Problems in extremal and combinatorial geometry

This thesis deals with three families of optimization problems: (1) Euclidean optimization problems on random point sets; (2) independent sets in hypergraphs; and (3) packings in point lattices. First, we consider bounds on several monochromatic and bichromatic optimization problems including minimum matching, minimum spanning trees, and the travelling salesman problem. Many of these problems lend themselves to representations in terms of hierarchically separated trees | trees with uniform branching factor and depth, and having edge weights exponential in the depth of the edge in the tree. In the second part, we consider the independent set problem on uniform hypergraphs, in anticipation of applying it to the third part, packing problems on point lattices. In these problems we wish to select a subset of points from an n n ::: n grid avoiding particular patterns. We also study several generalizations of these problems that have not been handled previously.M.S., Computer Science -- Drexel University, 201

Courbure discrète : théorie et applications

International audienceThe present volume contains the proceedings of the 2013 Meeting on discrete curvature, held at CIRM, Luminy, France. The aim of this meeting was to bring together researchers from various backgrounds, ranging from mathematics to computer science, with a focus on both theory and applications. With 27 invited talks and 8 posters, the conference attracted 70 researchers from all over the world. The challenge of finding a common ground on the topic of discrete curvature was met with success, and these proceedings are a testimony of this wor

Combinatorial aspects of total positivity

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mathematics, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-119).In this thesis I study combinatorial aspects of an emerging field known as total positivity. The classical theory of total positivity concerns matrices in which all minors are nonnegative. While this theory was pioneered by Gantmacher, Krein, and Schoenberg in the 1930s, the past decade has seen a flurry of research in this area initiated by Lusztig. Motivated by surprising positivity properties of his canonical bases for quantum groups, Lusztig extended the theory of total positivity to arbitrary reductive groups and real flag varieties. In the first part of my thesis I study the totally non-negative part of the Grassmannian and prove an enumeration theorem for a natural cell decomposition of it. This result leads to a new q-analog of the Eulerian numbers, which interpolates between the binomial coefficients, the Eulerian numbers, and the Narayana numbers. In the second part of my thesis I introduce the totally positive part of a tropical variety, and study this object in the case of the Grassmannian. I conjecture a tight relation between positive tropical varieties and the cluster algebras of Fomin and Zelevinsky, proving the conjecture in the case of the Grassmannian. The third and fourth parts of my thesis explore a notion of total positivity for oriented matroids. Namely, I introduce the positive Bergman complex of an oriented matroid, which is a matroidal analogue of a positive tropical variety. I prove that this object is homeomorphic to a ball, and relate it to the Las Vergnas face lattice of an oriented matroid. When the matroid is the matroid of a Coxeter arrangement, I relate the positive Bergman complex and the Bergman complex to the corresponding graph associahedron and the nested set complex.by Lauren Kiyomi Williams.Ph.D

Convex optimization methods for graphs and statistical modeling

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-220).An outstanding challenge in many problems throughout science and engineering is to succinctly characterize the relationships among a large number of interacting entities. Models based on graphs form one major thrust in this thesis, as graphs often provide a concise representation of the interactions among a large set of variables. A second major emphasis of this thesis are classes of structured models that satisfy certain algebraic constraints. The common theme underlying these approaches is the development of computational methods based on convex optimization, which are in turn useful in a broad array of problems in signal processing and machine learning. The specific contributions are as follows: -- We propose a convex optimization method for decomposing the sum of a sparse matrix and a low-rank matrix into the individual components. Based on new rank-sparsity uncertainty principles, we give conditions under which the convex program exactly recovers the underlying components. -- Building on the previous point, we describe a convex optimization approach to latent variable Gaussian graphical model selection. We provide theoretical guarantees of the statistical consistency of this convex program in the high-dimensional scaling regime in which the number of latent/observed variables grows with the number of samples of the observed variables. The algebraic varieties of sparse and low-rank matrices play a prominent role in this analysis. -- We present a general convex optimization formulation for linear inverse problems, in which we have limited measurements in the form of linear functionals of a signal or model of interest. When these underlying models have algebraic structure, the resulting convex programs can be solved exactly or approximately via semidefinite programming. We provide sharp estimates (based on computing certain Gaussian statistics related to the underlying model geometry) of the number of generic linear measurements required for exact and robust recovery in a variety of settings. -- We present convex graph invariants, which are invariants of a graph that are convex functions of the underlying adjacency matrix. Graph invariants characterize structural properties of a graph that do not depend on the labeling of the nodes; convex graph invariants constitute an important subclass, and they provide a systematic and unified computational framework based on convex optimization for solving a number of interesting graph problems. We emphasize a unified view of the underlying convex geometry common to these different frameworks. We describe applications of both these methods to problems in financial modeling and network analysis, and conclude with a discussion of directions for future research.by Venkat Chandrasekaran.Ph.D

Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS'09)

The Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS) is held alternately in France and in Germany. The conference of February 26-28, 2009, held in Freiburg, is the 26th in this series. Previous meetings took place in Paris (1984), Saarbr¨ucken (1985), Orsay (1986), Passau (1987), Bordeaux (1988), Paderborn (1989), Rouen (1990), Hamburg (1991), Cachan (1992), W¨urzburg (1993), Caen (1994), M¨unchen (1995), Grenoble (1996), L¨ubeck (1997), Paris (1998), Trier (1999), Lille (2000), Dresden (2001), Antibes (2002), Berlin (2003), Montpellier (2004), Stuttgart (2005), Marseille (2006), Aachen (2007), and Bordeaux (2008). ..

Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Algebras, Graphs and Ordered Sets (ALGOS 2020)

International audienceOriginating in arithmetics and logic, the theory of ordered sets is now a field of combinatorics that is intimately linked to graph theory, universal algebra and multiple-valued logic, and that has a wide range of classical applications such as formal calculus, classification, decision aid and social choice.This international conference “Algebras, graphs and ordered set” (ALGOS) brings together specialists in the theory of graphs, relational structures and ordered sets, topics that are omnipresent in artificial intelligence and in knowledge discovery, and with concrete applications in biomedical sciences, security, social networks and e-learning systems. One of the goals of this event is to provide a common ground for mathematicians and computer scientists to meet, to present their latest results, and to discuss original applications in related scientific fields. On this basis, we hope for fruitful exchanges that can motivate multidisciplinary projects.The first edition of ALgebras, Graphs and Ordered Sets (ALGOS 2020) has a particular motivation, namely, an opportunity to honour Maurice Pouzet on his 75th birthday! For this reason, we have particularly welcomed submissions in areas related to Maurice’s many scientific interests:• Lattices and ordered sets• Combinatorics and graph theory• Set theory and theory of relations• Universal algebra and multiple valued logic• Applications: formal calculus, knowledge discovery, biomedical sciences, decision aid and social choice, security, social networks, web semantics..

The algebra of entanglement and the geometry of composition

String diagrams turn algebraic equations into topological moves that have recurring shapes, involving the sliding of one diagram past another. We individuate, at the root of this fact, the dual nature of polygraphs as presentations of higher algebraic theories, and as combinatorial descriptions of "directed spaces". Operations of polygraphs modelled on operations of topological spaces are used as the foundation of a compositional universal algebra, where sliding moves arise from tensor products of polygraphs. We reconstruct several higher algebraic theories in this framework. In this regard, the standard formalism of polygraphs has some technical problems. We propose a notion of regular polygraph, barring cell boundaries that are not homeomorphic to a disk of the appropriate dimension. We define a category of non-degenerate shapes, and show how to calculate their tensor products. Then, we introduce a notion of weak unit to recover weakly degenerate boundaries in low dimensions, and prove that the existence of weak units is equivalent to a representability property. We then turn to applications of diagrammatic algebra to quantum theory. We re-evaluate the category of Hilbert spaces from the perspective of categorical universal algebra, which leads to a bicategorical refinement. Then, we focus on the axiomatics of fragments of quantum theory, and present the ZW calculus, the first complete diagrammatic axiomatisation of the theory of qubits. The ZW calculus has several advantages over ZX calculi, including a computationally meaningful normal form, and a fragment whose diagrams can be read as setups of fermionic oscillators. Moreover, its generators reflect an operational classification of entangled states of 3 qubits. We conclude with generalisations of the ZW calculus to higher-dimensional systems, including the definition of a universal set of generators in each dimension.Comment: v2: changes to end of Chapter 3. v1: 214 pages, many figures; University of Oxford doctoral thesi