Directed trees in a string, real polynomials with triple roots, and chain mails (Q705128)

From a graph or digraph \(G\), several simplicial complexes can be derived. As one example, define \(\Delta(G)\) to have vertices the edges of \(G\) and faces the directed forests which are subgraphs of \(G\). As another, if \(\Gamma\) is a graph, then \({\mathcal I}(\Gamma)\) has the same vertices as \(\Gamma\) and faces the independent subsets of these vertices. A chain mail consists of finitely many polygonal disks in the plane; if two meet, then they overlap and their boundaries meet in two points, and no three have a common intersection. From a tree \(T\) can be constructed a new tree \(\widehat{T}\), with a new leaf adjoined to each old one, and a digraph \(\widetilde{T}\), with each old edge of \(T\) replaced by a pair of edges, and each new leaf (in \(\widehat{T}\)) by a single edge directed inwards. With \(T\) is associated a simplicial complex and a chain mail derived from \(\widehat{T}\) (with somewhat complicated definitions). In this paper, the author describes various connexions among these graphs and related simplicial complexes, in particular showing that certain of these complexes have the same homotopy group.