Condorcet Domains, Median Graphs and the Single Crossing Property

Condorcet domains are sets of linear orders with the property that, whenever the preferences of all voters belong to this set, the majority relation has no cycles. We observe that, without loss of generality, such domain can be assumed to be closed in the sense that it contains the majority relation of every profile with an odd number of individuals whose preferences belong to this domain. We show that every closed Condorcet domain is naturally endowed with the structure of a median graph and that, conversely, every median graph is associated with a closed Condorcet domain (which may not be a unique one). The subclass of those Condorcet domains that correspond to linear graphs (chains) are exactly the preference domains with the classical single crossing property. As a corollary, we obtain that the domains with the so-called `representative voter property' (with the exception of a 4-cycle) are the single crossing domains. Maximality of a Condorcet domain imposes additional restrictions on the underlying median graph. We prove that among all trees only the chains can induce maximal Condorcet domains, and we characterize the single crossing domains that in fact do correspond to maximal Condorcet domains. Finally, using Nehring's and Puppe's (2007) characterization of monotone Arrowian aggregation, our analysis yields a rich class of strategy-proof social choice functions on any closed Condorcet domain

On k-Convex Polygons

We introduce a notion of $k$-convexity and explore polygons in the plane that have this property. Polygons which are \mbox{$k$-convex} can be triangulated with fast yet simple algorithms. However, recognizing them in general is a 3SUM-hard problem. We give a characterization of \mbox{$2$-convex} polygons, a particularly interesting class, and show how to recognize them in \mbox{$O(n \log n)$} time. A description of their shape is given as well, which leads to Erd\H{o}s-Szekeres type results regarding subconfigurations of their vertex sets. Finally, we introduce the concept of generalized geometric permutations, and show that their number can be exponential in the number of \mbox{$2$-convex} objects considered.Comment: 23 pages, 19 figure

Two reasons for the appearance of pushed wavefronts in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky system with spatiotemporal interaction

We prove the existence of the minimal speed of propagation $c_*(r,b,K) \in [2\sqrt{1-r},2]$ for wavefronts in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky system with a spatiotemporal interaction defined by the convolution with (possibly, "fat-tailed") kernel $K$. The model is assumed to be monostable non-degenerate, i.e. $r\in (0,1)$. The slowest wavefront is termed pushed or non-linearly determined if its velocity $c_*(r,b,K) > 2\sqrt{1-r}$. We show that $c_*(r,b,K)$ is close to 2 if i) positive system's parameter $b$ is sufficiently large or ii) if $K$ is spatially asymmetric to one side (e.g. to the left: in such a case, the influence of the right side concentration of the bromide ion on the dynamics is more significant than the influence of the left side). Consequently, this reveals two reasons for the appearance of pushed wavefronts in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction.Comment: 22 pages, submitte

Global attractors for doubly nonlinear evolution equations with non-monotone perturbations

This paper proposes an abstract theory concerned with dynamical systems generated by doubly nonlinear evolution equations governed by subdifferential operators with non-monotone perturbations in a reflexive Banach space setting. In order to construct global attractors, an approach based on the notion of generalized semiflow is employed instead of the usual semi-group approach, since solutions of the Cauchy problem for the equation might not be unique. Moreover, the preceding abstract theory is applied to a generalized Allen-Cahn equation whose potential is divided into a convex part and a non-convex part as well as a semilinear parabolic equation with a nonlinear term involving gradients

On Range Searching with Semialgebraic Sets II

Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in $\R^d$. We present a linear-size data structure for answering range queries on $P$ with constant-complexity semialgebraic sets as ranges, in time close to $O(n^{1-1/d})$. It essentially matches the performance of similar structures for simplex range searching, and, for $d\ge 5$, significantly improves earlier solutions by the first two authors obtained in~1994. This almost settles a long-standing open problem in range searching. The data structure is based on the polynomial-partitioning technique of Guth and Katz [arXiv:1011.4105], which shows that for a parameter $r$, $1 < r \le n$, there exists a $d$-variate polynomial $f$ of degree $O(r^{1/d})$ such that each connected component of $\R^d\setminus Z(f)$ contains at most $n/r$ points of $P$, where $Z(f)$ is the zero set of $f$. We present an efficient randomized algorithm for computing such a polynomial partition, which is of independent interest and is likely to have additional applications