On configuration spaces and simplicial complexes (Q2329076)

The \(n\)-point configuration space of a space \(M\) is a well-known object in topology, geometry, and combinatorics. In this article, the authors introduce a generalization, the simplicial configuration space \(M_S\), which takes as its data a simplicial complex \(S\) on \(n\)-vertices, and explore the properties of its homology, considered as an invariant of \(S\). As in Eastwood-Huggett's geometric categorification of the chromatic polynomial, cf. [\textit{M. Eastwood} and \textit{S. Huggett}, Eur. J. Comb. 28, No. 6, 1553--1560 (2007; Zbl 1134.05023)], their construction gives rise to a polynomial invariant of the simplicial complex \(S\), which generalizes and shares several formal properties with the chromatic polynomial.