On the automorphism group of the Morse complex (Q820923)

Discrete Morse Theory is a combinatorial analogue of Morse Theory introduced by \textit{R. Forman} in the nineties [in: Geometry, topology and physics for Raoul Bott. Lectures of a conference in honor of Raoul Bott's 70th birthday, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA 1993. Cambridge, MA: International Press. 112--125 (1995; Zbl 0867.57018); Adv. Math. 134, No. 1, 90--145 (1998; Zbl 0896.57023)]. Roughly speaking, Discrete Morse theory relates some dynamics on a simplicial or regular CW-complex with its simple homotopy type and its homology. These dynamics are represented by a combinatorial vector field or a matching in the Hasse diagram of the face poset of the cell complex (see \textit{M. K. Chari} [Discrete Math. 217, No. 1--3, 101--113 (2000; Zbl 1008.52011)]). Moreover, among all matchings, the acyclic or gradient ones play a special role in the theory. The importance of gradient matchings led \textit{M. K. Chari} and \textit{M. Joswig} to introduce in [Discrete Math. 302, No. 1--3, 39--51 (2005; Zbl 1091.57025)] the Morse complex. For a finite simplicial complex \(K\), its Morse complex, \(\mathcal{M}(K)\), is a simplicial complex which encodes all the possible gradient dynamics in \(K\) (see Definition 8 in the work under review). Recently, \textit{N. A. Capitelli} and \textit{E. G. Minian} proved that \(\mathcal{M}(K)\) determines \(K\) up to isomorphism (see [Discrete Comput. Geom. 58, No. 1, 144--157 (2017; Zbl 1371.05326)]). Therefore, the Morse complex is worth studying. In the work under review, the authors relate, for a finite and connected simplicial complex \(K\), the automorphism group of \(K\), \(\Aut(K)\), and the automorphism group of its Morse complex, \(\Aut\mathcal{M}(K)\). The main result of the article states the following: Theorem 1. Let \(K\) be a finite, connected abstract simplicial complex. Then \[ \Aut\mathcal{M}(K)\cong \begin{cases} \Aut(K) & \text{if \(K\neq \partial \Delta^n, C_n1\)}, \\ \Aut(C_{2n}) & \text{if \(K=C_n\)}, \\ \Aut(K)\times \mathbb{Z}_2 & \text{if \(K=\partial \Delta^n\)}. \end{cases} \] where \(\partial \Delta^n\) denotes the boundary of the \(n\)-simplex (see Definition 3) and \(C_n\) denotes the cycle of length \(n\) (see Definition 2).