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Ileana Streinu

Publications and source records attributed to Ileana Streinu.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2010

Natural realizations of sparsity matroids

A hypergraph G with n vertices and m hyperedges with d endpoints each is (k,l)-sparse if for all sub-hypergraphs G' on n' vertices and m' edges, m'\le kn'-l. For integers k and l satisfying 0\le l\le dk-1, this is known to be a linearly representable matroidal family. Motivated by problems in rigidity theory, we give a new linear representation theorem for the (k,l)-sparse hypergraphs that is natural; i.e., the representing matrix captures the vertex-edge incidence structure of the underlying hypergraph G.

math.CO↗
arXiv2010

Body-and-cad Geometric Constraint Systems

Motivated by constraint-based CAD software, we develop the foundation for the rigidity theory of a very general model: the body-and-cad structure, composed of rigid bodies in 3D constrained by pairwise coincidence, angular and distance constraints. We identify 21 relevant geometric constraints and develop the corresponding infinitesimal rigidity theory for these structures. The classical body-and-bar rigidity model can be viewed as a body-and-cad structure that uses only one constraint from this new class. As a consequence, we identify a new, necessary, but not sufficient, counting condition for minimal rigidity of body-and-cad structures: nested sparsity. This is a slight generalization of the well-known sparsity condition of Maxwell.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2010

Flattening single-vertex origami: the non-expansive case

A single-vertex origami is a piece of paper with straight-line rays called creases emanating from a fold vertex placed in its interior or on its boundary. The Single-Vertex Origami Flattening problem asks whether it is always possible to reconfigure the creased paper from any configuration compatible with the metric, to a flat, non-overlapping position, in such a way that the paper is not torn, stretched and, for rigid origami, not bent anywhere except along the given creases. Streinu and Whiteley showed how to reduce the problem to the carpenter's rule problem for spherical polygons. Using spherical expansive motions, they solved the cases of open < πand closed <= 2πspherical polygons. Here, we solve the case of open polygons with total length between [π, 2π), which requires non-expansive motions. Our motion planning algorithm works in a finite number of discrete steps, for which we give precise bounds depending on both the number of links and the angle deficit.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2008

Sparsity-certifying Graph Decompositions

We describe a new algorithm, the $(k,\ell)$-pebble game with colors, and use it obtain a characterization of the family of $(k,\ell)$-sparse graphs and algorithmic solutions to a family of problems concerning tree decompositions of graphs. Special instances of sparse graphs appear in rigidity theory and have received increased attention in recent years. In particular, our colored pebbles generalize and strengthen the previous results of Lee and Streinu and give a new proof of the Tutte-Nash-Williams characterization of arboricity. We also present a new decomposition that certifies sparsity based on the $(k,\ell)$-pebble game with colors. Our work also exposes connections between pebble game algorithms and previous sparse graph algorithms by Gabow, Gabow and Westermann and Hendrickson.

math.CO↗
arXiv2008

Singularities of Hinge Structures

Motivated by the hinge structure present in protein chains and other molecular conformations, we study the singularities of certain maps associated to body-and-hinge and panel-and-hinge chains. These are sequentially articulated systems where two consecutive rigid pieces are connected by a hinge, that is, a codimension two axis. The singularities, or critical points, correspond to a dimensional drop in the linear span of the axes, regarded as points on a Grassmann variety in its Plücker embedding. These results are valid in arbitrary dimension. The three dimensional case is also relevant in robotics.

math.DG↗
arXiv2008

Extremal Configurations of Hinge Structures

We study body-and-hinge and panel-and-hinge chains in R^d, with two marked points: one on the first body, the other on the last. For a general chain, the squared distance between the marked points gives a Morse-Bott function on a torus configuration space. Maximal configurations, when the distance between the two marked points reaches a global maximum, have particularly simple geometrical characterizations. The three-dimensional case is relevant for applications to robotics and molecular structures.

math.DG↗
arXiv2007

Graded Sparse Graphs and Matroids

Sparse graphs and their associated matroids play an important role in rigidity theory, where they capture the combinatorics of generically rigid structures. We define a new family called {\bf graded sparse graphs}, arising from generically pinned (completely immobilized) bar-and-joint frameworks and prove that they also form matroids. We address five problems on graded sparse graphs: {\bf Decision}, {\bf Extraction}, {\bf Components}, {\bf Optimization}, and {\bf Extension}. We extend our {\bf pebble game algorithms} to solve them.

math.CO↗
arXiv2007

Pseudo-Triangulations - a Survey

A pseudo-triangle is a simple polygon with three convex vertices, and a pseudo-triangulation is a face-to-face tiling of a planar region into pseudo-triangles. Pseudo-triangulations appear as data structures in computational geometry, as planar bar-and-joint frameworks in rigidity theory and as projections of locally convex surfaces. This survey of current literature includes combinatorial properties and counting of special classes, rigidity theoretical results, representations as polytopes, straight-line drawings from abstract versions called combinatorial pseudo-triangulations, algorithms and applications of pseudo-triangulations.

math.CO↗
arXiv2007

Characterizing Sparse Graphs by Map Decompositions

A {\bf map} is a graph that admits an orientation of its edges so that each vertex has out-degree exactly 1. We characterize graphs which admit a decomposition into $k$ edge-disjoint maps after: (1) the addition of {\it any} $\ell$ edges; (2) the addition of {\it some} $\ell$ edges. These graphs are identified with classes of {\it sparse} graphs; the results are also given in matroidal terms.

math.CO↗
arXiv2007

Sparse Hypergraphs and Pebble Game Algorithms

A hypergraph $G=(V,E)$ is $(k,\ell)$-sparse if no subset $V'\subset V$ spans more than $k|V'|-\ell$ hyperedges. We characterize $(k,\ell)$-sparse hypergraphs in terms of graph theoretic, matroidal and algorithmic properties. We extend several well-known theorems of Haas, Lov{á}sz, Nash-Williams, Tutte, and White and Whiteley, linking arboricity of graphs to certain counts on the number of edges. We also address the problem of finding lower-dimensional representations of sparse hypergraphs, and identify a critical behaviour in terms of the sparsity parameters $k$ and $\ell$. Our constructions extend the pebble games of Lee and Streinu from graphs to hypergraphs.

math.CO↗
arXiv2007

Pebble Game Algorithms and Sparse Graphs

A multi-graph $G$ on $n$ vertices is $(k,\ell)$-sparse if every subset of $n'\leq n$ vertices spans at most $kn'- \ell$ edges. $G$ is {\em tight} if, in addition, it has exactly $kn - \ell$ edges. For integer values $k$ and $\ell \in [0, 2k)$, we characterize the $(k,\ell)$-sparse graphs via a family of simple, elegant and efficient algorithms called the $(k,\ell)$-pebble games.

math.CO↗
arXiv2006

Enumerating Constrained Non-crossing Minimally Rigid Frameworks

In this paper we present an algorithm for enumerating without repetitions all the non-crossing generically minimally rigid bar-and-joint frameworks under edge constraints (also called constrained non-crossing Laman frameworks) on a given generic set of $n$ points. Our algorithm is based on the reverse search paradigm of Avis and Fukuda. It generates each output graph in $O(n^4)$ time and O(n) space, or, slightly different implementation, in $O(n^3)$ time and $O(n^2)$ space. In particular, we obtain that the set of all the constrained non-crossing Laman frameworks on a given point set is connected by flips which restore the Laman property.

math.CO↗
arXiv2003

Planar Minimally Rigid Graphs and Pseudo-Triangulations

Pointed pseudo-triangulations are planar minimally rigid graphs embedded in the plane with pointed vertices (adjacent to an angle larger than 180 degrees. In this paper we prove that the opposite statement is also true, namely that planar minimally rigid graphs always admit pointed embeddings, even under certain natural topological and combinatorial constraints. We provide two proofs, which both yield efficient embedding algorithms. One based on Henneberg inductive constructions from combinatorial rigidity theory, the other on a generalization of Tutte's barycentric embeddings to directed graphs.

math.CO↗
arXiv2002

Expansive Motions and the Polytope of Pointed Pseudo-Triangulations

We introduce the polytope of pointed pseudo-triangulations of a point set in the plane, defined as the polytope of infinitesimal expansive motions of the points subject to certain constraints on the increase of their distances. Its 1-skeleton is the graph whose vertices are the pointed pseudo-triangulations of the point set and whose edges are flips of interior pseudo-triangulation edges. For points in convex position we obtain a new realization of the associahedron, i.e., a geometric representation of the set of triangulations of an n-gon, or of the set of binary trees on n vertices, or of many other combinatorial objects that are counted by the Catalan numbers. By considering the 1-dimensional version of the polytope of constrained expansive motions we obtain a second distinct realization of the associahedron as a perturbation of the positive cell in a Coxeter arrangement. Our methods produce as a by-product a new proof that every simple polygon or polygonal arc in the plane has expansive motions, a key step in the proofs of the Carpenter's Rule Theorem by Connelly, Demaine and Rote (2000) and by Streinu (2000).

math.CO↗
arXiv2002

A Topological Representation Theorem for Oriented Matroids

We present a new direct proof of a topological representation theorem for oriented matroids in the general rank case. Our proof is based on an earlier rank 3 version. It uses hyperline sequences and the generalized Sch{ö}nflies theorem. As an application, we show that one can read off oriented matroids from arrangements of embedded spheres of codimension one, even if wild spheres are involved.

math.CO↗
arXiv2002

On the Number of Embeddings of Minimally Rigid Graphs

Rigid frameworks in some Euclidian space are embedded graphs having a unique local realization (up to Euclidian motions) for the given edge lengths, although globally they may have several. We study the number of distinct planar embeddings of minimally rigid graphs with $n$ vertices. We show that, modulo planar rigid motions, this number is at most ${{2n-4}\choose {n-2}} \approx 4^n$. We also exhibit several families which realize lower bounds of the order of $2^n$, $2.21^n$ and $2.88^n$. For the upper bound we use techniques from complex algebraic geometry, based on the (projective) Cayley-Menger variety $CM^{2,n}(C)\subset P_{{{n}\choose {2}}-1}(C)$ over the complex numbers $C$. In this context, point configurations are represented by coordinates given by squared distances between all pairs of points. Sectioning the variety with $2n-4$ hyperplanes yields at most $deg(CM^{2,n})$ zero-dimensional components, and one finds this degree to be $D^{2,n}={1/2}{{2n-4}\choose {n-2}}$. The lower bounds are related to inductive constructions of minimally rigid graphs via Henneberg sequences. The same approach works in higher dimensions. In particular we show that it leads to an upper bound of $2 D^{3,n}= {\frac{2^{n-3}}{n-2}}{{n-6}\choose{n-3}}$ for the number of spatial embeddings with generic edge lengths of the 1-skeleton of a simplicial polyhedron, up to rigid motions.

math.MG↗
arXiv2000

On Reconfiguring Tree Linkages: Trees can Lock

It has recently been shown that any simple (i.e. nonintersecting) polygonal chain in the plane can be reconfigured to lie on a straight line, and any simple polygon can be reconfigured to be convex. This result cannot be extended to tree linkages: we show that there are trees with two simple configurations that are not connected by a motion that preserves simplicity throughout the motion. Indeed, we prove that an $N$-link tree can have $2^{Ω(N)}$ equivalence classes of configurations.

cs.CG↗