On expansion and topological overlap

Abstract

We give a detailed and easily accessible proof of Gromov’s Topological Overlap Theorem. Let X be a finite simplicial complex or, more generally, a finite polyhedral cell complex of dimension d. Informally, the theorem states that if X has sufficiently strong higher-dimensional expansion properties (which generalize edge expansion of graphs and are defined in terms of cellular cochains of X) then X has the following topological overlap property: for every continuous map Xrightarrow mathbb {R}^d there exists a point pin mathbb {R}^d that is contained in the images of a positive fraction mu >0 of the d-cells of X. More generally, the conclusion holds if mathbb {R}^d is replaced by any d-dimensional piecewise-linear manifold M, with a constant mu that depends only on d and on the expansion properties of X, but not on M.