Topological Combinatorics

Sammanfattning: This thesis on Topological Combinatorics contains 7 papers. All of them but paper Bare published before.In paper A we prove that!i dim ˜Hi(Ind(G);Q) ! |Ind(G[D])| for any graph G andits independence complex Ind(G), under the condition that G\D is a forest. We then use acorrespondence between the ground states with i+1 fermions of a supersymmetric latticemodel on G and ˜Hi(Ind(G);Q) to deal with some questions from theoretical physics.In paper B we generalize the topological Tverberg theorem. Call a graph on the samevertex set as a (d + 1)(q ? 1)-simplex a (d, q)-Tverberg graph if for any map from thesimplex to Rd there are disjoint faces F1, F2, . . . , Fq whose images intersect and no twoadjacent vertices of the graph are in the same face. We prove that if d # 1, q # 2 is aprime power, and G is a graph on (d+1)(q ?1)+1 vertices such that its maximal degreeD satisfy D(D + 1) < q, then G is a (d, q)–Tverberg graph. It was earlier known that thedisjoint unions of small complete graphs, paths, and cycles are Tverberg graphs.In paper C we study the connectivity of independence complexes. If G is a graphon n vertices with maximal degree d, then it is known that its independence complex is(cn/d + !)–connected with c = 1/2. We prove that if G is claw-free then c # 2/3.In paper D we study when complexes of directed trees are shellable and how one canglue together independence complexes for finding their homotopy type.In paper E we prove a conjecture by Björner arising in the study of simplicial polytopes.The face vector and the g–vector are related by a linear transformation. We prove thatthis matrix is totaly nonnegative. This is joint work with Michael Björklund.In paper F we introduce a generalization of Hom–complexes, called set partition complexes,and prove a connectivity theorem for them. This generalizes previous results ofBabson, Cukic, and Kozlov, and questions from Ramsey theory can be described with it.In paper G we use combinatorial topology to prove algebraic properties of edge ideals.The edge ideal of G is the Stanley-Reisner ideal of the independence complex of G. Thisis joint work with Anton Dochtermann.