Complexes of not $i$-connected graphs

Graphs with given k vertices generate an (acyclic) simplicial complex. We describe the homology of its quotient complex, formed by all connected graphs, and demonstrate its applications to the topology of braid groups, knot theory, combinatorics, and singularity theory. The multidimensional analogues of this complex are indicated, which arise naturally in the homotopy theory, higher Chern-Simons theory and complexity theory.

The aim of this paper is to generalize the notion of the coloring complex of a graph to hypergraphs. We present three different interpretations of those complexes -- a purely combinatorial one and two geometric ones. It is shown, that most of the properties, which are known to be true for coloring complexes of graphs, break down in this more general setting, e.g., Cohen-Macaulayness and partitionabilty. Nevertheless, we are able to provide bounds for the $f$- and $h$-vectors ...

$Hom(G,H)$ is a polyhedral complex defined for any two undirected graphs $G$ and $H$. This construction was introduced by Lov\'asz to give lower bounds for chromatic numbers of graphs. In this paper we initiate the study of the topological properties of this class of complexes. We prove that $Hom(K_m,K_n)$ is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of $(n-m)$-dimensional spheres, and provide an enumeration formula for the number of the spheres. As a corollary we prove that if for some...

With a view toward studying the homotopy type of spaces of Boolean formulae, we introduce a simplicial complex, called the theta complex, associated to any hypergraph, which is the Alexander dual of the more well-known independence complex. In particular, the set of satisfiable formulae in k-conjunctive normal form with less than or equal to n variables has the homotopy type of Theta(Cube(n,n-k)), where Cube(n,n-k) is a hypergraph associated to the (n-k)-skeleton of an n-cube...

We continue our investigation of spaces of long embeddings (long embeddings are high-dimensional analogues of long knots). In previous work we showed that when the dimensions are in the stable range, the rational homology groups of these spaces can be calculated as the homology of a direct sum of certain finite graph-complexes, which we described explicitly. In this paper, we establish a similar result for the rational homotopy groups of these spaces. We also put emphasis on ...

For $r\geq 1$, the $r$-matching complex of a graph $G$, denoted $M_r(G)$, is a simplicial complex whose faces are the subsets $H \subseteq E(G)$ of the edge set of $G$ such that the degree of any vertex in the induced subgraph $G[H]$ is at most $r$. In this article, we give a closed form formula for the homotopy type of the $(n-2)$-matching complex of complete graph on $n$ vertices. We also prove that the $(n-1)$-matching complex of complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ is homot...

In this paper, we study the homology of the cyclic coloring complex of three different types of $k$-uniform hypergraphs. For the case of a complete $k$-uniform hypergraph, we show that the dimension of the $(n-k-1)^{st}$ homology group is given by a binomial coefficient. Further, we discuss a complex whose $r$-faces consist of all ordered set partitions $[B_1, ..., B_{r+2}]$ where none of the $B_i$ contain a hyperedge of the complete $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$ and where $1 \i...

In this expository paper we present some ideas of algebraic topology in a language accessible to non-specialists in the area. A $1$-cycle in a graph is a set $C$ of edges such that every vertex is contained in an even number of edges from $C$. It is easy to check that the sum (modulo $2$) of $1$-cycles is a $1$-cycle. We start from the following problems: to find $\bullet$ the number of all $1$-cycles in a given graph; $\bullet$ a small number of $1$-cycles in a given gra...

This book is a detailed introduction to the theory of finite type (Vassiliev) knot invariants, with a stress on its combinatorial aspects. It is intended to serve both as a textbook for readers with no or little background in this area, and as a guide to some of the more advanced material. Our aim is to lead the reader to understanding by means of pictures and calculations, and for this reason we often prefer to convey the idea of the proof on an instructive example rather th...

In this paper, we study the homology of the coloring complex and the cyclic coloring complex of a complete $k$-uniform hypergraph. We show that the coloring complex of a complete $k$-uniform hypergraph is shellable, and we determine the rank of its unique nontrivial homology group in terms of its chromatic polynomial. We also show that the dimension of the $(n-k-1)^{st}$ homology group of the cyclic coloring complex of a complete $k$-uniform hypergraph is given by a binomial ...