arXiv subjects

Martin Helmer

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Helmer.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

On the Euler characteristic of a relative hypersurface

We derive a general formula for the Euler characteristic of a fibration of projective hypersurfaces in terms of invariants of an arbitrary base variety. When the general fiber is an elliptic curve, such formulas have appeared in the physics literature in the context of calculating D-brane charge for M-/F-theory and type-IIB compactifications of string vacua. While there are various methods for computing Euler characteristics of algebraic varieties, we prove a base-independent pushforward formula which reduces the computation of the Euler characteristic of relative hypersurfaces to simple algebraic manipulations of rational expressions determined by its divisor class in a projective bundle. We illustrate our methods by applying them to an explicit family of relative hypersurfaces whose fibers are of arbitrary dimension and degree.

math.AG↗

arXiv2018

Multistationarity and Bistability for Fewnomial Chemical Reaction Networks

Bistability and multistationarity are properties of reaction networks linked to switch-like responses and connected to cell memory and cell decision making. Determining whether and when a network exhibits bistability is a hard and open mathematical problem. One successful strategy consists of analyzing small networks and deducing that some of the properties are preserved upon passage to the full network. Motivated by this we study chemical reaction networks with few chemical complexes. Under mass-action kinetics the steady states of these networks are described by fewnomial systems, that is polynomial systems having few distinct monomials. Such systems of polynomials are often studied in real algebraic geometry by the use of Gale dual systems. Using this Gale duality we give precise conditions in terms of the reaction rate constants for the number and stability of the steady states of families of reaction networks with one non-flow reaction.

math.AG↗

arXiv2017

Nearest Points on Toric Varieties

We determine the Euclidean distance degree of a projective toric variety. This extends the formula of Matsui and Takeuchi for the degree of the $A$-discriminant in terms of Euler obstructions. Our primary goal is the development of reliable algorithmic tools for computing the points on a real toric variety that are closest to a given data point.

math.AG↗

arXiv2017

The Maximum Likelihood Degree of Toric Varieties

We study the maximum likelihood degree (ML degree) of toric varieties, known as discrete exponential models in statistics. By introducing scaling coefficients to the monomial parameterization of the toric variety, one can change the ML degree. We show that the ML degree is equal to the degree of the toric variety for generic scalings, while it drops if and only if the scaling vector is in the locus of the principal $A$-determinant. We also illustrate how to compute the ML estimate of a toric variety numerically via homotopy continuation from a scaled toric variety with low ML degree. Throughout, we include examples motivated by algebraic geometry and statistics. We compute the ML degree of rational normal scrolls and a large class of Veronese-type varieties. In addition, we investigate the ML degree of scaled Segre varieties, hierarchical loglinear models, and graphical models.

math.AG↗

arXiv2016

Computing characteristic classes of subschemes of smooth toric varieties

Let $X_Σ$ be a smooth complete toric variety defined by a fan $Σ$ and let $V=V(I)$ be a subscheme of $X_Σ$ defined by an ideal $I$ homogeneous with respect to the grading on the total coordinate ring of $X_Σ$. We show a new expression for the Segre class $s(V,X_Σ)$ in terms of the projective degrees of a rational map specified by the generators of $I$ when each generator corresponds to a numerically effective (nef) divisor. Restricting to the case where $X_Σ$ is a smooth projective toric variety and dehomogenizing the total homogeneous coordinate ring of $X_Σ$ via a dehomogenizing ideal we also give an expression for the projective degrees of this rational map in terms of the dimension of an explicit quotient ring. Under an additional technical assumption we construct what we call a general dehomogenizing ideal and apply this construction to give effective algorithms to compute the Segre class $s(V,X_Σ)$, the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class $c_{SM}(V)$ and the topological Euler characteristic $χ(V)$ of $V$. These algorithms can, in particular, be used for subschemes of any product of projective spaces $\mathbb{P}^{n_1} \times \cdots \times \mathbb{P}^{n_j}$ or for subschemes of many other projective toric varieties. Running time bounds for several of the algorithms are given and the algorithms are tested on a variety of examples. In all applicable cases our algorithms to compute these characteristic classes are found to offer significantly increased performance over other known algorithms.

math.AG↗

arXiv2016

A Direct Algorithm to Compute the Topological Euler Characteristic and Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson Class of Projective Complete Intersection Varieties

Let $V$ be a possibly singular scheme-theoretic complete intersection subscheme of $\mathbb{P}^n$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. Using a recent result of Fullwood ("On Milnor classes via invariants of singular subschemes", Journal of Singularities) we develop an algorithm to compute the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class and Euler characteristic of $V$. This algorithm complements existing algorithms by providing performance improvements in the computation of the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class and Euler characteristic for certain types of complete intersection subschemes of $\mathbb{P}^n$.

math.AG↗

arXiv2015

Computing the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson Class of Complete Simplical Toric Varieties

Topological invariants such as characteristic classes are an important tool to aid in understanding and categorizing the structure and properties of algebraic varieties. In this note we consider the problem of computing a particular characteristic class, the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class, of a complete simplicial toric variety X defined by a fan from the combinatorial data contained in the fan. Specifically, we give an effective combinatorial algorithm to compute the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class of X, in the Chow ring (or rational Chow ring) of X. This method is formulated by combining, and when necessary modifying, several known results from the literature and is implemented in Macaulay2 for test purposes.

math.AG↗

arXiv2015

An Algorithm to Compute the Topological Euler Characteristic, Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson Class and Segre Class of Projective Varieties

Let $V$ be a closed subscheme of a projective space $\mathbb{P}^n$. We give an algorithm to compute the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class, Euler characteristic and Segre class of $ V$. The algorithm can be implemented using either symbolic or numerical methods. The algorithm is based on a new method for calculating the projective degrees of a rational map defined by a homogeneous ideal. Using this result and known formulas for the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class of a projective hypersurface and the Segre class of a projective variety in terms of the projective degrees of certain rational maps we give algorithms to compute the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class and Segre class of a projective variety. Since the Euler characteristic of $V$ is the degree of the zero dimensional component of the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class of $V$ our algorithm also computes the Euler characteristic $χ(V)$. Relationships between the algorithm developed here and other existing algorithms are discussed. The algorithm is tested on several examples and performs favourably compared to current algorithms for computing Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, Segre classes and Euler characteristics.

math.AG↗