Related papers: On the gap between representability and collapsibi…

We present extensions of the Colorful Helly Theorem for $d$-collapsible and $d$-Leray complexes, providing a common generalization to the matroidal versions of the theorem due to Kalai and Meshulam, the ``very colorful" Helly theorem…

We show that the kernel of the monodromy representation for hypersurfaces of degree d and dimension n is large for d at least three with the exception of the cases (d,n) = (3,0) and (3,1). For these the kernel is finite. By "large" we mean…

A convex lattice set in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ is the intersection of a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$. A well-known theorem of Doignon states that the Helly number of $d$-dimensional convex lattice sets equals…

We study two combinatorial parameters, which we denote by f(S) and h(S), associated to an arbitrary set S \subseteq R^d, where d \in N. In the nondegenerate situation, f(S) is the largest possible number of facets of a d-dimensional…

We prove that if a pure simplicial complex of dimension d with n facets has the least possible number of (d-1)-dimensional faces among all complexes with n faces of dimension d, then it is vertex decomposable. This answers a question of J.…

A well-known conjecture of Simon (1994) states that any pure $d$-dimensional shellable complex on $n$ vertices can be extended to $\Delta_{n-1}^{(d)}$, the $d$-skeleton of the $(n-1)$-dimensional simplex, by attaching one facet at a time…

Let $\mathcal{K}$ be a finite pure simplicial $d$-complex, with oriented facets $\{F_i\}$, which is boundaryless in the sense that $\sum\partial F_i=0$. We call such a $\mathcal{K}$ an \textit{admissible $d$-complex}. Given an admissible…

The collapsibility number of simplicial complexes was introduced by Wegner in order to understand the intersection patterns of convex sets. This number also plays an important role in a variety of Helly type results. We show that the…

We prove that there is no d such that all finite projective planes can be represented by convex sets in R^d, answering a question of Alon, Kalai, Matousek, and Meshulam. Here, if P is a projective plane with lines l_1,...,l_n, a…

For a metric space $(X, d)$ and a scale parameter $r \geq 0$, the Vietoris-Rips complex $\mathcal{VR}(X;r)$ is a simplicial complex on vertex set $X$, where a finite set $\sigma \subseteq X$ is a simplex if and only if diameter of $\sigma$…

Using the concept of $d$-collapsibility from combinatorial topology, we define chordal simplicial complexes and show that their Stanley-Reisner ideals are componentwise linear. Our construction is inspired by and an extension of "chordal…

A polynomial representation of a convex d-polytope P is a finite set \{p_1(x),...,p_n(x)\} of polynomials over E^d such that P=\setcond{x \in \E^d}{p_1(x) \ge 0 {for every} 1 \le i \le n}. By s(d,P) we denote the least possible number of…

The Dushnik-Miller dimension of a poset $\le$ is the minimal number $d$ of linear extensions $\le_1, \ldots , \le_d$ of $\le$ such that $\le$ is the intersection of $\le_1, \ldots , \le_d$. Supremum sections are simplicial complexes…

A classical question in PL topology, asked among others by Hudson, Lickorish, and Kirby, is whether every linear subdivision of the d-simplex is simplicially collapsible. The answer is known to be positive for d<4. We solve the problem up…

Let K and L be compact convex sets in R^n. The following two statements are shown to be equivalent: (i) For every polytope Q inside K having at most n+1 vertices, L contains a translate of Q. (ii) L contains a translate of K. Let 1 <= d <=…

For a simplicial complex X and a field K, let h_i(X)=\dim \tilde{H}_i(X;K). It is shown that if X,Y are complexes on the same vertex set, then for all k h_{k-1}(X\cap Y) \leq \sum_{\sigma \in Y} \sum_{i+j=k} h_{i-1}(X[\sigma])\cdot…

We prove that for every $d\geq 2$, deciding if a pure, $d$-dimensional, simplicial complex is shellable is NP-hard, hence NP-complete. This resolves a question raised, e.g., by Danaraj and Klee in 1978. Our reduction also yields that for…

Assume that $k \le d$ is a positive integer and $\C$ is a finite collection of convex bodies in $\R^d$. We prove a Helly type theorem: If for every subfamily $\C^*\subset \C$ of size at most $\max \{d+1,2(d-k+1)\}$ the set $\bigcap \C^*$…

Let Delta_{n-1} denote the (n-1)-dimensional simplex. Let Y be a random k-dimensional subcomplex of Delta_{n-1} obtained by starting with the full (k-1)-dimensional skeleton of Delta_{n-1} and then adding each k-simplex independently with…

A discrete d-manifold is a finite simple graph G=(V,E) where all unit spheres are (d-1)-spheres. A d-sphere is a d-manifold for which one can remove a vertex to make it contractible. A graph is contractible if one can remove a vertex with…