Combinatorial and Geometric Properties of Planar Laman Graphs

Laman graphs naturally arise in structural mechanics and rigidity theory. Specifically, they characterize minimally rigid planar bar-and-joint systems which are frequently needed in robotics, as well as in molecular chemistry and polymer physics. We introduce three new combinatorial structures for planar Laman graphs: angular structures, angle labelings, and edge labelings. The latter two structures are related to Schnyder realizers for maximally planar graphs. We prove that planar Laman graphs are exactly the class of graphs that have an angular structure that is a tree, called angular tree, and that every angular tree has a corresponding angle labeling and edge labeling. Using a combination of these powerful combinatorial structures, we show that every planar Laman graph has an L-contact representation, that is, planar Laman graphs are contact graphs of axis-aligned L-shapes. Moreover, we show that planar Laman graphs and their subgraphs are the only graphs that can be represented this way. We present efficient algorithms that compute, for every planar Laman graph G, an angular tree, angle labeling, edge labeling, and finally an L-contact representation of G. The overall running time is O(n^2), where n is the number of vertices of G, and the L-contact representation is realized on the n x n grid.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, SODA 201

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

Euclidean distance geometry and applications

Euclidean distance geometry is the study of Euclidean geometry based on the concept of distance. This is useful in several applications where the input data consists of an incomplete set of distances, and the output is a set of points in Euclidean space that realizes the given distances. We survey some of the theory of Euclidean distance geometry and some of the most important applications: molecular conformation, localization of sensor networks and statics.Comment: 64 pages, 21 figure

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

Eigenvector Synchronization, Graph Rigidity and the Molecule Problem

The graph realization problem has received a great deal of attention in recent years, due to its importance in applications such as wireless sensor networks and structural biology. In this paper, we extend on previous work and propose the 3D-ASAP algorithm, for the graph realization problem in $\mathbb{R}^3$, given a sparse and noisy set of distance measurements. 3D-ASAP is a divide and conquer, non-incremental and non-iterative algorithm, which integrates local distance information into a global structure determination. Our approach starts with identifying, for every node, a subgraph of its 1-hop neighborhood graph, which can be accurately embedded in its own coordinate system. In the noise-free case, the computed coordinates of the sensors in each patch must agree with their global positioning up to some unknown rigid motion, that is, up to translation, rotation and possibly reflection. In other words, to every patch there corresponds an element of the Euclidean group Euc(3) of rigid transformations in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and the goal is to estimate the group elements that will properly align all the patches in a globally consistent way. Furthermore, 3D-ASAP successfully incorporates information specific to the molecule problem in structural biology, in particular information on known substructures and their orientation. In addition, we also propose 3D-SP-ASAP, a faster version of 3D-ASAP, which uses a spectral partitioning algorithm as a preprocessing step for dividing the initial graph into smaller subgraphs. Our extensive numerical simulations show that 3D-ASAP and 3D-SP-ASAP are very robust to high levels of noise in the measured distances and to sparse connectivity in the measurement graph, and compare favorably to similar state-of-the art localization algorithms.Comment: 49 pages, 8 figure

Rigidity and flexibility of biological networks

The network approach became a widely used tool to understand the behaviour of complex systems in the last decade. We start from a short description of structural rigidity theory. A detailed account on the combinatorial rigidity analysis of protein structures, as well as local flexibility measures of proteins and their applications in explaining allostery and thermostability is given. We also briefly discuss the network aspects of cytoskeletal tensegrity. Finally, we show the importance of the balance between functional flexibility and rigidity in protein-protein interaction, metabolic, gene regulatory and neuronal networks. Our summary raises the possibility that the concepts of flexibility and rigidity can be generalized to all networks.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

The rigidity of periodic body-bar frameworks on the three-dimensional fixed torus

We present necessary and sufficient conditions for the generic rigidity of body-bar frameworks on the three-dimensional fixed torus. These frameworks correspond to infinite periodic body-bar frameworks in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with a fixed periodic lattice.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figure

On the Number of Embeddings of Minimally Rigid Graphs

Rigid frameworks in some Euclidian space are embedded graphs having a unique local realization (up to Euclidian motions) for the given edge lengths, although globally they may have several. We study the number of distinct planar embeddings of minimally rigid graphs with $n$ vertices. We show that, modulo planar rigid motions, this number is at most ${{2n-4}\choose {n-2}} \approx 4^n$. We also exhibit several families which realize lower bounds of the order of $2^n$, $2.21^n$ and $2.88^n$. For the upper bound we use techniques from complex algebraic geometry, based on the (projective) Cayley-Menger variety $CM^{2,n}(C)\subset P_{{{n}\choose {2}}-1}(C)$ over the complex numbers $C$. In this context, point configurations are represented by coordinates given by squared distances between all pairs of points. Sectioning the variety with $2n-4$ hyperplanes yields at most $deg(CM^{2,n})$ zero-dimensional components, and one finds this degree to be $D^{2,n}={1/2}{{2n-4}\choose {n-2}}$. The lower bounds are related to inductive constructions of minimally rigid graphs via Henneberg sequences. The same approach works in higher dimensions. In particular we show that it leads to an upper bound of $2 D^{3,n}= {\frac{2^{n-3}}{n-2}}{{n-6}\choose{n-3}}$ for the number of spatial embeddings with generic edge lengths of the 1-skeleton of a simplicial polyhedron, up to rigid motions