The topology of the space of matrices of Barvinok rank two

• The Barvinok rank of a d x n matrix is the minimum number of  points in Rd such that the tropical convex hull of the points contains all columns of the matrix. The concept originated in work by Barvinok and others on the travelling salesman problem. Our object of study is the space of real d x n matrices of Barvinok rank two. Let Bd,n denote this space modulo rescaling and translation. We show that Bd,n is a manifold, thereby settling a  conjecture due to Develin. In fact, Bd,n is homeomorphic to the quotient of the product of spheres Sd-2 x Sn-2 under the involution which sends each point to its antipode simultaneously in both  components.  In addition, using discrete Morse theory, we compute the integral homology of Bd,n. Assuming d \ge n, for odd d the homology turns out to be   isomorphic to that of Sd-2 x RPn-2. This  is true also for even d up to degree d-3, but the two cases differ from degree d-2 and up. The homology computation straightforwardly extends to more general  complexes of the form (Sd-2 x X)//Z2, where X is a finite cell  complex of dimension at most d-2 admitting a free  Z2-action.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Matematik -- Geometri (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Mathematics -- Geometry (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Matematik -- Diskret matematik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Mathematics -- Discrete Mathematics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Barvinok rank

tropical convexity

antipodal action

discrete Morse theory

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)