In this article, we define a family of regular bipartite graphs and show that the homotopy type of the independence complexes of this family is the wedge sum of spheres of certain dimensions.
We present a number of lower bounds for the h-vectors of k-CM, broken circuit and independence complexes. These lead to bounds on the coefficients of the characteristic and reliability polynomials of matroids. The main techniques are the use of series and parallel constructions on matroids and the short simplicial h-vector for pure complexes.
In this paper we define and study for a finite partially ordered set P a class of simplicial complexes on the set P_r of r-element multichains from P. The simplicial complexes depend on a strictly monotone function from [r] to [2r]. We show that there exactly 2^r such functions which yield subdivisions of the order complex of P of which 2^{r-1} are pairwise different. Within this class are for example the order complexes of the interval and the zig-zag poset of P and the rth edgewise subdivision of the order complex of P. We also exhibit a large subclass for which our simplicial complexes are …
The bounded degree complex $BD(G,λ)$ is a generalization of the matching complexes of a graph. In this paper, we show that the bounded degree complex of a forest is shellable, by using independence complexes of hypergraphs. We obtain a wedge decomposition result of bounded degree complexes when a graph $G$ has a leaf
We study the class of independence complexes of claw-free graphs. The main theorem give good bounds on the connectivity of these complexes, given bounds for a few subcomplexes of the same class. Two applications are presented. Firstly, we show that the independence complex of a claw-free graph with n vertices and maximal degree d is (cn/d+epsilon)-connected, where c=2/3. This can be compared with the result of Szabo and Tardos that c=1/2 is optimal with no restrictions on the graphs. Secondly, we calculate the connectivity of a family of complexes used in Babson and Kozlov's proof of Lovasz co…
We show that the independence complex of a chordal graph is contractible if and only if this complex is dismantlable (strong collapsible) and it is homotopy equivalent to a sphere if and only if its core is a cross-polytopal sphere. The proof uses the properties of tree models of chordal graphs.
We generalize some homotopy calculation techniques such as splittings and matching trees that are introduced for the computations in the case of the independence complexes of graphs to arbitrary simplicial complexes, and exemplify their efficiency on some simplicial complexes, the devoid complexes of graphs, which are simplicial complexes parametrized by graphs. Additionally, we compute the homotopy type of dominance complexes of chordal graphs.
Shelling orders are a ubiquitous tool used to understand invariants of cell complexes. Significant effort has been made to develop techniques to decide when a given complex is shellable. However, empirical evidence shows that some shelling orders are better than others. In this article, we explore this phenomenon in the case of matroid independence complexes. Based on a new relation between shellability of dual matroid polytopes and independence complexes, we outline a systematic way to investigate and compare different shellings orders. We explain how our new tools recast and deepen various c…
In this paper we study the homotopy type of $\Hom(C_m,C_n)$, where $C_k$ is the cyclic graph with $k$ vertices. We enumerate connected components of $\Hom(C_m,C_n)$ and show that each such component is either homeomorphic to a point or homotopy equivalent to $S^1$. Moreover, we prove that $\Hom(C_m,L_n)$ is either empty or is homotopy equivalent to the union of two points, where $L_n$ is an $n$-string, i.e., a tree with $n$ vertices and no branching points.
Let $G$ be the circulant graph $C_n(S)$ with $S\subseteq\{ 1,\ldots,\left \lfloor\frac{n}{2}\right \rfloor\}$. We study the reduced Euler characteristic $\tildeχ$ of the independence complex $Δ(G)$ for $n=p^k$ with $p$ prime and for $n=2p^k$ with $p$ odd prime, proving that in both cases $\tildeχ$ does not vanish. We also give an example of circulant graph whose independence complex has $\tildeχ$ equals to $0$, giving a negative answer to R. Hoshino.
Schrijver identified a family of vertex critical subgraphs of the Kneser graphs called the stable Kneser graphs $SG_{n,k}$. Björner and de Longueville proved that the neighborhood complex of the stable Kneser graph $SG_{n,k}$ is homotopy equivalent to a $k-$sphere. In this article, we prove that the homotopy type of the neighborhood complex of the Kneser graph $KG_{2,k}$ is a wedge of $(k+4)(k+1)+1$ spheres of dimension $k$. We construct a maximal subgraph $S_{2,k}$ of $KG_{2,k}$, whose neighborhood complex is homotopy equivalent to the neighborhood complex of $SG_{2,k}$. Further, we prove tha…
Faculty of Education, An Giang University Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City(安江大学越南国立大学胡志明市教育学院);Institute of Mathematics, VAST(越南科学技术院数学研究所)
We use two cofibre sequences to identify some combinatorial situations when the independence complex of a graph splits into a wedge sum of smaller independence complexes. Our main application is to give a recursive relation for the homotopy types of the independence complexes of powers of cycles, which answers an open question of D. Kozlov.
We show that the independence complexes of generalised Mycielskian of complete graphs are homotopy equivalent to a wedge sum of spheres, and determine the number of copies and the dimensions of these spheres. We also prove that the independence complexes of categorical product of complete graphs are wedge sum of circles, upto homotopy. Further, we show that if we perturb a graph $G$ in a certain way, then the independence complex of this new graph is homotopy equivalent to the suspension of the independence complex of $G$.
We show that if a graph $G$ involves a certain square grid graph as a full subgraph, then a certain operation on it yields a simplicial suspension of the independence complex of $G$. This generalizes a result of Csorba. As a corollary, we determine the simple homotopy types of the independence complexes of some grid graphs.
The neighborhood complex $\N(G)$ of a graph $G$ were introduced by L. Lov{á}sz in his proof of Kneser conjecture. He proved that for any graph $G$, \begin{align} \label{abstract} χ(G) \geq conn(\N(G))+3. \end{align} In this article we show that for a class of exponential graphs the bound given in (\ref{abstract}) is sharp. Further, we show that the neighborhood complexes of these exponential graphs are spheres up to homotopy. We were also able to find a class of exponential graphs, which are homotopy test graphs. Hedetniemi's conjecture states that the chromatic number of the categorical produ…
We determine the homotopy types of the independence complexes of the $(n \times 6)$-square grid graphs. In fact, we show that these complexes are homotopy equivalent to wedges of spheres.
We prove that the independence complexes of some grids have exponential Betti numbers. This corresponds to the number of ground states in the hard-core model in statistical physics with fermions in the vertices of the grid.
In this paper, we determine the homotopy type of the Morse complex of certain collections of simplicial complexes by studying dominating vertices or strong collapses. We show that if $K$ contains two leaves that share a common vertex, then the Morse complex is strongly collapsible and hence has the homotopy type of a point. We also show that the pure Morse complex of a tree is strongly collapsible, thereby recovering as a corollary a result of Ayala et al. In addition, we prove that the Morse complex of a disjoint union $K\sqcup L$ is the Morse complex of the join $K*L$. This result is used to…
To estimate the lower bound for the chromatic number of a graph $G$, Lovász associated a simplicial complex $\mathcal{N}(G)$ called the neighborhood complex and relates the topological connectivity of $\mathcal{N}(G)$ to the chromatic number of $G$. More generally he proved that the chromatic number of $G$ is bounded below by the topological connectivity of $\mathcal{N}(G)$ plus $3$. In this article, we consider the graphs of maximal degree at most $3$ and $4$-regular circulant graphs. We show that each connected component of the neighborhood complexes of these graphs is homotopy equivalent ei…
We study the independence complex of the lexicographic product $G[H]$ of a forest $G$ and a graph $H$. We prove that for a forest $G$ which is not dominated by a single vertex, if the independence complex of $H$ is homotopy equivalent to a wedge sum of spheres, then so is the independence complex of $G[H]$. We offer two examples of explicit calculations. As the first example, we determine the homotopy type of the independence complex of $L_m [H]$, where $L_m$ is the tree on $m$ vertices with no branches, for any positive integer $m$ when the independence complex of $H$ is homotopy equivalent t…
We introduce the notion of \textit{star cluster} of a simplex in a simplicial complex. This concept provides a general tool to study the topology of independence complexes of graphs. We use star clusters to answer a question arisen from works of Engström and Jonsson on the homotopy type of independence complexes of triangle-free graphs and to investigate a large number of examples which appear in the literature. We present an alternative way to study the chromatic number of a graph from a homotopical point of view and obtain new results regarding the connectivity of independence complexes.
We study the independence complexes of families of well-covered circulant graphs discovered by Boros-Gurvich-Milanič, Brown-Hoshino, and Moussi. Because these graphs are well-covered, their independence complexes are pure simplicial complexes. We determine when these pure complexes have extra combinatorial (e.g. vertex decomposable, shellable) or topological (e.g. Cohen-Macaulay, Buchsbaum) structure. We also provide a table of all well-covered circulant graphs on 16 or less vertices, and for each such graph, determine if it is vertex decomposable, shellable, Cohen-Macaulay, and/or Buchsbaum. …
In this article, we introduce the notion of a wedge of graphs and provide detailed computations for the independence complex of a wedge of path and cycle graphs. In particular, we show that these complexes are either contractible or wedges of spheres.
For $r\geq 1$, the $r$-independence complex of a graph $G$ is a simplicial complex whose faces are subset $I \subseteq V(G)$ such that each component of the induced subgraph $G[I]$ has at most $r$ vertices. In this article, we determine the homotopy type of $r$-independence complexes of certain families of graphs including complete $s$-partite graphs, fully whiskered graphs, cycle graphs and perfect $m$-ary trees. In each case, these complexes are either homotopic to a wedge of equi-dimensional spheres or are contractible. We also give a closed form formula for their homotopy types.
In this paper we provide concrete combinatorial formal deformation algorithms, namely sequences of elementary collapses and expansions, which relate various previously extensively studied families of combinatorially defined polyhedral complexes. To start with, we give a sequence of elementary collapses leading from the barycentric subdivision of the neighborhood complex to the Lovász complex of a graph. Then, for an arbitrary lattice ${\mathcal L}$ we describe a formal deformation of the barycentric subdivision of the atom crosscut complex $Γ({\mathcal L})$ to its order complex $Δ(\bar{\mathca…
For a pair $(H_1,H_2)$ of graphs, Lovász introduced a polytopal complex called the Hom complex $\text{Hom}(H_1,H_2)$, in order to estimate topological lower bounds for chromatic numbers of graphs. The definition is generalized to hypergraphs. Denoted by $K_r^r$ the complete $r$-graph on $r$ vertices. Given an $r$-graph $H$, we compare $\text{Hom}(K_r^r,H)$ with the box complex $\mathsf{B}_{\text{edge}}(H)$, invented by Alon, Frankl and Lovász. We verify that $\text{Hom}(K_r^r,H)$ and $\mathsf{B}_{\text{edge}}(H)$, both are equipped with right actions of the symmetric group on $r$ letters $S_r$…
We consider a certain class of simplicial complexes which includes the independence complexes of forests. We show that if a simplicial complex $K$ belongs to this class, then the polyhedral join $\mathcal{Z}^*_{K}(\underline{X}, \emptyset)$ is homotopy equivalent to a wedge sum of CW complexes of the form $Σ^r X_{i_1} * X_{i_2} * \cdots * X_{i_k}$, where $\underline{X}$ is a family $\{X_i\}_{i \in V(K)}$ of CW complexes and $Σ$ denotes the unreduced suspension. This result is applied to study the homotopy type of the independence complex of the lexicographic product $G[H]$ of a graph $H$ over …
The topology of the matching complex for the $2\times n$ grid graph is mysterious. We describe a discrete Morse matching for a family of independence complexes $\mathrm{Ind}(Δ_n^m)$ that include these matching complexes. Using this matching, we determine the dimensions of the chain spaces for the resulting Morse complexes and derive bounds on the location of non-trivial homology groups for certain $\mathrm{Ind}(Δ_n^m)$. Further, we determine the Euler characteristic of $\mathrm{Ind}(Δ_n^m)$ and prove that several homology groups of $\mathrm{Ind}(Δ_n^m)$ are non-zero.
The independence complex of a graph G is a simplicial complex whose simplices are the independent sets in G. In the last couple of decades, the independence complexes of square grids (with various boundary conditions) have gained much attention because of their connections with the hard square model from statistical physics. In this article, we prove that if G is an $m\times n$ grid with open or cylindrical boundary condition then its independence complex is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres. A part of this result settles a conjecture of Iriye.
In [MZ04] Matousek and Ziegler compared various topological lower bounds for the chromatic number. They proved that Lovasz's original bound [L78] can be restated as $\chr G \geq \ind (\B(G)) +2$. Sarkaria's bound [S90] can be formulated as $\chr G \geq \ind (\B_0(G)) +1$. It is known that these lower bounds are close to each other, namely the difference between them is at most 1. In this paper we study these lower bounds, and the homotopy types of box complexes. Some of the results was announced in [MZ04].
The theory of complexes of directed trees was initiated by Kozlov to answer a question by Stanley, and later on, results from the theory were used by Babson and Kozlov in their proof of the Lovasz conjecture. We develop the theory and prove that complexes on directed acyclic graphs are shellable. A related concept is that of independence complexes: construct a simplicial complex on the vertex set of a graph, by including each independent set of vertices as a simplex. Two theorems used for breaking and gluing such complexes are proved and applied to generalize results by Kozlov. A fruitful rest…
A multipath in a directed graph is a disjoint union of paths. The multipath complex of a directed graph ${\tt G}$ is the simplicial complex whose faces are the multipaths of ${\tt G}$. We compute the Euler characteristic, and associated generating function, of the multipath complex for some families of graphs, including transitive tournaments and complete bipartite graphs. Then, we compute the homotopy type of multipath complexes of linear graphs, polygons, small grids and transitive tournaments. We show that they are all contractible or wedges of spheres. We introduce a new technique for deco…
For $n \in \mathbb{N}$, let $h(n)$ denote the number of simplicial complexes on $n$ vertices up to homotopy equivalence. Here we prove that $h(n) \geq 2^{2^{0.02n}}$ when $n$ is large enough. Together with the trivial upper bound of $2^{2^n}$ on the number of labeled simplicial complexes on $n$ vertices this proves a conjecture of Kalai that $h(n)$ is doubly exponential in $n$.
We investigate a notion of $\times$-homotopy of graph maps that is based on the internal hom associated to the categorical product in the category of graphs. It is shown that graph $\times$-homotopy is characterized by the topological properties of the $\Hom$ complex, a functorial way to assign a poset (and hence topological space) to a pair of graphs; $\Hom$ complexes were introduced by Lovász and further studied by Babson and Kozlov to give topological bounds on chromatic number. Along the way, we also establish some structural properties of $\Hom$ complexes involving products and exponentia…
We prove Engström's conjecture that the independence complex of graphs with no induced cycle of length divisible by $3$ is either contractible or homotopy equivalent to a sphere. Our result strengthens a result by Zhang and Wu, verifying a conjecture of Kalai and Meshulam which states that the total Betti number of the independence complex of such a graph is at most $1$. A weaker conjecture was proved earlier by Chudnovsky, Scott, Seymour, and Spirkl, who showed that in such a graph, the number of independent sets of even size minus the number of independent sets of odd size has values $0$, $1…
We introduce a model structure on the category of graphs, which is Quillen equivalent to the category of $\mathbb{Z}_2$-spaces. A weak equivalence is a graph homomorphism which induces a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-homotopy equivalence between their box complexes. The box complex is a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-space associated to a graph, considered in the context of the graph coloring problem. In the proof, we discuss the universality problem of the Hom complex.
The independence complex $\mathrm{Ind}(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the simplicial complex formed by its independent sets. This article introduces a deformation of the simplicial boundary map of $\mathrm{Ind}(G)$ that gives rise to a double complex with trivial homology. Filtering this double complex in the right direction induces a spectral sequence that converges to zero and contains on its first page the homology of the independence complexes of $G$ and various subgraphs of $G$, obtained by removing independent sets and their neighborhoods from $G$. It is shown that this spectral sequence may be u…
The Hom complex ${\rm Hom}(T,G)$ of graphs is a CW-complex associated to a pair of graphs $T$ and $G$, considered in the graph coloring problem. It is known that certain homotopy invariants of ${\rm Hom}(T,G)$ give lower bounds for the chromatic number of $G$. For a fixed finite graph $T$, we show that there is no homotopy invariant of ${\rm Hom}(T,G)$ which gives an upper bound for the chromatic number of $G$. More precisely, for a non-bipartite graph $G$, we construct a graph $H$ such that ${\rm Hom}(T,G)$ and ${\rm Hom}(T,H)$ are homotopy equivalent but $χ(H)$ is much larger than $χ(G)$. Th…
For integers n\geq 1, k\geq 0, the stable Kneser graph SG_{n,k} (also called the Schrijver graph) has as vertex set the stable n-subsets of [2n+k] and as edges disjoint pairs of n-subsets, where a stable n-subset is one that does not contain any 2-subset of the form {i,i+1} or {1,2n+k}. The stable Kneser graphs have been an interesting object of study since the late 1970's when A. Schrijver determined that they are a vertex critical class of graphs with chromatic number k+2. This article contains a study of the independence complexes of SG_{n,k} for small values of n and k. Our contributions a…
We introduce WI-posets as intermediate objects in the study of Z_2-homotopy types of graph complexes. It turns out that (almost) all graph complexes associated to a graph can be viewed as avatars of the same object, as long as their Z_2-homotopy types are concerned. Among the applications are a proof that each finite, free Z_2-complex is a graph complex and an evaluation of Z_2-homotopy types of complexes Ind(C_n) of independence sets in a cycle C_n. The main tools used in the paper are Quillen fiber theorem and Bredon criterion for Z_2-equivalence of Z_2-complexes.
An affine monoid is an additive monoid which is cancellative, pointed and finitely generated. An affine monoid $Λ$ has the partial order defined by $λ\le λ+ μ$. The Frobenius complex is the order complex of an open interval of $Λ$ with respect to this partial order. The reduced homology of the Frobenius complex is related to the torsion group of the monoid algebra $K[Λ]$. In this paper, we pay attention to homotopy types of Frobenius complexes, and we express the homotopy types of the Frobenius complexes of $Λ$ in terms of those of $Λ_1$ and $Λ_2$ when $Λ$ is an affine monoid obtained by gluin…
The notion of $\times$-homotopy from \cite{DocHom} is investigated in the context of the category of pointed graphs. The main result is a long exact sequence that relates the higher homotopy groups of the space $\Hom_*(G,H)$ with the homotopy groups of $\Hom_*(G,H^I)$. Here $\Hom_*(G,H)$ is a space which parametrizes pointed graph maps from $G$ to $H$ (a pointed version of the usual $\Hom$ complex), and $H^I$ is the graph of based paths in $H$. As a corollary it is shown that $π_i \big(\Hom_*(G,H) \big) \cong [G,Ω^i H]_{\times}$, where $ΩH$ is the graph of based closed paths in $H$ and $[G,K]_…
For each finite simple graph $G$, Aharoni, Berger and Ziv consider a recursively defined number $ψ(G) \in \mathbb{Z}\cup \{+ \infty \}$ which gives a lower bound for the topological connectivity of the independence complex $I_G$. They conjecture that this bound is optimal for every graph. We use a result of recursion theory to give a short disproof of this claim.
For $r\geq 1$, the $r$-independence complex of a graph $G$, denoted Ind$_r(G)$, is a simplicial complex whose faces are subsets $A \subseteq V(G)$ such that each component of the induced subgraph $G[A]$ has at most $r$ vertices. In this article, we establish a relation between the distance $r$-domination number of $G$ and (homological) connectivity of Ind$_r(G)$. We also prove that Ind$_r(G)$, for a chordal graph $G$, is either contractible or homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres. Given a wedge of spheres, we also provide a construction of a chordal graph whose $r$-independence complex ha…
Box complex is a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-space associated to a graph, and it is known that a certain $\mathbb{Z}_2$-homotopy invariant of it, called the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-index, gives an effective lower bound for the chromatic number. On the other hand, we show that any $\mathbb{Z}_2$-homotopy invariant of the box complex is not equivalent to the chromatic number. Namely, we construct a graph homomorphism $f:X \rightarrow Y$ such that it gives rise to a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-homotopy equivalence between their box complexes, but $X$ and $Y$ have different chromatic numbers. To see this, we show that some deformat…