arXiv subjects

Matthew Kahle

Publications and source records attributed to Matthew Kahle.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

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.

math.GR↗

arXiv2011

Coboundary expanders

We describe a natural topological generalization of edge expansion for graphs to regular CW complexes and prove that this property holds with high probability for certain random complexes.

math.CO↗

arXiv2011

Limit theorems for Betti numbers of random simplicial complexes

There have been several recent articles studying homology of various types of random simplicial complexes. Several theorems have concerned thresholds for vanishing of homology, and in some cases expectations of the Betti numbers. However little seems known so far about limiting distributions of random Betti numbers. In this article we establish Poisson and normal approximation theorems for Betti numbers of different kinds of random simplicial complex: Erdős-Rényi random clique complexes, random Vietoris-Rips complexes, and random Čech complexes. These results may be of practical interest in topological data analysis.

math.PR↗

arXiv2010

Random geometric complexes

We study the expected topological properties of Cech and Vietoris-Rips complexes built on i.i.d. random points in R^d. We find higher dimensional analogues of known results for connectivity and component counts for random geometric graphs. However, higher homology H_k is not monotone when k > 0. In particular for every k > 0 we exhibit two thresholds, one where homology passes from vanishing to nonvanishing, and another where it passes back to vanishing. We give asymptotic formulas for the expectation of the Betti numbers in the sparser regimes, and bounds in the denser regimes. The main technical contribution of the article is in the application of discrete Morse theory in geometric probability.

math.PR↗

arXiv2010

Sparse stable configurations of hard discs in a box

We construct stable configurations of n overlapping discs of radius r in a unit square, with r = O(1/n). By a result of Diaconis, Lebeau, and Michel, this result is best possible, up to a constant factor. A consequence is that the Metropolis algorithm, a well-studied Markov chain on the hardcore model, is not irreducible in this range of parameters.

math.MG↗

arXiv2008

Points in a triangle forcing small triangles

An old theorem of Alexander Soifer's is the following: Given five points in a triangle of unit area, there must exist some three of them which form a triangle of area 1/4 or less. It is easy to check that this is not true if "five" is replaced by "four", but can the theorem be improved in any other way? We discuss in this article two different extensions of the original result. First, we allow the value of "small", 1/4, to vary. In particular, our main result is to show that given five points in a triangle of unit area, then there must exist some three of them determining a triangle of area 6/25 or less. Second, we put bounds on the minimum number of small triangles determined by n points in a triangle, and make a conjecture about the asymptotic right answer as n tends to infinity.

math.CO↗

arXiv2008

Topology of random clique complexes

In a seminal paper, Erdos and Renyi identified the threshold for connectivity of the random graph G(n,p). In particular, they showed that if p >> log(n)/n then G(n,p) is almost always connected, and if p << log(n)/n then G(n,p) is almost always disconnected, as n goes to infinity. The clique complex X(H) of a graph H is the simplicial complex with all complete subgraphs of H as its faces. In contrast to the zeroth homology group of X(H), which measures the number of connected components of H, the higher dimensional homology groups of X(H) do not correspond to monotone graph properties. There are nevertheless higher dimensional analogues of the Erdos-Renyi Theorem. We study here the higher homology groups of X(G(n,p)). For k > 0 we show the following. If p = n^alpha, with alpha < -1/k or alpha > - 1/(2k+1), then the kth homology group of X(G(n,p)) is almost always vanishing, and if -1/k < alpha < -1/(k+1), then it is almost always nonvanishing. We also give estimates for the expected rank of homology, and exhibit explicit nontrivial classes in the nonvanishing regime. These estimates suggest that almost all d-dimensional clique complexes have only one nonvanishing dimension of homology, and we cannot rule out the possibility that they are homotopy equivalent to wedges of spheres.

math.CO↗

arXiv2006

The neighborhood complex of a random graph

For a graph G, the neighborhood complex N[G] is the simplicial complex having all subsets of vertices with a common neighbor as its faces. It is a well known result of Lovasz that if N[G] is k-connected, then the chromatic number of G is at least k + 3. We prove that the connectivity of the neighborhood complex of a random graph is tightly concentrated, almost always between 1/2 and 2/3 of the expected clique number. We also show that the number of dimensions of nontrivial homology is almost always small, O(log d), compared to the expected dimension d of the complex itself.

math.CO↗