The Polytope of Probability Functions on a Finite Poset

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Snellman, Jan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Snellman, Jan
author_facet Snellman, Jan
contents Kim, Kim, and Neggers (2019) defined probability functions on a poset, by listing some very natural conditions that a function \(π: P \times P \to [0,1]\) should satisfy in order to capture the intuition of "the likelihood that \(a\) precedes \(b\) in \(P\)". In particular, this generalizes the common notion of poset probability for finite posets, where \(π(a,b)\) is the proportion of linear extensions of \(P\) in which \(a\) precedes \(b\). They constructed a family of such functions for posets embedded in the ordered plane; that is two say, for posets of order dimension at most two. We study probability functions of a finite poset \(P\) by constructing an ancillary poset \(\tilde{P}\), that we call *probability functions posets*. The relations of this new poset encodes the restrictions imposed on probability functions of the original poset by the conditions of the definition. Then, we define the probability functions polytope, which parameterizes the probability functions on \(P\), and show that it can be realized as the order polytope of \(\tilde{P}\) intersected by a certain affine subspace. We give a partial description of the vertices of probability functions polytope and show that, in contrast to the order polytope, it is not always a lattice polytope.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_01604
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Polytope of Probability Functions on a Finite Poset
Snellman, Jan
Combinatorics
Metric Geometry
primary 06A11, secondary 52B05
Kim, Kim, and Neggers (2019) defined probability functions on a poset, by listing some very natural conditions that a function \(π: P \times P \to [0,1]\) should satisfy in order to capture the intuition of "the likelihood that \(a\) precedes \(b\) in \(P\)". In particular, this generalizes the common notion of poset probability for finite posets, where \(π(a,b)\) is the proportion of linear extensions of \(P\) in which \(a\) precedes \(b\). They constructed a family of such functions for posets embedded in the ordered plane; that is two say, for posets of order dimension at most two. We study probability functions of a finite poset \(P\) by constructing an ancillary poset \(\tilde{P}\), that we call *probability functions posets*. The relations of this new poset encodes the restrictions imposed on probability functions of the original poset by the conditions of the definition. Then, we define the probability functions polytope, which parameterizes the probability functions on \(P\), and show that it can be realized as the order polytope of \(\tilde{P}\) intersected by a certain affine subspace. We give a partial description of the vertices of probability functions polytope and show that, in contrast to the order polytope, it is not always a lattice polytope.
title The Polytope of Probability Functions on a Finite Poset
topic Combinatorics
Metric Geometry
primary 06A11, secondary 52B05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.01604