English

(Injective) facet-complexity between simplicial complexes

Combinatorics 2025-10-06 v1

Abstract

We present the notion of facet-complexity, C(L;K)\text{C}(\mathsf{L};\mathsf{K}), for two simplicial complexes L\mathsf{L} and K\mathsf{K}, along with basic results for this numerical invariant. This invariant C(L;K)\text{C}(\mathsf{L};\mathsf{K}) quantifies the \aspas{complexity} of the following question: When does there exist a facet simplicial map LK\mathsf{L}\to \mathsf{K}? A facet simplicial map is a simplicial map that preserves non-unitary facets. Likewise, we introduce the notion of injective facet-complexity, IC(L;K)\text{IC}(\mathsf{L};\mathsf{K}). These invariants generalize the notion of (injective) hom-complexity between graphs, recently introduced by Zapata et al. We demonstrate a triangular inequality for (injective) facet-complexity and show that it is a simplicial complex invariant. Additionally, these invariants provide an obstruction to the existence of facet simplicial maps. We explore the sub-additivity of (injective) facet-complexity and we present a lower bound in terms of the chromatic number. Moreover, we provide an upper bound for C(L;H)\mathrm{C}(\mathsf{L};\mathsf{H}) in terms of the number of facets of LL. Finally, we establish a formula for IC(L;K)\mathrm{IC}(\mathsf{L};\mathsf{K}) when L\mathsf{L} is a pure simplicial complex and KK is a complete simplicial complex.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.03017,
  title  = {(Injective) facet-complexity between simplicial complexes},
  author = {Cesar A. Ipanaque Zapata and Ayse Borat},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.03017},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Comments are welcome. 21 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T06:15:18.770Z