66,800 research outputs found
Vector Reachability Problem in
The decision problems on matrices were intensively studied for many decades
as matrix products play an essential role in the representation of various
computational processes. However, many computational problems for matrix
semigroups are inherently difficult to solve even for problems in low
dimensions and most matrix semigroup problems become undecidable in general
starting from dimension three or four.
This paper solves two open problems about the decidability of the vector
reachability problem over a finitely generated semigroup of matrices from
and the point to point reachability (over rational
numbers) for fractional linear transformations, where associated matrices are
from . The approach to solving reachability problems
is based on the characterization of reachability paths between points which is
followed by the translation of numerical problems on matrices into
computational and combinatorial problems on words and formal languages. We also
give a geometric interpretation of reachability paths and extend the
decidability results to matrix products represented by arbitrary labelled
directed graphs. Finally, we will use this technique to prove that a special
case of the scalar reachability problem is decidable
Spacetime Approach to Phase Transitions
In these notes, the application of Feynman's sum-over-paths approach to
thermal phase transitions is discussed. The paradigm of such a spacetime
approach to critical phenomena is provided by the high-temperature expansion of
spin models. This expansion, known as the hopping expansion in the context of
lattice field theory, yields a geometric description of the phase transition in
these models, with the thermal critical exponents being determined by the
fractal structure of the high-temperature graphs. The graphs percolate at the
thermal critical point and can be studied using purely geometrical observables
known from percolation theory. Besides the phase transition in spin models and
in the closely related theory, other transitions discussed from this
perspective include Bose-Einstein condensation, and the transitions in the
Higgs model and the pure U(1) gauge theory.Comment: 59 pages, 18 figures. Write-up of Ising Lectures presented at the
National Academy of Sciences, Lviv, Ukraine, 2004. 2nd version: corrected
typo
Forbidden minor characterizations for low-rank optimal solutions to semidefinite programs over the elliptope
We study a new geometric graph parameter \egd(G), defined as the smallest
integer for which any partial symmetric matrix which is completable to
a correlation matrix and whose entries are specified at the positions of the
edges of , can be completed to a matrix in the convex hull of correlation
matrices of \rank at most . This graph parameter is motivated by its
relevance to the problem of finding low rank solutions to semidefinite programs
over the elliptope, and also by its relevance to the bounded rank Grothendieck
constant. Indeed, \egd(G)\le r if and only if the rank- Grothendieck
constant of is equal to 1. We show that the parameter \egd(G) is minor
monotone, we identify several classes of forbidden minors for \egd(G)\le r
and we give the full characterization for the case . We also show an upper
bound for \egd(G) in terms of a new tree-width-like parameter \sla(G),
defined as the smallest for which is a minor of the strong product of a
tree and . We show that, for any 2-connected graph on at
least 6 nodes, \egd(G)\le 2 if and only if \sla(G)\le 2.Comment: 33 pages, 8 Figures. In its second version, the paper has been
modified to accommodate the suggestions of the referees. Furthermore, the
title has been changed since we feel that the new title reflects more
accurately the content and the main results of the pape
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