arXiv subjects

Timo de Wolff

Publications and source records attributed to Timo de Wolff.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Global Optimization via the Dual SONC Cone and Linear Programming

Using the dual cone of sums of nonnegative circuits (SONC), we provide a relaxation of the global optimization problem to minimize an exponential sum and, as a special case, a multivariate real polynomial. Our approach builds on two key observations. First, that the dual SONC cone is contained in the primal one. Hence, containment in this cone is a certificate of nonnegativity. Second, we show that membership in the dual cone can be verified by a linear program. We implement the algorithm and present initial experimental results comparing our method to existing approaches.

math.OC↗

arXiv2020

Evaluation of Pool-based Testing Approaches to Enable Population-wide Screening for COVID-19

Background: Rapid testing for an infection is paramount during a pandemic to prevent continued viral spread and excess morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to determine whether alternative testing strategies based on sample pooling can increase the speed and throughput of screening for SARS-CoV-2. Methods: A mathematical modelling approach was chosen to simulate six different testing strategies based on key input parameters (infection rate, test characteristics, population size, testing capacity etc.). The situations in five countries (US, DE, UK, IT and SG) currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks were simulated to reflect a broad variety of population sizes and testing capacities. The primary study outcome measurements that were finalised prior to any data collection were time and number of tests required; number of cases identified; and number of false positives. Findings: The performance of all tested methods depends on the input parameters, i.e. the specific circumstances of a screening campaign. To screen one tenth of each country's population at an infection rate of 1% - e.g. when prioritising frontline medical staff and public workers -, realistic optimised testing strategies enable such a campaign to be completed in ca. 29 days in the US, 71 in the UK, 25 in Singapore, 17 in Italy and 10 in Germany (ca. eight times faster compared to individual testing). When infection rates are considerably lower, or when employing an optimal, yet logistically more complex pooling method, the gains are more pronounced. Pool-based approaches also reduces the number of false positive diagnoses by 50%. Interpretation: The results of this study provide a clear rationale for adoption of pool-based testing strategies to increase speed and throughput of testing for SARS-CoV-2. The current individual testing approach unnecessarily wastes valuable time and resources.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2020

Computing the Real Isolated Points of an Algebraic Hypersurface

Let $\mathbb{R}$ be the field of real numbers. We consider the problem of computing the real isolated points of a real algebraic set in $\mathbb{R}^n$ given as the vanishing set of a polynomial system. This problem plays an important role for studying rigidity properties of mechanism in material designs. In this paper, we design an algorithm which solves this problem. It is based on the computations of critical points as well as roadmaps for answering connectivity queries in real algebraic sets. This leads to a probabilistic algorithm of complexity $(nd)^{O(n\log(n))}$ for computing the real isolated points of real algebraic hypersurfaces of degree $d$. It allows us to solve in practice instances which are out of reach of the state-of-the-art.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2020

Initial Steps in the Classification of Maximal Mediated Sets

Maximal mediated sets (MMS), introduced by Reznick, are distinguished subsets of lattice points in integral polytopes with even vertices. MMS of Newton polytopes of AGI-forms and nonnegative circuit polynomials determine whether these polynomials are sums of squares. In this article, we take initial steps in classifying MMS both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, we show that MMS of simplices are isomorphic if and only if the simplices generate the same lattice up to permutations. Furthermore, we generalize a result of Iliman and the third author. Practically, we fully characterize the MMS for all simplices of sufficiently small dimensions and maximal 1-norms. In particular, we experimentally prove a conjecture by Reznick for 2 dimensional simplices up to maximal 1-norm 150 and provide indications on the distribution of the density of MMS.

math.CO↗

arXiv2019

New Dependencies of Hierarchies in Polynomial Optimization

We compare four key hierarchies for solving Constrained Polynomial Optimization Problems (CPOP): Sum of Squares (SOS), Sum of Diagonally Dominant Polynomials (SDSOS), Sum of Nonnegative Circuits (SONC), and the Sherali Adams (SA) hierarchies. We prove a collection of dependencies among these hierarchies both for general CPOPs and for optimization problems on the Boolean hypercube. Key results include for the general case that the SONC and SOS hierarchy are polynomially incomparable, while SDSOS is contained in SONC. A direct consequence is the non-existence of a Putinar-like Positivstellensatz for SDSOS. On the Boolean hypercube, we show as a main result that Schmüdgen-like versions of the hierarchies SDSOS*, SONC*, and SA* are polynomially equivalent. Moreover, we show that SA* is contained in any Schmüdgen-like hierarchy that provides a O(n) degree bound.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

The Lattice of Amoebas

We study amoebas of exponential sums as functions of the support set $A$. To any amoeba, we associate a set of approximating sections of amoebas, which we call caissons. We show that a bounded modular lattice of subspaces of a certain vector space induces a lattice structure on the set of caissons. Our results unifies the theories of lopsided amoebas and amoebas of exponential sums. As an application, we show that our theory of caissons yields improved certificates for existence of certain components of the complement of an amoeba.

math.AG↗

arXiv2018

An Experimental Comparison of SONC and SOS Certificates for Unconstrained Optimization

Finding the minimum of a multivariate real polynomial is a well-known hard problem with various applications. We present a polynomial time algorithm to approximate such lower bounds via sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials (SONC). As a main result, we carry out the first large-scale comparison of SONC, using this algorithm and different geometric programming (GP) solvers, with the classical sums of squares (SOS) approach, using several of the most common semidefinite programming (SDP) solvers. SONC yields bounds competitive to SOS in several cases, but using significantly less time and memory. In particular, SONC/GP can handle much larger problem instances than SOS/SDP.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

An Approach to Constrained Polynomial Optimization via Nonnegative Circuit Polynomials and Geometric Programming

In this article we combine two developments in polynomial optimization. On the one hand, we consider nonnegativity certificates based on sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials, which were recently introduced by the second and the third author. On the other hand, we investigate geometric programming methods for constrained polynomial optimization problems, which were recently developed by Ghasemi and Marshall. We show that the combination of both results yields a new method to solve certain classes of constrained polynomial optimization problems. We test the new method experimentally and compare it to semidefinite programming in various examples.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

Nondegenerate multistationarity in small reaction networks

Much attention has been focused in recent years on the following algebraic problem arising from applications: which chemical reaction networks, when taken with mass-action kinetics, admit multiple positive steady states? The interest behind this question is in steady states that are stable. As a step toward this difficult question, here we address the question of multiple nondegenerate positive steady states. Mathematically, this asks whether certain families of parametrized, real, sparse polynomial systems ever admit multiple positive real roots that are simple. Our main results settle this problem for certain types of small networks, and our techniques point the way forward for larger networks.

math.DS↗

arXiv2018

Imaginary projections of polynomials

We introduce the imaginary projection of a multivariate polynomial $f \in \mathbb{C}[\mathbf{z}]$ as the projection of the variety of $f$ onto its imaginary part, $\mathcal{I}(f) \ = \ \{\text{Im}(\mathbf{z}) \, : \, \mathbf{z} \in \mathcal{V}(f) \}$. Since a polynomial $f$ is stable if and only if $\mathcal{I}(f) \cap \mathbb{R}_{>0}^n \ = \ \emptyset$, the notion offers a novel geometric view underlying stability questions of polynomials. We show that the connected components of the complement of the closure of the imaginary projections are convex, thus opening a central connection to the theory of amoebas and coamoebas. Building upon this, the paper establishes structural properties of the components of the complement, such as lower bounds on their maximal number, proves a complete classification of the imaginary projections of quadratic polynomials and characterizes the limit directions for polynomials of arbitrary degree.

math.AG↗

arXiv2018

Optimization over the Boolean Hypercube via Sums of Nonnegative Circuit Polynomials

Various key problems from theoretical computer science can be expressed as polynomial optimization problems over the boolean hypercube. One particularly successful way to prove complexity bounds for these types of problems are based on sums of squares (SOS) as nonnegativity certificates. In this article, we initiate the analysis of optimization problems over the boolean hypercube via a recent, alternative certificate called sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials (SONC). We show that key results for SOS based certificates remain valid: First, for polynomials, which are nonnegative over the $n$-variate boolean hypercube with constraints of degree $d$ there exists a SONC certificate of degree at most $n+d$. Second, if there exists a degree $d$ SONC certificate for nonnegativity of a polynomial over the boolean hypercube, then there also exists a short degree $d$ SONC certificate, that includes at most $n^{O(d)}$ nonnegative circuit polynomials.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2017

Lopsided Approximation of Amoebas

The amoeba of a Laurent polynomial is the image of the corresponding hypersurface under the coordinatewise log absolute value map. In this article, we demonstrate that a theoretical amoeba approximation method due to Purbhoo can be used efficiently in practice. To do this, we resolve the main bottleneck in Purbhoo's method by exploiting relations between cyclic resultants. We use the same approach to give an approximation of the Log preimage of the amoeba of a Laurent polynomial using semi-algebraic sets. We also provide a SINGULAR/SAGE implementation of these algorithms, which shows a significant speedup when our specialized cyclic resultant computation is used, versus a general purpose resultant algorithm.

cs.SC↗

arXiv2017

A Positivstellensatz for Sums of Nonnegative Circuit Polynomials

Recently, the second and the third author developed sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials (SONC) as a new certificate of nonnegativity for real polynomials, which is independent of sums of squares. In this article we show that the SONC cone is full-dimensional in the cone of nonnegative polynomials. We establish a Positivstellensatz which guarantees that every polynomial which is positive on a given compact, semi-algebraic set can be represented by the constraints of the set and SONC polynomials. Based on this Positivstellensatz we provide a hierarchy of lower bounds converging against the minimum of a polynomial on a given compact set $K$. Moreover, we show that these new bounds can be computed efficiently via interior point methods using results about relative entropy functions.

math.AG↗

arXiv2017

Intersections of Amoebas

Amoebas are projections of complex algebraic varieties in the algebraic torus under a Log-absolute value map, which have connections to various mathematical subjects. While amoebas of hypersurfaces have been intensively studied in recent years, the non-hypersurface case is barely understood so far. We investigate intersections of amoebas of $n$ hypersurfaces in $(\mathbb{C}^*)^n$, which are canonical supersets of amoebas given by non-hypersurface varieties. Our main results are amoeba analogs of Bernstein's Theorem and Bézout's Theorem providing an upper bound for the number of connected components of such intersections. Moreover, we show that the \emph{order map} for hypersurface amoebas can be generalized in a natural way to intersections of amoebas. In particular, analogous to the case of amoebas of hypersurfaces, the restriction of this generalized order map to a single connected component is still $1$-to-$1$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2016

The Boundary of Amoebas

The computation of amoebas has been a challenging open problem for the last dozen years. The most natural approach, namely to compute an amoeba via its boundary, has not been practical so far since only a superset of the boundary, the contour, is understood in theory and computable in practice. We define and characterize the extended boundary of an amoeba, which is sensitive to some degenerations that the topological boundary does not detect. Our description of the extended boundary also allows us to distinguish between the contour and the boundary. This gives rise not only to new structural results in amoeba theory, but in particular allows us to compute hypersurface amoebas via their boundary in any dimension. In dimension two this can be done using Gröbner bases alone. We introduce the concept of amoeba bases, which are sufficient for understanding the amoeba of an ideal. We show that our characterization of the boundary is essential for the computation of these amoeba bases and we illustrate the potential of this concept by constructing amoeba bases for linear systems of equations.

math.AG↗

arXiv2016

Lower Bounds for Polynomials with Simplex Newton Polytopes Based on Geometric Programming

In this article, we propose a geometric programming method in order to compute lower bounds for real polynomials. We provide new sufficient conditions for polynomials to be nonnegative as well as to have a sum of binomial squares representation. These criteria rely on the coefficients and the support of a polynomial and generalize all previous ones by Lasserre, Ghasemi, Marshall, Fidalgo and Kovacec to polynomials with arbitrary simplex Newton polytopes. This generalization yields a geometric programming approach for computing lower bounds for polynomials that significantly extends the geometric programming method proposed by Ghasemi and Marshall. Furthermore, it shows that geometric programming is strongly related to nonnegativity certificates based on sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials, which were recently introduced by the authors.

math.OC↗

arXiv2015

Amoebas, Nonnegative Polynomials and Sums of Squares Supported on Circuits

We completely characterize sections of the cones of nonnegative polynomials, convex polynomials and sums of squares with polynomials supported on circuits, a genuine class of sparse polynomials. In particular, nonnegativity is characterized by an invariant, which can be immediately derived from the initial polynomial. Furthermore, nonnegativity of such polynomials $f$ coincides with solidness of the amoeba of $f$, i.e., the Log-absolute-value image of the algebraic variety $\mathcal{V}(f) \subset (\mathbb{C}^*)^n$ of $f$. These results generalize earlier works both in amoeba theory and real algebraic geometry by Fidalgo, Kovacec, Reznick, Theobald and de Wolff and solve an open problem by Reznick. They establish the first direct connection between amoeba theory and nonnegativity of real polynomials. Additionally, these statements yield a completely new class of nonnegativity certificates independent from sums of squares certificates.

math.AG↗

arXiv2015

Norms of Roots of Trinomials

The behavior of norms of roots of univariate trinomials $z^{s+t} + p z^t + q \in \mathbb{C}[z]$ for fixed support $A = \{0,t,s+t\} \subset \mathbb{N}$ with respect to the choice of coefficients $p,q \in \mathbb{C}$ is a classical late 19th and early 20th century problem. Although algebraically characterized by P.\ Bohl in 1908, the geometry and topology of the corresponding parameter space of coefficients had yet to be revealed. Assuming $s$ and $t$ to be coprime we provide such a characterization for the space of trinomials by reinterpreting the problem in terms of amoeba theory. The roots of given norm are parameterized in terms of a hypotrochoid curve along a $\mathbb{C}$-slice of the space of trinomials, with multiple roots of this norm appearing exactly on the singularities. As a main result, we show that the set of all trinomials with support $A$ and certain roots of identical norm, as well as its complement can be deformation retracted to the torus knot $K(s+t,s)$, and thus are connected but not simply connected. An exception is the case where the $t$-th smallest norm coincides with the $(t+1)$-st smallest norm. Here, the complement has a different topology since it has fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}^2$.

math.AG↗