Minimal path and acyclic model in the path complex (Q6964099)

The paper, motivated by the question whether the cup product in path cohomology is skew-symmetric, studies acyclic models in the path complexes of digraphs.\N\NThe definition is based on the one of minimal paths, introduced in [\textit{A. Huang} and \textit{S.-T. Yau}, Homology Homotopy Appl. 17, No. 2, 383--398 (2015; Zbl 1331.05095)]. In this work, the authors investigate the properties of minimal paths, provide a structure theorem, and give several examples. In particular, to each minimal path \(P\) of a digraph \(G\), a minimal sub-digraph~\(\mathrm{Supp(P)}\) of \(G\) is associated expressing the minimality of \(P\). This is called in Definition~3.4 a supporting digraph. The main result of the paper on acyclic models says that if \(P\) is a minimal path of a digraph \(G\), then its supporting subgraph has acyclic path homology. The proof uses the Mayer-Vietoris exact sequence constructed in~[\textit{A. Grigor'yan} et al., Homology Homotopy Appl. 20, No. 2, 179--205 (2018; Zbl 1391.05125)].\N\NUnder the strongly regular condition, such acyclic models allow to prove in Theorem 5.10 that the cup product in path cohomology is indeed skew-symmetric; positively answering the question in this case. To prove this, the cup product is reformulated through the diagonal approximation map of Lemma/Definition 5.9, which allows to use the acyclic models. The paper is complemented with the study of the homotopic and homological properties of several examples of minimal 3-paths.