arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Anibal M. Medina-Mardones.
We establish the foundations of the theory of persistent cohomology operations, derive decomposition formulas for wedge sums and products, and prove their Gromov-Hausdorff stability. We use these results to construct pairs of Riemannian pseudomanifolds for which the Gromov-Hausdorff estimates derived from persistent cohomology operations are strictly sharper than those obtained using persistent homology.
We show that any natural construction of cup-$i$ products on the normalized cochains of simplicial sets, parameterized by the minimal free resolution of the trivial $\mathbb{F}_2[\mathbb{S}_2]$-module, is isomorphic---not just homotopic---to Steenrod's original construction if it is non-zero, irreducible, and free. We show that these three conditions are independent, and use them to prove that all cup-$i$ constructions in the literature represent the same isomorphism class.
This manuscript develops a geometric approach to ordinary cohomology of smooth manifolds, constructing a cochain complex model based on co-oriented smooth maps from manifolds with corners. Special attention is given to the pull-back product of such smooth maps, which provides our geometric cochains with a partially defined product structure inducing the cup product in cohomology. A parallel treatment of homology is also given allowing for a geometric unification of the contravariant and covariant theories.
Let $M$ be a smooth manifold without boundary and let $\mathcal{T}$ be a countable collection of manifolds with corners, each equipped with a smooth map to $M$. We show that the singular simplicial set $\mathrm{Sing}(M)$ of $M$ deformation retracts onto the simplicial subset $\mathrm{Sing}^{\mathcal{T}}\!(M)$ of smooth singular simplices that are transverse to every element of $\mathcal{T}$.
The search for algebraic foundations of colour-kinematics duality and the double-copy construction has brought into focus a generalization of Batalin--Vilkovisky algebras, referred to here as coexact BV-algebras and as $\textrm{BV}^\square$-algebras in other sources. While these structures capture the cubic sector, they fail to encode higher-valence phenomena, for which a homotopy-theoretic extension becomes necessary. This work introduces a conceptual notion of homotopy coexact BV-algebra, defined through the homotopical interplay of commutative and BV structures, and provides a concrete model in terms of generators and relations, obtained through an extension the theory of Koszul duality for operads. The resulting framework enables the systematic use of homotopical tools -- $\infty$-morphisms, homotopy transfer, rectification, and deformation theory -- and naturally accommodates the quartic-level structures recently identified in Yang--Mills theory.
In the early 1990s, Kapranov and Voevodsky proposed a geometric method for constructing higher-categorical pasting diagrams from generically framed convex polytopes. This work revisits their construction and identifies a convex-geometric condition that is both necessary and sufficient for the procedure to yield a well-defined pasting diagram. Our criterion, the absence of cellular loops, relates their construction to the theory of cellular strings, an active area of convex geometry originating in the Baues problem. This paper introduces higher-dimensional cellular strings and uses them to disprove the Kapranov-Voevodsky conjecture in the following strong sense. Not only do we exhibit framed polytopes admitting cellular loops, but we also construct examples for which every admissible frame produces one. As observed by these authors, Street's orientals arise from canonically framed cyclic simplices. We establish that this family is exceptional as any random $n$-simplex, canonically framed, almost surely exhibits cellular loops in the large $n$-limit.
Using a long-standing conjecture from combinatorial group theory, we explore, from multiple perspectives, the challenges of finding rare instances carrying disproportionately high rewards. Based on lessons learned in the context defined by the Andrews-Curtis conjecture, we propose algorithmic enhancements and a topological hardness measure with implications for a broad class of search problems. As part of our study, we also address several open mathematical questions. Notably, we demonstrate the length reducibility of all but two presentations in the Akbulut-Kirby series (1981), and resolve various potential counterexamples in the Miller-Schupp series (1991), including three infinite subfamilies.
We prove that the classical map comparing Adams' cobar construction on the singular chains of a pointed space and the singular cubical chains on its based loop space is a quasi-isomorphism preserving explicitly defined monoidal $E_\infty$-coalgebra structures. This contribution extends to its ultimate conclusion a result of Baues, stating that Adams' map preserves monoidal coalgebra structures.
This paper presents a generalization to multisimplicial sets of previously defined $E_\infty$-coalgebra structures on the chains of simplicial and cubical sets. We focus on the surjection chain complexes of McClure--Smith as a main example and construct a zig-zag of complexity preserving quasi-isomorphisms of $E_\infty$-coalgebras relating these to both the singular chains on configuration spaces and the Barratt--Eccles chain complexes.
Cubical cochains are equipped with an associative product, dual to the Serre diagonal, lifting the graded commutative structure in cohomology. In this work we introduce through explicit combinatorial methods an extension of this product to a full ${E_\infty}$-structure. As an application we prove that the Cartan-Serre map, which relates the cubical and simplicial singular cochains of spaces, is a quasi-isomorphism of ${E_\infty}$-algebras.
Operations on the cohomology of spaces are important tools enhancing the descriptive power of this computable invariant. For cohomology with mod 2 coefficients, Steenrod squares are the most significant of these operations. Their effective computation relies on formulas defining a cup-$i$ construction, a structure on (co)chains which is important in its own right, having connections to lattice field theory, convex geometry and higher category theory among others. In this article we present new formulas defining a cup-$i$ construction, and use them to introduce a fast algorithm for the computation of Steenrod squares on the cohomology of finite simplicial complexes. In forthcoming work we use these formulas to axiomatically characterize the cup-$i$ construction they define, showing additionally that all other formulas in the literature define the same cup-$i$ construction up to isomorphism.
We show that the Ranicki-Weiss assembly functor, going from chain complex valued presheaves on a simplicial complex to comodules over its Alexander-Whitney coalgebra, factors fully faithfully through the category of comodules over its Steenrod cup-$i$ coalgebra.
We introduce topological conditions on a broad class of functionals that ensure that the persistent homology modules of their associated sublevel set filtration admit persistence diagrams, which, in particular, implies that they satisfy generalized Morse inequalities. We illustrate the applicability of these results by recasting the original proof of the Unstable Minimal Surface Theorem given by Morse and Tompkins in a modern and rigorous framework.
It has long been envisioned that the strength of the barcode invariant of filtered cellular complexes could be increased using cohomology operations. Leveraging recent advances in the computation of Steenrod squares, we introduce a new family of computable invariants on mod 2 persistent cohomology termed $Sq^k$-barcodes. We present a complete algorithmic pipeline for their computation and illustrate their real-world applicability using the space of conformations of the cyclo-octane molecule.
In this survey article we discuss certain homotopy coherent enhancements of the coalgebra structure on cellular chains defined by an approximation to the diagonal. Over the rational numbers, $C_\infty$-coalgebra structures control the $\mathbb Q$-complete homotopy theory of spaces, and over the integers, $E_\infty$-coalgebras provide an appropriate setting to model the full homotopy category. Effective constructions of these structures, the focus of this work, carry geometric and combinatorial information which has found applications in various fields including deformation theory, higher category theory, and condensed matter physics.
Steenrod defined in 1947 the Steenrod squares on the mod 2 cohomology of spaces using explicit cochain formulae for the cup-$i$ products; a family of coherent homotopies derived from the broken symmetry of Alexander--Whitney's chain approximation to the diagonal. He later defined his homonymous operations for all primes using the homology of symmetric groups. This approach enhanced the conceptual understanding of the operations and allowed for many advances, but lacked the concreteness of their definition at the even prime. In recent years, thanks to the development of new applications of cohomology, the need to have an effectively computable definition of Steenrod operations has become a key issue. Using the operadic viewpoint of May, this article provides such definitions at all primes introducing multioperations that generalize the Steenrod cup-$i$ products on the simplicial and cubical cochains of spaces.
In 1947, N.E. Steenrod defined the Steenrod Squares, which are mod 2 cohomology operations, using explicit cochain formulae for cup-i products of cocycles. He later recast the construction in more general homological terms, using group homology and acyclic model methods, rather than explicit cochain formulae, to define mod p operations for all primes p. Steenrod's student J. Adem applied the homological point of view to prove fundamental relations, known as the Adem relations, in the algebra of cohomology operations generated by the Steenrod operations. In this paper we give a proof of the mod 2 Adem relations at the cochain level. Specifically, given a mod 2 cocycle, we produce explicit cochain formulae whose coboundaries are the Adem relations among compositions of Steenrod Squares applied to the cocycle, using Steenrod's original cochain definition of the Square operations.
We use a vector field flow defined through a cubulation of a closed manifold to reconcile the partially defined commutative product on geometric cochains with the standard cup product on cubical cochains, which is fully defined and commutative only up to coherent homotopies. The interplay between intersection and cup product dates back to the beginnings of homology theory, but, to our knowledge, this result is the first to give an explicit cochain level comparison between these approaches.