Cofiltrations of spanning trees in multiparameter persistent homology

Abstract

Given a multiparameter filtration of simplicial complexes, we consider the problem of explicitly constructing generators for the multipersistent homology groups with arbitrary PID coefficients. We propose the use of spanning trees as a tool to identify such generators by introducing a condition for persistent spanning trees, which is accompanied by an existence result for cofiltrations consisting of spanning trees. We also introduce a generalization of spanning trees, called spanning complexes, for dimensions higher than one, and we establish their existence as a first step towards this direction.