arXiv subjects

Facundo Memoli

Publications and source records attributed to Facundo Memoli.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

New families of simplicial filtration functors

The so called Čech and Vietoris-Rips simplicial filtrations are designed to capture information about the topological structure of metric datasets. These filtrations are two of the workhorses in the field of topological data analysis. They enjoy stability with respect to the Gromov-Hausdorff (GH) distance, and this stability property allows us to estimate the GH distance between finite metric space representations of the underlying datasets. Via the concept of Gromov's curvature sets we construct a rich theoretical framework of valuation-induced stable filtration functors. This framework includes the Čech and Vietoris-Rips filtration functors as well as many novel filtration functors that capture diverse features present in datasets. We further explore the concept of basepoint filtrations functors and use it to provide a classification of the filtration functors that we identify.

math.AT↗

arXiv2017

Topological Analysis of Nerves, Reeb Spaces, Mappers, and Multiscale Mappers

Data analysis often concerns not only the space where data come from, but also various types of maps attached to data. In recent years, several related structures have been used to study maps on data, including Reeb spaces, mappers and multiscale mappers. The construction of these structures also relies on the so-called \emph{nerve} of a cover of the domain. In this paper, we aim to analyze the topological information encoded in these structures in order to provide better understanding of these structures and facilitate their practical usage. More specifically, we show that the one-dimensional homology of the nerve complex $N(\mathcal{U})$ of a path-connected cover $\mathcal{U}$ of a domain $X$ cannot be richer than that of the domain $X$ itself. Intuitively, this result means that no new $H_1$-homology class can be "created" under a natural map from $X$ to the nerve complex $N(\mathcal{U})$. Equipping $X$ with a pseudometric $d$, we further refine this result and characterize the classes of $H_1(X)$ that may survive in the nerve complex using the notion of \emph{size} of the covering elements in $\mathcal{U}$. These fundamental results about nerve complexes then lead to an analysis of the $H_1$-homology of Reeb spaces, mappers and multiscale mappers. The analysis of $H_1$-homology groups unfortunately does not extend to higher dimensions. Nevertheless, by using a map-induced metric, establishing a Gromov-Hausdorff convergence result between mappers and the domain, and interleaving relevant modules, we can still analyze the persistent homology groups of (multiscale) mappers to establish a connection to Reeb spaces.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2016

Mutiscale Mapper: A Framework for Topological Summarization of Data and Maps

Summarizing topological information from datasets and maps defined on them is a central theme in topological data analysis. \textsf{Mapper}, a tool for such summarization, takes as input both a possibly high dimensional dataset and a map defined on the data, and produces a summary of the data by using a cover of the codomain of the map. This cover, via a pullback operation to the domain, produces a simplicial complex connecting the data points. The resulting view of the data through a cover of the codomain offers flexibility in analyzing the data. However, it offers only a view at a fixed scale at which the cover is constructed. Inspired by the concept, we explore a notion of a tower of covers which induces a tower of simplicial complexes connected by simplicial maps, which we call {\em multiscale mapper}. We study the resulting structure, its stability, and design practical algorithms to compute its associated persistence diagrams efficiently. Specifically, when the domain is a simplicial complex and the map is a real-valued piecewise-linear function, the algorithm can compute the exact persistence diagram only from the 1-skeleton of the input complex. For general maps, we present a combinatorial version of the algorithm that acts only on \emph{vertex sets} connected by the 1-skeleton graph, and this algorithm approximates the exact persistence diagram thanks to a stability result that we show to hold. We also relate the multiscale mapper with the Čech complexes arising from a natural pullback pseudometric defined on the input domain.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2010

Classifying Clustering Schemes

Many clustering schemes are defined by optimizing an objective function defined on the partitions of the underlying set of a finite metric space. In this paper, we construct a framework for studying what happens when we instead impose various structural conditions on the clustering schemes, under the general heading of functoriality. Functoriality refers to the idea that one should be able to compare the results of clustering algorithms as one varies the data set, for example by adding points or by applying functions to it. We show that within this framework, one can prove a theorems analogous to one of J. Kleinberg, in which for example one obtains an existence and uniqueness theorem instead of a non-existence result. We obtain a full classification of all clustering schemes satisfying a condition we refer to as excisiveness. The classification can be changed by varying the notion of maps of finite metric spaces. The conditions occur naturally when one considers clustering as the statistical version of the geometric notion of connected components. By varying the degree of functoriality that one requires from the schemes it is possible to construct richer families of clustering schemes that exhibit sensitivity to density.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2008

Persistent Clustering and a Theorem of J. Kleinberg

We construct a framework for studying clustering algorithms, which includes two key ideas: persistence and functoriality. The first encodes the idea that the output of a clustering scheme should carry a multiresolution structure, the second the idea that one should be able to compare the results of clustering algorithms as one varies the data set, for example by adding points or by applying functions to it. We show that within this framework, one can prove a theorem analogous to one of J. Kleinberg, in which one obtains an existence and uniqueness theorem instead of a non-existence result. We explore further properties of this unique scheme, stability and convergence are established.

stat.ML↗