Reconstructing Geometric Structures from Combinatorial and Metric Information

In this dissertation, we address three reconstruction problems. First, we address the problem of reconstructing a Delaunay triangulation from a maximal planar graph. A maximal planar graph G is Delaunay realizable if there exists a realization of G as a Delaunay triangulation on the plane. Several classes of graphs with particular graph-theoretic properties are known to be Delaunay realizable. One such class of graphs is outerplanar graph. In this dissertation, we present a new proof that an outerplanar graph is Delaunay realizable. Given a convex polyhedron P and a point s on the surface (the source), the ridge tree or cut locus is a collection of points with multiple shortest paths from s on the surface of P. If we compute the shortest paths from s to all polyhedral vertices of P and cut the surface along these paths, we obtain a planar polygon called the shortest path star (sp-star) unfolding. It is known that for any convex polyhedron and a source point, the ridge tree is contained in the sp-star unfolding polygon [8]. Given a combinatorial structure of a ridge tree, we show how to construct the ridge tree and the sp-star unfolding in which it lies. In this process, we address several problems concerning the existence of sp-star unfoldings on specified source point sets. Finally, we introduce and study a new variant of the sp-star unfolding called (geodesic) star unfolding. In this unfolding, we cut the surface of the convex polyhedron along a set of non-crossing geodesics (not-necessarily the shortest). We study its properties and address its realization problem. Finally, we consider the following problem: given a geodesic star unfolding of some convex polyhedron and a source point, how can we derive the sp-star unfolding of the same polyhedron and the source point? We introduce a new algorithmic operation and perform experiments using that operation on a large number of geodesic star unfolding polygons. Experimental data provides strong evidence that the successive applications of this operation on geodesic star unfoldings will lead us to the sp-star unfolding

Data Reductions and Combinatorial Bounds for Improved Approximation Algorithms

Kernelization algorithms in the context of Parameterized Complexity are often based on a combination of reduction rules and combinatorial insights. We will expose in this paper a similar strategy for obtaining polynomial-time approximation algorithms. Our method features the use of approximation-preserving reductions, akin to the notion of parameterized reductions. We exemplify this method to obtain the currently best approximation algorithms for \textsc{Harmless Set}, \textsc{Differential} and \textsc{Multiple Nonblocker}, all of them can be considered in the context of securing networks or information propagation

Symmetric Laplacians, Quantum Density Matrices and their Von-Neumann Entropy

We show that the (normalized) symmetric Laplacian of a simple graph can be obtained from the partial trace over a pure bipartite quantum state that resides in a bipartite Hilbert space (one part corresponding to the vertices, the other corresponding to the edges). This suggests an interpretation of the symmetric Laplacian's Von Neumann entropy as a measure of bipartite entanglement present between the two parts of the state. We then study extreme values for a connected graph's generalized R\'enyi-$p$ entropy. Specifically, we show that (1) the complete graph achieves maximum entropy, (2) the $2$-regular graph: a) achieves minimum R\'enyi-$2$ entropy among all $k$-regular graphs, b) is within $\log 4/3$ of the minimum R\'enyi-$2$ entropy and $\log4\sqrt{2}/3$ of the minimum Von Neumann entropy among all connected graphs, c) achieves a Von Neumann entropy less than the star graph. Point $(2)$ contrasts sharply with similar work applied to (normalized) combinatorial Laplacians, where it has been shown that the star graph almost always achieves minimum Von Neumann entropy. In this work we find that the star graph achieves maximum entropy in the limit as the number of vertices grows without bound. Keywords: Symmetric; Laplacian; Quantum; Entropy; Bounds; R\'enyi

Permutation actions on equivariant cohomology

This survey paper describes two geometric representations of the permutation group using the tools of toric topology. These actions are extremely useful for computational problems in Schubert calculus. The (torus) equivariant cohomology of the flag variety is constructed using the combinatorial description of Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson, discussed in detail. Two permutation representations on equivariant and ordinary cohomology are identified in terms of irreducible representations of the permutation group. We show how to use the permutation actions to construct divided difference operators and to give formulas for some localizations of certain equivariant classes. This paper includes several new results, in particular a new proof of the Chevalley-Monk formula and a proof that one of the natural permutation representations on the equivariant cohomology of the flag variety is the regular representation. Many examples, exercises, and open questions are provided.Comment: 24 page

Vertex decomposable graphs, codismantlability, Cohen-Macaulayness and Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity

We call a (simple) graph G codismantlable if either it has no edges or else it has a codominated vertex x, meaning that the closed neighborhood of x contains that of one of its neighbor, such that G-x codismantlable. We prove that if G is well-covered and it lacks induced cycles of length four, five and seven, than the vertex decomposability, codismantlability and Cohen-Macaulayness for G are all equivalent. The rest deals with the computation of Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of codismantlable graphs. Note that our approach complements and unifies many of the earlier results on bipartite, chordal and very well-covered graphs

Equality of ordinary and symbolic powers of Stanley-Reisner ideals

This paper studies properties of simplicial complexes for which the m-th symbolic power of the Stanley-Reisner ideal equals to the m-th ordinary power for a given m > 1. The main results are combinatorial characterizations of such complexes in the two-dimensional case. It turns out that there exist only a finite number of complexes with this property and that these complexes can be described completely. As a consequence we are able to determine all complexes for which the m-th ordinary power of the Stanley-Reisner ideal is Cohen-Macaulay for a given m > 1.Comment: 19 page