On Kirchhoff's theorems with coefficients in a line bundle (Q388562)

\textit{Kirchhoff's network theorem} asserts that, in any resistive network, there is a unique current (satisfying Ohm's law and Kirchhoff's current and voltage laws); moreover, this current can be explicitly computed. Following the classical interpretation (see, for instance, [\textit{A. Nerode} and \textit{H. Shank}, Am. Math. Mon. 68, 244--247 (1961; Zbl 0102.33902)]) of the flow of currents in an electrical network as a circulation in a digraph \(\Gamma\), the explicit computations are obtained by considering the usual boundary map \(\partial : C_1(\Gamma) \to C_0(\Gamma)\) -- where \(C_1(\Gamma)\cong {\mathbb R}^{| E(\Gamma)|} \simeq \bigoplus_{e \in E(\Gamma)} {\mathbb R}_e\) (resp. \(C_0(\Gamma)\cong \bigoplus_{i \in V(\Gamma)} {\mathbb R}_i\)) is the real vector space of 1-chains (resp. 0-chains) with orthonormal basis given by the set of edges (resp. vertices) of \(\Gamma\) -- and by calculating the orthonormal projection of \(C_1(\Gamma)\) onto to the subspace of cycles \(Z_1(G):=\mathrm{ker}~ \partial\) in terms of the set of spanning trees of \(\Gamma\). A further result is the \textit{matrix-tree theorem} which relates the determinant of the restricted combinatorial Laplacian \(\partial \partial^*\) to the number of spanning trees in \(\Gamma\). In this paper, the authors present a \textit{twisted version} of this set of results. More precisely, the graphs are provided with a structure of line bundle (or 1-dimensional \({\mathbb C}\)-vector bundle) with connection: a vector space \(V_i\cong {\mathbb C}\) is attached to every vertex \(i\) of the graph with isomorphisms \(\rho_b:V_i\to V_j\) given by a morphism \(\rho : b \mapsto \rho_b\) from the edge set of the graph to \(U(1)\). Now, the twisted character of the situation is mainly reflected in the definition of the boundary map \(\partial\) (which sends an edge \(e=(i,j)\) oriented from \(i\) to \(j\) to \(\rho_e i -j\)); if \(\rho_e=1\) for every edge \(e\), one recovers the classical case) and in the definition of a \textit{\(\rho\)-spanning tree}. As in the classical approach, the authors get a \textit{Twisted Network Theorem} (\textit{Corollary B}) as an application of a \textit{Twisted Projection Formula} (\textit{Theorem A}) given in terms of \(\rho\)-spanning trees. They also obtain a \textit{Twisted Weighted Matrix-Tree Theorem} (\textit{Theorem C}). As noted by the authors this last result was already known: \textit{R. Forman} [Topology 32, No. 1, 35--46 (1993; Zbl 0780.05041)] obtained it in terms of vector fields and closed orbits while, more recently, \textit{R. Kenyon} [Ann. Probab. 39, No. 5, 1983--2017 (2011; Zbl 1252.82029)] got it by using the Cauchy-Binet formula.