A Complete Classification of Discrete $d$-Pseudomanifolds with at Most $2d+7$ Vertices

Abstract

A simple undirected graph $M$ is called a discrete $d$-pseudomanifold if, for every vertex $v$, the induced subgraph $N_M(v)$ on the neighbors of $v$ is a discrete $(d-1)$-pseudomanifold, where a discrete $1$-pseudomanifold is defined to be an $n$-cycle with $n\geq 4$. These objects arise naturally as graph-theoretic analogues of simplicial pseudomanifolds and provide a purely combinatorial framework for studying manifold-like structures through local neighborhood conditions. Understanding discrete pseudomanifolds with a small number of vertices is therefore a fundamental problem in combinatorial topology and extremal graph theory. In this article, we first prove that every discrete $d$-pseudomanifold has at least $2(d+1)$ vertices. We then provide a complete classification of discrete $d$-pseudomanifolds with at most $2d+6$ vertices by determining all possible combinatorial types of such pseudomanifolds. Further, we establish an equivalence between discrete $d$-pseudomanifolds and edge graphs of flag normal $d$-pseudomanifolds. As a consequence, we derive a purely combinatorial characterization of flag normal $d$-pseudomanifolds with at most $2d+6$ vertices and prove that each such complex is a simplicial $d$-sphere. Finally, we show that this sphere characterization is optimal within the class of flag normal $d$-pseudomanifolds by constructing examples on $2d+7$ vertices that are not spheres. Specifically, we prove that, for $d\geq 3$, every flag normal $d$-pseudomanifold with at most $2d+7$ vertices is either a simplicial $d$-sphere or a flag triangulation of the $(d-2)$-fold suspension of $\mathbb{RP}^{2}$.