904 research outputs found
Combinatorics and geometry of finite and infinite squaregraphs
Squaregraphs were originally defined as finite plane graphs in which all
inner faces are quadrilaterals (i.e., 4-cycles) and all inner vertices (i.e.,
the vertices not incident with the outer face) have degrees larger than three.
The planar dual of a finite squaregraph is determined by a triangle-free chord
diagram of the unit disk, which could alternatively be viewed as a
triangle-free line arrangement in the hyperbolic plane. This representation
carries over to infinite plane graphs with finite vertex degrees in which the
balls are finite squaregraphs. Algebraically, finite squaregraphs are median
graphs for which the duals are finite circular split systems. Hence
squaregraphs are at the crosspoint of two dualities, an algebraic and a
geometric one, and thus lend themselves to several combinatorial
interpretations and structural characterizations. With these and the
5-colorability theorem for circle graphs at hand, we prove that every
squaregraph can be isometrically embedded into the Cartesian product of five
trees. This embedding result can also be extended to the infinite case without
reference to an embedding in the plane and without any cardinality restriction
when formulated for median graphs free of cubes and further finite
obstructions. Further, we exhibit a class of squaregraphs that can be embedded
into the product of three trees and we characterize those squaregraphs that are
embeddable into the product of just two trees. Finally, finite squaregraphs
enjoy a number of algorithmic features that do not extend to arbitrary median
graphs. For instance, we show that median-generating sets of finite
squaregraphs can be computed in polynomial time, whereas, not unexpectedly, the
corresponding problem for median graphs turns out to be NP-hard.Comment: 46 pages, 14 figure
Higher Distance Energies and Expanders with Structure
We adapt the idea of higher moment energies, originally used in Additive
Combinatorics, so that it would apply to problems in Discrete Geometry. This
new approach leads to a variety of new results, such as
(i) Improved bounds for the problem of distinct distances with local
properties.
(ii) Improved bounds for problems involving expanding polynomials in
(Elekes-Ronyai type bounds) when one or two of the sets have
structure.
Higher moment energies seem to be related to additional problems in Discrete
Geometry, to lead to new elegant theory, and to raise new questions
Bisector energy and few distinct distances
We introduce the bisector energy of an -point set in ,
defined as the number of quadruples from such that and
determine the same perpendicular bisector as and . If no line or circle
contains points of , then we prove that the bisector energy is
. We also prove the
lower bound , which matches our upper bound when is
large. We use our upper bound on the bisector energy to obtain two rather
different results:
(i) If determines distinct distances, then for any
, either there exists a line or circle that contains
points of , or there exist
distinct lines that contain points of . This result
provides new information on a conjecture of Erd\H{o}s regarding the structure
of point sets with few distinct distances.
(ii) If no line or circle contains points of , then the number of
distinct perpendicular bisectors determined by is
. This appears to
be the first higher-dimensional example in a framework for studying the
expansion properties of polynomials and rational functions over ,
initiated by Elekes and R\'onyai.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure
Cycle-based Cluster Variational Method for Direct and Inverse Inference
We elaborate on the idea that loop corrections to belief propagation could be
dealt with in a systematic way on pairwise Markov random fields, by using the
elements of a cycle basis to define region in a generalized belief propagation
setting. The region graph is specified in such a way as to avoid dual loops as
much as possible, by discarding redundant Lagrange multipliers, in order to
facilitate the convergence, while avoiding instabilities associated to minimal
factor graph construction. We end up with a two-level algorithm, where a belief
propagation algorithm is run alternatively at the level of each cycle and at
the inter-region level. The inverse problem of finding the couplings of a
Markov random field from empirical covariances can be addressed region wise. It
turns out that this can be done efficiently in particular in the Ising context,
where fixed point equations can be derived along with a one-parameter log
likelihood function to minimize. Numerical experiments confirm the
effectiveness of these considerations both for the direct and inverse MRF
inference.Comment: 47 pages, 16 figure
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