Compact convex sets of the plane and probability theory

The Gauss-Minkowski correspondence in $\mathbb{R}^2$ states the existence of a homeomorphism between the probability measures $\mu$ on $[0,2\pi]$ such that $\int_0^{2\pi} e^{ix}d\mu(x)=0$ and the compact convex sets (CCS) of the plane with perimeter~1. In this article, we bring out explicit formulas relating the border of a CCS to its probability measure. As a consequence, we show that some natural operations on CCS -- for example, the Minkowski sum -- have natural translations in terms of probability measure operations, and reciprocally, the convolution of measures translates into a new notion of convolution of CCS. Additionally, we give a proof that a polygonal curve associated with a sample of $n$ random variables (satisfying $\int_0^{2\pi} e^{ix}d\mu(x)=0$) converges to a CCS associated with $\mu$ at speed $\sqrt{n}$, a result much similar to the convergence of the empirical process in statistics. Finally, we employ this correspondence to present models of smooth random CCS and simulations

A Theorem of Barany Revisited and Extended

International audienceThe colorful Caratheodory theorem states that given d+1 sets of points in R^d, the convex hull of each containing the origin, there exists a simplex (called a 'rainbow simplex') with at most one point from each point set, which also contains the origin. Equivalently, either there is a hyperplane separating one of these d+1 sets of points from the origin, or there exists a rainbow simplex containing the origin. One of our results is the following extension of the colorful Caratheodory theorem: given d/2+1 sets of points in $R^d, and a convex object C, then either one set can be separated from C by a constant (depending only on d) number of hyperplanes, or there is a (d/2+1)-dimensional rainbow simplex intersecting C

Datalog rewriting for Guarded TGDs

We deal with the problem of fact entailment with respect to a database and a set of integrity constraints, focusing on the case of Guarded tuple-generating dependencies (GTGDs). The original approach to the problem in the literature is via forward reasoning or "chasing", where one completes the input database by adding fresh elements and facts. This completion process may be infinite, but in the case of GTGDs it is known that one can compute a point where the chase can be cut off without missing any base facts. Another approach is by forming an automaton and checking it for emptiness. Neither of these approaches scales to large input datasets. An alternative approach is to rewrite the constraints into Datalog: the Datalog rewriting can be generated in advance of any dataset and will produce the same base facts as the original constraints. It is known that Datalog rewritings always exist. But to our knowledge the approach has never been implemented. In this work we overview effective algorithms to Datalog rewriting of GTGDs. This presents work that will appear in VLDB 2022

Sphere packings revisited

AbstractIn this paper we survey most of the recent and often surprising results on packings of congruent spheres in d-dimensional spaces of constant curvature. The topics discussed are as follows:–Hadwiger numbers of convex bodies and kissing numbers of spheres;–touching numbers of convex bodies;–Newton numbers of convex bodies;–one-sided Hadwiger and kissing numbers;–contact graphs of finite packings and the combinatorial Kepler problem;–isoperimetric problems for Voronoi cells, the strong dodecahedral conjecture and the truncated octahedral conjecture;–the strong Kepler conjecture;–bounds on the density of sphere packings in higher dimensions;–solidity and uniform stability.Each topic is discussed in details along with some of the “most wanted” research problems

Convex polygons in Cartesian products

We study several problems concerning convex polygons whose vertices lie in aCartesian product of two sets of n real numbers (for short, grid). First, we prove that everysuch grid contains Ω(log n) points in convex position and that this bound is tight up to aconstant factor. We generalize this result to d dimensions (for a fixed d ∈ N), and obtaina tight lower bound of Ω(logd−1 n) for the maximum number of points in convex positionin a d-dimensional grid. Second, we present polynomial-time algorithms for computing thelongest x- or y-monotone convex polygonal chain in a grid that contains no two points withthe same x- or y-coordinate. We show that the maximum size of a convex polygon with suchunique coordinates can be efficiently approximated up to a factor of 2. Finally, we presentexponential bounds on the maximum number of point sets in convex position in such grids,and for some restricted variants. These bounds are tight up to polynomial factors

When Can We Answer Queries Using Result-Bounded Data Interfaces?

We consider answering queries where the underlying data is available only over limited interfaces which provide lookup access to the tuples matching a given binding, but possibly restricting the number of output tuples returned. Interfaces imposing such "result bounds" are common in accessing data via the web. Given a query over a set of relations as well as some integrity constraints that relate the queried relations to the data sources, we examine the problem of deciding if the query is answerable over the interfaces; that is, whether there exists a plan that returns all answers to the query, assuming the source data satisfies the integrity constraints. The first component of our analysis of answerability is a reduction to a query containment problem with constraints. The second component is a set of "schema simplification" theorems capturing limitations on how interfaces with result bounds can be useful to obtain complete answers to queries. These results also help to show decidability for the containment problem that captures answerability, for many classes of constraints. The final component in our analysis of answerability is a "linearization" method, showing that query containment with certain guarded dependencies -- including those that emerge from answerability problems -- can be reduced to query containment for a well-behaved class of linear dependencies. Putting these components together, we get a detailed picture of how to check answerability over result-bounded services.Comment: 45 pages, 2 tables, 43 references. Complete version with proofs of the PODS'18 paper. The main text of this paper is almost identical to the PODS'18 except that we have fixed some small mistakes. Relative to the earlier arXiv version, many errors were corrected, and some terminology has change

Finite Satisfiability of Unary Negation Fragment with Transitivity

We show that the finite satisfiability problem for the unary negation fragment with an arbitrary number of transitive relations is decidable and 2-ExpTime-complete. Our result actually holds for a more general setting in which one can require that some binary symbols are interpreted as arbitrary transitive relations, some as partial orders and some as equivalences. We also consider finite satisfiability of various extensions of our primary logic, in particular capturing the concepts of nominals and role hierarchies known from description logic. As the unary negation fragment can express unions of conjunctive queries, our results have interesting implications for the problem of finite query answering, both in the classical scenario and in the description logics setting