Limit theorems for Betti numbers of random simplicial complexes

There have been several recent articles studying homology of various types of random simplicial complexes. Some theorems have concerned thresholds for vanishing of homology, and in others estimates for the expectations of the Betti numbers. However little seems known so far about limiting distributions. In this article we establish Poisson and normal approximation theorems for Betti numbers of different kinds of random simplicial complex: Erdos-Renyi random clique complexes, random Vietoris-Rips complexes, and random Cech complexes. These results may be of practical interest in topological data analysis.