Oriented matroids, complex manifolds, and a combinatorial model for BU.

DOI10.1016/S0001-8708(02)00076-2MaRDI QIDQ1413096zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Daniel K. Biss

Publication date 16 November 2003

Published in Advances in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-8708(02)00076-2

zbMATH Keywords

complex manifoldcomplex matroidMacPhersonianmatroid bundleOriented matroid

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Topological aspects of complex manifolds (32Q55) Oriented matroids in discrete geometry (52C40) PL-topology (57Q99) Characteristic classes and numbers in differential topology (57R20)

Review text

D. Biss introduces and studies a concept of ``complex oriented matroids. Basic combinatorial properties of the model are developed, leading to a definition/construction of ``weak maps, such that the set MacP\(_{\mathbb C}(k,n)\) of all rank \(k\) complex oriented matroids on \(n\) elements, partially ordered by weak maps, yields a finite model for the complex Grassmannian \(G_k({\mathbb C}^n)\). Based on a combinatorial analog of the Schubert decomposition, Biss shows that MacP\(_{\mathbb C}(k,n)\), as well as its subposet of realizable complex oriented matroids, are homotopy-equivalent to \(G_k({\mathbb C}^n)\). This important result serves as a basis for the development of a complex version of \textit{R. D. MacPherson}'s theory of combinatorial differentiable (CD) manifolds [Combinatorial differential manifolds, in: Proc. ``Topological methods in modern mathematics: a symposium in honor of John Milnor's sixtieth birthday (Stony Brook NY, 1991), Publish or Perish,Houston, 203--221) (1993; Zbl 0812.57019)]. It complements \textit{D. Biss}' earlier analogous result for ``ordinary oriented matroids and the real Grassmannians [`The homotopy type of the matroid Grassmannian', Ann. Math. 158, 929--952 (2003)]. In both cases the homotopy type of the combinatorial model yields the classifying spaces, characteristic classes etc. for a combinatorial bundle theory. (The concept of ``complex oriented matroids of this paper is an alternative to the reviewer's suggestion in [Discrete Comput. Geom. 10, No. 3, 313--348 (1993; Zbl 0782.52005)]: Given any complex vector configuration, both the real parts and the imaginary parts are recorded for any complex linear functional. Thus Biss abstracts the ``\(s^{(2)}\)-stratifications of complex hyperplane arrangements developed in [\textit{A. Björner} and the reviewer, J. Am. Math. Soc. 5, 105--149 (1992; Zbl 0754.52003)], while the reviewer's model corresponds to the ``\(s^{(1)}\)-stratifications. As discussed in the paper, the reviewer's ``topological representation theorem for the \(s^{(1)}\)-model is equally available for Biss' model, which has both technical and aesthetic advantages.)

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Cites work

• ``What is a complex matroid?
• A combinatorial formula for the Pontrjagin classes
• Combinatorial geometries and torus strata on homogeneous compact manifolds
• Higher algebraic K-theory: I
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 53152 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 554849 (Why is no real title available?)
• Mod 2 cohomology of combinatorial Grassmannians
• Singular homology groups and homotopy groups of finite topological spaces
• The homotopy type of the matroid Grassmannian

Cited in

(10)

• Oriented matroids and combinatorial manifolds
• Homotopy groups of the combinatorial Grassmannian
• Topology of combinatorial differential manifolds
• Foundations for a theory of complex matroids
• The positive Bergman complex of an oriented matroid
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• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 691425 (Why is no real title available?)
• Reshaping the metaphor of proof
• Combinatorial models for the finite-dimensional Grassmannians
• Mod 2 cohomology of combinatorial Grassmannians

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