English

On Primes, Graphs and Cohomology

Combinatorics 2016-08-25 v1 Geometric Topology Number Theory

Abstract

The counting function on the natural numbers defines a discrete Morse-Smale complex with a cohomology for which topological quantities like Morse indices, Betti numbers or counting functions for critical points of Morse index are explicitly given in number theoretical terms. The Euler characteristic of the Morse filtration is related to the Mertens function, the Poincar\'e-Hopf indices at critical points correspond to the values of the Moebius function. The Morse inequalities link number theoretical quantities like the prime counting functions relevant for the distribution of primes with cohomological properties of the graphs. The just given picture is a special case of a discrete Morse cohomology equivalent to simplicial cohomology. The special example considered here is a case where the graph is the Barycentric refinement of a finite simple graph.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.06877,
  title  = {On Primes, Graphs and Cohomology},
  author = {Oliver Knill},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.06877},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

26 pages, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:29:32.099Z