The average simplex cardinality of a finite abstract simplicial complex

arXiv1905.02118MaRDI QIDQ6318281FDOQ6318281

Publication date: 6 May 2019

Abstract: We study the average simplex cardinality Dim^+(G) = sum_x |x|/(|G|+1) of a finite abstract simplicial complex G. The functional is a homomorphism from the monoid of simplicial complexes to the rationals: the formula Dim^+(G + H) = Dim^+(G) + Dim^+(H) holds for the join + similarly as for the augmented inductive dimension dim^+(G) = dim(G)+1 where dim is the inductive dimension dim(G) = 1+ sum_x dim(S(x))/|G| with unit sphere S(x) (a recent theorem of Betre and Salinger). In terms of the generating function f(t) = 1+v_0 t + v_1 t^2 + ... +v_d t^(d+1) defined by the f-vector (v_0,v_1, dots) of G for which f(-1) is the genus 1-X(G) with Euler characteristic X and f(1)=|G|+1 is the augmented number of simplices, the average cardinality is the logarithmic derivative Dim^+(f) = f'(1)/f(1) of f at 1. Beside introducing the average cardinality and establishing its compatibility with arithmetic, we prove two results: 1) the inequality dim^+(G)/2 <= Dim^+(G) with equality for complete complexes. 2) the limit C_d of Dim^+(G_n) for n to infinity is the same for any initial complex G_0 of maximal dimension d and the constant c_d is explicitly given in terms of the Perron-Frobenius eigenfunction of the universal Barycentric refinement operator and is for positive d always a rational number in the open interval ((d+1)/2,d+1).

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Simplicial sets and complexes in algebraic topology (55U10) Discrete mathematics in relation to computer science (68Rxx) Dimension theory in general topology (54F45) Graph theory (05Cxx) Algebraic combinatorics (05Exx)

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