Topology of polyhedral products and the Golod property of Stanley-Reisner rings

Abstract: The polyhedral product is a space constructed from a simplicial complex and a collection of pairs of spaces, which is connected with the Stanley Reisner ring of the simplicial complex via cohomology. Generalizing the previous work Grbic and Theriault, Grujic and Welker, and the authors, we show a decomposition of polyhedral products for a large class of simplicial complexes including the ones whose Alexander duals are shellable or sequentially Cohen-Macaulay. This implies the property, called Golod, of the corresponding Stanley-Reisner rings proved by Herzog, Reiner and Welker.