Towards optimality in discrete Morse Theory through chain homotopies

Abstract

Once a discrete Morse function has been defined on a finite cell complex, information about its homology can be deduced from its critical elements. The main objective of this paper is to define optimal discrete gradient vector fields on general finite cell complexes, where optimality entails having the least number of critical elements. Our approach is to consider this problem as a homology computation question for chain complexes endowed with extra algebraic nilpotent operator.