Spanning surfaces in 3-graphs

We prove a topological extension of Dirac's theorem suggested by Gowers in 2005: for any connected, closed surface $\mathscr{S}$, we show that any two-dimensional simplicial complex on $n$ vertices in which each pair of vertices belongs to at least $n/3 + o(n)$ facets contains a homeomorph of $\mathscr{S}$ spanning all the vertices. This result is asymptotically sharp, and implies in particular that any 3-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices with minimum codegree exceeding $n/3+o(n)$ contains a spanning triangulation of the $2$-sphere.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figure

Computing trisections of 4-manifolds

Algorithms that decompose a manifold into simple pieces reveal the geometric and topological structure of the manifold, showing how complicated structures are constructed from simple building blocks. This note describes a way to algorithmically construct a trisection, which describes a $4$-dimensional manifold as a union of three $4$-dimensional handlebodies. The complexity of the $4$-manifold is captured in a collection of curves on a surface, which guide the gluing of the handelbodies. The algorithm begins with a description of a manifold as a union of pentachora, or $4$-dimensional simplices. It transforms this description into a trisection. This results in the first explicit complexity bounds for the trisection genus of a $4$-manifold in terms of the number of pentachora ($4$-simplices) in a triangulation.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Colouring the Triangles Determined by a Point Set

Let P be a set of n points in general position in the plane. We study the chromatic number of the intersection graph of the open triangles determined by P. It is known that this chromatic number is at least n^3/27+O(n^2), and if P is in convex position, the answer is n^3/24+O(n^2). We prove that for arbitrary P, the chromatic number is at most n^3/19.259+O(n^2)

Special Lagrangian torus fibrations of complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds: a geometric conjecture

For complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds in toric varieties, Gross and Haase-Zharkov have given a conjectural combinatorial description of the special Lagrangian torus fibrations whose existence was predicted by Strominger, Yau and Zaslow. We present a geometric version of this construction, generalizing an earlier conjecture of the first author.Comment: 23 pagers, 10 figure