Haj\lasz-Sobolev Imbedding and Extension

The author establishes some geometric criteria for a Haj\lasz-Sobolev \dot M^{s,\,p}_\ball-extension (resp. \dot M^{s,\,p}_\ball-imbedding) domain of ${\mathbb R}^n$ with $n\ge2$, $s\in(0,\,1]$ and $p\in[n/s,\,\infty]$ (resp. $p\in(n/s,\,\infty]$). In particular, the author proves that a bounded finitely connected planar domain \boz is a weak $\alpha$-cigar domain with $\alpha\in(0,\,1)$ if and only if \dot F^s_{p,\,\infty}({\mathbb R}^2)|_\boz=\dot M^{s,\,p}_\ball(\boz) for some/all $s\in[\alpha,\,1)$ and p=(2-\az)/(s-\alpha), where \dot F^s_{p,\,\infty}({\mathbb R}^2)|_\boz denotes the restriction of the Triebel-Lizorkin space $\dot F^s_{p,\,\infty}({\mathbb R}^2)$ on \boz.Comment: submitte

Approximability and proof complexity

This work is concerned with the proof-complexity of certifying that optimization problems do \emph{not} have good solutions. Specifically we consider bounded-degree "Sum of Squares" (SOS) proofs, a powerful algebraic proof system introduced in 1999 by Grigoriev and Vorobjov. Work of Shor, Lasserre, and Parrilo shows that this proof system is automatizable using semidefinite programming (SDP), meaning that any $n$-variable degree-$d$ proof can be found in time $n^{O(d)}$. Furthermore, the SDP is dual to the well-known Lasserre SDP hierarchy, meaning that the "$d/2$-round Lasserre value" of an optimization problem is equal to the best bound provable using a degree-$d$ SOS proof. These ideas were exploited in a recent paper by Barak et al.\ (STOC 2012) which shows that the known "hard instances" for the Unique-Games problem are in fact solved close to optimally by a constant level of the Lasserre SDP hierarchy. We continue the study of the power of SOS proofs in the context of difficult optimization problems. In particular, we show that the Balanced-Separator integrality gap instances proposed by Devanur et al.\ can have their optimal value certified by a degree-4 SOS proof. The key ingredient is an SOS proof of the KKL Theorem. We also investigate the extent to which the Khot--Vishnoi Max-Cut integrality gap instances can have their optimum value certified by an SOS proof. We show they can be certified to within a factor .952 ($> .878$) using a constant-degree proof. These investigations also raise an interesting mathematical question: is there a constant-degree SOS proof of the Central Limit Theorem?Comment: 34 page

Geometry and Analysis of Dirichlet forms

Let $\mathscr E$ be a regular, strongly local Dirichlet form on $L^2(X, m)$ and $d$ the associated intrinsic distance. Assume that the topology induced by $d$ coincides with the original topology on $X$, and that $X$ is compact, satisfies a doubling property and supports a weak $(1, 2)$-Poincar\'e inequality. We first discuss the (non-)coincidence of the intrinsic length structure and the gradient structure. Under the further assumption that the Ricci curvature of $X$ is bounded from below in the sense of Lott-Sturm-Villani, the following are shown to be equivalent: (i) the heat flow of $\mathscr E$ gives the unique gradient flow of $\mathscr U_\infty$, (ii) $\mathscr E$ satisfies the Newtonian property, (iii) the intrinsic length structure coincides with the gradient structure. Moreover, for the standard (resistance) Dirichlet form on the Sierpinski gasket equipped with the Kusuoka measure, we identify the intrinsic length structure with the measurable Riemannian and the gradient structures. We also apply the above results to the (coarse) Ricci curvatures and asymptotics of the gradient of the heat kernel.Comment: Advance in Mathematics, to appear,51p

New computer-based search strategies for extreme functions of the Gomory--Johnson infinite group problem

We describe new computer-based search strategies for extreme functions for the Gomory--Johnson infinite group problem. They lead to the discovery of new extreme functions, whose existence settles several open questions.Comment: 54 pages, many figure

On the Outage Probability of Localization in Randomly Deployed Wireless Networks

This paper analyzes the localization outage probability (LOP), the probability that the position error exceeds a given threshold, in randomly deployed wireless networks. Two typical cases are considered: a mobile agent uses all the neighboring anchors or select the best pair of anchors for self-localization. We derive the exact LOP for the former case and tight bounds for the LOP for the latter case. The comparison between the two cases reveals the advantage of anchor selection in terms of LOP versus complexity tradeoff, providing insights into the design of efficient localization systems