Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Hunter Spink

Publications and source records attributed to Hunter Spink.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2023

Tautological classes of matroids

We introduce certain torus-equivariant classes on permutohedral varieties which we call "tautological classes of matroids" as a new geometric framework for studying matroids. Using this framework, we unify and extend many recent developments in matroid theory arising from its interaction with algebraic geometry. We achieve this by establishing a Chow-theoretic description and a log-concavity property for a 4-variable transformation of the Tutte polynomial, and by establishing an exceptional Hirzebruch-Riemann-Roch-type formula for permutohedral varieties that translates between K-theory and Chow theory.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Log-concavity of matroid h-vectors and mixed Eulerian numbers

For any matroid $M$, we compute the Tutte polynomial $T_M(x,y)$ using the mixed intersection numbers of certain classes in the combinatorial Chow ring $A^\bullet(M)$ arising from hypersimplices. Using the mixed Hodge-Riemann relations, we deduce a strengthening of the log-concavity of the $h$-vector of a matroid complex, improving on an old conjecture of Dawson.

math.AG↗
arXiv2022

Sets in $\mathbb{Z}^k$ with doubling $2^k+δ$ are near convex progressions

For $δ>0$ sufficiently small and $A\subset \mathbb{Z}^k$ with $|A+A|\le (2^k+δ)|A|$, we show either $A$ is covered by $m_k(δ)$ parallel hyperplanes, or satisfies $|\widehat{\operatorname{co}}(A)\setminus A|\le c_kδ|A|$, where $\widehat{\operatorname{co}}(A)$ is the smallest convex progression (convex set intersected with a sublattice) containing $A$. This generalizes the Freiman-Bilu $2^k$ theorem, Freiman's $3|A|-4$ theorem, and recent sharp stability results of the present authors for sumsets in $\mathbb{R}^k$ conjectured by Figalli and Jerison.

math.NT↗
arXiv2022

Algebraic and o-minimal flows beyond the cocompact case

Let $X \subset \mathbb{C}^n$ be an algebraic variety, and let $Λ\subset \mathbb{C}^n$ be a discrete subgroup whose real and complex spans agree. We describe the topological closure of the image of $X$ in $\mathbb{C}^n / Λ$, thereby extending a result of Peterzil-Starchenko in the case when $Λ$ is cocompact. We also obtain a similar extension when $X\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ is definable in an o-minimal structure with no restrictions on $Λ$, and as an application prove the following conjecture of Gallinaro: for a closed semi-algebraic $X\subset \mathbb{C}^n$ (such as a complex algebraic variety) and $\exp:\mathbb{C}^n\to (\mathbb{C}^*)^n$ the coordinate-wise exponential map, we have $\overline{\exp(X)}=\exp(X)\cup \bigcup_{i=1}^m \exp(C_i)\cdot \mathbb{T}_i$ where $\mathbb{T}_i\subset (\mathbb{C}^*)^n$ are positive-dimensional compact real tori and $C_i\subset \mathbb{C}^n$ are semi-algebraic.

math.AG↗
arXiv2022

Multiplicative structures and random walks in o-minimal groups

We prove structure theorems for o-minimal definable subsets $S\subset G$ of definable groups containing large multiplicative structures, and show definable groups do not have bounded torsion arbitrarily close to the identity. As an application, for certain models of $n$-step random walks $X$ in $G$ we show upper bounds $\mathbb{P}(X\in S)\le n^{-C}$ and a structure theorem for the steps of $X$ when $\mathbb{P}(X\in S)\ge n^{-C'}$.

math.LO↗
arXiv2022

Geometric and o-minimal Littlewood-Offord problems

The classical Erdős-Littlewood-Offord theorem says that for nonzero vectors $a_1,\dots,a_n\in \mathbb{R}^d$, any $x\in \mathbb{R}^d$, and uniformly random $(ξ_1,\dots,ξ_n)\in\{-1,1\}^n$, we have $\Pr(a_1ξ_1+\dots+a_nξ_n=x)=O(n^{-1/2})$. In this paper we show that $\Pr(a_1ξ_1+\dots+a_nξ_n\in S)\le n^{-1/2+o(1)}$ whenever $S$ is definable with respect to an o-minimal structure (for example, this holds when $S$ is any algebraic hypersurface), under the necessary condition that it does not contain a line segment. We also obtain an inverse theorem in this setting.

math.CO↗
arXiv2021

Motive of the moduli stack of rational curves on a weighted projective stack

We show the compactly supported motive of the moduli stack of degree $n$ rational curves on the weighted projective stack $\mathcal{P}(a,b)$ is of mixed Tate type over any base field $K$ with $\text{char}(K) \nmid a,b$ and has class $\mathbb{L}^{(a+b)n+1}-\mathbb{L}^{(a+b)n-1}$ in the Grothendieck ring of stacks. In particular, this improves upon the result of [HP] regarding the arithmetic invariant of the moduli stack $\mathcal{L}_{1,12n} := \mathrm{Hom}_{n}(\mathbb{P}^1, \overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1})$ of stable elliptic fibrations over $\mathbb{P}^{1}$ with $12n$ nodal singular fibers and a marked Weierstrass section.

math.AG↗
arXiv2020

Sharp Stability of Brunn-Minkowski for Homothetic Regions

We prove a sharp stability result concerning how close homothetic sets attaining near-equality in the Brunn-Minkowski inequality are to being convex. In particular, resolving a conjecture of Figalli and Jerison, we show there are universal constants $C_n,d_n>0$ such that for $A \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ of positive measure, if $|\frac{A+A}{2}\setminus A| \le d_n |A|$, then $|\operatorname{co}(A)\setminus A| \le C_n |\frac{A+A}{2}\setminus A|$ for $\operatorname{co}(A)$ the convex hull of $A$.

math.MG↗
arXiv2019

Orbits in $(\mathbb{P}^r)^n$ and equivariant quantum cohomology

We compute the $GL_{r+1}$-equivariant Chow class of the $GL_{r+1}$-orbit closure of any point $(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \in (\mathbb{P}^r)^n$ in terms of the rank polytope of the matroid represented by $x_1, \ldots, x_n \in \mathbb{P}^r$. Using these classes and generalizations involving point configurations in higher dimensional projective spaces, we define for each $d\times n$ matrix $M$ an $n$-ary operation $[M]_\hbar$ on the small equivariant quantum cohomology ring of $\mathbb{P}^r$, which is the $n$-ary quantum product when $M$ is an invertible matrix. We prove that $M \mapsto [M]_\hbar$ is a valuative matroid polytope association. Like the quantum product, these operations satisfy recursive properties encoding solutions to enumerative problems involving point configurations of given moduli in a relative setting. As an application, we compute the number of line sections with given moduli of a general degree $2r+1$ hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^r$, generalizing the known case of quintic plane curves.

math.AG↗
arXiv2019

Sharp quantitative stability of the planar Brunn-Minkowski inequality

We prove a sharp stability result for the Brunn-Minkowski inequality for $A,B\subset\mathbb{R}^2$. Assuming that the Brunn-Minkowski deficit $δ=|A+B|^{\frac{1}{2}}/(|A|^\frac12+|B|^\frac12)-1$ is sufficiently small in terms of $t=|A|^{\frac{1}{2}}/(|A|^{\frac{1}{2}}+|B|^{\frac{1}{2}})$, there exist homothetic convex sets $K_A \supset A$ and $K_B\supset B$ such that $\frac{|K_A\setminus A|}{|A|}+\frac{|K_B\setminus B|}{|B|} \le C t^{-\frac{1}{2}}δ^{\frac{1}{2}}$. The key ingredient is to show for every $ε>0$, if $δ$ is sufficiently small then $|co(A+B)\setminus (A+B)|\le (1+ε)(|co(A)\setminus A|+|co(B)\setminus B|)$.

math.FA↗
arXiv2019

Incidence strata of affine varieties with complex multiplicities

To each affine variety $X$ and $m_1,\ldots,m_k\in \mathbb{C}$ such that no subset of the $m_i$ add to zero, we construct a variety which for $m_1,\ldots,m_k \in \mathbb{N}$ specializes to the closed $(m_1,\ldots,m_k)$-incidence stratum of $Sym^{m_1+\ldots+m_k}X$. These fit into a finite-type family, which is functorial in $X$, and which is topologically a family of $\mathbb{C}$-weighted configuration spaces. We verify our construction agrees with an analogous construction in the Deligne category $Rep(S_{d})$ for $d \in \mathbb{C}$. We next classify the singularity locus and branching behaviour of colored incidence strata for arbitrary smooth curves. As an application, we negatively answer a question of Farb and Wolfson concerning the existence of an isomorphism between two natural moduli spaces.

math.AG↗
arXiv2018

Judiciously 3-partitioning 3-uniform hypergraphs

Bollobás, Reed and Thomason proved every $3$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ with $m$ edges has a vertex-partition $V(\mathcal{H})=V_1 \sqcup V_2 \sqcup V_3$ such that each part meets at least $\frac{1}{3}(1-\frac{1}{e})m$ edges, later improved to $0.6m$ by Halsegrave and improved asymptotically to $0.65m+o(m)$ by Ma and Yu. We improve this asymptotic bound to $\frac{19}{27}m+o(m)$, which is best possible up to the error term, resolving a special case of a conjecture of Bollobás and Scott.

math.CO↗
arXiv2018

Modified diagonals and linear relations between small diagonals

We prove that the vanishings of the modified diagonal cycles of Gross and Schoen govern the $\mathbb{Z}$-linear relations between small $m$-diagonals $\text{pt}^{\{1,\ldots,n\}\setminus A}\timesΔ_A$ in the rational Chow ring of $X^n$ for $A$ ranging over $m$-element subsets of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$. Our results generalize to arbitrary symmetric classes in place of the diagonal in $X^m$, and with different types of inclusions $A^\bullet(X^m)_{\mathbb{Q}}^{S_m} \hookrightarrow A^\bullet(X^n)_{\mathbb{Q}}$. The combinatorial heart of this paper, which may be of independent interest, is showing the $\mathbb{Z}$-linear relations between elementary symmetric polynomials $e_k(x_{a_1},\ldots,x_{a_m}) \in \mathbb{Z}[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$ are generated by the $S_n$-translates of a certain alternating sum over the facets of a hyperoctahedron.

math.AG↗
arXiv2018

$PGL_2$-equivariant strata of point configurations in $\mathbb{P}^1$

We compute the integral Chow ring of the quotient stack $[(\mathbb{P}^1)^n/PGL_2]$, which contains $\mathcal{M}_{0,n}$ as a dense open, and determine a natural $\mathbb{Z}$-basis for the Chow ring in terms of certain ordered incidence strata. We further show that all $\mathbb{Z}$-linear relations between the classes of ordered incidence strata arise from an analogue of the WDVV relations in $A^\bullet(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,n})$. Next we compute the classes of unordered incidence strata in the integral Chow ring of the quotient stack $[{\rm Sym}^n\mathbb{P}^1/PGL_2]$ and classify all $\mathbb{Z}$-linear relations between the strata via these analogues of WDVV relations. Finally, we compute the rational Chow rings of the complement of a union of unordered incidence strata.

math.AG↗
arXiv2017

Orthogonal Symmetric Chain Decompositions of Hypercubes

In 1979, Shearer and Kleitman conjectured that there exist $\lfloor n/2 \rfloor+1$ orthogonal chain decompositions of the hypercube $Q_n$, and constructed two orthogonal chain decompositions. In this paper, we make the first non-trivial progress on this conjecture since by constructing three orthogonal chain decompositions of $Q_n$ for $n$ large enough. To do this, we introduce the notion of "almost orthogonal symmetric chain decompositions". We explicitly describe three such decompositions of $Q_5$ and $Q_7$, and describe conditions which allow us to decompose products of hypercubes into $k$ almost orthogonal symmetric chain decompositions given such decompositions of the original hypercubes.

math.CO↗
arXiv2017

Symmetric Chain Decompositions of Products of Posets with Long Chains

We ask if there exists a symmetric chain decomposition of the cuboid $Q_k \times n$ such that no chain is "taut", i.e. no chain has a subchain of the form $(a_1,\ldots, a_k,0)\prec \ldots\prec (a_1,\ldots,a_k,n-1)$. In this paper, we show this is true precisely when $k \ge 5$ and $n\ge 3$. This question arises naturally when considering products of symmetric chain decompositions which induce orthogonal chain decompositions --- the existence of the decompositions provided in this paper unexpectedly resolves the most difficult case of previous work by the second author on almost orthogonal symmetric chain decompositions \cite{orth}, making progress on a conjecture of Shearer and Kleitman. In general, we show that for a finite graded poset $P$, there exists a canonical bijection between symmetric chain decompositions of $P \times m$ and $P \times n$ for $m, n\ge \text{rk}(P) + 1$, that preserves the existence of taut chains. If $P$ has a unique maximal and minimal element, then we also produce a canonical $(\text{rk}(P) +1)$ to $1$ surjection from symmetric chain decompositions of $P \times (\text{rk}(P) + 1)$ to symmetric chain decompositions of $P \times \text{rk}(P)$ which sends decompositions with taut chains to decompositions with taut chains.

math.CO↗
arXiv2017

Geometric Symmetric Chain Decompositions

We create a framework for studying symmetric chain decompositions of families of finite posets based on the geometry of polytopes. Our framework unifies almost all known results regarding symmetric chain decompositions of the Young posets $L(m,n)$ --- arising as cells in the Bruhat decomposition of quotients of $SL_{m+n+1}$ --- and yields unexpected new results. The methods we provide are geometric in nature, systematic, and totally amenable to human analysis. This allows us to discover new phenomena which are impenetrable to casework and brute force computer search. In particular, our method yields perfect and near perfect decompositions of various families of posets, which are intractable by known methods. A fundamental tool we use is geometrical projection, which in our framework cleanly unifies many different types of induction; as we move a point from which we project between faces of our polytope, we alter the type of induction. Moreover, projection allows us to decrease dimension and therefore obtain a clear geometric intuition. We also provide additional tools for producing decompositions, and discuss how the various decompositions behave under products.

math.CO↗