Partial flag incidence algebras

Abstract

The $n^{th}$ partial flag incidence algebra of a poset $P$ is the set of functions from $P^n$ to some ring which are zero on non-partial flag vectors. These partial flag incidence algebras for $n>2$ are not commutative, not unitary, and not associative. However, partial flag incidence algebras contain generalized zeta, delta, and M\"obius functions which are finer and more delicate invariants than their classical analogues. We also study some generalized characteristic polynomials of posets which are not evaluations of Tutte polynomials and compute them for Boolean lattices. Motivation for this work came from studying the matroid Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials where partial flag Whitney numbers play a central role.