Tilings, packings and expected Betti numbers in simplicial complexes

Abstract

Let $K$ be a finite simplicial complex. We prove that the normalized expected Betti numbers of a random subcomplex in its $d$-th barycentric subdivision $\text{Sd}^d (K)$ converge to universal limits as $d$ grows to $+ \infty$. In codimension one, we use canonical filtrations of $\text{Sd}^d (K)$ to upper estimate these limits and get a monotony theorem which makes it possible to improve these estimates given any packing of disjoint simplices in $\text{Sd}^d (K)$. We then introduce a notion of tiling of simplicial complexes having the property that skeletons and barycentric subdivisions of tileable simplicial complexes are tileable. This enables us to tackle the problem: How many disjoint simplices can be packed in $\text{Sd}^d (K)$, $d \gg 0$?