On the real-rootedness of the local $h$-polynomials of edgewise subdivisions

Athanasiadis conjectured that, for every positive integer $r$, the local $h$-polynomial of the $r$th edgewise subdivision of any simplex has only real zeros. In this paper, based on the theory of interlacing polynomials, we prove that a family of polynomials related to the desired local $h$-polynomial is interlacing and hence confirm Athanasiadis’ conjecture.