Kombinatorikus módszerek gráfok és rúdszerkezetek merevségének vizsgálatában = Combinatorial methods in the study of rigidity of graphs and frameworks

A szerkezetek merevségi tulajdonságaira vonatkozó matematikai eredmények a statikai alkalmazásokon kívül számos más területen is hasznosíthatók. A közelmúltban sikerrel alkalmazták ezeket molekulák szerkezetének vizsgálataiban, szenzorhálózatok lokalizációs problémáiban, CAD feladatokban, stb. A kutatás célja gráfok és szerkezetek merevségi tulajdonságainak vizsgálata volt kombinatorikus módszerekkel. Igazoltuk az ú.n. Molekuláris Sejtés kétdimenziós változatát és jelentős előrelépéseket tettünk a molekuláris gráfok háromdimenziós merevségének jellemzésében is. A globálisan merev, avagy egyértelműen realizált gráfok elméletét kiterjesztettük vegyes - hossz és irány feltételeket is tartalmazó - vegyes gráfokra valamint az egyértelműen lokalizálható részekre is. Továbbfejlesztettük a szükséges gráf- és matroidelméleti módszereket. Új eredményeket értünk el a tensegrity szerkezetek, test-zsanér szerkezetek, valamint a merevség egy irányított változatával kapcsolatban is. | The mathematical theory of rigid frameworks has potential applications in various areas. It has been successfully applied - in addition to statics - in the study of flexibility of molecules, in the localization problem of sensor networks, in CAD problems, and elsewhere. In this research project we investigated the rigidity properties of graphs and frameworks by using combinatorial methods. We proved the two-dimensional version of the so-called Molecular Conjecture and made substantial progress towards a complete characterization of the rigid molecular graphs in three dimensions. We generalized the theory of globally rigid (that is, uniquely localized) graphs to mixed graphs, in which lengths as well as direction constraints are given, and to globally rigid clusters, or subgraphs. We developed new graph and matroid theoretical methods. We also obtained new results on tensegrity frameworks, body and hinge frameworks, and on a directed version of rigidity

On the universal rigidity of generic bar frameworks

Let $V=\{1,\ldots,n\}$ be a finite set. An $r$-configuration is a mapping $p:V \rightarrow R^r$, where $p^1,\ldots,p^n$ are not contained in a proper hyper-plane. A framework $G(p)$ in $R^r$ is an $r$-configuration together with a graph $G=(V,E)$ such that every two points corresponding to adjacent vertices of $G$ are constrained to stay the same distance apart. A framework $G(p)$ is said to be generic if all the coordinates of $p^1,\ldots, p^n$ are algebraically independent over the integers. A framework $G(p)$ in $R^r$ is said to be unique if there does not exist a framework $G(q)$ in $R^s$, for some $s$, $1 \leq s \leq n-1$, such that $||q^i-q^j||=||p^i-p^j||$ for all $(i,j) \in E$. In this paper we present a sufficient condition for a generic framework $G(p)$ to be unique, and we conjecture that this condition is also necessary. Connections with the closely related problems of global rigidity and dimensional rigidity are also discussed

One brick at a time: a survey of inductive constructions in rigidity theory

We present a survey of results concerning the use of inductive constructions to study the rigidity of frameworks. By inductive constructions we mean simple graph moves which can be shown to preserve the rigidity of the corresponding framework. We describe a number of cases in which characterisations of rigidity were proved by inductive constructions. That is, by identifying recursive operations that preserved rigidity and proving that these operations were sufficient to generate all such frameworks. We also outline the use of inductive constructions in some recent areas of particularly active interest, namely symmetric and periodic frameworks, frameworks on surfaces, and body-bar frameworks. We summarize the key outstanding open problems related to inductions.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, final versio

Nucleation-free 3D3D rigidity

When all non-edge distances of a graph realized in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ as a {\em bar-and-joint framework} are generically {\em implied} by the bar (edge) lengths, the graph is said to be {\em rigid} in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. For $d=3$, characterizing rigid graphs, determining implied non-edges and {\em dependent} edge sets remains an elusive, long-standing open problem. One obstacle is to determine when implied non-edges can exist without non-trivial rigid induced subgraphs, i.e., {\em nucleations}, and how to deal with them. In this paper, we give general inductive construction schemes and proof techniques to generate {\em nucleation-free graphs} (i.e., graphs without any nucleation) with implied non-edges. As a consequence, we obtain (a) dependent graphs in $3D$ that have no nucleation; and (b) $3D$ nucleation-free {\em rigidity circuits}, i.e., minimally dependent edge sets in $d=3$. It additionally follows that true rigidity is strictly stronger than a tractable approximation to rigidity given by Sitharam and Zhou \cite{sitharam:zhou:tractableADG:2004}, based on an inductive combinatorial characterization. As an independently interesting byproduct, we obtain a new inductive construction for independent graphs in $3D$. Currently, very few such inductive constructions are known, in contrast to $2D$

Iterative Universal Rigidity

A bar framework determined by a finite graph $G$ and configuration $\bf p$ in $d$ space is universally rigid if it is rigid in any ${\mathbb R}^D \supset {\mathbb R}^d$. We provide a characterization of universally rigidity for any graph $G$ and any configuration ${\bf p}$ in terms of a sequence of affine subsets of the space of configurations. This corresponds to a facial reduction process for closed finite dimensional convex cones.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figure

Minimally globally rigid graphs

A graph $G = (V,E)$ is globally rigid in $\mathbb{R}^d$ if for any generic placement $p : V \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^d$ of the vertices, the edge lengths $||p(u) - p(v)||, uv \in E$ uniquely determine $p$, up to congruence. In this paper we consider minimally globally rigid graphs, in which the deletion of an arbitrary edge destroys global rigidity. We prove that if $G=(V,E)$ is minimally globally rigid in $\mathbb{R}^d$ on at least $d+2$ vertices, then $|E|\leq (d+1)|V|-\binom{d+2}{2}$. This implies that the minimum degree of $G$ is at most $2d+1$. We also show that the only graph in which the upper bound on the number of edges is attained is the complete graph $K_{d+2}$. It follows that every minimally globally rigid graph in $\mathbb{R}^d$ on at least $d+3$ vertices is flexible in $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$. As a counterpart to our main result on the sparsity of minimally globally rigid graphs, we show that in two dimensions, dense graphs always contain nontrivial globally rigid subgraphs. More precisely, if some graph $G=(V,E)$ satisfies $|E|\geq 5|V|$, then $G$ contains a subgraph on at least seven vertices that is globally rigid in $\mathbb{R}^2$. If the well-known "sufficient connectivity conjecture" is true, then our methods also extend to higher dimensions. Finally, we discuss a conjectured strengthening of our main result, which states that if a pair of vertices $\{u,v\}$ is linked in $G$ in $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$, then $\{u,v\}$ is globally linked in $G$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$. We prove this conjecture in the $d=1,2$ cases, along with a variety of related results.Comment: To appear in European Journal of Combinatoric