The Morse theory of Čech and Delaunay complexes
Ulrich Bauer, Herbert Edelsbrunner · Transactions of the American Mathematical Society · 2016
Given a finite set of points in R n \mathbb {R}^n and a radius parameter, we study the Čech, Delaunay–Čech, Delaunay (or alpha), and Wrap complexes in the light of generalized discrete Morse theory. Establishing the Čech and Delaunay complexes as sublevel sets of generalized discrete Morse functions, we prove that the four complexes are simple-homotopy equivalent by a sequence of simplicial collapses, which are explicitly described by a single discrete gradient field.