1,313 research outputs found
Numerical Methods in Shape Spaces and Optimal Branching Patterns
The contribution of this thesis is twofold. The main part deals with numerical methods in the context of shape space analysis, where the shape space at hand is considered as a Riemannian manifold. In detail, we apply and extend the time-discrete geodesic calculus (established by Rumpf and Wirth [WBRS11, RW15]) to the space of discrete shells, i.e. triangular meshes with fixed connectivity. The essential building block is a variational time-discretization of geodesic curves, which is based on a local approximation of the squared Riemannian distance on the manifold. On physical shape spaces this approximation can be derived e.g. from a dissimilarity measure. The dissimilarity measure between two shell surfaces can naturally be defined as an elastic deformation energy capturing both membrane and bending distortions. Combined with a non-conforming discretization of a physically sound thin shell model the time-discrete geodesic calculus applied to the space of discrete shells is shown to be suitable to solve important problems in computer graphics and animation. To extend the existing calculus, we introduce a generalized spline functional based on the covariant derivative along a curve in shape space whose minimizers can be considered as Riemannian splines. We establish a corresponding time-discrete functional that fits perfectly into the framework of Rumpf and Wirth, and prove this discretization to be consistent. Several numerical simulations reveal that the optimization of the spline functional—subject to appropriate constraints—can be used to solve the multiple interpolation problem in shape space, e.g. to realize keyframe animation. Based on the spline functional, we further develop a simple regression model which generalizes linear regression to nonlinear shape spaces. Numerical examples based on real data from anatomy and botany show the capability of the model. Finally, we apply the statistical analysis of elastic shape spaces presented by Rumpf and Wirth [RW09, RW11] to the space of discrete shells. To this end, we compute a Fréchet mean within a class of shapes bearing highly nonlinear variations and perform a principal component analysis with respect to the metric induced by the Hessian of an elastic shell energy. The last part of this thesis deals with the optimization of microstructures arising e.g. at austenite-martensite interfaces in shape memory alloys. For a corresponding scalar problem, Kohn and Müller [KM92, KM94] proved existence of a minimizer and provided a lower and an upper bound for the optimal energy. To establish the upper bound, they studied a particular branching pattern generated by mixing two different martensite phases. We perform a finite element simulation based on subdivision surfaces that suggests a topologically different class of branching patterns to represent an optimal microstructure. Based on these observations we derive a novel, low dimensional family of patterns and show—numerically and analytically—that our new branching pattern results in a significantly better upper energy bound
Time Discrete Geodesic Paths in the Space of Images
In this paper the space of images is considered as a Riemannian manifold
using the metamorphosis approach, where the underlying Riemannian metric
simultaneously measures the cost of image transport and intensity variation. A
robust and effective variational time discretization of geodesics paths is
proposed. This requires to minimize a discrete path energy consisting of a sum
of consecutive image matching functionals over a set of image intensity maps
and pairwise matching deformations. For square-integrable input images the
existence of discrete, connecting geodesic paths defined as minimizers of this
variational problem is shown. Furthermore, -convergence of the
underlying discrete path energy to the continuous path energy is proved. This
includes a diffeomorphism property for the induced transport and the existence
of a square-integrable weak material derivative in space and time. A spatial
discretization via finite elements combined with an alternating descent scheme
in the set of image intensity maps and the set of matching deformations is
presented to approximate discrete geodesic paths numerically. Computational
results underline the efficiency of the proposed approach and demonstrate
important qualitative properties.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure
Analysis of a variational model for nematic shells
We analyze an elastic surface energy which was recently introduced by G.
Napoli and L.Vergori to model thin films of nematic liquid crystals. We show
how a novel approach that takes into account also the extrinsic properties of
the surfaces coated by the liquid crystal leads to considerable differences
with respect to the classical intrinsic energy. Our results concern three
connected aspects: i) using methods of the calculus of variations, we establish
a relation between the existence of minimizers and the topology of the surface;
ii) we prove, by a Ginzburg-Landau approximation, the well-posedness of the
gradient flow of the energy; iii) in the case of a parametrized axisymmetric
torus we obtain a stronger characterization of global and local minimizers,
which we supplement with numerical experiments.Comment: Revised version. Includes referee's comments. Some proofs are
changed. To appear on Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences
(M3AS
Equilibrium configurations of nematic liquid crystals on a torus
The topology and the geometry of a surface play a fundamental role in
determining the equilibrium configurations of thin films of liquid crystals. We
propose here a theoretical analysis of a recently introduced surface Frank
energy, in the case of two-dimensional nematic liquid crystals coating a
toroidal particle. Our aim is to show how a different modeling of the effect of
extrinsic curvature acts as a selection principle among equilibria of the
classical energy, and how new configurations emerge. In particular, our
analysis predicts the existence of new stable equilibria with complex windings.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. This version is to appear on Phys. Rev.
Archipelagian Cosmology: Dynamics and Observables in a Universe with Discretized Matter Content
We consider a model of the Universe in which the matter content is in the
form of discrete islands, rather than a continuous fluid. In the appropriate
limits the resulting large-scale dynamics approach those of a
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. The optical properties of such a
space-time, however, do not. This illustrates the fact that the optical and
`average' dynamical properties of a relativistic universe are not equivalent,
and do not specify each other uniquely. We find the angular diameter distance,
luminosity distance and redshifts that would be measured by observers in these
space-times, using both analytic approximations and numerical simulations.
While different from their counterparts in FRW, the effects found do not look
like promising candidates to explain the observations usually attributed to the
existence of Dark Energy. This incongruity with standard FRW cosmology is not
due to the existence of any unexpectedly large structures or voids in the
Universe, but only to the fact that the matter content of the Universe is not a
continuous fluid.Comment: 49 pages, 15 figures. Corrections made to description of lattice
constructio
Relativistic shells: Dynamics, horizons, and shell crossing
We consider the dynamics of timelike spherical thin matter shells in vacuum.
A general formalism for thin shells matching two arbitrary spherical spacetimes
is derived, and subsequently specialized to the vacuum case. We first examine
the relative motion of two dust shells by focusing on the dynamics of the
exterior shell, whereby the problem is reduced to that of a single shell with
different active Schwarzschild masses on each side. We then examine the
dynamics of shells with non-vanishing tangential pressure , and show that
there are no stable--stationary, or otherwise--solutions for configurations
with a strictly linear barotropic equation of state, , where
is the proper surface energy density and . For {\em
arbitrary} equations of state, we show that, provided the weak energy condition
holds, the strong energy condition is necessary and sufficient for stability.
We examine in detail the formation of trapped surfaces, and show explicitly
that a thin boundary layer causes the apparent horizon to evolve
discontinuously. Finally, we derive an analytical (necessary and sufficient)
condition for neighboring shells to cross, and compare the discrete shell model
with the well-known continuous Lema\^{\i}tre-Tolman-Bondi dust case.Comment: 25 pages, revtex4, 4 eps figs; published in Phys. Rev.
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