${\mathcal Q}{\mathit{Sym}}$ of quasi-symmetric functions; this explains the ubiquity of quasi-symmetric functions as generating functions in combinatorics. We illustrate this with several examples. We prove that every character decomposes uniquely as a product of an even character and an odd character. Correspondingly, every combinatorial Hopf algebra $({\mathcal H},\zeta)$ possesses two canonical Hopf subalgebras on which the character $\zeta$ is even (respectively, odd). The odd subalgebra is defined by certain canonical relations which we call the generalized Dehn–Sommerville relations. We show that, for ${\mathcal H}={\mathcal Q}{\mathit{Sym}}$, the generalized Dehn–Sommerville relations are the Bayer–Billera relations and the odd subalgebra is the peak Hopf algebra of Stembridge. We prove that ${\mathcal Q}{\mathit{Sym}}$ is the product (in the categorical sense) of its even and odd Hopf subalgebras. We also calculate the odd subalgebras of various related combinatorial Hopf algebras: the Malvenuto–Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations, the Loday–Ronco Hopf algebra of planar binary trees, the Hopf algebras of symmetric functions and of non-commutative symmetric functions.

We characterize and classify the “regular classes of heaps” introduced by the author using ideas of Fan and of Stembridge. The irreducible objects fall into five infinite families with one exceptional case.