In this paper we study the topology of the strata, indexed by number partitions $λ$, in the natural stratification of the space of monic hyperbolic polynomials of degree $n$. We prove stabilization theorems for removing an independent block or an independent relation in $λ$. We also prove contractibility of the one-point compactifications of the strata indexed by a large class of number partitions, including $λ=(k^m,1^r)$, for $m\geq 2$. Furthermore, we study the maps between the homology groups of the strata, induced by imposing additional relations (resonances) on the number partition $λ$, or by merging some of the blocks of $λ$.
This was the basis of two lectures in the Current Developments in Mathematics conference in 2011. These lectures survey the theory of hyperbolic and stable polynomials, from their origins in the theory of linear PDE's to their present uses in combinatorics and probability theory.
The main topic of this paper is various "hyperbolic" generalizations of the Edmonds-Rado theorem on the rank of intersection of two matroids. We prove several results in this direction and pose a few questions. We also give generalizations of the Obreschkoff theorem and recent results of J. Borcea and B. Shapiro.
One of our result is that 5 measurable sets in $R^8$ always admit an equipartition by 2 hyperplanes. This is an instance of a general equipartition problem (formulated by B. Gr{\" u}nbaum and H. Hadwiger) which can be reduced to the question of (non)existence of a $W_k$-equivariant map where $W_k$ is the group of symmetries of a $k$-cube. We show that the computation of relevant cohomology/bordism obstruction classes often reduces to the question of enumerating the classes of immersed curves in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with a prescribed type and number of intersections with the coordinate axes, which in…
We explain connections among several, a priori unrelated, areas of mathematics: combinatorics, algebraic statistics, topology and enumerative algebraic geometry. Our focus is on discrete invariants, strongly related to the theory of Lorentzian polynomials. The main concept joining the mentioned fields is a linear space of matrices.
Given the toric (or toral) arrangement defined by a root system $Φ$, we describe the poset of its layers (connected components of intersections) and we count its elements. Indeed we show how to reduce to zero-dimensional layers, and in this case we provide an explicit formula involving the maximal subdiagrams of the affine Dynkin diagram of $Φ$. Then we compute the Euler characteristic and the Poincare' polynomial of the complement of the arrangement, which is the set of regular points of the torus.
This survey provides an introduction to basic questions and techniques surrounding the topology of the moduli space of stable Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface. Through examples, we demonstrate how the structure of the cohomology ring of the moduli space leads to interesting questions of a combinatorial nature.
We study the space of all tilings which can be obtained using the Robinson tiles (this is a two-dimensional subshift of finite type). We prove that it has a unique minimal subshift, and describe it by means of a substitution. This description allows to compute its cohomology groups, and prove that it is a model set.
We develop a tighter implementation of basic PL topology, which keeps track of some combinatorial structure beyond PL homeomorphism type. With this technique we clarify some aspects of PL transversality and give combinatorial proofs of a number of known results. New results include a combinatorial characterization of collapsible polyhedra in terms of constructible posets (generalizing face posets of constructible simplicial complexes in the sense of Hochster). The relevant constructible posets are also characterized in terms of Reading's zipping of posets, which is a variation of edge contract…
An arrangement of k-semilines in the Euclidean (projective) plane or on the 2-sphere is called a k-fan if all semilines start from the same point. A k-fan is an $α$-partition for a probability measure $μ$ if $μ(σ_i)=α_i$ for each $i=1,...,k$ where $\{σ_i\}_{i=1}^k$ are conical sectors associated with the k-fan and $α= (α_1,... ,α_k)$. The set of all $α= (α_1,... ,α_m)$ such that for any collection of probability measures $μ_1,... ,μ_m$ there exists a common $α$-partition by a k-fan is denoted by ${\cal A}_{m,k}$. We prove, as a central result of this paper, that ${\cal A}_{3,2} = \{(s,t)\in \m…
The interaction between combinatorics and algebraic and differential geometry is very strong. While researching a problem of Hessian topology, we came across a series of identities of binomial coefficients, which are useful for proving a topological property of certain spaces whose elements are graphs of a class of hyperbolic polynomials. These identities are proven by different methods in combinatorics.
We present a beautiful interplay between combinatorial topology and homological algebra for a class of monoids that arise naturally in algebraic combinatorics. We explore several applications of this interplay. For instance, we provide a new interpretation of the Leray number of a clique complex in terms of non-commutative algebra. Résumé. Nous présentons une magnifique interaction entre la topologie combinatoire et l'algèbre homologique d'une classe de monoïdes qui figurent naturellement dans la combinatoire algébrique. Nous explorons plusieurs applications de cette interaction. Par exemple, …
In this paper we introduce a direct family of simple polytopes $P^{0}\subset P^{1}\subset\ldots$ such that for any $k$, $2\leq k\leq n$ there are non-trivial strictly defined Massey products of order $k$ in the cohomology rings of their moment-angle manifolds $\mathcal Z_{P^n}$. We prove that the direct sequence of manifolds $\ast\subset S^{3}\hookrightarrow\ldots\hookrightarrow\mathcal Z_{P^n}\hookrightarrow\mathcal Z_{P^{n+1}}\hookrightarrow\ldots$ has the following properties: every manifold $\mathcal Z_{P^n}$ is a retract of $\mathcal Z_{P^{n+1}}$, and one has inverse sequences in cohomolo…
We study the stratification of the space of monic polynomials with real coefficients according to the number and multiplicities of real zeros. In the first part, for each of these strata we provide a purely combinatorial chain complex calculating (co)homology of its one-point compactification and describe the homotopy type by order complexes of a class of posets of compositions. In the second part, we determine the homotopy type of the one-point compactification of the space of monic polynomials of fixed degree which have only real roots (i.e., hyperbolic polynomials) and at least one root is …
In this expository paper we describe a powerful combinatorial formula and its implications in geometry, topology, and algebra. This formula first appeared in the appendix of a book by Andersen, Jantzen, and Soergel. Sara Billey discovered it independently five years later, and it played a prominent role in her work to evaluate certain polynomials closely related to Schubert polynomials. Billey's formula relates many pieces of Schubert calculus: the geometry of Schubert varieties, the action of the torus on the flag variety, combinatorial data about permutations, the cohomology of the flag vari…
The face poset of the permutohedron realizes the combinatorics of linearly ordered partitions of the set $[n]=\{1,...,n\}$. Similarly, the cyclopermutohedron is a virtual polytope that realizes the combinatorics of cyclically ordered partitions of the set $[n+1]$. The cyclopermutohedron was introduced by the third author by motivations coming from configuration spaces of polygonal linkages. In the paper we prove two facts: (1) the volume of the cyclopermutohedron equals zero, and (2) the homology groups $H_k$ for $k=0,...,n-2$ of the face poset of the cyclopermutohedron are non-zero free abeli…
We study the topology of toric maps. We show that if $f\colon X\to Y$ is a proper toric morphism, with $X$ simplicial, then the cohomology of every fiber of $f$ is pure and of Hodge-Tate type. When the map is a fibration, we give an explicit formula for the Betti numbers of the fibers in terms of a relative version of the $f$-vector, extending the usual formula for the Betti numbers of a simplicial complete toric variety. We then describe the Decomposition Theorem for a toric fibration, giving in particular a nonnegative combinatorial invariant attached to each cone in the fan of $Y$, which is…
We present proofs of the basic isopermetric structure theory, obtaining some new simplified proofs. As an application, we obtain simple descriptions for subsets $S$ of an abelian group with $|kS|\le k|S|-k+1$ or $|kS-rS|- (k+r)|S|,$ where $1\le r \le k.$ These results may be applied to several questions in Combinatorics and Additive Combinatorics (Frobenius Problem, Waring's problem in finite fields and Cayley graphs with a big diameter, ....).
In a highly influential paper, Bidigare, Hanlon and Rockmore showed that a number of popular Markov chains are random walks on the faces of a hyperplane arrangement. Their analysis of these Markov chains took advantage of the monoid structure on the set of faces. This theory was later extended by Brown to a larger class of monoids called left regular bands. In both cases, the representation theory of these monoids played a prominent role. In particular, it was used to compute the spectrum of the transition operators of the Markov chains and to prove diagonalizability of the transition operator…
We prove that, apart from some well-known low-dimensional examples, any compact hyperbolic Coxeter polytope has a pair of disjoint facets. This is one of very few known general results concerning combinatorics of compact hyperbolic Coxeter polytopes. We also obtain a similar result for simple non-compact polytopes.
In this paper we extend the block combinatorics partition theorems of Hindman and Milliken in the setting of the recursive system of the block Schreier families (B^xi) consisting of families defined for every countable ordinal xi. Results contain (a) a block partition Ramsey theorem for every countable ordinal xi (Hindman's theorem corresponding to xi=1, and Milliken's theorem to xi a finite ordinal), (b) a countable ordinal form of the block Nash-Williams partition theorem, and (c) a countable ordinal block partition theorem for sets closed in the infinite block analogue of Ellentuck's topolo…
We revisit the relations between open and closed string scattering amplitudes discovered by Kawai, Lewellen, and Tye (KLT). We show that they emerge from the underlying algebro-topological identities known as the twisted period relations. In order to do so, we formulate tree-level string theory amplitudes in the language of twisted de Rham theory. There, open string amplitudes are understood as pairings between twisted cycles and cocycles. Similarly, closed string amplitudes are given as a pairing between two twisted cocycles. Finally, objects relating the two types of string amplitudes are th…
Arithmetic combinatorics is often concerned with the problem of bounding the behaviour of arbitrary finite sets in a group or ring with respect to arithmetic operations such as addition or multiplication. Similarly, combinatorial geometry is often concerned with the problem of bounding the behaviour of arbitrary finite collections of geometric objects such as points, lines, or circles with respect to geometric operations such as incidence or distance. Given the presence of arbitrary finite sets in these problems, the methods used to attack these problems have primarily been combinatorial in na…
We compute a primary cohomological obstruction to the existence of an equipartition for j mass distributions in R^d by two hyperplanes in the case 2d-3j = 1. The central new result is that such an equipartition always exists if d=6 2^k +2 and j=4 2^k+1 which for k=0 reduces to the main result of the paper P. Mani-Levitska et al., Topology and combinatorics of partitions of masses by hyperplanes, Adv. Math. 207 (2006), 266-296. This is an example of a genuine combinatorial geometric result which involves Z_4-torsion in an essential way and cannot be obtained by the application of either Stiefel…
We show that the volumes of certain hyperbolic A-adequate links can be bounded (above and) below in terms of two diagrammatic quantities: the twist number and the number of certain alternating tangles in an A-adequate diagram. We then restrict our attention to plat closures of certain braids, a rich family of links whose volumes can be bounded in terms of the twist number alone. Furthermore, in the absence of special tangles, our volume bounds can be expressed in terms of a single stable coefficient of the colored Jones polynomial. Consequently, we are able to provide a new collection of links…
In recent years it has been noted that a number of combinatorial structures such as real and complex hyperplane arrangements, interval greedoids, matroids and oriented matroids have the structure of a finite monoid called a left regular band. Random walks on the monoid model a number of interesting Markov chains such as the Tsetlin library and riffle shuffle. The representation theory of left regular bands then comes into play and has had a major influence on both the combinatorics and the probability theory associated to such structures. In a recent paper, the authors established a close conn…
We survey interactions between the topology and the combinatorics of complex hyperplane arrangements. Without claiming to be exhaustive, we examine in this setting combinatorial aspects of fundamental groups, associated graded Lie algebras, higher homotopy groups, cohomology rings, twisted homology with rank 1 complex coefficients, and Milnor fibers.
Hypertoric varieties are quaternionic analogues of toric varieties, important for their interaction with the combinatorics of matroids as well as for their prominent place in the rapidly expanding field of algebraic symplectic and hyperkahler geometry. The aim of this survey is to give clear definitions and statements of known results, serving both as a reference and as a point of entry to this beautiful subject.
A hypertoric variety is a quaternionic analogue of a toric variety. Just as the topology of toric varieties is closely related to the combinatorics of polytopes, the topology of hypertoric varieties interacts richly with the combinatorics of hyperplane arrangements and matroids. Using finite field methods, we obtain combinatorial descriptions of the Betti numbers of hypertoric varieties, both for ordinary cohomology in the smooth case and intersection cohomology in the singular case. We also introduce a conjectural ring structure on the intersection cohomology of a hypertoric variety.
Hyperbolic polynomials are real polynomials whose real hypersurfaces are nested ovaloids, the inner most of which is convex. These polynomials appear in many areas of mathematics, including optimization, combinatorics and differential equations. Here we investigate the special connection between a hyperbolic polynomial and the set of polynomials that interlace it. This set of interlacers is a convex cone, which we write as a linear slice of the cone of nonnegative polynomials. In particular, this allows us to realize any hyperbolicity cone as a slice of the cone of nonnegative polynomials. Usi…
Algebraic Nahm equations, considered in the paper, are polynomial equations, governing the $q\rightarrow 1$ limit of the $q$-hypergeometric Nahm sums. They make an appearance in various fields: hyperbolic geometry, knot theory, quiver representation theory, topological strings and conformal field theory. In this paper we focus primarily on Nahm sums and Nahm equations that arise in relation with symmetric quivers. For a large class of them, we prove that quiver A-polynomials -- specialized resultants of the Nahm equations, are tempered (the so-called K-theoretic condition). This implies that t…
Ultrafilters are a tool, originating in mathematical logic and general topology, that has steadily found more and more uses in multiple areas of mathematics, such as combinatorics, dynamics, and algebra, among others. The purpose of this article is to introduce ultrafilters in a friendly manner and present some applications to the branch of combinatorics known as Ramsey theory, culminating with a new ultrafilter-based proof of van der Waerden's theorem.
