arXiv subjects

Oliver Clarke

Publications and source records attributed to Oliver Clarke.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Distance Reduction in Bouquet Decompositions and Toric Ideals of Graphs

The distance-reduction property for a generating set, i.e., a Markov basis, of a toric ideal is a condition that ensures tight connectivity of its fibres. In this paper, we study the distance-reduction property for toric ideals of graphs and move on to explore the relationship between the distance-reduction property and the bouquet structure of homogeneous toric ideals, which includes the class of toric ideals of graphs. For toric ideals of graphs which are complete intersection, we show that the minimal Markov bases are distance-reducing if and only if they distance-reduce the circuits of the ideal. We then consider how the distance-reduction properties interact with the bouquet structure of the toric ideal. Bouquets are a combinatorial structure that capture the essential combinatorial information of the toric ideal. Under the condition of homogeneity, we show that, for toric ideals with the same bouquet structure and signature, the distance-reduction properties are preserved. For homogeneous toric ideals whose bouquet matrix is a monomial curve in $\mathbb{A}^3$, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for when the minimal Markov bases are distance-reducing.

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

Computing all minimal Markov bases in Macaulay2

We introduce the package allMarkovBases for Macaulay2, which is used to compute all minimal Markov bases of a given toric ideal. The package builds on functionality of 4ti2 by producing the fiber graph of the toric ideal. The package uses this graph to compute other properties of the toric ideal such as its indispensable set of binomials as well as its universal Markov basis.

math.AC↗

arXiv2025

A tropical approach to rigidity: counting realisations of frameworks

A realisation of a graph in the plane as a bar-joint framework is rigid if there are finitely many other realisations, up to isometries, with the same edge lengths. Each of these finitely-many realisations can be seen as a solution to a system of quadratic equations prescribing the distances between pairs of points. For generic realisations, the size of the solution set depends only on the underlying graph so long as we allow for complex solutions. We provide a characterisation of the realisation number - that is the cardinality of this complex solution set - of a minimally rigid graph. Our characterisation uses tropical geometry to express the realisation number as an intersection of Bergman fans of the graphic matroid. As a consequence, we derive a combinatorial upper bound on the realisation number involving the Tutte polynomial. Moreover, we provide computational evidence that our upper bound is usually an improvement on the mixed volume bound.

math.CO↗

arXiv2024

Equivariant Ehrhart Theory of Hypersimplices

We study the hypersimplex under the action of the symmetric group $S_n$ by coordinate permutation. We prove that the evaluation of its equivariant $H^*$-polynomial at $1$ is the permutation character of decorated ordered set partitions under the natural action of $S_n$. This verifies a conjecture of Stapledon for the hypersimplex. To prove this result, we give a formula for the coefficients of the $H^*$-polynomial. Additionally, for the $(2,n)$-hypersimplex, we use this formula to show that trivial character need not appear as a direct summand of a coefficient of the $H^*$-polynomial, which gives a family of counterexamples to a different conjecture of Stapledon.

math.CO↗

arXiv2024

Distance Reducing Markov Bases

The distance reducing property for Markov bases is an important property that provides a bound on the mixing time of the associated Markov chain. The goal of this project is to understand properties of distance-reducing Markov bases. We explore the distance reducing property for monomial curves and give a complete characterisation of distance reduction in the case of complete intersection monomial curves. Our characterisation carefully uses the notion of gluings for numerical semigroups. We also characterise the distance reducing property for non-complete intersection monomial curves in small dimensions. We also explore the distance irreducible elements: the moves that appear in all distance reducing Markov bases.

math.AC↗

arXiv2024

Minimal cellular resolutions of powers of matching field ideals

We study a family of monomial ideals, called block diagonal matching field ideals, which arise as monomial Gr\"obner degenerations of determinantal ideals. Our focus is on the minimal free resolutions of these ideals and all of their powers. Initially, we establish their linear quotient property and compute their Betti numbers, illustrating that their minimal free resolution is supported on a regular CW complex. Our proof relies on the results of Herzog and Takayama, demonstrating that ideals with a linear quotient property have a minimal free resolution, and on the construction by Dochtermann and Mohammadi of cellular realizations of these resolutions. We begin by proving the linear quotient property for each power of such an ideal. Subsequently, we show that their corresponding decomposition map is regular, resulting in a minimal cellular resolution. Finally, we demonstrate that distinct decomposition maps lead to different cellular complexes with the same face numbers.

math.AC↗

arXiv2024

Liftable Point-Line Configurations: Defining Equations and Irreducibility of Associated Matroid and Circuit Varieties

We study point-line configurations through the lens of projective geometry and matroid theory. Our focus is on their realisation spaces, where we introduce the concepts of liftable and quasi-liftable configurations, exploring cases in which an $n$-tuple of collinear points can be lifted to a non-degenerate realisation of a point-line configuration. We show that forest configurations are liftable and characterise the realisation space of liftable configurations as the solution set of certain linear systems of equations. Moreover, we study the Zariski closure of the realisation spaces of liftable and quasi-liftable configurations, known as matroid varieties, and establish their irreducibility. Additionally, we compute an irreducible decomposition for their corresponding circuit varieties. Applying these liftability properties, we present a procedure generate some of the defining equations of the associated matroid varieties. As corollaries, we provide a geometric representation for the defining equations of two specific examples: the quadrilateral set and the $3\times4$ grid. While the polynomials for the latter were previously computed using specialised algorithms tailored for this configuration, the geometric interpretation of these generators was missing. We compute a minimal generating set for the corresponding ideals.

math.CO↗

arXiv2024

Subalgebra and Khovanskii bases equivalence

The main results of this paper establish a partial correspondence between two previously-studied analogues of Groebner bases in the setting of algebras: namely, subalgebra (aka SAGBI) bases for quotients of polynomial rings and Khovanskii bases for valued algebras. We aim to bridge the gap between the concrete, computational aspects of the former and the more abstract theory of the latter. Our philosophy is that most interesting examples of Khovanskii bases can also be realized as subalgebra bases and vice-versa. We also discuss the computation of Newton-Okounkov bodies, illustrating how interpreting Khovanskii bases as subalgebra bases makes them more amenable to the existing computer algebra tools.

math.AG↗

arXiv2023

Matroid Stratification of ML Degrees of Independence Models

We study the maximum likelihood (ML) degree of discrete exponential independence models and models defined by the second hypersimplex. For models with two independent variables, we show that the ML degree is an invariant of a matroid associated to the model. We use this description to explore ML degrees via hyperplane arrangements. For independence models with more variables, we investigate the connection between the vanishing of factors of its principal $A$-determinant and its ML degree. Similarly, for models defined by the second hypersimplex, we determine its principal $A$-determinant and give computational evidence towards a conjectured lower bound of its ML degree.

math.ST↗

arXiv2023

Toric degenerations of partial flag varieties and combinatorial mutations of matching field polytopes

We study toric degenerations arising from Gröbner degenerations or the tropicalization of partial flag varieties. We produce a new family of toric degenerations of partial flag varieties whose combinatorics are governed by matching fields and combinatorial mutations of polytopes. We provide an explicit description of the polytopes associated with the resulting toric varieties in terms of matching field polytopes. These polytopes encode the combinatorial data of monomial degenerations of Plücker forms for the Grassmannians. We give a description of matching field polytopes of flag varieties as Minkowski sums and show that all such polytopes are normal. The polytopes we obtain are examples of Newton-Okounkov bodies for particular full-rank valuations for flag varieties. Furthermore, we study a certain explicitly-defined large family of matching field polytopes and prove that all polytopes in this family are connected by combinatorial mutations. Finally, we apply our methods to explicitly compute toric degenerations of small Grassmannians and flag varieties and obtain new families of toric degenerations.

math.AG↗

arXiv2023

A study of nonlinear multiview varieties

We study the nonlinear generalization of the classical multiview variety, which is a fundamental concept in computer vision. In this paper, we take the first comprehensive step to develop the nonlinear analogue of multiview varieties. To this end, we introduce a multigraded version of the saturated special fiber ring. By applying this tool, we are able to compute the multidegrees of several families of nonlinear multiview varieties.

math.AG↗

arXiv2023

Matching Fields in Macaulay2

This article introduces the package MatchingFields for Macaulay2 and highlights some open problems. A matching field is a combinatorial object whose data encodes a candidate toric degeneration of a Grassmannian or partial flag variety of type A. Each coherent matching field is associated to a certain maximal cone of the respective tropical variety. The MatchingFields package provides methods to construct matching fields along with their rings, ideals, polyhedra and matroids. The package also supplies methods to test whether a matching field is coherent, linkage and gives rise to a toric degeneration.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

SubalgebraBases in Macaulay2

We describe a recently revived version of the software package SubalgberaBases, which is distributed in the Macaulay2 computer algebra system. The package allows the user to compute and manipulate subagebra bases -- which are also known as SAGBI bases or canonical bases and form a special class of Khovanskii bases -- for polynomial rings and their quotients. We provide an overview of the design and functionality of SubalgberaBases and demonstrate how the package works on several motivating examples.

math.AC↗

arXiv2023

The equivariant Ehrhart theory of polytopes with order-two symmetries

We study the equivariant Ehrhart theory of families of polytopes that are invariant under a non-trivial action of the group with order two. We study families of polytopes whose equivariant $H^*$-polynomial both succeed and fail to be effective, in particular, the symmetric edge polytopes of cycles and the rational cross-polytope. The latter provides a counterexample to the effectiveness conjecture if the requirement that the vertices of the polytope have integral coordinates is loosened to allow rational coordinates. Moreover, we exhibit such a counterexample whose Ehrhart function has period one and coincides with the Ehrhart function of a lattice polytope.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Conditional independence ideals with hidden variables

We study a class of determinantal ideals that are related to conditional independence (CI) statements with hidden variables. Such CI statements correspond to determinantal conditions on a matrix whose entries are probabilities of events involving the observed random variables. We focus on an example that generalizes the CI ideals of the intersection axiom. In this example, the minimal primes are again determinantal ideals, which is not true in general.

math.AC↗

arXiv2022

Restricted Chain-Order Polytopes via Combinatorial Mutations

We study restricted chain-order polytopes associated to Young diagrams using combinatorial mutations. These polytopes are obtained by intersecting chain-order polytopes with certain hyperplanes. The family of chain-order polytopes associated to a poset interpolate between the order and chain polytopes of the poset. Each such polytope retains properties of the order and chain polytope; for example its Ehrhart polynomial. For a fixed Young diagram, we show that all restricted chain-order polytopes are related by a sequence of combinatorial mutations. Since the property of giving rise to the period collapse phenomenon is invariant under combinatorial mutations, we provide a large class of rational polytopes that give rise to period collapse.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Combinatorial Mutations of Gelfand-Tsetlin Polytopes, Feigin-Fourier-Littelmann-Vinberg Polytopes, and Block Diagonal Matching Field Polytopes

The Gelfand-Tsetlin and the Feigin-Fourier-Littelmann-Vinberg polytopes for the Grassmannians are defined, from the perspective of representation theory, to parametrize certain bases for highest weight irreducible modules. These polytopes are Newton-Okounkov bodies for the Grassmannian and, in particular, the GT-polytope is an example of a string polytope. The polytopes admit a combinatorial description as the Stanley's order and chain polytopes of a certain poset, as shown by Ardila, Bliem and Salaza. We prove that these polytopes occur among matching field polytopes. Moreover, we show that they are related by a sequence of combinatorial mutations that passes only through matching field polytopes. As a result, we obtain a family of matching fields that give rise to toric degenerations for the Grassmannians. Moreover, all polytopes in the family are Newton-Okounkov bodies for the Grassmannians.

math.CO↗