Extending simplicial complexes: topological and combinatorial properties (Q6658065)

In this work, the authors consider a hypergraph \(\mathcal{H}^\prime\) obtained by gluing some hypergraphs to a central ``arbitrary'' hypergraph \(\mathcal{H}\) and explore the topological and combinatorial properties like Cohen-Macaulayness, shellability, and vertex-decomposability of \(\mathcal{H}^\prime\). To accomplish this, Section 2 introduces the concept of hybrid hypergraphs, which are constructed by attaching a family of hypergraphs to a central one through a collection of triples that satisfy a specific condition known as the proper independence property. In particular, Theorem 2.4 as the main result of this section, establishes key combinatorial and topological characteristics of hybrid hypergraphs, identifying the conditions under which these structures are sequentially Cohen-Macaulay, shellable, or vertex-decomposable. Next, in Section 3, the authors introduce two such families and demonstrate in Theorems 3.1 and 3.3 that the conclusions of Theorem 2.4 extend to these cases as well. Although the gluing techniques employed here are less general than those in the hybrid case, the glued components in these constructions are not required to satisfy the proper independence property. Finally, in the concluding section, the authors outline several research problems motivated by the arguments and results presented earlier in the paper. The first four problems focus on the assumptions and implications of Theorem 2.4. The fifth problem, taking a more algebraic perspective, suggests exploring additional algebraic properties and invariants associated with the three hypergraph constructions discussed in this work.