Simple crystallizations of 4-manifolds (Q907859)

\textit{Crystallization theory} enables to represent PL \(n\)-manifolds of arbitrary dimension by a special kind of edge-coloured graphs (called \textit{crystallizations}), which are dual to \textit{contracted triangulations}, i.e. pseudocomplexes triangulating manifolds, whose \(0\)-skeleton consists of exactly \(n+1\) vertices: see, for example, [\textit{M. Ferri} et al., Aequationes Math. 31, 121--141 (1986; Zbl 0623.57012)]. In the present paper, \textit{simple crystallizations} of (simply-connnected) PL 4-manifolds are introduced: they have the property that the 1-skeleton of the associated triangulation equals the 1-skeleton of a 4-simplex. As a consequence, they are proved to be minimal with respect to the number of vertices of any coloured graph representing the same PL 4-manifold (i.e. the so called \textit{gem-complexity} of the manifold). By means of an heuristic simplification procedure involving bistellar moves and edge contractions, the authors succeed in obtaining a simple crystallization of the standard PL \(K3\) surface. Together with previously known results by different authors, this proves the existence of simple crystallizations for all simply-connected PL 4-manifolds of ``standard'' type, that is all connected sums of \(\mathbb CP^2\), \(S^2 \times S^2\), and the \(K3\) surface. Moreover, by making use of an example of \textit{P. B. Kronheimer} and \textit{T. S. Mrowka} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 30, No. 2, 215--221 (1994; Zbl 0815.57010)], simple crystallizations of a pair of homeomorphic but non-PL-homeomorphic 4-manifolds are obtained. Note that PL 4-manifolds admitting simple crystallizations are studied in [\textit{M. R. Casali} et al., J. Knot Theory Ramifications 25, No. 1, Article ID 1650005, 14 p. (2016; Zbl 1365.57029)]], too: they are characterized by a nice relation between their gem-complexity and their second Betti number, and admit a handle decomposition lacking in 1-handles and 3-handles. These facts emphasize the significance of simple crystallizations, and justify the generalization successively performed via the notion of \textit{semi-simple crystallizations}.