English

Combinatorial Alexander Duality -- a Short and Elementary Proof

Combinatorics 2011-10-25 v3

Abstract

Let X be a simplicial complex with the ground set V. Define its Alexander dual as a simplicial complex X* = {A \subset V: V \setminus A \notin X}. The combinatorial Alexander duality states that the i-th reduced homology group of X is isomorphic to the (|V|-i-3)-th reduced cohomology group of X* (over a given commutative ring R). We give a self-contained proof.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0710.1172,
  title  = {Combinatorial Alexander Duality -- a Short and Elementary Proof},
  author = {Anders Björner and Martin Tancer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.1172},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

7 pages, 2 figure; v3: the sign function was simplified

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:27:14.087Z