arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Michael Joswig.
We introduce a class of random polytopes which simultaneously generalizes several known constructions. While being fairly general, these polytopes are also computationally exceptionally benign. We indicate how these properties can be exploited for classification and clustering tasks in data analysis. Crucially, our construction lets users smoothly trade off between a tighter description of the data and faster computation.
It is shown that there are real plane algebraic curves of degree eight that cannot be realized as T-curves, i.e., via combinatorial patchworking. In fact, this holds for several real schemes (i.e., ambient isotopy types) with the maximal number of real components, called $M$-curves. On the other hand, each nonempty real scheme of lower degree, maximal or not, arises as a T-curve. By constructing one patchwork of the dilated triangle $d\cdotΔ_2$ for each nonempty real scheme of degree $d\leq 7$, we provide an explicit method for constructing polynomials realizing these real schemes. This resolves a question of Itenberg and Viro (1996).
The shellability of the boundary complex of an unbounded polyhedron is investigated. To this end, it is necessary to study suitable compactifications first. Results on polyhedra can then be exploited to derive a shellability result for tropical hypersurfaces. Under the hood there is a subtle interplay between the duality of polyhedral complexes and their shellability. Translated into discrete Morse theory, that interplay also gives that the tight span of a regular subdivision is collapsible, but not shellable in general.
The objects of study are triangulations of the dilated standard triangle in the plane. Motivated by work on T-curves (Geiselmann et al., 2026), the focus lies on unimodular triangulations with a fixed symmetry axis. Lower and upper bounds are given, in combination with full enumerations of a few small cases.
A T-curve of degree $d$ is given by a regular unimodular triangulation of $d \cdot Δ_2$ together with a sign distribution on its lattice points. By Viro's Patchworking Theorem, this determines the ambient isotopy type (a.k.a. real scheme) of a smooth real plane projective algebraic curve of the same degree. We present a near-quadratic time algorithm for extracting that isotopy type from the triangulation and the signs. Through a GPU-accelerated implementation, this allows one to compute billions of real schemes per second, enabling exhaustive enumeration at scale. This algorithm was essential for our recent construction of all 121 real schemes of degree seven by T-curves.
We show how the computer algebra system OSCAR can be used to obtain topologically correct or visually pleasing drawings of real plane algebraic curves.
Improved algorithms for computing (partial and full) exterior algebraic shifts of hypergraphs and simplicial complexes are presented. The main benefit is in positive characteristic. Experiments with an implementation in OSCAR with various inputs such as bipartite graphs and triangulations of two and three dimensional manifolds show that the method considerably extends for which simplicial complexes exterior algebraic shifts can be computed in practice.
We describe a generic JSON based file format which is suitable for computations in computer algebra. This is implemented in the computer algebra system OSCAR, but we also indicate how it can be used in a different context.
We study algebraic shifting of uniform hypergraphs and finite simplicial complexes in the exterior algebra with respect to matrices which are not necessarily generic. Several questions raised by Kalai (2002) are addressed. For instance, it turns out that the combinatorial shifting of Erdős$\unicode{x2013}$Ko$\unicode{x2013}$Rado (1961) arises as a special case. Moreover, we identify a sufficient condition for partial shifting to preserve the Betti numbers of a simplicial complex; examples show that this condition is sharp.
The order and chain polytopes, introduced by Richard P. Stanley, form a pair of Ehrhart equivalent polytopes associated to a given finite poset. A conjecture by Takayuki Hibi and Nan Li states that the $f$-vector of the chain polytope dominates the $f$-vector of the order polytope. In this paper we prove a stronger form of that conjecture for a special class of posets. More precisely, we show that the $f$-vectors increase monotonically over an admissible family of chain-order polytopes for such posets.
The concept of $S$-characters of finite groups was introduced by Zhmud' as a generalisation of transitive permutation characters. Any non-trivial $S$-character takes a zero value on some group element. By a deep result depending on the classification of finite simple groups a non-trivial transitive permutation character even vanishes on some element of prime power order. We present examples that this does not generalise to $S$-characters, thereby answering a question posed by J-P. Serre.
We study certain generic systems of real polynomial equations associated with triangulations of convex polytopes and investigate their number of real solutions. Our main focus is set on pairs of plane algebraic curves which form a so-called Wronski system. The computational tasks arising in the analysis of such Wronski pairs lead us to the frontiers of current computer algebra algorithms and their implementations, both via Gröbner bases and numerical algebraic geometry.
The term "tropical convexity" was coined by Develin and Sturmfels who published a landmark paper with that title in 2004. However, the topic has much older roots and is deeply connected to linear and combinatorial optimization and other areas of mathematics. The purpose of this survey is to sketch how that article contributed to shaping the field of tropical geometry as we know it today.
We discuss what is special about the reproducibility of workflows in computer algebra. It is emphasized how the programming language Julia and the new computer algebra system OSCAR support such a reproducibility, and how users can benefit for their own work.
OSCAR is an innovative new computer algebra system which combines and extends the power of its four cornerstone systems - GAP (group theory), Singular (algebra and algebraic geometry), Polymake (polyhedral geometry), and Antic (number theory). Assuming little familiarity with the subject, we give an introduction to computations in polyhedral geometry using OSCAR, as a chapter of the upcoming OSCAR book. In particular, we define polytopes, polyhedra, and polyhedral fans, and we give a brief overview about computing convex hulls and solving linear programs. Three detailed case studies are left for experts in polyhedral geometry. These are concerned with face numbers of random polytopes, constructions and properties of Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes, and secondary polytopes.
The secondary fan $Σ(k,n)$ is a polyhedral fan which stratifies the regular subdivisions of the hypersimplices $Δ(k,n)$. We find new infinite families of rays of $Σ(k,n)$, and we compute the fans $Σ(2,7)$ and $Σ(3,6)$. In the special case $k=2$ the fan $Σ(2,n)$ is closely related to the metric fan $\mathop{MF}(n)$, which forms a natural parameter space for the metric spaces on $n$ points. So our results yield a classification of the finite metric spaces on seven points.
Motivated by the vast literature of quantum automorphism groups of graphs, we define and study quantum automorphism groups of matroids. A key feature of quantum groups is that there are many quantizations of a classical group, and this phenomenon manifests in the cryptomorphic characterizations of matroids. Our primary goals are to understand, using theoretical and computational techniques, the relationship between these quantum groups and to find when these quantum groups exhibit quantum symmetry. Finally, we prove a matroidal analog of Lovász's theorem characterizing graph isomorphisms in terms of homomorphism counts.
We study the question whether copies of $S^1$ in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ can be amalgamated in a compact group. This is the simplest instance of a fundamental open problem in the theory of compact groups raised by George Bergman in 1987. Considerable computational experiments suggest that the answer is positive in this case. We obtain a positive answer for a relaxed problem using theoretical considerations.