Related papers: The worst way to collapse a simplex
In this paper we determine the threshold for collapsibility in the probabilistic model $X_d(n,p)$ of $d$-dimensional simplicial complexes. A lower bound for this threshold $p=\frac{c_d}{n}$ was established in \cite{ALLM}. Here we show that…
We prove that it is NP-complete to decide whether a given (3-dimensional) simplicial complex is collapsible. This work extends a result of Malgouyres and Franc\'{e}s showing that it is NP-complete to decide whether a given simplicial…
We disprove a long-standing open conjecture due to Simon stating that all skeleta of simplices are extendably shellable. In particular, for every $d \geq 3$ we provide a pure $d$-dimensional shellable simplicial complex which is not…
We reprove and generalize in a combinatorial way the result of A. Bj\"orner [J.\ Comb.\ Th.\ A {\bf 30}, 1981, pp.~90--100, Theorem 3.3], that order complexes of noncomplemented lattices are contractible, namely by showing that these…
We prove a sufficient condition for a finite clique complex to collapse to a $k$-dimensional complex, and use this to exhibit thresholds for $(k+1)$-collapsibility in a sparse random clique complex. In particular, if every strongly…
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…
In this paper we extend the works of Tancer and of Malgouyres and Franc\'es, showing that $(d,k)$-collapsibility is NP-complete for $d\geq k+2$ except $(2,0)$. By $(d,k)$-collapsibility we mean the following problem: determine whether a…
The \emph{strong collapse} of a simplicial complex, proposed by Barmak and Minian (\emph{Disc. Comp. Geom. 2012}), is a combinatorial collapse of a complex onto its sub-complex. Recently, it has received attention from computational…
Let Y be a random d-dimensional subcomplex of the (n-1)-dimensional simplex S obtained by starting with the full (d-1)-dimensional skeleton of S and then adding each d-simplex independently with probability p=c/n. We compute an explicit…
We introduce the theory of strong homotopy types of simplicial complexes. Similarly to classical simple homotopy theory, the strong homotopy types can be described by elementary moves. An elementary move in this setting is called a strong…
In this article, we discuss the vertex decomposability of three well-studied simplicial complexes associated to forests. In particular, we show that the bounded degree complex of a forest and the complex of directed trees of a multidiforest…
We show that a compact n-polyhedron PL embeds in a product of n trees if and only if it collapses onto an (n-1)-polyhedron. If the n-polyhedron is contractible and n\ne 3 (or n=3 and the Andrews-Curtis Conjecture holds), the product of…
We show that the finite simply connected 2-complexes of nonpositive planar sectional curvature are collapsible. Moreover, we show that each finite connected 2-complex with negative planar sectional curvature and fundamental group…
(1) We show that if a presentation of the trivial group is "hard to trivialize", in the sense that lots of Tietze moves are necessary to transform it into the trivial presentation, then the associated presentation complex (which is a…
We present extremal constructions connected with the property of simplicial collapsibility. (1) For each $d \ge 2$, there are collapsible (and shellable) simplicial $d$-complexes with only one free face. Also, there are non-evasive…
We investigate the collapsibility of systolic finite simplicial complexes of arbitrary dimension. The main tool we use in the proof is discrete Morse theory. We shall consider a convex subcomplex of the complex and project any simplex of…
Let $H$ be a group acting on a simply-connected diagrammatically reducible combinatorial 2-complex $X$ with fine 1-skeleton. If the fixed point set $X^ H$ is non-empty, then it is contractible. Having fine 1-skeleton is a weaker version of…
We provide examples of contractible complexes which fail to have non-positive immersions and weak non-positive immersions, answering a conjecture of Wise in the negative.
We present a pumping lemma for each level of the collapsible pushdown graph hierarchy in analogy to the second author's pumping lemma for higher-order pushdown graphs (without collapse). Using this lemma, we give the first known examples…
In 1975 Wegner conjectured that the nerve of every finite good cover in R^d is d-collapsible. We disprove this conjecture. A good cover is a collection of open sets in R^d such that the intersection of every subcollection is either empty or…