Cosheaf representations of relations and Dowker complexes (Q2125403)
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English | Cosheaf representations of relations and Dowker complexes |
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Cosheaf representations of relations and Dowker complexes (English)
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14 April 2022
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Given a relation \(R \subset X \times Y\) between two sets \(X\) and \(Y\), there are two corresponding simplicial complexes (sometimes called the Dowker complexes) one can typically assign to \(R\). A finite subset \(\sigma\) of \(X\) is a simplex of the first simplicial complex if the elements of \(\sigma\) are in relation to a common element of \(Y\). The second simplicial complex is defined analogously by reverting the roles of \(X\) and \(Y\). The Dowker duality [\textit{C. H. Dowker}, Ann. Math. (2) 56, 84--95 (1952; Zbl 0046.40402)] states that the two simplicial complexes are homotopy equivalent. When \(R\) is induced by a cover of the space, the Dowker duality states that the Nerve and the Vietoris complex of a cover are homotopy equivalent. In this paper the author notes that the mentioned two constructions of complexes are non-faithful functors. He then introduces two weighting functions on the two complexes, the differential and total weights. For each simplex in the first Dowker complex, the total weight of a simplex \(\sigma\) counts the number of elements of \(Y\) to which all of the vertices of \(\sigma\) are related, while the differential weight counts the number of elements of \(y\in Y\) such that \(xRy\) iff \(x\in\sigma\). The author then shows how to use these weights to turn Dowker complexes into faithful functors. Furthermore he elaborates on how to express the mentioned construction in terms of sheaves and cosheaves, and how to express the duality of Dowker in terms of exchange of the base space of a certain cosheaf with the space of global cosections. The paper includes a nice motivation subsection (and a reference) on the connection of the results of the paper to the problem of extracting a consensus behaviour of a collection of programs on a certain input.
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Dowker complex
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cosheaf
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sheaf
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binary relation
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