Operational Calculus on Curved Differentials: Optimal N-Complex Bounds and Persistent Homology

Abstract

We establish a canonical normal form for the iterates of a curved differential in curved differential algebras (CDA). This operator calculus clarifies the underlying algebraic structure of CDAs and bypasses the need for complex combinatorics. Using this framework, we provide sharp criteria for curvature constraints to induce N-complex structures. We demonstrate that, while the nilpotency of the curvature element to the n-th power is insufficient to bound the nilpotency of d to 2n, it fundamentally guarantees a strict (4n-2)-complex structure. On the applied side, we model curvature as a filtration controller on a genuine square zero chain complex. This places us under the standard persistence stability framework and yields a Lipschitz control of barcodes with respect to degreewise curvature variation. A reproducible toy example on a four vertex flag complex illustrates the mechanism