Local tropical linear spaces

DOI10.1007/S00454-013-9519-8MaRDI QIDQ377490zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 6 November 2013

Published in Discrete \& Computational Geometry (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.5338

Bergman fan f-vector conjecture matroid subdivision mixed subdivision Tropical linear space valuated matroid

Matroids in convex geometry (realizations in the context of convex polytopes, convexity in combinatorial structures, etc.) (52B40)

Abstract: In this paper we study general tropical linear spaces locally: For any basis B of the matroid underlying a tropical linear space L, we define the local tropical linear space L_B to be the subcomplex of L consisting of all vectors v that make B a basis of maximal v-weight. The tropical linear space L can then be expressed as the union of all its local tropical linear spaces, which we prove are homeomorphic to Euclidean space. Local tropical linear spaces have a simple description in terms of polyhedral matroid subdivisions, and we prove that they are dual to mixed subdivisions of Minkowski sums of simplices. Using this duality we produce tight upper bounds for their f-vectors. We also study a certain class of tropical linear spaces that we call conical tropical linear spaces, and we give a simple proof that they satisfy Speyer's f-vector conjecture.

Review text

Tropical linear spaces were introduced by \textit{D. Speyer} [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 22, No. 4, 1527--1558 (2008; Zbl 1191.14076)]. They are \(m\)-dimensional polyhedral complexes in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), closed under sum of multiples of the vector \((1,\ldots,1)\). In this paper the author studies tropical linear spaces locally. More precisely, to every tropical linear space \(L\) there corresponds a matroid \(M\). Then to each basis \(B\) of \(M\), there corresponds a subcomplex \(L_B\) of \(L\), which is the local tropical linear space determined by \(B\), by definition. Clearly \[ L=\bigcup_BL_B. \] If \(L\) is \(m\)-dimensional, the author shows that \(L_B\) is homeomorphic to Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^m\), via a piecewise linear map. He gives a projection map from \(\mathbb{R}^n\) onto any given tropical linear space \(L\). On the combinatorial side, the author proves that local tropical linear spaces \(L_B\) are dual to mixed subdivisions of Minkowski sums of simplices. This allows him to give upper bounds for the \(f\)-vector of \(L_B\), making a distinction between the number of \(i\)-dimensional faces that become bounded when modding out by the lineality space spanned by the vector \((1,\ldots,1)\) and the number of arbitrary \(i\)-dimensional faces. Tight upper bound for these numbers are \[ {{n-i-1}\choose {n-m-i,i-1,m-i}}={{n-i-1}\choose {i-1}}{{n-2i}\choose {m-i}} \] and \[ {{n-i-1}\choose {m-i}}{{n-1}\choose {i-1}}, \] respectively. These bounds are related to similar bounds for tropical linear spaces, conjectured by Speyer in 2008, and proved in some cases by the latter. This is the so called \(f\)-conjecture. The author finishes this very interesting and well-written paper by defining conical tropical linear spaces and giving a direct proof of the \(f\)-conjecture for them, based on the tight upper bounds he has found previously.

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