8,436 research outputs found
On the expected diameter, width, and complexity of a stochastic convex-hull
We investigate several computational problems related to the stochastic
convex hull (SCH). Given a stochastic dataset consisting of points in
each of which has an existence probability, a SCH refers to the
convex hull of a realization of the dataset, i.e., a random sample including
each point with its existence probability. We are interested in computing
certain expected statistics of a SCH, including diameter, width, and
combinatorial complexity. For diameter, we establish the first deterministic
1.633-approximation algorithm with a time complexity polynomial in both and
. For width, two approximation algorithms are provided: a deterministic
-approximation running in time, and a fully
polynomial-time randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS). For combinatorial
complexity, we propose an exact -time algorithm. Our solutions exploit
many geometric insights in Euclidean space, some of which might be of
independent interest
Implicitization of curves and (hyper)surfaces using predicted support
We reduce implicitization of rational planar parametric curves and (hyper)surfaces to linear algebra, by interpolating the coefficients of the implicit equation.
For predicting the implicit support, we focus on methods that exploit input and output structure in the sense of sparse (or toric) elimination theory, namely by computing the Newton polytope of the implicit polynomial, via sparse resultant theory.
Our algorithm works even in the presence of base points but, in this case, the implicit equation shall be obtained as a factor of the produced polynomial.
We implement our methods on Maple, and some on Matlab as well, and study their numerical stability and efficiency on several classes of curves and surfaces.
We apply our approach to approximate implicitization,
and quantify the accuracy of the approximate output,
which turns out to be satisfactory on all tested examples; we also relate our measures to Hausdorff distance.
In building a square or rectangular matrix, an important issue is (over)sampling the given curve or surface: we conclude that unitary complexes offer the best tradeoff between speed and accuracy when numerical methods are employed, namely SVD, whereas for exact kernel computation random integers is the method of choice.
We compare our prototype to existing software and find that it is rather competitive
The Footprint Database and Web Services of the Herschel Space Observatory
Data from the Herschel Space Observatory is freely available to the public
but no uniformly processed catalogue of the observations has been published so
far. To date, the Herschel Science Archive does not contain the exact sky
coverage (footprint) of individual observations and supports search for
measurements based on bounding circles only. Drawing on previous experience in
implementing footprint databases, we built the Herschel Footprint Database and
Web Services for the Herschel Space Observatory to provide efficient search
capabilities for typical astronomical queries. The database was designed with
the following main goals in mind: (a) provide a unified data model for
meta-data of all instruments and observational modes, (b) quickly find
observations covering a selected object and its neighbourhood, (c) quickly find
every observation in a larger area of the sky, (d) allow for finding solar
system objects crossing observation fields. As a first step, we developed a
unified data model of observations of all three Herschel instruments for all
pointing and instrument modes. Then, using telescope pointing information and
observational meta-data, we compiled a database of footprints. As opposed to
methods using pixellation of the sphere, we represent sky coverage in an exact
geometric form allowing for precise area calculations. For easier handling of
Herschel observation footprints with rather complex shapes, two algorithms were
implemented to reduce the outline. Furthermore, a new visualisation tool to
plot footprints with various spherical projections was developed. Indexing of
the footprints using Hierarchical Triangular Mesh makes it possible to quickly
find observations based on sky coverage, time and meta-data. The database is
accessible via a web site (http://herschel.vo.elte.hu) and also as a set of
REST web service functions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom
Squarepants in a Tree: Sum of Subtree Clustering and Hyperbolic Pants Decomposition
We provide efficient constant factor approximation algorithms for the
problems of finding a hierarchical clustering of a point set in any metric
space, minimizing the sum of minimimum spanning tree lengths within each
cluster, and in the hyperbolic or Euclidean planes, minimizing the sum of
cluster perimeters. Our algorithms for the hyperbolic and Euclidean planes can
also be used to provide a pants decomposition, that is, a set of disjoint
simple closed curves partitioning the plane minus the input points into subsets
with exactly three boundary components, with approximately minimum total
length. In the Euclidean case, these curves are squares; in the hyperbolic
case, they combine our Euclidean square pants decomposition with our tree
clustering method for general metric spaces.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures. This version replaces the proof of what is now
Lemma 5.2, as the previous proof was erroneou
Lifting Linear Extension Complexity Bounds to the Mixed-Integer Setting
Mixed-integer mathematical programs are among the most commonly used models
for a wide set of problems in Operations Research and related fields. However,
there is still very little known about what can be expressed by small
mixed-integer programs. In particular, prior to this work, it was open whether
some classical problems, like the minimum odd-cut problem, can be expressed by
a compact mixed-integer program with few (even constantly many) integer
variables. This is in stark contrast to linear formulations, where recent
breakthroughs in the field of extended formulations have shown that many
polytopes associated to classical combinatorial optimization problems do not
even admit approximate extended formulations of sub-exponential size.
We provide a general framework for lifting inapproximability results of
extended formulations to the setting of mixed-integer extended formulations,
and obtain almost tight lower bounds on the number of integer variables needed
to describe a variety of classical combinatorial optimization problems. Among
the implications we obtain, we show that any mixed-integer extended formulation
of sub-exponential size for the matching polytope, cut polytope, traveling
salesman polytope or dominant of the odd-cut polytope, needs many integer variables, where is the number of vertices of the
underlying graph. Conversely, the above-mentioned polyhedra admit
polynomial-size mixed-integer formulations with only or (for the traveling salesman polytope) many integer variables.
Our results build upon a new decomposition technique that, for any convex set
, allows for approximating any mixed-integer description of by the
intersection of with the union of a small number of affine subspaces.Comment: A conference version of this paper will be presented at SODA 201
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