The 9-vertex complex projective plane (Q790424)

The antipodal identification of the icosahedron gives a triangulation of \({\mathbb{R}}P^ 2\) with the minimum number \((=6)\) of vertices. The corresponding natural embedding into \(\partial \Delta^ 5 (\Delta^ 5=s\tan dard\) simplex in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 5)\) and the Veronese embedding \({\mathbb{R}}P^ 2\to S^ 4\subset {\mathbb{R}}^ 5\) are the only tight topological embeddings of \({\mathbb{R}}P^ 2\) in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 5\). The (real algebraic) Veronese embedding \({\mathbb{C}}P^ 2\to S^ 7\subset {\mathbb{R}}^ 8\) is also tight; therefore a triangulation of \({\mathbb{C}}P^ 2\) with the minimum number of vertices was sought, assuming that it would lead to a tight embedding \({\mathbb{C}}P^ 2\to \partial \Delta^ 8\)- and unique simplicial complex, topologically a manifold \(M^ 4_ 9\), was found. The symmetries of \(M^ 4_ 9\) (including a complex conjugation) and other similarities with the Veronese embedding are discussed; they lead to a homeomorphism \({\mathbb{C}}P^ 2\leftrightarrow M^ 4_ 9\).