On stellated spheres and a tightness criterion for combinatorial manifolds (Q2441637)

Denote by \(S_n^{n-2}\) the standard triangulation of the \((n-2)\)-dimensional sphere. For \(0\leq k\leq d+1\), a \(d\)-dimensional simplicial complex \(X\) is said to be \(k\)-stellated if \(X\) may be obtained from \(S^d_{d+2}\) by a finite sequence of bistellar moves, each of index \(<k\). After defining the \(k\)-stellated spheres, the authors introduce the class \(\mathcal{W}_k(d)\) of triangulated \(d\)-manifolds all of whose vertex links are \(k\)-stellated. The subclass \(\mathcal{W}^*_k(d)\) consisting of the \((k+1)\)-neighbourly members of \(\mathcal{W}_k(d)\), is considered. The authors introduce the beta-vector, sigma-vector and mu-vector of any simplicial complex. In the case of a closed homology \(d\)-manifold, the mu -vector statisfies \(\mu_{d-i}=\mu_i, 0\leq i\leq d\). Next the authors obtain some inequalities fulfilled by the mu- and beta- vectors in the case of \(2\)-neighbourly simplicial complexes. They define the tight simplicial complexes with respect to a field \(\mathbb{F}\). A simplicial complex \(X\) of dimension \(d\) is \(\mathbb{F}\)-tight if and only if \(X\) is \(2\)-neighbourly and \(\mu_i(X;\mathbb{F})=\beta_i(X; \mathbb{F}); 0\leq i\leq d\). To obtain the main results of the paper, the authors introduce the \(g\)-vector of a simplicial complex \(S\) and show that, for \(k\geq 1\), for any field, the sigma vector of an \(m\)-vertex \(k\)-stellated triangulated sphere \(S\) of dimension \(d\geq 2k-1\) is related to its \(g\)-vector by three sequences of relations involving some alternate sums of \(\sigma_i\) and some more involved expressions containing the numbers \(g_i\). Then they obtain some relations fulfilled by the mu-vectors and the \(g\)-vectors. As a consequence, the authors obtain a lower bound theorem for the \(\mathcal{W}_k(d)\) class of \(2\)-neighbourly triangulated \(d\)-manifolds, a combinatorial criterion for tightness, a lower bound theorem for homology manifolds and a result similar to Kalai's theorem about the triangulation of a member of \(\mathcal{W}_k^*(d)\) consisting of a finite number of copies of \(S^k\times S^{d-k}\).