English

Homotopy groups and quantitative Sperner-type lemma

Algebraic Topology 2025-03-13 v5 Combinatorics Geometric Topology

Abstract

We consider a generalization of Sperner's lemma for a triangulation TT of (m+1)(m+1)-discs DD whose vertices are colored in n+2n+2 colors. A proper coloring of TT on the boundary of DD determines a simplicial mapping f:SmSnf:S^m \to S^n and the element x=[f]x=[f] in πm(Sn)\pi_m(S^n). For any xx in this homotopy group we define a non-negative integer μ(x)\mu(x). For some cases this invariant can be found explicitly. Namely, if m=nm=n then this number is the Brouwer degree of the mapping ff. For the case m=3,n=2m=3, n=2 we found a lower bound for μ(x)\mu(x), where xx is the Hopf invariant, and proved that μ(1)=μ(2)=9\mu(1)=\mu(2)=9. The main result of this paper is the theorem that the number of fully colored nn-simplexes in TT is not less than μ([f])\mu([f]). To prove this theorem we use a generalization of Pontryagin's theorem for manifolds with respect to their boundaries.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2007.08715,
  title  = {Homotopy groups and quantitative Sperner-type lemma},
  author = {Oleg R. Musin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.08715},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

14 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-23T17:11:06.235Z