6,748 research outputs found
Hide-and-Seek with Directional Sensing
We consider a game played between a hider, who hides a static object in one
of several possible positions in a bounded planar region, and a searcher, who
wishes to reach the object by querying sensors placed in the plane. The
searcher is a mobile agent, and whenever it physically visits a sensor, the
sensor returns a random direction, corresponding to a half-plane in which the
hidden object is located. We first present a novel search heuristic and
characterize bounds on the expected distance covered before reaching the
object. Next, we model this game as a large-dimensional zero-sum dynamic game
and we apply a recently introduced randomized sampling technique that provides
a probabilistic level of security to the hider. We observe that, when the
randomized sampling approach is only allowed to select a very small number of
samples, the cost of the heuristic is comparable to the security level provided
by the randomized procedure. However, as we allow the number of samples to
increase, the randomized procedure provides a higher probabilistic security
level.Comment: A short version of this paper (without proofs) will be presented at
the 18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC 2011), Milan (Italy), August 28-September
2, 201
Treewidth, crushing, and hyperbolic volume
We prove that there exists a universal constant such that any closed
hyperbolic 3-manifold admits a triangulation of treewidth at most times its
volume. The converse is not true: we show there exists a sequence of hyperbolic
3-manifolds of bounded treewidth but volume approaching infinity. Along the
way, we prove that crushing a normal surface in a triangulation does not
increase the carving-width, and hence crushing any number of normal surfaces in
a triangulation affects treewidth by at most a constant multiple.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. V2: Section 4 has been rewritten, as the former
argument (in V1) used a construction that relied on a wrong theorem. Section
5.1 has also been adjusted to the new construction. Various other arguments
have been clarifie
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