Relative Stanley-Reisner theory and Upper Bound Theorems for Minkowski sums

Abstract

In this paper we settle long-standing questions regarding the combinatorial complexity of Minkowski sums of polytopes: We give a tight upper bound for the number of faces of a Minkowski sum, including a characterization of the case of equality. We similarly give a (tight) upper bound theorem for mixed faces of Minkowski sums. This has a wide range of applications and generalizes the classical the Upper Bound Theorems of McMullen and Stanley. Our main tool is relative Stanley--Reisner theory, a powerful generalization of the algebraic theory of simplicial complexes inaugurated by Hochster, Reisner, and Stanley. A key feature of our theory is the ability to accomodate topological as well as combinatorial restrictions. We illustrate this by providing several simplicial isoperimetric and reverse isoperimetric inequalities.