A triangulation of a simplicial complex $Δ$ is called uniform if the $f$-vector of its restriction to a face of $Δ$ depends only on the dimension of that face. This paper proves that the entries of the $h$-vector of a uniform triangulation of $Δ$ can be expressed as nonnegative integer linear combinations of those of the $h$-vector of $Δ$, where the coefficients depend only on the dimension of $Δ$ and the $f$-vectors of the restrictions of the triangulation to simplices of various dimensions. Moreover, it provides information about these coefficients, including formulas, recurrence relations and various interpretations, and gives a criterion for the $h$-polynomial of a uniform triangulation to be real-rooted. These results unify and generalize several results in the literature about special types of triangulations, such as barycentric, edgewise and interval subdivisions.
We establish a bound for the length of vectors involved in a unimodular triangulation of simplicial cones. The bound is exponential in the square of the logarithm of the multiplicity, and improves previous bounds significantly. The proof is based on a successive reduction of the highest prime divisor of the multiplicity and uses the prime number theorem to control the length of the subdividing vectors.
A weighted simplicial complex is a simplicial complex with values (called weights) on the vertices. In this paper, we consider weighted simplicial complexes with $\mathbb{R}^2$-valued weights. We study the weighted homology and the weighted analytic torsion for such weighted simplicial complexes.
We extend, in significant ways, the theory of truncated boolean representable simplicial complexes introduced in 2015. This theory, which includes all matroids, represents the largest class of finite simplicial complexes for which combinatorial geometry can be meaningfully applied
In a recent paper, Bruns and von Thaden established a bound for the length of vectors involved in a unimodular triangulation of simplicial cones. The bound is exponential in the square of the logarithm of the multiplicity, and improves previous bounds significantly. The authors mentioned that the next goal would be a bound that is polynomial in the multiplicity but not knowing if such a bound exists. In this paper we will prove that such a bound, which is polynomial in the multiplicity $μ$, indeed exists. In detail, the bound is of the type $μ^{f(d)}$ with $f(d) \in \mathcal{O}(d)$.
We establish an upper bound on the cardinality of a minimal generating set for the fundamental group of a large family of connected, balanced simplicial complexes and, more generally, simplicial posets.
Strong placement games (SP-games) are a class of combinatorial games whose structure allows one to describe the game via simplicial complexes. A natural question is whether well-known invariants of combinatorial games, such as "game value", appear as invariants of the simplicial complexes. This paper is the first step in that direction. We show that every simplicial complex encodes a certain type of SP-game (called an "invariant SP-game") whose ruleset is independent of the board it is played on. We also show that in the class of SP-games isomorphic simplicial complexes correspond to isomorphi…
In this note we introduce the concept of the trade space of a latin square. Computations using Sage and the GAP package Simplicial Homology are presented.
Maximal $(k+1)$-crossing-free graphs on a planar point set in convex position, that is, $k$-triangulations, have received attention in recent literature, with motivation coming from several interpretations of them. We introduce a new way of looking at $k$-triangulations, namely as complexes of star polygons. With this tool we give new, direct, proofs of the fundamental properties of $k$-triangulations, as well as some new results. This interpretation also opens-up new avenues of research, that we briefly explore in the last section.
Given a finite CAT(0) cubical complex, we define a flag simplicial complex associated to it, called the crossing complex. We show that the crossing complex holds much of the combinatorial information of the original cubical complex: for example, hyperplanes in the cubical complex correspond to vertex links in the crossing complex, and the crossing complex is balanced if and only if the cubical complex is cubically balanced. The most significant result is that the sets of $f$-vectors of CAT(0) cubical complexes and flag simplicial complexes are equal, up to an invertible linear transformation.
Subword complexes are simplicial complexes introduced by Knutson and Miller to illustrate the combinatorics of Schubert polynomials and determinantal ideals. They proved that any subword complex is homeomorphic to a ball or a sphere and asked about their geometric realizations. We show that a family of subword complexes can be realized geometrically via regular triangulations of root polytopes. This implies that a family of $β$-Grothendieck polynomials are special cases of reduced forms in the subdivision algebra of root polytopes. We can also write the volume and Ehrhart series of root polyto…
We show that the size of the largest simple d-cycle in a simplicial d-complex $K$ is at least a square root of $K$'s density. This generalizes a well-known classical result of Erdős and Gallai \cite{EG59} for graphs. We use methods from matroid theory applied to combinatorial simplicial complexes.
We show that the $h$-vector of a $2$-dimensional PS ear-decomposable simplicial complex is a pure $\mathcal{O}$-sequence. This provides a strengthening of Stanley's conjecture for matroid $h$-vectors in rank $3$. Our approach modifies the approach of combinatorial shifting for arbitrary simplicial complexes to the setting of $2$-dimensional PS ear-decomposable complexes, which allows us to greedily construct a corresponding pure multicomplex.
We verify the Upper Bound Conjecture (UBC) for a class of odd-dimensional simplicial complexes that in particular includes all Eulerian simplicial complexes with isolated singularities. The proof relies on a new invariant of simplicial complexes -- a short simplicial h-vector.
Imposing a strong condition on the linear order of shellable complexes, we introduce strong shellability. Basic properties, including the existence of dimension-decreasing strong shelling orders, are developed with respect to nonpure strongly shellable complexes. Meanwhile, pure strongly shellable complexes can be characterized by the corresponding codimension one graphs. In addition, we show that the facet ideals of pure strongly shellable complexes have linear quotients.
This article surveys some of the work done in recent years on random simplicial complexes. We mostly consider higher-dimensional analogs of the well known phase transition in $G(n, p)$ theory that occurs at $p = \frac 1n$ . Our main objective is to provide a more streamlined and unified perspective of some of the papers in this area.
Given a graph $G$, the number of nowhere-zero $\ZZ_q$-flows $ϕ_G(q)$ is known to be a polynomial in $q$. We extend the definition of nowhere-zero $\ZZ_q$-flows to simplicial complexes $Δ$ of dimension greater than one, and prove the polynomiality of the corresponding function $ϕ_Δ(q)$ for certain $q$ and certain subclasses of simplicial complexes.
Denham, Suciu and Panov, Ray computed ranks of homotopy groups and Poincaré series of a moment-angle-complex $\mathcal Z(\mathcal K$) / Davis-Januzskiewicz space $DJ(\mathcal K)$ associated to a flag simplicial complex $\mathcal K$. In this note we revisit these results and interpret them as polynomial bounds on the face numbers of an arbitrary simplicial flag complex.
We introduce the notion of a quasi-matroidal class of ordered simplicial complexes: an approximation to the idea of a matroid cryptomorphism in the landscape of ordered simplicial complexes. A quasi-matroidal class contains pure shifted simplicial complexes and ordered matroid independence complexes. The essential property is that if a fixed simplicial complex belongs to this class for every ordering of its vertex set, then it is a matroid independence complex. Some examples of such classes appear implicitly in the matroid theory literature. We introduce various such classes that highlight dif…
We consider the random hypergraph on a finite vertex set by choosing each set of vertices as an hyperedge independently at random. We express the probability distributions of the (lower-)associated simplicial complex and the (lower-)associated independence hypergraph of the random hypergraph in terms of the probability distributions of certain random simplicial complex and certain random independence hypergraph of Erdös-Rényi type. We construct a graded structure of the map algebra explicitly and give algorithms to generate random hypergraphs and random simplicial complexes.
The class of $(d-1)$-dimensional Buchsbaum* simplicial complexes is studied. It is shown that the rank-selected subcomplexes of a (completely) balanced Buchsbaum* simplicial complex are also Buchsbaum*. Using this result, lower bounds on the $h$-numbers of balanced Buchsbaum* simplicial complexes are established. In addition, sharp lower bounds on the $h$-numbers of flag $m$-Buchsbaum* simplicial complexes are derived, and the case of equality is treated.
We study the simplicial complex that arises from non-attacking rook placements on a subclass of Ferrers boards that have $a_i$ rows of length $i$ where $a_i>0$ and $i\leq n$ for some positive integer $n$. In particular, we will investigate enumerative properties of their facets, their homotopy type, and homology.
In this paper we inititate the study of abstract simplicial complexes which are initial segments of qualitative probability orders. This is a natural class that contains the threshold complexes and is contained in the shifted complexes, but is equal to neither. In particular we construct a qualitative probability order on 26 atoms that has an initial segment which is not a threshold simplicial complex. Although 26 is probably not the minimal number for which such example exists we provide some evidence that it cannot be much smaller. We prove some necessary conditions for this class and make a…
We construct $d$-dimensional pure simplicial complexes and pseudo-manifolds (without boundary) with $n$ vertices whose combinatorial diameter grows as $c_d n^{d-1}$ for a constant $c_d$ depending only on $d$, which is the maximum possible growth. Moreover, the constant $c_d$ is optimal modulo a singly exponential factor in $d$. The pure simplicial complexes improve on a construction of the second author that achieved $c_d n^{2d/3}$. For pseudo-manifolds without boundary, as far as we know, no construction with diameter greater than $n^2$ was previously known.
Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a hypergraph of rank $r$. We show that the simplicial complex whose simplices are the hypergraphs $\mathcal{F}\subset\mathcal{H}$ with covering number at most $p$ is $\left(\binom{r+p}{r}-1\right)$-collapsible, and the simplicial complex whose simplices are the pairwise intersecting hypergraphs $\mathcal{F}\subset\mathcal{H}$ is $\frac{1}{2}\binom{2r}{r}$-collapsible.
We show that the size of a minimal simplicial cover of a polytope $P$ is a lower bound for the size of a minimal triangulation of $P$, including ones with extra vertices. We then use this fact to study minimal triangulations of cubes, and we improve lower bounds for covers and triangulations in dimensions 4 through at least 12 (and possibly more dimensions as well). Important ingredients are an analysis of the number of exterior faces that a simplex in the cube can have of a specified dimension and volume, and a characterization of corner simplices in terms of their exterior faces.
The Barratt nerve, denoted $B$, is the endofunctor that takes a simplicial set to the nerve of the poset of its non-degenerate simplices. The ordered simplicial complex $BSd\, X$, namely the Barratt nerve of the Kan subdivision $Sd\, X$, is a triangulation of the original simplicial set $X$ in the sense that there is a natural map $BSd\, X\to X$ whose geometric realization is homotopic to some homeomorphism. This is a refinement to the result that any simplicial set can be triangulated. A simplicial set is said to be regular if each of its non-degenerate simplices is embedded along its $n$-th …
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.
We introduce t-uniform simplicial complexes and we show that the lengths of spheres in such complexes are the terms of certain Lucas sequences. We find optimal constants for the linear isoperimetric inequality in the hyperbolic case.
We consider closed simplicial and cubical $n$-complexes in terms of link of their $(n-2)$-faces. Especially, we consider the case, when this link has size 3 or 4, i.e., every $(n-2)$-face is contained in 3 or 4 $n$-faces. Such simplicial complexes with {\em short} (i.e. of length 3 or 4) links are completely classified by their {\em characteristic partition}. We consider also embedding into hypercubes of the skeletons of simplicial and cubical complexes.
We introduce the notion of k-hyperclique complexes, i.e., the largest simplicial complexes on the set [n] with a fixed k-skeleton. These simplicial complexes are a higher-dimensional analogue of clique (or flag) complexes (case k=2) and they are a rich new class of simplicial complexes. We show that Dirac's theorem on chordal graphs has a higher-dimensional analogue in which graphs and clique complexes get replaced, respectively, by simplicial matroids and k-hyperclique complexes. We prove also a higher-dimensional analogue of Stanley's reformulation of Dirac's theorem on chordal graphs.
We study $d$-dimensional simplicial complexes that are PL embeddable in $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$. It is shown that such a complex must satisfy a certain homological condition. The existence of this obstruction allows us to provide a systematic approach to deriving upper bounds for the number of top-dimensional faces of such complexes, particularly in low dimensions.
We examine virtual resolutions of Stanley-Reisner ideals for a product of projective spaces. In particular, we provide sufficient conditions for a simplicial complex to be virtually Cohen-Macaulay (to have a virtual resolution with length equal to its codimension). We also show that all balanced simplicial complexes are virtually Cohen-Macaulay.
In this manuscript, we define and study probabilistic values for cooperative games on simplicial complexes. Inspired by the work of Weber "Probabilistic values for games", we establish the new theory step by step, following the classical axiomatization, i.e. using the linearity axiom, the dummy axiom, etc. Furthermore, we define Shapley values on simplicial complexes generalizing the classical notion in literature. Remarkably, the traditional axiomatization of Shapley values can be extended to this general setting for a rather interesting class of complexes that generalize the notion of vertex…
We introduce a notion of cross-flips: local moves that transform a balanced (i.e., properly $(d+1)$-colored) triangulation of a combinatorial $d$-manifold into another balanced triangulation. These moves form a natural analog of bistellar flips (also known as Pachner moves). Specifically, we establish the following theorem: any two balanced triangulations of a closed combinatorial $d$-manifold can be connected by a sequence of cross-flips. Along the way we prove that for every $m \geq d+2$ and any closed combinatorial $d$-manifold $M$, two $m$-colored triangulations of $M$ can be connected by …
We associate with any simplicial complex $\K$ and any integer $m$ a system of linear equations and inequalities. If $\K$ has a simplicial embedding in $\R^m$ then the system has an integer solution. This result extends the work of I. Novik (2000).
For a simplicial complex K on m vertices and simplicial complexes K1,...,Km a composed simplicial complex K(K1,...,Km) is introduced. This construction generalizes an iterated simplicial wedge construction studied by A. Bahri, M. Bendersky, F. R. Cohen and S. Gitler and allows to describe the combinatorics of generalized joins of polytopes P(P1,...,Pm) defined by G. Agnarsson. The composition defines a structure of an operad on a set of finite simplicial complexes. We prove the following: (1) a composed complex K(K1,...,Km) is a simplicial sphere iff K is a simplicial sphere and Ki are the bou…
We suggest a new possible high dimensional analogue to metric distortion. We then show a possible method for providing lower bounds to this distortion and use this method to prove a "Bourgain-type" distortion theorem for Linial-Meshulam random complexes.
One of the main open questions in liaison theory is whether every homogeneous Cohen-Macaulay ideal in a polynomial ring is glicci, i.e. if it is in the G-liaison class of a complete intersection. We give an affirmative answer to this question for Stanley-Reisner ideals defined by simplicial complexes that are weakly vertex-decomposable. This class of complexes includes matroid, shifted and Gorenstein complexes respectively. Moreover, we construct a simplicial complex which shows that the property of being glicci depends on the characteristic of the base field. As an application of our methods …
Weighted simplicial complexes (WSCs) are powerful tools for describing weighted cloud data or networks with weighted nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to study WSCs via the concept of polarization. Polarization of a WSC allows one to construct a new (unweighted) simplicial complex which coincides with an object called the mixed wreath product. This new construction preserves several properties and invariants of the underlying simplicial complex of a WSC. Our main focus is to analyze WSCs through their underlying simplicial complexes and mixed wreath products. Combinatorially, w…
We define and study the notion of a minimal Cohen-Macaulay simplicial complex. We prove that any Cohen-Macaulay complex is shelled over a minimal one in our sense, and we give sufficient conditions for a complex to be minimal Cohen-Macaulay. We show that many interesting examples of Cohen-Macaulay complexes in combinatorics are minimal, including Rudin's ball, Ziegler's ball, the dunce hat, and recently discovered non-partitionable Cohen-Macaulay complexes. We further provide various ways to construct such complexes.
We prove some new rank selection theorems for balanced simplicial complexes. Specifically, we prove that rank selected subcomplexes of balanced simplicial complexes satisfying Serre's condition $(S_{\ell})$ retain $(S_{\ell})$. We also provide a formula for the depth of a balanced simplicial complex in terms of reduced homologies of its rank selected subcomplexes. By passing to a barycentric subdivision, our results give information about Serre's condition and the depth of any simplicial compex. Our results extend rank selection theorems for depth proved by Stanley, Munkres, and Hibi.
