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Matthew Kahle

Publications and source records attributed to Matthew Kahle.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2019

Spectral gaps of random graphs and applications

We study the spectral gap of the Erdős--Rényi random graph through the connectivity threshold. In particular, we show that for any fixed $δ> 0$ if $$p \ge \frac{(1/2 + δ) \log n}{n},$$ then the normalized graph Laplacian of an Erdős--Rényi graph has all of its nonzero eigenvalues tightly concentrated around $1$. We estimate both the decay rate of the spectral gap to $1$ and the failure probability, up to a constant factor. We also show that the $1/2$ in the above is optimal, and that if $p = \frac{c \log n}{n}$ for $c < 1/2,$ then there are eigenvalues of the Laplacian restricted to the giant component that are separated from $1.$ We then describe several applications of our spectral gap results to stochastic topology and geometric group theory. These all depend on Garland's "p-adic curvature" method, a kind of spectral geometry for simplicial complexes. These can all be considered to be high-dimensional expander properties.

math.CO↗
arXiv2019

Local cliques in ER-perturbed random geometric graphs

Random graphs are mathematical models that have applications in a wide range of domains. We study the following model where one adds Erdős--Rényi (ER) type perturbation to a random geometric graph. More precisely, assume $G_\mathcal{X}^{*}$ is a random geometric graph sampled from a nice measure on a metric space $\mathcal{X} = (X,d)$. The input observed graph $\widehat{G}(p,q)$ is generated by removing each existing edge from $G_\mathcal{X}^*$ with probability $p$, while inserting each non-existent edge to $G_\mathcal{X}^{*}$ with probability $q$. We refer to such random $p$-deletion and $q$-insertion as ER-perturbation. Although these graphs are related to the objects in the continuum percolation theory, our understanding of them is still rather limited. In this paper we consider a localized version of the classical notion of clique number for the aforementioned ER-perturbed random geometric graphs: Specifically, we study the edge clique number for each edge in a graph, defined as the size of the largest clique(s) in the graph containing that edge. The clique number of the graph is simply the largest edge clique number. Interestingly, given a ER-perturbed random geometric graph, we show that the edge clique number presents two fundamentally different types of behaviors, depending on which "type" of randomness it is generated from. As an application of the above results, we show that by using a filtering process based on the edge clique number, we can recover the shortest-path metric of the random geometric graph $G_\mathcal{X}^*$ within a multiplicative factor of $3$, from an ER-perturbed observed graph $\widehat{G}(p,q)$, for a significantly wider range of insertion probability $q$ than in previous work.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2018

Polyominoes with maximally many holes

What is the maximum number of holes that a polyomino with $n$ tiles can enclose? Call this number $f(n)$. We show that if $n_k = \left( 2^{2k+1} + 3 \cdot 2^{k+1}+4 \right) / 3$ and $h_k = \left( 2^{2k}-1 \right) /3$, then $f(n_k) = h_k$ for $k \ge 1$. We also give nearly matching upper and lower bounds for large $n$, showing as a corollary that $f(n) \approx n/2$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2018

Cohen--Lenstra heuristics for torsion in homology of random complexes

We study torsion in homology of the random $d$-complex $Y \sim Y_d(n,p)$ experimentally. Our experiments suggest that there is almost always a moment in the process where there is an enormous burst of torsion in homology $H_{d-1}(Y)$. This moment seems to coincide with the phase transition studied in \cite{AL,LP,LP3} , where cycles in $H_d(Y)$ first appear with high probability. Our main study is the limiting distribution on the $q$-part of the torsion subgroup of $H_{d-1}(Y)$ for small primes $q$. We find strong evidence for a limiting Cohen--Lenstra distribution, where the probability that the $q$-part is isomorphic to a given $q$-group $H$ is inversely proportional to the order of the automorphism group $|\mbox{Aut}(H)|$. We also study the torsion in homology of the uniform random $\Q$-acyclic $2$-complex. This model is analogous to a uniform spanning tree on a complete graph, but more complicated topologically since Kalai showed that the expected order of the torsion group is exponentially large in $n^2$ \cite{Kalai}. We give experimental evidence that in this model also, the torsion is Cohen--Lenstra distributed in the limit.

math.AT↗
arXiv2017

2-complexes with large 2-girth

The 2-girth of a 2-dimensional simplicial complex $X$ is the minimum size of a non-zero 2-cycle in $H_2(X, \mathbb{Z}/2)$. We consider the maximum possible girth of a complex with $n$ vertices and $m$ 2-faces. If $m = n^{2 + α}$ for $α< 1/2$, then we show that the 2-girth is at most $4 n^{2 - 2 α}$ and we prove the existence of complexes with 2-girth at least $c_{α, ε} n^{2 - 2 α- ε}$. On the other hand, if $α> 1/2$, the 2-girth is at most $C_α$. So there is a phase transition as $α$ passes 1/2. Our results depend on a new upper bound for the number of combinatorial types of triangulated surfaces with $v$ vertices and $f$ faces.

math.AT↗
arXiv2016

Random simplicial complexes

Random shapes arise naturally in many contexts. The topological and geometric structure of such objects is interesting for its own sake, and also for applications. In physics, for example, such objects arise naturally in quantum gravity, in material science, and in other settings. Stochastic topology may also be considered as a null hypothesis for topological data analysis. In this chapter we overview combinatorial aspects of stochastic topology. We focus on the topological and geometric properties of random simplicial complexes. We introduce a few of the fundamental models in Section 23.1. We review high-dimensional expander-like properties of random complexes in Section 23.2. We discuss threshold behavior and phase transitions in Section 23.3, and Betti numbers and persistent homology in Section 23.4.

math.CO↗
arXiv2016

Maximally Persistent Cycles in Random Geometric Complexes

We initiate the study of persistent homology of random geometric simplicial complexes. Our main interest is in maximally persistent cycles of degree-$k$ in persistent homology, for a either the \cech or the Vietoris--Rips filtration built on a uniform Poisson process of intensity $n$ in the unit cube $[0,1]^d$. This is a natural way of measuring the largest "$k$-dimensional hole" in a random point set. This problem is in the intersection of geometric probability and algebraic topology, and is naturally motivated by a probabilistic view of topological inference. We show that for all $d \ge 2$ and $1 \le k \le d-1$ the maximally persistent cycle has (multiplicative) persistence of order $$ Θ\left(\left(\frac{\log n}{\log \log n} \right)^{1/k} \right),$$ with high probability, characterizing its rate of growth as $n \to \infty$. The implied constants depend on $k$, $d$, and on whether we consider the Vietoris--Rips or \cech filtration.

math.PR↗
arXiv2014

The threshold for integer homology in random d-complexes

Let Y ~ Y_d(n,p) denote the Bernoulli random d-dimensional simplicial complex. We answer a question of Linial and Meshulam from 2003, showing that the threshold for vanishing of homology H_{d-1}(Y; Z) is less than 80d log n / n. This bound is tight, up to a constant factor.

math.AT↗
arXiv2013

Random graph products of finite groups are rational duality groups

Given an edge-independent random graph G(n,p), we determine various facts about the cohomology of graph products of groups for the graph G(n,p). In particular, the random graph product of a sequence of finite groups is a rational duality group with probability tending to 1 as n goes to infinity. This includes random right angled Coxeter groups as a special case.

math.GR↗
arXiv2013

Sharp vanishing thresholds for cohomology of random flag complexes

For every $k \ge 1$, the $k$th cohomology group $H^k(X, \Q)$ of the random flag complex $X \sim X(n,p)$ passes through two phase transitions: one where it appears, and one where it vanishes. We describe the vanishing threshold and show that it is sharp. Using the same spectral methods, we also find a sharp threshold for the fundamental group $π_1(X)$ to have Kazhdan's property (T). Combining with earlier results, we obtain as a corollary that for every $k \ge 3$ there is a regime in which the random flag complex is rationally homotopy equivalent to a bouquet of $k$-dimensional spheres.

math.AT↗
arXiv2013

Inside the critical window for cohomology of random k-complexes

We prove sharper versions of theorems of Linial-Meshulam and Meshulam-Wallach which describe the behavior for (Z/2)-cohomology of a random k-dimensional simplicial complex within a narrow transition window. In particular, we show that within this window the (k-1)st Betti number is in the limit Poisson distributed. For k=2 we also prove that in an accompanying growth process, with high probability, first cohomology vanishes exactly at the moment when the last isolated (k-1)-simplex gets covered by a k-simplex.

math.CO↗
arXiv2011

Computational topology for configuration spaces of hard disks

We explore the topology of configuration spaces of hard disks experimentally, and show that several changes in the topology can already be observed with a small number of particles. The results illustrate a theorem of Baryshnikov, Bubenik, and Kahle that critical points correspond to configurations of disks with balanced mechanical stresses, and suggest conjectures about the asymptotic topology as the number of disks tends to infinity.

math.AT↗
arXiv2011

Min-type Morse theory for configuration spaces of hard spheres

We study configuration spaces of hard spheres in a bounded region. We develop a general Morse-theoretic framework, and show that mechanically balanced configurations play the role of critical points. As an application, we find the precise threshold radius for a configuration space to be homotopy equivalent to the configuration space of points.

math.AT↗
arXiv2011

The fundamental group of random 2-complexes

We study Linial-Meshulam random 2-complexes, which are two-dimensional analogues of Erdős-Rényi random graphs. We find the threshold for simple connectivity to be p = n^{-1/2}. This is in contrast to the threshold for vanishing of the first homology group, which was shown earlier by Linial and Meshulam to be p = 2 log(n)/n. We use a variant of Gromov's local-to-global theorem for linear isoperimetric inequalities to show that when p = O(n^{-1/2 -ε}) the fundamental group is word hyperbolic. Along the way we classify the homotopy types of sparse 2-dimensional simplicial complexes and establish isoperimetric inequalities for such complexes. These intermediate results do not involve randomness and may be of independent interest.

math.CO↗