Anti-Vietoris--Rips metric thickenings and Borsuk graphs (2503.08862v2)

Abstract: For $X$ a metric space and $r\ge 0$, the anti-Vietoris-Rips metric thickening $\mathrm{AVR^m}(X;r)$ is the space of all finitely supported probability measures on $X$ whose support has spread at least $r$, equipped with an optimal transport topology. We study the anti-Vietoris-Rips metric thickenings of spheres. We have a homeomorphism $\mathrm{AVR^m}(S^n;r) \cong S^n$ for $r > \pi$, a homotopy equivalence $\mathrm{AVR^m}(S^n;r) \simeq \mathbb{RP}^{n}$ for $\frac{2\pi}{3} < r \le \pi$, and contractibility $\mathrm{AVR^m}(S^n;r) \simeq *$ for $r=0$. For an $n$-dimensional compact Riemannian manifold $M$, we show that the covering dimension of $\mathrm{AVR^m}(M;r)$ is at most $(n+1)p-1$, where $p$ is the packing number of $M$ at scale $r$. Hence the $k$-dimensional \v{C}ech cohomology of $\mathrm{AVR^m}(M;r)$ vanishes in all dimensions $k\geq (n+1)p$. We prove more about the topology of $\mathrm{AVR^m}(S^n;\frac{2\pi}{3})$, which has vanishing cohomology in dimensions $2n+2$ and higher. We explore connections to chromatic numbers of Borsuk graphs, and in particular we prove that for $k>n$, no graph homomorphism $\mathrm{Bor}(S^k;r) \to \mathrm{Bor}(S^n;\alpha)$ exists when $\alpha > \frac{2\pi}{3}$.