On embeddings of CAT(0) cube complexes into products of trees

We prove that the contact graph of a 2-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex ${\bf X}$ of maximum degree $\Delta$ can be coloured with at most $\epsilon(\Delta)=M\Delta^{26}$ colours, for a fixed constant $M$. This implies that ${\bf X}$ (and the associated median graph) isometrically embeds in the Cartesian product of at most $\epsilon(\Delta)$ trees, and that the event structure whose domain is ${\bf X}$ admits a nice labeling with $\epsilon(\Delta)$ labels. On the other hand, we present an example of a 5-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex with uniformly bounded degrees of 0-cubes which cannot be embedded into a Cartesian product of a finite number of trees. This answers in the negative a question raised independently by F. Haglund, G. Niblo, M. Sageev, and the first author of this paper.Comment: Some small corrections; main change is a correction of the computation of the bounds in Theorem 1. Some figures repaire

Hyperbolic four-manifolds, colourings and mutations

We develop a way of seeing a complete orientable hyperbolic $4$-manifold $\mathcal{M}$ as an orbifold cover of a Coxeter polytope $\mathcal{P} \subset \mathbb{H}^4$ that has a facet colouring. We also develop a way of finding totally geodesic sub-manifolds $\mathcal{N}$ in $\mathcal{M}$, and describing the result of mutations along $\mathcal{N}$. As an application of our method, we construct an example of a complete orientable hyperbolic $4$-manifold $\mathcal{X}$ with a single non-toric cusp and a complete orientable hyperbolic $4$-manifold $\mathcal{Y}$ with a single toric cusp. Both $\mathcal{X}$ and $\mathcal{Y}$ have twice the minimal volume among all complete orientable hyperbolic $4$-manifolds.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures; to appear in Proceedings of the London Mathematical Societ

Colouring Lines in Projective Space

Let $V$ be a vector space of dimension $v$ over a field of order $q$. The $q$-Kneser graph has the $k$-dimensional subspaces of $V$ as its vertices, where two subspaces $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are adjacent if and only if $\alpha\cap\beta$ is the zero subspace. This paper is motivated by the problem of determining the chromatic numbers of these graphs. This problem is trivial when $k=1$ (and the graphs are complete) or when $v<2k$ (and the graphs are empty). We establish some basic theory in the general case. Then specializing to the case $k=2$, we show that the chromatic number is $q^2+q$ when $v=4$ and $(q^{v-1}-1)/(q-1)$ when $v > 4$. In both cases we characterise the minimal colourings.Comment: 19 pages; to appear in J. Combinatorial Theory, Series

Compact hyperbolic manifolds without spin structures

We exhibit the first examples of compact orientable hyperbolic manifolds that do not have any spin structure. We show that such manifolds exist in all dimensions $n \geq 4$. The core of the argument is the construction of a compact orientable hyperbolic $4$-manifold $M$ that contains a surface $S$ of genus $3$ with self intersection $1$. The $4$-manifold $M$ has an odd intersection form and is hence not spin. It is built by carefully assembling some right angled $120$-cells along a pattern inspired by the minimum trisection of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2$. The manifold $M$ is also the first example of a compact orientable hyperbolic $4$-manifold satisfying any of these conditions: 1) $H_2(M,\mathbb{Z})$ is not generated by geodesically immersed surfaces. 2) There is a covering $\tilde{M}$ that is a non-trivial bundle over a compact surface.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figure