Shellability of generalized Dowling posets

Abstract

A generalization of Dowling lattices was recently introduced by Bibby and Gadish, in a work on orbit configuration spaces. The authors left open the question as to whether these posets are shellable. In this paper we prove EL-shellability and use it to determine the homotopy type. Our result generalizes shellability of Dowling lattices and of posets of layers of abelian arrangements defined by root systems. We also show that subposets corresponding to invariant subarrangements are not shellable in general.