Hopf algebras and edge-labeled posets

Nantel Bergeron and Frank Sottile

Given a finite graded poset with labeled Hasse diagram, we construct a quasi-symmetric generating function for chains whose labels have fixed descents. This is a common generalization of both Ehrenborg's generating function for the flag f-vector and a symmetric function associated to a symmetric labeled posets which arose in the theory of Schubert polynomials. We show that this construction gives a Hopf morphism from a reduced incidence Hopf algebra of labeled posets to the algebra of quasi-symmetric functions.



The manuscript in postscript.
Previous