Estimates of covering type and the number of vertices of minimal triangulations (Q2283111)

The covering type of a space \(X\), denoted as \(\mbox{ct}(X),\) is a numerical homotopy invariant which was first introduced by \textit{M. Karoubi} and \textit{C. A. Weibel} in [Enseign. Math. (2) 62, No. 3--4, 457--474 (2016; Zbl 1378.55002)]. It is defined as the minimum of the strict covering types of spaces \(Y\) having the homotopy type of \(X\): \[ \mathrm{ct}(X):=\min \{\mathrm{sct}(Y)\mid Y\simeq X\} \] In turn, the strict covering type of \(Y\), \(\mbox{sct}(Y),\) means the minimum number of open subsets that determine a good cover of \(Y\) (i.e., all elements of the cover and all their finite nonempty intersections are contractible). In the paper under review the authors do a deeper study of this relatively new homotopy invariant. In this sense they provide several interesting estimates of the covering type in terms of other well-known homotopy invariants. Among these we can mention the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category, the cohomology ring and the homology groups of the space under study. Moreover, when dealing with a triangulable space, the authors also give a relationship of the covering type of the space with the number of vertices in its minimal triangulation. Several examples displaying their new results are also given throughout the paper.