Magnitude homology of graphs and discrete Morse theory on Asao-Izumihara complexes (Q6042779)

Magnitude homology \(\mathrm{MH}^l_k\), as defined by \textit{R. Hepworth} and \textit{S. Willerton} [Homology Homotopy Appl. 19, No. 2, 31--60 (2017; Zbl 1377.05088)], is a bigraded homology theory of graphs that categorifies magnitude [\textit{T. Leinster}, Doc. Math. 18, 857--905 (2013; Zbl 1284.51011)]. In order to study magnitude homology from a geometric perspective, \textit{Y. Asao} and \textit{K. Izumihara} [Homology Homotopy Appl. 23, No. 1, 297--310 (2020; Zbl 1472.55005)] constructed certain CW-complexes, called here Asao-Izumihara complexes, with the property that their homology recovers magnitude homology of graphs. The geometric approach was shown to be helpful in providing computations and structural results. The main result of the paper under review is that Asao-Izumihara complexes of pawful graphs are homotopy equivalent to wedges of spheres. Pawful graphs are diagonal [\textit{Y. Gu}, ``Graph magnitude homology via algebraic Morse theory'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1809.07240}], \textit{i.e.}, for \(k\neq l\) the magnitude homology \(\mathrm{MH}^l_k(G)\) is trivial. Diagonality of a graph is shown to be characterized by the vanishing of homology groups of the Asao-Izumihara complexes. The methods of the proof are taken from discrete Morse theory.