arXiv subjects

Matteo Gallet

Publications and source records attributed to Matteo Gallet.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Free plane curves with a linear Jacobian syzygy

The study of planar free curves is a very active area of research, but a structural study of such a class is missing. We give a complete classification of the possible generators of the Jacobian syzygy module of a plane free curve under the assumption that one of them is linear. Specifically, we prove that, up to similarities, there are two possible forms for the Hilbert-Burch matrix. Our strategy relies on a translation of the problem into the accurate study of the geometry of maximal segments of a suitable triangle with integer points. Following this description, we are able to determine precisely the equations of free curves and the associated Hilbert-Burch matrices.

math.AC↗

arXiv2025

Counting fibres of the Hadamard product using Bergman fans

We study the generic fibre of the Hadamard product of linear spaces via matroid theory and tropical geometry. To do so, we introduce the flip product, a numerical invariant associated to a pair of matroids defined via the stable intersection of their (flipped) Bergman fans. Our first main result is that the cardinality of a generic fibre for the Hadamard product of linear spaces is exactly the flip product of their matroids. We also provide a recursive algorithm for computing the flip product of any pair of matroids. As an application of our techniques, we extend the notion of realisation numbers from rigidity theory to rotational-symmetric and periodic realisation numbers and we provide combinatorial algorithms to compute them. Finally, we show a number of existing matroid invariants are specialisations of the flip product, including the beta invariant.

math.CO↗

arXiv2025

PyRigi -- a general-purpose Python package for the rigidity and flexibility of bar-and-joint frameworks

We present PyRigi, a novel Python package designed to study the rigidity properties of graphs and frameworks. Among many other capabilities, PyRigi can determine whether a graph admits only finitely many ways, up to isometries, of being drawn in the plane once the edge lengths are fixed, whether it has a unique embedding, or whether it satisfied such properties even after the removal of any of its edges. By implementing algorithms from the scientific literature, PyRigi enables the exploration of rigidity properties of structures that would be out of reach for computations by hand. With reliable and robust algorithms, as well as clear, well-documented methods that are closely connected to the underlying mathematical definitions and results, PyRigi aims to be a practical and powerful general-purpose tool for the working mathematician interested in rigidity theory. PyRigi is open source and easy to use, and awaits researchers to benefit from its computational potential.

math.MG↗

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

Eigenpoint collinearities of plane cubics

Given a ternary homogeneous polynomial, the fixed points of the map from $\mathbb{P}^2$ to itself defined by its gradient are called its eigenpoints. We focus on cubic polynomials, and analyze configurations of eigenpoints that admit one or more alignments. We give a classification and explicit equations, in the coordinates of the points, of all configurations: this is accomplished by using both geometric techniques and by an extensive use of computer algebra.

math.AG↗

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↗

arXiv2021

Zero-sum cycles in flexible non-triangular polyhedra

Finding necessary conditions for the geometry of flexible polyhedra is a classical problem that has received attention also in recent times. For flexible polyhedra with triangular faces, we showed in a previous work the existence of cycles with a sign assignment for their edges, such that the signed sum of the edge lengths along the cycle is zero. In this work, we extend this result to flexible non-triangular polyhedra.

math.MG↗

arXiv2021

A new line-symmetric mobile infinity-pod

We construct parallel manipulators with one degree of freedom and admitting infinitely many legs lying on a curve of degree ten and genus six. Our technique relies upon a duality between the spaces parametrizing all the possible legs and all the possible configurations of a manipulator. Before describing our construction, we show how this duality helps explaining several known phenomena regarding mobility of parallel manipulators.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2020

Hexapods with a small linear span

The understanding of mobile hexapods, i.e., parallel manipulators with six legs, is one of the driving questions in theoretical kinematics. We aim at contributing to this understanding by employing techniques from algebraic geometry. The set of configurations of a mobile hexapod with one degree of freedom has the structure of a projective curve, which hence has a degree and an embedding dimension. Our main result is a classification of configuration curves of hexapods that satisfy some restrictions on their embedding dimension.

math.AG↗

arXiv2020

Zero-sum cycles in flexible polyhedra

We show that if a polyhedron in the three-dimensional affine space with triangular faces is flexible, i.e., can be continuously deformed preserving the shape of its faces, then there is a cycle of edges whose lengths sum up to zero once suitably weighted by 1 and -1. We do this via elementary combinatorial considerations, made possible by a well-known compactification of the three-dimensional affine space as a quadric in the four-dimensional projective space. The compactification is related to the Euclidean metric, and allows us to use a simple degeneration technique that reduces the problem to its one-dimensional analogue, which is trivial to solve.

math.MG↗

arXiv2020

Combinatorics of Bricard's octahedra

We re-prove the classification of flexible octahedra, obtained by Bricard at the beginning of the XX century, by means of combinatorial objects satisfying some elementary rules. The explanations of these rules rely on the use of a well-known creation of modern algebraic geometry, the moduli space of stable rational curves with marked points, for the description of configurations of graphs on the sphere. Once one accepts the objects and the rules, the classification becomes elementary (though not trivial) and can be enjoyed without the need of a very deep background on the topic.

math.MG↗

arXiv2019

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↗

arXiv2019

Reconstruction of rational ruled surfaces from their silhouettes

We provide algorithms to reconstruct rational ruled surfaces in three-dimensional projective space from the `apparent contour' of a single projection to the projective plane. We deal with the case of tangent developables and of general projections to $\mathbb{p}^3$ of rational normal scrolls. In the first case, we use the fact that every such surface is the projection of the tangent developable of a rational normal curve, while in the second we start by reconstructing the rational normal scroll. In both instances we then reconstruct the correct projection to $\mathbb{p}^3$ of these surfaces by exploiting the information contained in the singularities of the apparent contour.

cs.SC↗

arXiv2019

Counting realizations of Laman graphs on the sphere

We present an algorithm that computes the number of realizations of a Laman graph on a sphere for a general choice of the angles between the vertices. The algorithm is based on the interpretation of such a realization as a point in the moduli space of stable curves of genus zero with marked points, and on the explicit description, due to Keel, of the Chow ring of this space.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Reconstruction of surfaces with ordinary singularities from their silhouettes

We present algorithms for reconstructing, up to unavoidable projective automorphisms, surfaces with ordinary singularities in three dimensional space starting from their silhouette, or "apparent contour" - namely the branching locus of a projection on the plane - and the projection of their singular locus.

math.AG↗

arXiv2017

Probabilities of incidence between lines and a plane curve over finite fields

We study the probability for a random line to intersect a given plane curve, defined over a finite field, in a given number of points defined over the same field. In particular, we focus on the limits of these probabilities under successive finite field extensions. Supposing absolute irreducibility for the curve, we show how a variant of Chebotarev density theorem for function fields can be used to prove the existence of these limits, and to compute them under a mildly stronger condition, known as simple tangency. Partial results have already appeared in the literature, and we propose this work as an introduction to the use of Chebotarev theorem in the context of incidence geometry. Finally, Veronese maps allow us to compute similar probabilities of intersection between a given curve and random curves of given degree.

math.CO↗

arXiv2017

Counting projections of rational curves

Given two general rational curves of the same degree in two projective spaces, one can ask whether there exists a third rational curve of the same degree that projects to both of them. We show that, under suitable assumptions on the degree of the curves and the dimensions of the two given ambient projective spaces, the number of curves and projections fulfilling the requirements is finite. Using standard techniques in intersection theory and the Bott residue formula, we compute this number.

math.AG↗

arXiv2017

Computing the number of realizations of a Laman graph

Laman graphs model planar frameworks which are rigid for a general choice of distances between the vertices. There are finitely many ways, up to isometries, to realize a Laman graph in the plane. In a recent paper we provide a recursion formula for this number of realizations using ideas from algebraic and tropical geometry. Here, we present a concise summary of this result focusing on the main ideas and the combinatorial point of view.

math.CO↗