Affine hom-complexes (Q2520535)

Summary: For two general polytopal complexes the set of face-wise affine maps between them is shown to be a polytopal complex in an algorithmic way. The resulting algorithm for computing the affine hom-complex is analyzed in detail. There is also a natural tensor product of polytopal complexes, which is the left adjoint functor for Hom. This extends the corresponding facts from single polytopes, systematic study of which was initiated in [\textit{T. Bogart}, Math. Z. 273, No. 3--4, 1267--1296 (2013; Zbl 1264.52010)] and [\textit{J. Gubeladze} and \textit{J. Love}, Geom. Dedicata 176, 375--399 (2015; Zbl 1319.52018)]. Explicit examples of computations of the resulting structures are included. In the special case of simplicial complexes, the affine hom-complex is a functorial subcomplex of Kozlov's combinatorial hom-complex, which generalizes Lovász' well-known construction [\textit{L. Lovász}, J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 25, 319--324 (1978; Zbl 0418.05028)] for graphs.