The graph minor theorem in topological combinatorics

Abstract

We study a variety of natural constructions from topological combinatorics, including matching complexes as well as other graph complexes, from the perspective of the graph minor category of [13]. We prove that these complexes must have universally bounded torsion in their homology across all graphs of bounded genus. One may think of these results as arising from an algebraic version of the graph minor theorem of Robertson and Seymour [19,20].