Rank polynomials of fence posets are unimodal

We prove a conjecture of Morier-Genoud and Ovsienko that says that rank polynomials of the distributive lattices of lower ideals of fence posets are unimodal. We do this by proving a stronger version of the conjecture due to McConville, Sagan, and Smyth. Our proof involves introducing a related class of posets, which we call circular fence posets and showing that their rank polynomials are symmetric. We also apply the recent work of Elizalde, Plante, Roby, and Sagan on rowmotion on fences and show many of their homomesy results hold for the circular case as well.