Homotopy Type of Total Cut Complexes of Squared Cycle Graphs

In this paper, we investigate the homotopy type and combinatorial properties of total cut complexes of squared cycle graphs. The total cut complexes are a new type of graphical complexes introduced by Bayer et al.(2024) to extend Fröberg’s theorem. In Bayer et al.[Topology of cut complexes of graphs, SIAM J. on Discrete Math. 38(2): 1630–1675 (2024)], the authors made a conjecture on the homotopy type of total cut complexes of squared cycle graphs for $k\ge 3$. We proved this conjecture in the case when $k=3$ . For general $k\ge 3$, we confirmed the cases when $n=3k+1$ and $3k+2$.