The covering type of closed surfaces and minimal triangulations (Q2000640)

An open cover $\mathcal{U} = \{U_i : i\in \Lambda\}$ of a topological space $X$ is called good if every non-empty intersection of members of $\mathcal{U}$ is contractible. The strict covering type of $X$ is the minimum number of elements in a good cover of $X$. The {\em covering type} of a topological space $Y$, denoted by $\mathrm{ct}(Y)$, is the minimum of the strict covering types taken over all $X$ homotopy equivalent to $Y$. In this article, the authors compute the covering types of all closed surfaces. For a closed surface $S$, let $\lambda(S)$ be the number of vertices in a minimal triangulation of $S$. Since the number of edges in an $n$-vertex simplicial complex is at most $\binom{n}{2}$, it follows that $\lambda(S) \geq \rho(S) := \lceil {(7+\sqrt{49-24\chi(S)})}/{2}\rceil$. \textit{M. Jungerman} and \textit{G. Ringel} [Acta Math. 145, 121--154 (1980; Zbl 0451.57005); Math. Ann. 130, 317--326 (1955; Zbl 0066.41702)] showed that $\lambda(S)=\rho(S)$ for any surface $S$ other that the double-torus $M_2$, the Klein bottle $N_2$ and the non-orientable surface ($N_3$) of genus 3. And if $S = M_2, N_2$ or $N_3$ then $\lambda(S)=\rho(S)+1$. Since the open stars of the vertices of a simplicial complex $K$ form a good cover of its geometric carrier $|K|$, it follows that $\mathrm{ct}(S) \leq \lambda(S)$ for any surface $S$. The authors prove that if $|K|$ is homotopy equivalent to a surface $S$ then the simplicial complex $K$ has at least $\rho(S)$ vertices. Thus, if $S\neq M_2, N_2, N_3$ then $\mathrm{ct}(S) = \rho(S) = \lambda(S)$. They also show that $\mathrm{ct}(N_2) = \lambda(N_2)$, $\mathrm{ct}(N_3) = \lambda(N_3)$ and $\mathrm{ct}(M_2) = \rho(M_2)$.