The mathematical research of William Parry FRS

In this article we survey the mathematical research of the late William (Bill) Parry, FRS

Holomorphic vector fields and quadratic differentials on planar triangular meshes

Given a triangulated region in the complex plane, a discrete vector field $Y$ assigns a vector $Y_i\in \mathbb{C}$ to every vertex. We call such a vector field holomorphic if it defines an infinitesimal deformation of the triangulation that preserves length cross ratios. We show that each holomorphic vector field can be constructed based on a discrete harmonic function in the sense of the cotan Laplacian. Moreover, to each holomorphic vector field we associate in a M\"obius invariant fashion a certain holomorphic quadratic differential. Here a quadratic differential is defined as an object that assigns a purely imaginary number to each interior edge. Then we derive a Weierstrass representation formula, which shows how a holomorphic quadratic differential can be used to construct a discrete minimal surface with prescribed Gau{\ss} map and prescribed Hopf differential.Comment: 17 pages; final version, to appear in "Advances in Discrete Differential Geometry", ed. A. I. Bobenko, Springer, 2016; references adde

Superior memory efficiency of quantum devices for the simulation of continuous-time stochastic processes

Continuous-time stochastic processes pervade everyday experience, and the simulation of models of these processes is of great utility. Classical models of systems operating in continuous-time must typically track an unbounded amount of information about past behaviour, even for relatively simple models, enforcing limits on precision due to the finite memory of the machine. However, quantum machines can require less information about the past than even their optimal classical counterparts to simulate the future of discrete-time processes, and we demonstrate that this advantage extends to the continuous-time regime. Moreover, we show that this reduction in the memory requirement can be unboundedly large, allowing for arbitrary precision even with a finite quantum memory. We provide a systematic method for finding superior quantum constructions, and a protocol for analogue simulation of continuous-time renewal processes with a quantum machine.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, title changed from original versio

A Discrete Theory of Connections on Principal Bundles

Connections on principal bundles play a fundamental role in expressing the equations of motion for mechanical systems with symmetry in an intrinsic fashion. A discrete theory of connections on principal bundles is constructed by introducing the discrete analogue of the Atiyah sequence, with a connection corresponding to the choice of a splitting of the short exact sequence. Equivalent representations of a discrete connection are considered, and an extension of the pair groupoid composition, that takes into account the principal bundle structure, is introduced. Computational issues, such as the order of approximation, are also addressed. Discrete connections provide an intrinsic method for introducing coordinates on the reduced space for discrete mechanics, and provide the necessary discrete geometry to introduce more general discrete symmetry reduction. In addition, discrete analogues of the Levi-Civita connection, and its curvature, are introduced by using the machinery of discrete exterior calculus, and discrete connections.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures. Fixed labels in figure