Betti numbers of small covers and their two-fold coverings (Q1673686)

If \(P\) is an \(n\)-dimensional simple convex polytope, then a map \(\lambda\) from the facets of \(P\) to \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}^{n}\) is characteristic if the set of vectors in \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}^{n}\) corresponding to the facets that are all incident at a vertex of \(P\) forms a basis for \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}^{n}\). To such a map, one associates the small cover \(M_{P,\lambda}\) (which is an \(n\)-dimensional smooth manifold) defined as the quotient space of \(P \times \mathbb{Z}_{2}^{n}\) by the relation \( (x,a) \sim (y,b) \) if and only if \(x=y\) and \( a + b \) is in the linear span of the vectors \( \lambda(F) \) (where \( x \in F \)). This paper, which is strongly motivated by the work of \textit{M. W. Davis} and \textit{T. Januszkiewicz} on small covers [Duke Math. J. 62, No. 2, 417--451 (1991; Zbl 0733.52006)], seeks to give explicit computations of the mod-2 Betti numbers of a particular class of two-fold coverings over small covers. The author begins by pointing out and correcting a gap in a computational theorem of Davis and Januszkiewicz, and then proceeds to introduce the concept of section classes in the first cohomlogy of a small cover. Namely, for certain hyperplane sections \(S\) of \(P\), the notion of \(M_{S,\lambda_{S}}\) can be defined, and in this case we say that \( w \in H^{1}(M_{P,\lambda}; \mathbb{Z}_{2}^{n}) \) is a section class if there exists such a hyperplane section \(S\) for which \(w\) is the Poincaré dual of the homology class of \(M_{S,\lambda_{S}}\). The author provides examples and an explicit computation of the mod-2 Betti numbers in this class.