Total positivity of transformation matrices for uniform subdivisions

Abstract

The transformation of the $h$-vector of a finite simplicial complex under an $\mathcal{F}$-uniform subdivision is encoded by a transformation matrix. Mu and Welker conjectured that the transformation matrix of the barycentric subdivision is totally positive. In this paper, we give a new combinatorial proof of this conjecture. We also prove the total positivity of the transformation matrix of the interval subdivision. In addition, we establish a sufficient condition for the transformation matrix of a uniform subdivision to be totally positive of order $2$ (TP$_2$), thereby partially answering a question of Mu and Welker. As an application, we show that the transformation matrix of the $r$-colored barycentric subdivision is TP$_2$.