Domination numbers and noncover complexes of hypergraphs

Abstract

Let H be a hypergraph on a finite set V. A cover of H is a set of vertices that meets all edges of H. If W is not a cover of H, then W is said to be a noncover of H. The noncover complex of H is the abstract simplicial complex whose faces are the noncovers of H. In this paper, we study homological properties of noncover complexes of hypergraphs. In particular, we obtain an upper bound on their Leray numbers. The bound is in terms of hypergraph domination numbers. Also, our proof idea is applied to compute the homotopy type of the noncover complexes of certain uniform hypergraphs, called tight paths and tight cycles. This extends to hypergraphs known results on graphs. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.