Tight Complexes Are Golod

Abstract

Abstract Golodness of a simplicial complex is defined algebraically in terms of the Stanley–Reisner ring, and it has been a long-standing problem to find its combinatorial characterization. Tightness of a simplicial complex is a combinatorial analogue of a tight embedding of a manifold into Euclidean space, and has been studied in connection to minimal manifold triangulations. In this paper, by using an idea from toric topology, we prove that tight complexes are Golod, and as a corollary, we obtain that a triangulation of a closed connected orientable manifold is Golod if and only if it is tight, which is a combinatorial characterization of Golodness for manifold triangulations.