Simplicial schemes (Q1068841)

A simplicial scheme is a certain structure which can be defined on graphs. The purpose of this concept is a graph-theoretical description of simplicial complexes and pseudocomplexes. It is shown that graphs and simplicial schemes give rise precisely to pure simplicial pseudocomplexes in which the open star of every simplex is strongly connected and every simplex of codimension one is contained in at most two top-dimensional simplices. A characterization is given for a complex arising from a graph and a simplicial scheme to be orientable. Finally, a relation between graph maps and nondegenerate simplicial maps of associated complexes is considered. Simplicial schemes are closely related to the edge-colored graphs considered by Ferri, Gagliardi, Lins, Vince, et al.