2-dimensional stratifolds homotopy equivalent to \(S^{2}\) (Q2630440)

A 2-dimensional stratifold is a compact singular surface admitting a stratification \(X_0 \subset X_1 \subset X_2 = X\), such that \(X_0 = \emptyset\) and each component \(C\) of \(X_1\) has a regular neighborhood \(N(C) \subset X\) which is a \(T_n\)-bundle over \(S^1\), where \(T_n\) denotes the cone of the discrete space with \(n \geq 3\) points. Such a space \(X\) can be represented by a labeled bipartite graph \(G_X\), with a vertex \(v_C\) for each component \(C\) of \(X_1\), a vertex \(w_D\) labeled by the genus \(g(D)\) for each component \(D\) of \(X - X_1\), and an edge \(e_E\) between \(v_C\) and \(w_D\) for each component \(E\) of \(N(C) \cap D\), labeled by the number of the local sheets of \(E\) at each point of \(C\). Based on previous results about simply connected 2-stratifolds obtained in [\textit{J. C. Gómez-Larrañaga} et al., in: A mathematical tribute to Professor José María Montesinos Amilibia on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Matemáticas, Departamento de Geometría y Topología. 395--405 (2016; Zbl 1369.57005)] in this paper the authors provide an efficient algorithm on the graph \(G_X\) to decide when a 2-stratifold \(X\) is homotopy equivalent to \(S^2\).