A combinatorial non-positive curvature I: weak systolicity

We introduce the notion of weakly systolic complexes and groups, and initiate regular studies of them. Those are simplicial complexes with nonpositive-curvature-like properties and groups acting on them geometrically. We characterize weakly systolic complexes as simply connected simplicial complexes satisfying some local combinatorial conditions. We provide several classes of examples --- in particular systolic groups and CAT(-1) cubical groups are weakly systolic. We present applications of the theory, concerning Gromov hyperbolic groups, Coxeter groups and systolic groups.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figur

On the Reconstruction of Geodesic Subspaces of RN\mathbb{R}^N

We consider the topological and geometric reconstruction of a geodesic subspace of $\mathbb{R}^N$ both from the \v{C}ech and Vietoris-Rips filtrations on a finite, Hausdorff-close, Euclidean sample. Our reconstruction technique leverages the intrinsic length metric induced by the geodesics on the subspace. We consider the distortion and convexity radius as our sampling parameters for a successful reconstruction. For a geodesic subspace with finite distortion and positive convexity radius, we guarantee a correct computation of its homotopy and homology groups from the sample. For geodesic subspaces of $\mathbb{R}^2$, we also devise an algorithm to output a homotopy equivalent geometric complex that has a very small Hausdorff distance to the unknown shape of interest

Geometric Reasoning with polymake

The mathematical software system polymake provides a wide range of functions for convex polytopes, simplicial complexes, and other objects. A large part of this paper is dedicated to a tutorial which exemplifies the usage. Later sections include a survey of research results obtained with the help of polymake so far and a short description of the technical background

Linear colorings of simplicial complexes and collapsing

A vertex coloring of a simplicial complex $\Delta$ is called a linear coloring if it satisfies the property that for every pair of facets $(F_1, F_2)$ of $\Delta$, there exists no pair of vertices $(v_1, v_2)$ with the same color such that $v_1\in F_1\backslash F_2$ and $v_2\in F_2\backslash F_1$. We show that every simplicial complex $\Delta$ which is linearly colored with $k$ colors includes a subcomplex $\Delta'$ with $k$ vertices such that $\Delta'$ is a strong deformation retract of $\Delta$. We also prove that this deformation is a nonevasive reduction, in particular, a collapsing.Comment: 18 page

Generalized Sums over Histories for Quantum Gravity II. Simplicial Conifolds

This paper examines the issues involved with concretely implementing a sum over conifolds in the formulation of Euclidean sums over histories for gravity. The first step in precisely formulating any sum over topological spaces is that one must have an algorithmically implementable method of generating a list of all spaces in the set to be summed over. This requirement causes well known problems in the formulation of sums over manifolds in four or more dimensions; there is no algorithmic method of determining whether or not a topological space is an n-manifold in five or more dimensions and the issue of whether or not such an algorithm exists is open in four. However, as this paper shows, conifolds are algorithmically decidable in four dimensions. Thus the set of 4-conifolds provides a starting point for a concrete implementation of Euclidean sums over histories in four dimensions. Explicit algorithms for summing over various sets of 4-conifolds are presented in the context of Regge calculus. Postscript figures available via anonymous ftp at black-hole.physics.ubc.ca (137.82.43.40) in file gen2.ps.Comment: 82pp., plain TeX, To appear in Nucl. Phys. B,FF-92-