arXiv subjects

Connor Simpson

Publications and source records attributed to Connor Simpson.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

FOSC-X: An Extended Framework for Optimal Local Cuts and Non-Horizontal Cluster Selection from Clustering Hierarchies

Extracting a flat clustering solution from a hierarchy is a common task in practical cluster analysis and can be formulated as an optimisation problem. Existing approaches focus on finding a single optimal solution. We introduce FOSC-X, a framework for extracting the top-M globally optimal flat clusterings from local, non-horizontal cuts of a hierarchical cluster tree, while optionally enforcing constraints on the number of clusters. This enables automatic identification of multiple high-quality alternative clusterings that capture different aspects of the hierarchical structure. Without constraints, the top-M problem can be solved in polynomial time using dynamic programming, exploiting the property that locally optimal partial candidates within subtrees can be combined to form globally optimal solutions while automatically determining the number of clusters. However, this can lead to solutions with numbers of clusters that are ultimately undesirable -- e.g., too large to be meaningful or practically analysed within a particular application domain. Imposing cluster-count constraints breaks the optimality property underlying the unconstrained dynamic programming approach, since locally optimal partial candidates may no longer combine into feasible globally optimal solutions. FOSC-X addresses this challenge through a dynamic programming strategy that maintains compact sets of feasible candidates using lower and upper feasibility bounds while pruning infeasible or dominated combinations. The resulting method guarantees optimal rankings of the top-M solutions with linear-time complexity in the number of cluster nodes and dataset size, both with and without cluster-count constraints. Experiments show that FOSC-X efficiently reveals alternative clustering structures overlooked by single-solution extraction methods.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Topology and Euler characteristics of tropical varieties

We study Euler characteristics of tropical subvarieties of tropical abelian varieties. We prove that every H-regular subvariety, locally modeled on tropicalizations of sufficiently well-behaved very affine varieties, has nonnegative signed Euler characteristic. This gives a tropical analogue of a theorem of Green-Lazarsfeld for subvarieties of complex abelian varieties. The main input is a local vanishing theorem for H-regular tropical fans, which also yields a Lefschetz-type theorem for affine H-regular tropical varieties. We further show that the signed Euler characteristic inequality fails for general tropical subvarieties of tropical abelian varieties, and we construct a 3-dimensional tropical fan whose link is not homotopy equivalent to a bouquet of 2-spheres.

math.AG↗

arXiv2025

Benchmarking of Clustering Validity Measures Revisited

Validation plays a crucial role in the clustering process. Many different internal validity indexes exist for the purpose of determining the best clustering solution(s) from a given collection of candidates, e.g., as produced by different algorithms or different algorithm hyper-parameters. In this study, we present a comprehensive benchmark study of 26 internal validity indexes, which includes highly popular classic indexes as well as more recently developed ones. We adopted an enhanced revision of the methodology presented in Vendramin et al. (2010), developed here to address several shortcomings of this previous work. This overall new approach consists of three complementary custom-tailored evaluation sub-methodologies, each of which has been designed to assess specific aspects of an index's behaviour while preventing potential biases of the other sub-methodologies. Each sub-methodology features two complementary measures of performance, alongside mechanisms that allow for an in-depth investigation of more complex behaviours of the internal validity indexes under study. Additionally, a new collection of 16177 datasets has been produced, paired with eight widely-used clustering algorithms, for a wider applicability scope and representation of more diverse clustering scenarios.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2024

Toric varieties modulo reflections

Let $W$ be a finite group generated by reflections of a lattice $M$. If a lattice polytope $P \subset M \otimes_{\mathbb Z}\mathbb R$ is preserved by $W$, then we show that the quotient of the projective toric variety $X_P$ by $W$ is isomorphic to the toric variety $X_{P \cap D}$, where $D$ is a fundamental domain for the action of $W$. This answers a question of Horiguchi-Masuda-Shareshian-Song, and recovers results of Blume, of Song, of the second author, and of Gui-Hu-Liu. We also study quotients of real toric varieties, proving that $X_P^{\mathbb R} / W$ is contractible when $P$ is a permutohedron.

math.CO↗

arXiv2024

Combinatorial flats and Schubert varieties of subspace arrangements

The lattice of flats $\mathcal L_M$ of a matroid $M$ is combinatorially well-behaved and, when $M$ is realizable, admits a geometric model in the form of a "Schubert variety of hyperplane arrangement". In contrast, the lattice of flats of a polymatroid exhibits many combinatorial pathologies and admits no similar geometric model. We address this situation by defining the lattice $\mathcal L_P$ of "combinatorial flats" of a polymatroid $P$. Combinatorially, $\mathcal L_P$ exhibits good behavior analogous to that of $\mathcal L_M$: it is graded, determines $P$ when $P$ is simple, and is top-heavy. When $P$ is realizable over a field of characteristic 0, we show that $\mathcal L_P$ is modeled by "the Schubert variety of a subspace arrangement". Our work generalizes a number of results of Ardila-Boocher and Huh-Wang on Schubert varieties of hyperplane arrangements; however, the geometry of Schubert varieties of subspace arrangements is noticeably more complicated than that of Schubert varieties of hyperplane arrangements. Many natural questions remain open.

math.AG↗

arXiv2023

Total positivity for matroid Schubert varieties

We define the totally nonnegative matroid Schubert variety $\mathcal Y_V$ of a linear subspace $V \subset \mathbb R^n$. We show that $\mathcal Y_V$ is a regular CW complex homeomorphic to a closed ball, with strata indexed by pairs of acyclic flats of the oriented matroid of $V$. This closely resembles the regularity theorem for totally nonnegative generalized flag varieties. As a corollary, we obtain a regular CW structure on the real matroid Schubert variety of $V$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

A new generic vanishing theorem on homogeneous varieties and the positivity conjecture for triple intersections of Schubert cells

In this paper we prove a new generic vanishing theorem for $X$ a complete homogeneous variety with respect to an action of a connected algebraic group. Let $A, B_0\subset X$ be locally closed affine subvarieties, and assume that $B_0$ is smooth and pure dimensional. Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a perverse sheaf on $A$ and let $B=g B_0$ be a generic translate of $B_0$. Then our theorem implies $(-1)^{\operatorname{codim} B}\chi(A\cap B, \mathcal{P}|_{A\cap B})\geq 0$. As an application, we prove in full generality a positivity conjecture about the signed Euler characteristic of generic triple intersections of Schubert cells. Such Euler characteristics are known to be the structure constants for the multiplication of the Segre-Schwartz-MacPherson classes of these Schubert cells.

math.AG↗

arXiv2022

The Bergman fan of a polymatroid

We introduce the Bergman fan of a polymatroid and prove that the Chow ring of the Bergman fan is isomorphic to the Chow ring of the polymatroid. Using the Bergman fan, we establish the K\"ahler package for the Chow ring of the polymatroid, recovering and strengthening a result of Pagaria-Pezzoli.

math.CO↗

arXiv2019

Simplicial generation of Chow rings of matroids

We introduce a presentation of the Chow ring of a matroid by a new set of generators, called "simplicial generators." These generators are analogous to nef divisors on projective toric varieties, and admit a combinatorial interpretation via the theory of matroid quotients. Using this combinatorial interpretation, we (i) produce a bijection between a monomial basis of the Chow ring and a relative generalization of Schubert matroids, (ii) recover the Poincar\'e duality property, (iii) give a formula for the volume polynomial, which we show is log-concave in the positive orthant, and (iv) recover the validity of Hodge-Riemann relations in degree 1, which is the part of the Hodge theory of matroids that currently accounts for all combinatorial applications of [AHK18]. Our work avoids the use of "flips," the key technical tool employed in [AHK18].

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Chow Rings of Vector Space Matroids

The Chow ring of a matroid (or more generally, atomic latice) is an invariant whose importance was demonstrated by Adiprasito, Huh and Katz, who used it to resolve the long-standing Heron-Rota-Welsh conjecture. Here, we make a detailed study of the Chow rings of uniform matroids and of matroids of finite vector spaces. In particular, we express the Hilbert series of such matroids in terms of permutation statistics; in the full rank case, our formula yields the maj-exc $q$-Eulerian polynomials of Shareshian and Wachs. We also provide a formula for the Charney-Davis quantities of such matroids, which can be expressed in terms of either determinants or $q$-secant numbers.

math.CO↗

arXiv2017

Flow polytopes of partitions

Recent progress on flow polytopes indicates many interesting families with product formulas for their volume. These product formulas are all proved using analytic techniques. Our work breaks from this pattern. We define a family of closely related flow polytopes $\mathcal{F}_{(\lambda, {\bf a})}$ for each partition shape $\lambda$ and netflow vector ${\bf a}\in \mathbb{Z}^n_{> 0}$. In each such family, we prove that there is a polytope (the limiting one in a sense) which is a product of scaled simplices, explaining their product volumes. We also show that the combinatorial type of all polytopes in a fixed family $\mathcal{F}_{(\lambda, {\bf a})}$ is the same. When $\lambda$ is a staircase shape and ${\bf a}$ is the all ones vector the latter result specializes to a theorem of the first author with Morales and Rhoades, which shows that the combinatorial type of the Tesler polytope is a product of simplices.

math.CO↗

arXiv2016

The set splittability problem

The set splittability problem is the following: given a finite collection of finite sets, does there exits a single set that contains exactly half the elements from each set in the collection? (If a set has odd size, we allow the floor or ceiling.) It is natural to study the set splittability problem in the context of combinatorial discrepancy theory and its applications, since a collection is splittable if and only if it has discrepancy $\leq1$. We introduce a natural generalization of splittability problem called the $p$-splittability problem, where we replace the fraction $\frac12$ in the definition with an arbitrary fraction $p\in(0,1)$. We first show that the $p$-splittability problem is NP-complete. We then give several criteria for $p$-splittability, including a complete characterization of $p$-splittability for three or fewer sets ($p$ arbitrary), and for four or fewer sets ($p=\frac12$). Finally we prove the asymptotic prevalence of splittability over unsplittability in an appropriate sense.

math.CO↗