Superpolynomial lower bounds for vertex numbers of real projective space triangulations via a topological Figiel-Lindenstrauss-Milman theorem

Abstract

We prove that every simplicial triangulation of real projective $d$-space has $\exp(Ω(\sqrt d))$ vertices. Together with known constructions, this determines the minimum vertex number as $μ_d=\exp(d^{1/2+o(1)})$. The result follows from a topological generalization of the Figiel--Lindenstrauss--Milman inequality, answering a recent question of Frick, Hosseini, and Vasileuski: a finite strongly regular CW complex with a free cellular involution, $v$ vertices, and $f$ maximal cells has $\mathbb{Z}/2$-index at most $O(\log v\log f)$. We bound the dimensions of Morse cells by a trace estimate for a constrained Hessian, obtaining a Morse-theoretic proof of the classical inequality for centrally symmetric polytopes. As further applications of this inequality, we give an $\exp(Ω(\sqrt t))$ lower bound for the order of a triangle-free topologically $t$-chromatic graph and bound the index of sign complexes by $O(d\log^2 N)$ for total matrices and $O(d\log^3 N)$ for partial matrices, where $N\geq2$ is the number of columns and $d\geq1$ is the VC dimension.