This entry is about topological orders of directed acyclic graphs in graph theory. For topological orders of materials in condensed matter physics, see topological order.
(linear extension)
Given a set equipped with a partial ordering , then a linear extension is a linear order on the same set , such that the identity function is order-preserving
In graph theory, a set equipped with a partial order is an acyclic directed graph, with the partial order representing the reachability relation of the graph, and any linear extension of the reachability relation is called a topological order.
(existence of linear extensions)
For finite sets linear extensions (Def. ) always exist. For non-finite sets this is still the case using the axiom of choice.
A proof under AC was first published in (Marczewski 30). The proposition actually follows from the weaker choice principle called the ultrafilter principle, by appeal to the compactness theorem, as follows.
It is a very simple matter to show linear extensions exist in the finite case: one may proceed by induction. Any finite -element poset has a minimal element (meaning implies ). By induction the restricted partial order on admits a linear extension, and then one may simply prepend to that linear order to complete the inductive step.
The rest is a routine application of compactness for propositional theories. Let be a partially ordered set, and introduce a signature consisting of constants , one for each , and a binary relation . Introduce axioms whenever in , and whenever in the poset , and axioms stating that is a linear order. By the previous paragraph, the resulting theory is finitely satisfiable upon interpreting each as . Hence the theory is satisfiable. Taking any model , and interpreting the constants in , and restricting to them, we obtain a linear extension on .
See also
Wikipedia, Linear extension
Wikipedia, Topological ordering
Last revised on May 27, 2022 at 15:03:37. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.