An Invitation to Tropical Alexandrov Curvature

Carlos Améndola; Anthea Monod

doi:10.2140/astat.2023.14.181

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2105.07423

An Invitation to Tropical Alexandrov Curvature

Carlos Améndola·Anthea Monod

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We study Alexandrov curvature in the tropical projective torus with respect to the tropical metric, which has been useful in various statistical analyses, particularly in phylogenomics. Alexandrov curvature is a generalization of classical Riemannian sectional curvature to more general metric spaces; it is determined by a comparison of triangles in an arbitrary metric space to corresponding triangles in Euclidean space. In the polyhedral setting of tropical geometry, triangles are a combinatorial object, which adds a combinatorial dimension to our analysis. We study the effect that the triangle types have on curvature, and what can be revealed about these types from the curvature. We find that positive, negative, zero, and undefined Alexandrov curvature can exist concurrently in tropical settings and that there is a tight connection between triangle combinatorial type and curvature. Our results are established both by proof and computational experiments, and shed light on the intricate geometry of the tropical projective torus. In this context, we discuss implications for statistical methodologies which admit inherent geometric interpretations. This paper is dedicated to Bernd Sturmfels on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Explore related subjects

math.MG math.AG

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Carlos Améndola, Anthea Monod. 2023-02-10. An Invitation to Tropical Alexandrov Curvature. https://doi.org/10.2140/astat.2023.14.181

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

From the Steiner Inellipse to the John Ellipsoid of a Simplex: A Corner-Volume Characterization

For a triangle of area $T$, a planar corner-area characterization states that an interior point $M$ lies on the Steiner inellipse precisely when the three corner triangles cut off by the lines through $M$ parallel to the sides have areas $T_1,T_2,T_3$ satisfying $$ T_1+T_2+T_3=\frac12 T. $$ We give the corresponding statement for a simplex in arbitrary dimension. If $S$ is a nondegenerate $n$-simplex of volume $V$ and $V_1(M),\ldots,V_{n+1}(M)$ are the volumes of the facet-parallel corner simplices determined by $M$, then $$ M\in\partial E_J(S) \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad \sum_{i=1}^{n+1}V_i(M)^{2/n}=\frac1n V^{2/n}, $$ where $E_J(S)$ is the John ellipsoid of $S$. We also identify the entire corner-volume functional with the central second-moment quadratic of the uniform simplex. The novelty claimed here is limited to the corner-volume formulations and their connections with the planar Steiner-inellipse result; the underlying barycentric, covariance, and John-ellipsoid facts are classical.

math.MG↗

arXiv2026

The $L_p$ Minkowski problem for $C$-close sets: existence and continuity

Let $C$ be a pointed closed convex cone in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with nonempty interior, and let $S^{n-1}$ denote the unit sphere in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The $L_p$ Minkowski problem for $C$-close sets is to determine, for a real number $p$ and a nonzero finite Borel measure $μ$ defined on $Ω_{C^\circ}=S^{n-1}\cap \mathrm{int} C^{\circ}$, whether there exists a $C$-close set $\mathds{A}$ such that $μ$ is the $L_p$ surface area measure of $\mathds{A}$. In this paper, we will solve the problem for $p\in (0,1)$ and for $μ$ being a nonzero finite Borel measure on $Ω_{C^\circ}$. Moreover, we establish the continuity of solutions to the $L_p$ Minkowski problem for $p\in [0, 1]$ in several settings.

math.MG↗

arXiv2026

Convergence of metric measure spaces via embeddings in the Urysohn universal space

We study different notions of convergence of metric measure spaces by means of isometric embeddings into the Urysohn universal metric space $\mathbb U$. Due to the universality of $\mathbb U$, the collection $\mathbb X_1$ of isomorphism classes of normalised metric measure spaces can be canonically identified with the quotient (set) $\mathscr P_\sim(\mathbb U)=\mathscr P(\mathbb U)/\sim$ of the space $\mathscr P(\mathbb U)$ of Borel probability measures on $\mathbb U$, where $μ\simν$ if $ν$ is the pushforward of $μ$ under an isometry between their respective supports. By making crucial use of the ultrahomogeneity of $\mathbb U$, we show that, under the above identification, Gromov's box topology on $\mathbb X_1$ coincides with the quotient topology induced by the weak topology of $\mathscr P(\mathbb U)$. More quantitatively, the truncated $1$-Wasserstein distance on $\mathscr P(\mathbb U)$ induces a complete and separable distance ${\sf d}_{\rm mG}$ on $\mathbb X_1\cong\mathscr P_\sim(\mathbb U)$, which metrises the quotient topology of $\mathscr P_\sim(\mathbb U)$ and is Hölder equivalent to the box distance $\square$.

math.MG↗