arXiv subjects

Benjamin Braun

Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin Braun.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Eventually nondecreasing quasi-polynomials

Quasi-polynomials are ubiquitous in combinatorics and algebra, as they arise in a variety of enumeration problems. Because quasi-polynomials consist of constituent polynomials, their behavior is more subtle than for a single polynomial. In particular, unlike for a polynomial, it is possible for a quasi-polynomial defined on the positive integers to have infinitely many points at which it is decreasing. In this work, we characterize quasi-polynomials of degree $d$ and period dividing $p$ that are eventually nondecreasing, i.e., that have only finitely many values at which they decrease. We then give a detailed analysis of the space of eventually nondecreasing quasi-polynomials with fixed degree $d$ and period dividing a fixed $p$ such that the $h$-vector of the quasi-polynomial is nonnegative. Using this analysis, we determine the rate of growth of the number of such quasi-polynomials as a function of the sum of the $h$-vector entries for the $0$-th constituent polynomial.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

Ehrhart $h^*$-distributions

Every polynomial with real non-negative coefficients yields a finite probability distribution after normalization. The Ehrhart $h^*$-polynomial of a lattice polytope $P$ is a non-negative integer polynomial that encodes the integer-point counts for positive integer dilations of $P$. We study the corresponding finite distributions, which we call $h^*$-distributions. We determine the mean and variance of these distributions, establish a connection between higher moments and Ehrhart polynomial coefficients, and study their cluster points in the $d$-dimensional probability simplex. We consider the special case of real-rooted $h^*$-distributions, applying existing tail bounds to obtain new linear inequalities for the coefficients of real-rooted $h^*$-polynomials arising from reflexive polytopes. We conclude by establishing sufficient conditions under which a sequence of real-rooted $h^*$-distributions is asymptotically normal, and we apply our results to various families of polytopes, including zonotopes and Pitman-Stanley polytopes.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

Order polytopes of generalized snake posets are $h^*$-real-rooted

Order polytopes for generalized snake posets were recently studied by von Bell et al. (2022), and are known to be unimodularly equivalent to strength-one flow polytopes for acyclic directed graphs strongly dual to generalized snake posets. Lee, Vindas-Mel\'endez, and Wang (2026) conjectured that the Ehrhart $h^*$-polynomials of these order polytopes are real-rooted. We prove this conjecture using a connection between these $h^*$-polynomials and non-nesting rook polynomials, which were recently introduced by Alexandersson and Jal (2024+) in connection with $P$-Eulerian polynomials for width two posets.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

Scaling native entanglement generation in layered semiconductors with quasi-phase matching

Efficient generation of entangled photons typically relies on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in phase-matched macroscopic nonlinear media. However, generating entanglement under phase-matching constraints requires additional bulk optics or interferometers. In contrast, ultrathin van der Waals semiconductors - such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) - exhibit strong enough optical nonlinearities for SPDC to be observed from subwavelength-thick media, thereby bypassing conventional phase-matching constraints. In this microscopic domain, the intrinsic crystal symmetry governs the nonlinear optical response, enabling the native generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs. However, generating these states efficiently has been fundamentally restricted by the material's coherence length ($L_c$), which limits the attainable conversion efficiency. Here, we investigate periodically-poled TMDs (PPTMDs) designed to scale up this interaction via quasi-phase matching. We demonstrate that mechanically flipping the sign of the nonlinearity at precise intervals of $L_c$ introduces quasi-phase matching, that scales the pair-production rate while preserving the pristine, symmetry-generated polarization entanglement, with fidelities exceeding 99%. Backed by a rigorous theoretical model, our work clarifies the interplay between crystal symmetry and propagation effects in thin nonlinear media, providing a new avenue for engineering quantum light in nanophotonic systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Locally anti-blocking $\mathbf{g}$-polytopes for flow polytopes

Given an acyclic directed graph (DAG), the space of strength one flows is a lattice polytope called the flow polytope of the DAG. If the DAG admits an ample framing, then the flow polytope is Gorenstein and it linearly projects onto a reflexive polytope called the $\mathbf{g}$-polytope. We provide a combinatorial characterization of amply framed DAGs that have a locally anti-blocking $\mathbf{g}$-polytope, and we characterize the minimal faces of the $\mathbf{g}$-polytope containing a fixed pair of vertices. We prove in this case that the unimodular triangulation of the $\mathbf{g}$-polytope induced by the DKK triangulation of the flow polytope is a pulling triangulation, and we characterize the pulling orders that yield the DKK triangulation. To prove our results, we introduce and study coherence diagrams, a combinatorial model of coherence for amply framed DAGs with locally anti-blocking $\mathbf{g}$-polytopes. We conclude by indicating possible extensions of these results to the setting of $\mathbf{g}$-polytopes for gentle Nakayama algebras.

math.CO↗

arXiv2025

Smith Normal Forms of Graphical Hermite Simplices

We introduce the family of graphical Hermite simplices and study the Smith normal forms of their matrices of vertex vectors, which is equivalent to studying the group structure of the cokernels for these matrices. Our motivation is to study the behavior of lattice simplices subject to small lattice perturbations of their vertices. In this case, a graphical Hermite simplex is a perturbation of a rectangular simplex, i.e., a simplex defined by a diagonal matrix and the origin, with the perturbation controlled by the structure of a directed graph. We first establish sufficient conditions on the graphs and diagonal entries of these matrices that imply having a single non-unit invariant factor, i.e., a cyclic cokernel. We then obtain bounds on the invariant factors of the defining matrices related to lengths of paths in the corresponding directed graph.

math.CO↗

arXiv2025

Flow polytopes for extensions of bipartite graphs

The space of unit flows on a finite acyclic directed graph is a lattice polytope called the flow polytope of the graph. Given a bipartite graph $G$ with minimum degree at least two, we construct two associated acyclic directed graphs: the extension of $G$ and the almost-degree-whiskered graph of $G$. We prove that the normalized volume of the flow polytope for the extension of $G$ is equal to the number of matchings in the almost-degree-whiskered graph of $G$. Further, we refine this result by proving that the Ehrhart $h^*$-polynomial of the flow polytope for the extension of $G$ is equal to the unsigned matching polynomial of the almost-degree-whiskered graph of $G$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2025

Generating functions of $q$-chromatic polynomials

Given a graph $G=(V,E)$ and a linear form $\lambda \in \mathbb{Z}_{ > 0 }^V$, Bajo et al. (2025) introduced the $q$-chromatic polynomial $\chi_G^\lambda(q,n) := \sum q^{\sum_{v \in V} \lambda_v c(v)}$ where the sum is over all proper colorings $c: V \to [n] := \{ 1, 2, \dots, n \}$; they showed that $\chi_G^\lambda(q,n)$ is a polynomial in $[n]_q := 1 + q + \dots + q^{ n-1 } $ with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}(q)$. For $d \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ and the linear form given by $(d,d^2,\ldots,d^d)$, we show that the $q$-chromatic polynomial distinguishes labeled graphs with vertex set $[d]$. Using permutation statistics introduced by Chung--Graham (1995), called $G$-statistics, and polyhedral geometry, we give the multivariate integer point transform for the region of proper colorings of a given graph $G$. This integer point transform allows us to find the generating function for the $q$-chromatic polynomial with respect to any linear form. We further specialize these results to the linear form $(1, 1, \dots, 1)$, which allows us to write the $q$-chromatic polynomial in the $q$-binomial basis, clarifying expressions found by Bajo et al. Moreover, we show that $G$-statistics are compatible with the theory of order polytopes used by Bajo et al. and Chow (1999). This yields further properties for the generating function of $q$-chromatic polynomial with linear form $(1, 1, \dots, 1)$, where certain coefficients of the numerator polynomial are palindromic polynomials in $q$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2025

LLMDistill4Ads: Using Cross-Encoders to Distill from LLM Signals for Advertiser Keyphrase Recommendations at eBay

E-commerce sellers are advised to bid on keyphrases to boost their advertising campaigns. These keyphrases must be relevant to prevent irrelevant items from cluttering Search systems and to maintain positive seller perception. It is vital that keyphrase suggestions align with seller, Search, and buyer judgments. Given the challenges in collecting negative feedback in these systems, LLMs have been used as a scalable proxy for human judgments. We present an empirical study on a major e-commerce platform of a distillation framework involving an LLM teacher, a cross-encoder assistant and a bi-encoder Embedding Based Retrieval (EBR) student model, aimed at mitigating click-induced biases and provide more diverse keyphrase recommendations while aligning advertising, search and buyer preferences.

cs.IR↗

arXiv2024

Equatorial Flow Triangulations of Gorenstein Flow Polytopes

Generalizing work of Athanasiadis for the Birkhoff polytope and Reiner and Welker for order polytopes, in 2007 Bruns and R\"omer proved that any Gorenstein lattice polytope with a regular unimodular triangulation admits a regular unimodular triangulation that is the join of a special simplex with a triangulated sphere. These are sometimes referred to as equatorial triangulations. We apply these techniques to give purely combinatorial descriptions of previously-unstudied triangulations of Gorensten flow polytopes. Further, we prove that the resulting equatorial flow polytope triangulations are usually distinct from the family of triangulations obtained by Danilov, Karzanov, and Koshevoy via framings. We find the facet description of the reflexive polytope obtained by projecting a Gorenstein flow polytope along a special simplex. Finally, we show that when a partially ordered set is strongly planar, equatorial triangulations of a related flow polytope can be used to produce new unimodular triangulations of the corresponding order polytope.

math.CO↗

arXiv2024

Volume inequalities for flow polytopes of full directed acyclic graphs

Given a finite directed acyclic graph, the space of non-negative unit flows is a lattice polytope called the flow polytope of the graph. We consider the volumes of flow polytopes for directed acyclic graphs on $n+1$ vertices with a fixed degree sequence, with a focus on graphs having in- and out-degree two on every internal vertex. When the out-degree of the source is three and the number of vertices is fixed, we prove that there is an interchange operation on the edge set of these graphs that induces a partial order on the graphs isomorphic to a Boolean algebra. Further, we prove that as we move up through this partial order, the volumes of the corresponding flow polytopes weakly decrease. Finally, we show that each such graph is strongly planar and we provide an alternative interpretation of our results in the context of linear extensions for posets that are bipartite non-crossing trees.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

Quasi-phase-matched up- and down-conversion in periodically poled layered semiconductors

Nonlinear optics lies at the heart of classical and quantum light generation. The invention of periodic poling revolutionized nonlinear optics and its commercial applications by enabling robust quasi-phase-matching in crystals such as lithium niobate. However, reaching useful frequency conversion efficiencies requires macroscopic dimensions, limiting further technology development and integration. Here we realize a periodically poled van der Waals semiconductor (3R-MoS$_2$). Due to its exceptional nonlinearity, we achieve macroscopic frequency conversion efficiency of 0.03% at the relevant telecom wavelength over a microscopic thickness of 3.4${\mu}$m (that is, 3 poling periods), $10-100\times$ thinner than current systems with similar performances. Due to unique intrinsic cavity effects, the thickness-dependent quasi-phase-matched second harmonic signal surpasses the usual quadratic enhancement by $50\%$. Further, we report the broadband generation of photon pairs at telecom wavelengths via quasi-phase-matched spontaneous parametric down-conversion, showing a maximum coincidence-to-accidental-ratio of $638 \pm 75$. This work opens the new and unexplored field of phase-matched nonlinear optics with microscopic van der Waals crystals, unlocking applications that require simple, ultra-compact technologies such as on-chip entangled photon-pair sources for integrated quantum circuitry and sensing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Minimal free resolutions of numerical semigroup algebras via Ap\'ery specialization

Numerical semigroups with multiplicity $m$ are parameterized by integer points in a polyhedral cone $C_m$, according to Kunz. For the toric ideal of any such semigroup, the main result here constructs a free resolution whose overall structure is identical for all semigroups parametrized by the relative interior of a fixed face of $C_m$. The matrix entries of this resolution are monomials whose exponents are parametrized by the coordinates of the corresponding point in $C_m$, and minimality of the resolution is achieved when the semigroup is maximal embedding dimension, which is the case parametrized by the interior of $C_m$ itself.

math.AC↗

arXiv2023

Local $h^*$-polynomials for one-row Hermite normal form simplices

The local $h^*$-polynomial of a lattice polytope is an important invariant arising in Ehrhart theory. Our focus is on lattice simplices presented in Hermite normal form with a single non-trivial row. We prove that when the off-diagonal entries are fixed, the distribution of coefficients for the local $h^*$-polynomial of these simplices has a limit as the normalized volume goes to infinity. Further, this limiting distribution is determined by the coefficients for a particular choice of normalized volume. We also provide an analysis of two specific families of such simplices to illustrate and motivate our main result.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Ehrhart Limits

We introduce the definition of an Ehrhart limit, that is, a formal power series with integer coefficients that is the limit in the ring of formal power series of a sequence of Ehrhart $h^*$-polynomials. We identify a variety of examples of sequences of polytopes that yield Ehrhart limits, with a focus on reflexive polytopes and simplices.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Facets of Random Symmetric Edge Polytopes, Degree Sequences, and Clustering

Symmetric edge polytopes are lattice polytopes associated with finite simple graphs that are of interest in both theory and applications. We investigate the facet structure of symmetric edge polytopes for various models of random graphs. For an Erd\H{o}s-Renyi random graph, we identify a threshold probability at which with high probability the symmetric edge polytope shares many facet-supporting hyperplanes with that of a complete graph. We also investigate the relationship between the average local clustering, also known as the Watts-Strogatz clustering coefficient, and the number of facets for graphs with either a fixed number of edges or a fixed degree sequence. We use well-known Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling methods to generate empirical evidence that for a fixed degree sequence, higher average local clustering in a connected graph corresponds to higher facet numbers in the associated symmetric edge polytope.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Triangulations of Flow Polytopes, Ample Framings, and Gentle Algebras

The cone of nonnegative flows for a directed acyclic graph (DAG) is known to admit regular unimodular triangulations induced by framings of the DAG. These triangulations restrict to triangulations of the flow polytope for strength one flows, which are called DKK triangulations. For a special class of framings called ample framings, these triangulations of the flow cone project to a complete fan. We characterize the DAGs that admit ample framings, and we enumerate the number of ample framings for a fixed DAG. We establish a connection between maximal simplices in DKK triangulations and $\tau$-tilting posets for certain gentle algebras, which allows us to impose a poset structure on the dual graph of any DKK triangulation for an amply framed DAG. Using this connection, we are able to prove that for full DAGs, i.e., those DAGs with inner vertices having in-degree and out-degree equal to two, the flow polytopes are Gorenstein and have unimodal Ehrhart $h^\ast$-polynomials.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Facets of Symmetric Edge Polytopes for Graphs with Few Edges

Symmetric edge polytopes, also called adjacency polytopes, are lattice polytopes determined by simple undirected graphs. We introduce the integer array $\mathrm{maxf}(n,m)$ giving the maximum number of facets of a symmetric edge polytope for a connected graph having $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, and the corresponding sequence $\mathrm{minf}(n,m)$ of minimal values. We establish formulas for the number of facets obtained in several classes of sparse graphs and provide partial progress toward conjectures that identify facet-maximizing graphs in these classes. These formulas are combinatorial in nature and lead to independently interesting observations and conjectures regarding integer sequences defined by sums of products of binomial coefficients.

math.CO↗