Enumeration ofQ-acyclic simplicial complexes

Let (n, k) be the class of all simplicial complexesC over a fixed set ofn vertices (2≦k≦n) such that: (1)C has a complete (k−1)-skeleton, (2)C has precisely ( _k ⁿ⁻¹ )k-faces, (3)H _k (C)=0. We prove that for ,H _k−1(C) is a finite group, and our main result is: . This formula extends to high dimensions Cayley’s formula for the number of trees onn labelled vertices. Its proof is based on a generalization of the matrix tree theorem.