2,137 research outputs found
Counting Triangulations and other Crossing-Free Structures Approximately
We consider the problem of counting straight-edge triangulations of a given
set of points in the plane. Until very recently it was not known
whether the exact number of triangulations of can be computed
asymptotically faster than by enumerating all triangulations. We now know that
the number of triangulations of can be computed in time,
which is less than the lower bound of on the number of
triangulations of any point set. In this paper we address the question of
whether one can approximately count triangulations in sub-exponential time. We
present an algorithm with sub-exponential running time and sub-exponential
approximation ratio, that is, denoting by the output of our
algorithm, and by the exact number of triangulations of , for some
positive constant , we prove that . This is the first algorithm that in sub-exponential time computes a
-approximation of the base of the number of triangulations, more
precisely, . Our algorithm can be
adapted to approximately count other crossing-free structures on , keeping
the quality of approximation and running time intact. In this paper we show how
to do this for matchings and spanning trees.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures. A preliminary version appeared at CCCG 201
A QPTAS for the Base of the Number of Triangulations of a Planar Point Set
The number of triangulations of a planar n point set is known to be ,
where the base lies between and The fastest known algorithm
for counting triangulations of a planar n point set runs in time.
The fastest known arbitrarily close approximation algorithm for the base of the
number of triangulations of a planar n point set runs in time subexponential in
We present the first quasi-polynomial approximation scheme for the base of
the number of triangulations of a planar point set
Counting a black hole in Lorentzian product triangulations
We take a step toward a nonperturbative gravitational path integral for
black-hole geometries by deriving an expression for the expansion rate of null
geodesic congruences in the approach of causal dynamical triangulations. We
propose to use the integrated expansion rate in building a quantum horizon
finder in the sum over spacetime geometries. It takes the form of a counting
formula for various types of discrete building blocks which differ in how they
focus and defocus light rays. In the course of the derivation, we introduce the
concept of a Lorentzian dynamical triangulation of product type, whose
applicability goes beyond that of describing black-hole configurations.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figure
Entropy of unimodular Lattice Triangulations
Triangulations are important objects of study in combinatorics, finite
element simulations and quantum gravity, where its entropy is crucial for many
physical properties. Due to their inherent complex topological structure even
the number of possible triangulations is unknown for large systems. We present
a novel algorithm for an approximate enumeration which is based on calculations
of the density of states using the Wang-Landau flat histogram sampling. For
triangulations on two-dimensional integer lattices we achive excellent
agreement with known exact numbers of small triangulations as well as an
improvement of analytical calculated asymptotics. The entropy density is
consistent with rigorous upper and lower bounds. The presented
numerical scheme can easily be applied to other counting and optimization
problems.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Monte Carlo simulations of 4d simplicial quantum gravity
Dynamical triangulations of four-dimensional Euclidean quantum gravity give
rise to an interesting, numerically accessible model of quantum gravity. We
give a simple introduction to the model and discuss two particularly important
issues. One is that contrary to recent claims there is strong analytical and
numerical evidence for the existence of an exponential bound that makes the
partition function well-defined. The other is that there may be an ambiguity in
the choice of the measure of the discrete model which could even lead to the
existence of different universality classes.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, epsf, 4 uuencoded figures; contribution to the JMP
special issue on "Quantum Geometry and Diffeomorphism-Invariant Quantum Field
Theory
Singular Vertices and the Triangulation Space of the D-sphere
By a sequence of numerical experiments we demonstrate that generic
triangulations of the sphere for contain one {\it singular}
simplex. The mean number of elementary simplices sharing this
simplex increases with the volume of the triangulation according to a simple
power law. The lower dimension subsimplices associated with this
simplex also show a singular behaviour. Possible consequences for the
DT model of four-dimensional quantum gravity are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
Introducing Quantum Ricci Curvature
Motivated by the search for geometric observables in nonperturbative quantum
gravity, we define a notion of coarse-grained Ricci curvature. It is based on a
particular way of extracting the local Ricci curvature of a smooth Riemannian
manifold by comparing the distance between pairs of spheres with that of their
centres. The quantum Ricci curvature is designed for use on non-smooth and
discrete metric spaces, and to satisfy the key criteria of scalability and
computability. We test the prescription on a variety of regular and random
piecewise flat spaces, mostly in two dimensions. This enables us to quantify
its behaviour for short lattices distances and compare its large-scale
behaviour with that of constantly curved model spaces. On the triangulated
spaces considered, the quantum Ricci curvature has good averaging properties
and reproduces classical characteristics on scales large compared to the
discretization scale.Comment: 43 pages, 27 figure
Dimension and Dimensional Reduction in Quantum Gravity
If gravity is asymptotically safe, operators will exhibit anomalous scaling
at the ultraviolet fixed point in a way that makes the theory effectively
two-dimensional. A number of independent lines of evidence, based on different
approaches to quantization, indicate a similar short-distance dimensional
reduction. I will review the evidence for this behavior, emphasizing the
physical question of what one means by `dimension' in a quantum spacetime, and
will discuss possible mechanisms that could explain the universality of this
phenomenon.Comment: For proceedings of the conference in honor of Martin Reuter: "Quantum
Fields---From Fundamental Concepts to Phenomenological Questions"; 14 pages;
based in part on my review article arXiv:1705.0541
Transversal structures on triangulations: a combinatorial study and straight-line drawings
This article focuses on a combinatorial structure specific to triangulated
plane graphs with quadrangular outer face and no separating triangle, which are
called irreducible triangulations. The structure has been introduced by Xin He
under the name of regular edge-labelling and consists of two bipolar
orientations that are transversal. For this reason, the terminology used here
is that of transversal structures. The main results obtained in the article are
a bijection between irreducible triangulations and ternary trees, and a
straight-line drawing algorithm for irreducible triangulations. For a random
irreducible triangulation with vertices, the grid size of the drawing is
asymptotically with high probability up to an additive
error of \cO(\sqrt{n}). In contrast, the best previously known algorithm for
these triangulations only guarantees a grid size .Comment: 42 pages, the second version is shorter, focusing on the bijection
(with application to counting) and on the graph drawing algorithm. The title
has been slightly change
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