94,048 research outputs found
On the complexity of range searching among curves
Modern tracking technology has made the collection of large numbers of
densely sampled trajectories of moving objects widely available. We consider a
fundamental problem encountered when analysing such data: Given polygonal
curves in , preprocess into a data structure that answers
queries with a query curve and radius for the curves of that
have \Frechet distance at most to .
We initiate a comprehensive analysis of the space/query-time trade-off for
this data structuring problem. Our lower bounds imply that any data structure
in the pointer model model that achieves query time, where is
the output size, has to use roughly space in
the worst case, even if queries are mere points (for the discrete \Frechet
distance) or line segments (for the continuous \Frechet distance). More
importantly, we show that more complex queries and input curves lead to
additional logarithmic factors in the lower bound. Roughly speaking, the number
of logarithmic factors added is linear in the number of edges added to the
query and input curve complexity. This means that the space/query time
trade-off worsens by an exponential factor of input and query complexity. This
behaviour addresses an open question in the range searching literature: whether
it is possible to avoid the additional logarithmic factors in the space and
query time of a multilevel partition tree. We answer this question negatively.
On the positive side, we show we can build data structures for the \Frechet
distance by using semialgebraic range searching. Our solution for the discrete
\Frechet distance is in line with the lower bound, as the number of levels in
the data structure is , where denotes the maximal number of vertices
of a curve. For the continuous \Frechet distance, the number of levels
increases to
A New Lower Bound for Semigroup Orthogonal Range Searching
We report the first improvement in the space-time trade-off of lower bounds
for the orthogonal range searching problem in the semigroup model, since
Chazelle's result from 1990. This is one of the very fundamental problems in
range searching with a long history. Previously, Andrew Yao's influential
result had shown that the problem is already non-trivial in one
dimension~\cite{Yao-1Dlb}: using units of space, the query time must
be where is the
inverse Ackermann's function, a very slowly growing function.
In dimensions, Bernard Chazelle~\cite{Chazelle.LB.II} proved that the
query time must be where .
Chazelle's lower bound is known to be tight for when space consumption is
`high' i.e., . We have two main results.
The first is a lower bound that shows Chazelle's lower bound was not tight for
`low space': we prove that we must have . Our lower bound does not close the gap to the existing data
structures, however, our second result is that our analysis is tight. Thus, we
believe the gap is in fact natural since lower bounds are proven for idempotent
semigroups while the data structures are built for general semigroups and thus
they cannot assume (and use) the properties of an idempotent semigroup. As a
result, we believe to close the gap one must study lower bounds for
non-idempotent semigroups or building data structures for idempotent
semigroups. We develope significantly new ideas for both of our results that
could be useful in pursuing either of these directions
Online Searching with an Autonomous Robot
We discuss online strategies for visibility-based searching for an object
hidden behind a corner, using Kurt3D, a real autonomous mobile robot. This task
is closely related to a number of well-studied problems. Our robot uses a
three-dimensional laser scanner in a stop, scan, plan, go fashion for building
a virtual three-dimensional environment. Besides planning trajectories and
avoiding obstacles, Kurt3D is capable of identifying objects like a chair. We
derive a practically useful and asymptotically optimal strategy that guarantees
a competitive ratio of 2, which differs remarkably from the well-studied
scenario without the need of stopping for surveying the environment. Our
strategy is used by Kurt3D, documented in a separate video.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 12 photographs, 1 table, Latex, submitted for
publicatio
On Range Searching with Semialgebraic Sets II
Let be a set of points in . We present a linear-size data
structure for answering range queries on with constant-complexity
semialgebraic sets as ranges, in time close to . It essentially
matches the performance of similar structures for simplex range searching, and,
for , significantly improves earlier solutions by the first two authors
obtained in~1994. This almost settles a long-standing open problem in range
searching.
The data structure is based on the polynomial-partitioning technique of Guth
and Katz [arXiv:1011.4105], which shows that for a parameter , , there exists a -variate polynomial of degree such that
each connected component of contains at most points
of , where is the zero set of . We present an efficient randomized
algorithm for computing such a polynomial partition, which is of independent
interest and is likely to have additional applications
Next decade of sterile neutrino studies
We review the status of sterile neutrino dark matter and discuss
astrophysical and cosmological bounds on its properties as well as future
prospects for its experimental searches. We argue that if sterile neutrinos are
the dominant fraction of dark matter, detecting an astrophysical signal from
their decay (the so-called 'indirect detection') may be the only way to
identify these particles experimentally. However, it may be possible to check
the dark matter origin of the observed signal unambiguously using its
characteristic properties and/or using synergy with accelerator experiments,
searching for other sterile neutrinos, responsible for neutrino flavor
oscillations. We argue that to fully explore this possibility a dedicated
cosmic mission - an X-ray spectrometer - is needed.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figure
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