arXiv subjects

Julien Ugon

Publications and source records attributed to Julien Ugon.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

The linkedness of cubical polytopes

A cubical polytope is a polytope with all its facets being combinatorially equivalent to cubes. The paper is concerned with the linkedness of the graphs of cubical polytopes. A graph with at least $2k$ vertices is $k$-linked if, for every set of $2k$ distinct vertices organised in arbitrary $k$ pairs of vertices, there are $k$ vertex-disjoint paths joining the vertices in the pairs. Larman and Mani in 1970 proved that simplicial $d$-polytopes, polytopes with all their facets being combinatorially equivalent to simplices, are $\floor{(d+1)/2}$-linked; this is the maximum possible linkedness given the facts that a $\floor{(d+1)/2}$-linked graph is at least $(2\floor{(d+1)/2}-1)$-connected and that some of these graphs are $d$-connected but not $(d+1)$-connected. Here we establish that cubical $d$-polytopes are also $\floor{(d+1)/2}$-linked for every $d\ne 3$; this is again the maximum possible linkedness for such a class of polytopes.

math.CO↗

arXiv2019

Uniqueness of solutions in multivariate Chebyshev approximation problems

We study the solution set to multivariate Chebyshev approximation problem, focussing on the ill-posed case when the uniqueness of solutions can not be established via strict polynomial separation. We obtain an upper bound on the dimension of the solution set and show that nonuniqueness is generic for the ill-posed problems on discrete domains. Moreover, given a prescribed set of points of minimal and maximal deviation we construct a function for which the dimension of the set of best approximating polynomials is maximal for any choice of domain. We also present several examples that illustrate the aforementioned phenomena, demonstrate practical application of our results and propose a number of open questions.

math.OC↗

arXiv2019

Connectivity of cubical polytopes

A cubical polytope is a polytope with all its facets being combinatorially equivalent to cubes. We deal with the connectivity of the graphs of cubical polytopes. We first establish that, for any $d\ge 3$, the graph of a cubical $d$-polytope with minimum degree $δ$ is $\min\{δ,2d-2\}$-connected. Second, we show, for any $d\ge 4$, that every minimum separator of cardinality at most $2d-3$ in such a graph consists of all the neighbours of some vertex and that removing the vertices of the separator from the graph leaves exactly two components, with one of them being the vertex itself.

math.CO↗

arXiv2019

Lower bound theorems for general polytopes

For a $d$-dimensional polytope with $v$ vertices, $d+1\le v\le2d$, we calculate precisely the minimum possible number of $m$-dimensional faces, when $m=1$ or $m\ge0.62d$. This confirms a conjecture of Grünbaum, for these values of $m$. For $v=2d+1$, we solve the same problem when $m=1$ or $d-2$; the solution was already known for $m= d-1$. In all these cases, we give a characterisation of the minimising polytopes. We also show that there are many gaps in the possible number of $m$-faces: for example, there is no polytope with 80 edges in dimension 10, and a polytope with 407 edges can have dimension at most 23.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Polytopes close to being simple

It is known that polytopes with at most two nonsimple vertices are reconstructible from their graphs, and that $d$-polytopes with at most $d-2$ nonsimple vertices are reconstructible from their 2-skeletons. Here we close the gap between 2 and $d-2$, showing that certain polytopes with more than two nonsimple vertices are reconstructible from their graphs. In particular, we prove that reconstructibility from graphs also holds for $d$-polytopes with $d+k$ vertices and at most $d-k+3$ nonsimple vertices, provided $k\ge 5$. For $k\le4$, the same conclusion holds under a slightly stronger assumption. Another measure of deviation from simplicity is the {\it excess degree} of a polytope, defined as $ξ(P):=2f_1-df_0$, where $f_k$ denotes the number of $k$-dimensional faces of the polytope. Simple polytopes are those with excess zero. We prove that polytopes with excess at most $d-1$ are reconstructible from their graphs, and this is best possible. An interesting intermediate result is that $d$-polytopes with less than $2d$ vertices, and at most $d-1$ nonsimple vertices, are necessarily pyramids.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Almost simplicial polytopes I. The lower and upper bound theorems

We study $n$-vertex $d$-dimensional polytopes with at most one nonsimplex facet with, say, $d+s$ vertices, called {\it almost simplicial polytopes}. We provide tight lower and upper bound theorems for these polytopes as functions of $d,n$ and $s$, thus generalizing the classical Lower Bound Theorem by Barnette and Upper Bound Theorem by McMullen, which treat the case of $s=0$. We characterize the minimizers and provide examples of maximizers, for any $d$. Our construction of maximizers is a generalization of cyclic polytopes, based on a suitable variation of the moment curve, and is of independent interest.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Schur functions for approximation problems

In this paper we propose a new approach to least squares approximation problems. This approach is based on partitioning and Schur function. The nature of this approach is combinatorial, while most existing approaches are based on algebra and algebraic geometry. This problem has several practical applications. One of them is curve clustering. We use this application to illustrate the results.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

On the reconstruction of polytopes

Blind and Mani, and later Kalai, showed that the face lattice of a simple polytope is determined by its graph, namely its $1$-skeleton. Call a vertex of a $d$-polytope \emph{nonsimple} if the number of edges incident to it is more than $d$. We show that (1) the face lattice of any $d$-polytope with at most two nonsimple vertices is determined by its $1$-skeleton; (2) the face lattice of any $d$-polytope with at most $d-2$ nonsimple vertices is determined by its $2$-skeleton; and (3) for any $d>3$ there are two $d$-polytopes with $d-1$ nonsimple vertices, isomorphic $(d-3)$-skeleta and nonisomorphic face lattices. In particular, the result (1) is best possible for $4$-polytopes.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

The excess degree of a polytope

We define the excess degree $ξ(P)$ of a $d$-polytope $P$ as $2f_1-df_0$, where $f_0$ and $f_1$ denote the number of vertices and edges, respectively. This parameter measures how much $P$ deviates from being simple. It turns out that the excess degree of a $d$-polytope does not take every natural number: the smallest possible values are $0$ and $d-2$, and the value $d-1$ only occurs when $d=3$ or 5. On the other hand, for fixed $d$, the number of values not taken by the excess degree is finite if $d$ is odd, and the number of even values not taken by the excess degree is finite if $d$ is even. The excess degree is then applied in three different settings. It is used to show that polytopes with small excess (i.e. $ξ(P)<d$) have a very particular structure: provided $d\ne5$, either there is a unique nonsimple vertex, or every nonsimple vertex has degree $d+1$. This implies that such polytopes behave in a similar manner to simple polytopes in terms of Minkowski decomposability: they are either decomposable or pyramidal, and their duals are always indecomposable. Secondly, we characterise completely the decomposable $d$-polytopes with $2d+1$ vertices (up to combinatorial equivalence). And thirdly all pairs $(f_0,f_1)$, for which there exists a 5-polytope with $f_0$ vertices and $f_1$ edges, are determined.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Alternance Theorems and Chebyshev Splines Approximation

One of the purposes in this paper is to provide a better understanding of the alternance property which occurs in Chebyshev polynomial approximation and piecewise polynomial approximation problems. In the first part of this paper, we propose an original approach to obtain new proofs of the well known necessary and sufficient optimality conditions. There are two main advantages of this approach. First of all, the proofs are much simpler and easier to understand than the existing proofs. Second, these proofs are constructive and therefore they lead to alternative-based algorithms that can be considered as Remez-type approximation algorithms. In the second part of this paper, we develop new local optimality conditions for free knot polynomial spline approximation. The proofs for free knot approximation are relying on the techniques developed in the first part of this paper.

math.NA↗

arXiv2017

Chebyshev multivariate polynomial approximation and point reduction procedure

The theory of Chebyshev (uniform) approximation for univariate polynomial and piecewise polynomial functions has been studied for decades. The optimality conditions are based on the notion of alternating sequence. However, the extension the notion of alternating sequence to the case of multivariate functions is not trivial. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. First of all, we give a geometrical interpretation of the necessary and sufficient optimality condition for multivariate approximation. These optimality conditions are not limited to the case polynomial approximation, where the basis functions are monomials. Second, we develop an algorithm for fast necessary optimality conditions verifications (polynomial case only). Although, this procedure only verifies the necessity, it is much faster than the necessary and sufficient conditions verification. This procedure is based on a point reduction procedure and resembles the univariate alternating sequence based optimality conditions. In the case of univariate approximation, however, these conditions are both necessary and sufficient. Third, we propose a procedure for necessary and sufficient optimality conditions verification that is based on a generalisation of the notion of alternating sequence to the case of multivariate polynomials.

math.NA↗

arXiv2017

A generalisation of de la Vallée-Poussin procedure to multivariate approximations

The theory of Chebyshev approximation has been extensively studied. In most cases, the optimality conditions are based on the notion of alternance or alternating sequence (that is, maximal deviation points with alternating deviation signs). There are a number of approximation methods for polynomial and polynomial spline approximation. Some of them are based on the classical de la Vallée-Poussin procedure. In this paper we demonstrate that under certain assumptions the classical de la Vallée-Poussin procedure, developed for univariate polynomial approximation, can be extended to the case of multivariate approximation. The corresponding basis functions are not restricted to be monomials.

math.FA↗

arXiv2015

Chebyshev approximation for multivariate functions

In this paper, we derive optimality conditions (Chebyshev approximation) for multivariate functions. The theory of Chebyshev (uniform) approximation for univariate functions is very elegant. The optimality conditions are based on the notion of alternance (maximal deviation points with alternating deviation signs). It is not very straightforward, however, how to extend the notion of alternance to the case of multivariate functions. There have been several attempts to extend the theory of Chebyshev approximation to the case of multivariate functions. We propose an alternative approach, which is based on the notion of convexity and nonsmooth analysis.

math.OC↗

arXiv2014

Characterization theorem for best polynomial spline approximation with free knots

In this paper, we derive a necessary condition for a best approximation by piecewise polynomial functions. We apply nonsmooth nonconvex analysis to obtain this result, which is also a necessary and sufficient condition for inf-stationarity in the sense of Demyanov-Rubinov. We start from identifying a special property of the knots. Then, using this property, we construct a characterization theorem for best free knots polynomial spline approximation, which is stronger than the existing characterisation results when only continuity is required.

math.OC↗