Cosheaf representations of relations and Dowker complexes

The Dowker complex is an abstract simplicial complex that is constructed from a binary relation in a straightforward way. Although there are two ways to perform this construction—vertices for the complex are either the rows or the columns of the matrix representing the relation—the two constructions are homotopy equivalent. This article shows that the construction of a Dowker complex from a relation is a non-faithful covariant functor. Furthermore, we show that this functor can be made faithful by enriching the construction into a cosheaf on the Dowker complex. The cosheaf can be summarized by an integer weight function on the Dowker complex that is a complete isomorphism invariant for the relation. The cosheaf representation of a relation actually embodies both Dowker complexes, and we construct a duality functor that exchanges the two complexes.

Matching Complexes of $3 \times n$ Grid Graphs

The matching complex of a graph $G$ is a simplicial complex whose simplices are matchings in $G$. In the last few years the matching complexes of grid graphs have gained much attention among the topological combinatorists. In 2017, Braun and Hough obtained homological results related to the matching complexes of $2 \times n$ grid graphs. Further in 2019, Matsushita showed that the matching complexes of $2 \times n$ grid graphs are homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres. In this article we prove that the matching complexes of $3\times n$ grid graphs are homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres. We also give the comprehensive list of the dimensions of spheres appearing in the wedge.

Embedding spheres in knot traces

The trace of the $n$ -framed surgery on a knot in $S^{3}$ is a 4-manifold homotopy equivalent to the 2-sphere. We characterise when a generator of the second homotopy group of such a manifold can be realised by a locally flat embedded $2$ -sphere whose complement has abelian fundamental group. Our characterisation is in terms of classical and computable $3$ -dimensional knot invariants. For each $n$ , this provides conditions that imply a knot is topologically $n$ -shake slice, directly analogous to the result of Freedman and Quinn that a knot with trivial Alexander polynomial is topologically slice.

Polytope Novikov homology

Let M be a closed manifold and $${\mathcal {A}} \subseteq H^1_{\mathrm {dR}}(M)$$ A ⊆ H dR 1 ( M ) a polytope. For each $$a \in {\mathcal {A}}$$ a ∈ A , we define a Novikov chain complex with a multiple finiteness condition encoded by the polytope $${\mathcal {A}}$$ A . The resulting polytope Novikov homology generalizes the ordinary Novikov homology. We prove that any two cohomology classes in a prescribed polytope give rise to chain homotopy equivalent polytope Novikov complexes over a Novikov ring associated with said polytope. As applications, we present a novel approach to the (twisted) Novikov Morse Homology Theorem and prove a new polytope Novikov Principle. The latter generalizes the ordinary Novikov Principle and a recent result of Pajitnov in the abelian case.

TOPOLOGICAL 4-MANIFOLDS WITH 4-DIMENSIONAL FUNDAMENTAL GROUP

Let $\pi$ be a group satisfying the Farrell–Jones conjecture and assume that $B\pi$ is a 4-dimensional Poincaré duality space. We consider topological, closed, connected manifolds with fundamental group $\pi$ whose canonical map to $B\pi$ has degree 1, and show that two such manifolds are s-cobordant if and only if their equivariant intersection forms are isometric and they have the same Kirby–Siebenmann invariant. If $\pi$ is good in the sense of Freedman, it follows that two such manifolds are homeomorphic if and only if they are homotopy equivalent and have the same Kirby–Siebenmann invariant. This shows rigidity in many cases that lie between aspherical 4-manifolds, where rigidity is expected by Borel’s conjecture, and simply connected manifolds where rigidity is a consequence of Freedman’s classification results.

Isospectral finiteness on convex cocompact hyperbolic 3-manifolds

In this paper, we show that given a set of lengths of closed geodesics, there are only finitely many convex cocompact hyperbolic 3-manifolds with that specified length spectrum with multiplicity, homotopy equivalent to a given 3-manifold without a handlebody factor, up to orientation preserving isometries.

The homotopy classification of four-dimensional toric orbifolds

Let X be a 4-dimensional toric orbifold. If $H^{3}(X)$ has a non-trivial odd primary torsion, then we show that X is homotopy equivalent to the wedge of a Moore space and a CW-complex. As a corollary, given two 4-dimensional toric orbifolds having no 2-torsion in the cohomology, we prove that they have the same homotopy type if and only their integral cohomology rings are isomorphic.

Characterisation of polyhedral products with finite generalised Postnikov decomposition

A generalised Postnikov tower for a space X is a tower of principal fibrations with fibres generalised Eilenberg–MacLane spaces, whose inverse limit is weakly homotopy equivalent to X. In this paper we give a characterisation of a polyhedral product {Z_{K}(X,A)} whose universal cover either admits a generalised Postnikov tower of finite length, or is a homotopy retract of a space admitting such a tower. We also include p-local and rational versions of the theorem. We end with a group theoretic application.

The fibre of the degree 3 map, Anick spaces and the double suspension

Let S2n+1{p} denote the homotopy fibre of the degree p self map of S2n+1. For primes p ≥ 5, work by Selick shows that S2n+1{p} admits a non-trivial loop space decomposition if and only if n = 1 or p. Indecomposability in all but these dimensions was obtained by showing that a non-trivial decomposition of ΩS2n+1{p} implies the existence of a p-primary Kervaire invariant one element of order p in $\pi _{2n(p-1)-2}^S$. We prove the converse of this last implication and observe that the homotopy decomposition problem for ΩS2n+1{p} is equivalent to the strong p-primary Kervaire invariant problem for all odd primes. For p = 3, we use the 3-primary Kervaire invariant element θ3 to give a new decomposition of ΩS55{3} analogous to Selick's decomposition of ΩS2p+1{p} and as an application prove two new cases of a long-standing conjecture stating that the fibre of the double suspension $S^{2n-1} \longrightarrow \Omega ^2S^{2n+1}$ is homotopy equivalent to the double loop space of Anick's space.