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Josef Schicho

Publications and source records attributed to Josef Schicho.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

The genus of configuration curves of planar linkages is generically odd

A one-degree-of-freedom graph is a graph obtained from a minimally rigid graph in the plane and removing an edge. For such graph, the set of realisations with fixed edge length, modulo rotations and reflections, is an algebraic curve. The genus of a connected component for generic edge lengths is a number that depends only on the graph. We prove that this genus is always odd, unless it is zero. The proof is based on tropical geometry.

math.AG↗
arXiv2026

Real Line Congruences of Trilinear Birational Maps

Trilinear mappings appear naturally when performing spatial isogeometric discretizations of degree $p = 1$. Among them, birational maps are characterized by the property that both the mapping and the associated inverse map are rational and thus easy to evaluate. These mappings have recently been analyzed, and a classification over the field of complex numbers has been obtained. The parameter lines of trilinear mappings form three two-parameter families of straight lines, and thus it is promising to analyze these mappings with the tools provided by the field of line geometry, which is a classical branch of higher geometry. Indeed, in the birational case, the three families of lines form space-filling line congruences associated with rational mappings that can be used to parameterize certain algebraic surfaces. Moreover, the three systems are closely related. In this paper, we present a classification, over the field of real numbers, of the parametric line congruences arising from trilinear birational maps.

math.AG↗
arXiv2025

Computing the number of realisations of a rigid graph

A graph is said to be rigid if, given a generic realisation of the graph as a bar-and-joint framework in the plane, there exist only finitely many other realisations of the graph with the same edge lengths modulo rotations, reflections and translations. In recent years there has been an increase of interest in determining exactly what this finite amount is, hereon known as the realisation number. Combinatorial algorithms for the realisation number were previously known for the special cases of minimally rigid and redundantly rigid graphs. In this paper we provide a combinatorial algorithm to compute the realisation number of any rigid graph, and thus solve an open problem of Jackson and Owen. We then adapt our algorithm to compute: (i) spherical realisation numbers, and (ii) the number of rank-3 PSD matrix completions of a generic partial matrix.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Positivity sets of hinge functions

In this paper we investigate which subsets of the real plane are realisable as the set of points on which a one-layer ReLU neural network takes a positive value. In the case of cones we give a full characterisation of such sets. Furthermore, we give a necessary condition for any subset of $\mathbb R^d$. We give various examples of such one-layer neural networks.

stat.ML↗
arXiv2024

Pentagonal bipyramids lead to the smallest flexible embedded polyhedron

Steffen's polyhedron was believed to have the least number of vertices among polyhedra that can flex without self-intersections. Maksimov clarified that the pentagonal bipyramid with one face subdivided into three is the only polyhedron with fewer vertices for which the existence of a self-intersection-free flex was open. Since subdividing a face into three does not change the mobility, we focus on flexible pentagonal bipyramids. When a bipyramid flexes, the distance between the two opposite vertices of the two pyramids changes; associating the position of the bipyramid to this distance yields an algebraic map that determines a nontrivial extension of rational function fields. We classify flexible pentagonal bipyramids with respect to the Galois group of this field extension and provide examples for each class, building on a construction proposed by Nelson. Surprisingly, one of our constructions yields a flexible pentagonal bipyramid that can be extended to an embedded flexible polyhedron with 8 vertices. The latter hence solves the open question.

math.MG↗
arXiv2024

On the Genus of One Degree of Freedom Planar Linkages via Tropical Geometry

This paper focuses on studying the configuration spaces of graphs realised in $\mathbb C^2$, such that the configuration space is, after normalisation, one dimensional. If this is the case, then the configuration space is, generically, a smooth complex curve, and can be seen as a Riemann surface. The property of interest in this paper is the genus of this curve. Using tropical geometry, we give an algorithm to compute this genus. We provide an implementation in Python and give various examples.

math.MG↗
arXiv2024

Representing Piecewise-Linear Functions by Functions with Minimal Arity

Any continuous piecewise-linear function $F\colon \mathbb{R}^{n}\to \mathbb{R}$ can be represented as a linear combination of $\max$ functions of at most $n+1$ affine-linear functions. In our previous paper [``Representing piecewise linear functions by functions with small arity'', AAECC, 2023], we showed that this upper bound of $n+1$ arguments is tight. In the present paper, we extend this result by establishing a correspondence between the function $F$ and the minimal number of arguments that are needed in any such decomposition. We show that the tessellation of the input space $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ induced by the function $F$ has a direct connection to the number of arguments in the $\max$ functions.

cs.DM↗
arXiv2024

Irreducible components of sets of points in the plane that satisfy distance conditions

For a given graph whose edges are labeled with general real numbers, we consider the set of functions from the vertex set into the Euclidean plane such that the distance between the images of neighbouring vertices is equal to the corresponding edge label. This set of functions can be expressed as the zero set of quadratic polynomials and our main result characterizes the number of complex irreducible components of this zero set in terms of combinatorial properties of the graph. In case the complex components are three-dimensional, then the graph is minimally rigid and the component number is a well-known invariant from rigidity theory. If the components are four-dimensional, then they correspond to one-dimensional coupler curves of flexible planar mechanisms. As an application, we characterize the degree of irreducible components of such coupler curves combinatorially.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Phylogenetic Trees and the Moduli Space of n Points on the Projective Line

This is an expository paper. The geometry of phylogenetic trees is used to present in an accessible and pleasant fashion the results of Deligne, Mumford, and Knudsen about the moduli space of n distinct points on the projective line and its compactification, the moduli space of n-pointed stable curves of genus zero.

math.AG↗
arXiv2024

On Galois groups of type-1 minimally rigid graphs

For every graph that is mimimally rigid in the plane, its Galois group is defined as the Galois group generated by the coordinates of its planar realizations, assuming that the edge lengths are transcendental and algebraically independent. Here we compute the Galois group of all minimally rigid graphs that can be constructed from a single edge by repeated Henneberg 1-steps. It turns out that any such group is totally imprimitive, i.e., it is determined by all the partitions it preserves.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Calibrating Figures

It is known that a camera can be calibrated using three pictures of either squares, spheres, or surfaces of revolution. We give a new method to calibrate a camera with the picture of a single torus.

math.MG↗
arXiv2023

Calligraphs and sphere realizations

We introduce a recursive procedure for computing the number of realizations of a minimally rigid graph on the sphere up to rotations. We accomplish this by combining two ingredients. The first is a framework that allows us to think of such realizations as of elements of a moduli space of stable rational curves with marked points. The second is the idea of splitting a minimally rigid graph into two subgraphs, called calligraphs, that admit one degree of freedom and that share only a single edge and a further vertex. This idea has been recently employed for realizations of graphs in the plane up to isometries. The key result is that we can associate to a calligraph a triple of natural numbers with a special property: whenever a minimally rigid graph is split into two calligraphs, the number of realizations of the former equals the product of the two triples of the latter, where this product is specified by a fixed quadratic form. These triples and quadratic form codify the fact that we express realizations as intersections of two curves on the blowup of a sphere along two pairs of complex conjugate points.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

How to Reconstruct a Planar Map From its Branching Curve

We present an algorithm for constructing a map $\mathbb{P}^2\to\mathbb{P}^2$ with a given branching curve. The stepping stone is the ramification curve, which is obtained as the linear normalization of the branching curve.

math.AG↗
arXiv2023

Representing Piecewise Linear Functions by Functions with Small Arity

A piecewise linear function can be described in different forms: as an arbitrarily nested expression of $\min$- and $\max$-functions, as a difference of two convex piecewise linear functions, or as a linear combination of maxima of affine-linear functions. In this paper, we provide two main results: first, we show that for every piecewise linear function there exists a linear combination of $\max$-functions with at most $n+1$ arguments, and give an algorithm for its computation. Moreover, these arguments are contained in the finite set of affine-linear functions that coincide with the given function in some open set. Second, we prove that the piecewise linear function $\max(0, x_{1}, \ldots, x_{n})$ cannot be represented as a linear combination of maxima of less than $n+1$ affine-linear arguments. This was conjectured by Wang and Sun in 2005 in a paper on representations of piecewise linear functions as linear combination of maxima.

cs.SC↗
arXiv2022

Tri-linear birational maps in dimension three

A tri-linear rational map in dimension three is a rational map $ϕ: (\mathbb{P}_\mathbb{C}^1)^3 \dashrightarrow \mathbb{P}_\mathbb{C}^3$ defined by four tri-linear polynomials without a common factor. If $ϕ$ admits an inverse rational map $ϕ^{-1}$, it is a tri-linear birational map. In this paper, we address computational and geometric aspects about these transformations. We give a characterization of birationality based on the first syzygies of the entries. More generally, we describe all the possible minimal graded free resolutions of the ideal generated by these entries. With respect to geometry, we show that the set $\mathfrak{Bir}_{(1,1,1)}$ of tri-linear birational maps, up to composition with an automorphism of $\mathbb{P}_\mathbb{C}^3$, is a locally closed algebraic subset of the Grassmannian of $4$-dimensional subspaces in the vector space of tri-linear polynomials, and has eight irreducible components. Additionally, the group action on $\mathfrak{Bir}_{(1,1,1)}$ given by composition with automorphisms of $(\mathbb{P}_\mathbb{C}^1)^3$ defines 19 orbits, and each of these orbits determines an isomorphism class of the base loci of these transformations.

math.AG↗
arXiv2022

Classification of higher Mobility closed-loop Linkages

We provide a complete classification of paradoxical closed-loop $n$-linkages, where $n\geq6$, of mobility $n-4$ or higher, containing revolute, prismatic or helical joints. We also explicitly write down strong necessary conditions for $nR$-linkages of mobility $n-5$. Our main new tool is a geometric relation between a linkage $L$ and another linkage $L'$ resulting from adding equations to the configuration space of $L$. We then lift known classification results for $L'$ to $L$ using this relation.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2022

On the existence of paradoxical motions of generically rigid graphs on the sphere

We interpret realizations of a graph on the sphere up to rotations as elements of a moduli space of curves of genus zero. We focus on those graphs that admit an assignment of edge lengths on the sphere resulting in a flexible object. Our interpretation of realizations allows us to provide a combinatorial characterization of these graphs in terms of the existence of particular colorings of the edges. Moreover, we determine necessary relations for flexibility between the spherical lengths of the edges. We conclude by classifying all possible motions on the sphere of the complete bipartite graph with $3+3$ vertices where no two vertices coincide or are antipodal.

math.CO↗