We initiate a study of the Euclidean Distance Degree in the context of sparse polynomials. Specifically, we consider a hypersurface f=0 defined by a polynomial f that is general given its support, such that the support contains the origin. We show that the Euclidean Distance Degree of f=0 equals the mixed volume of the Newton polytopes of the associated Lagrange multiplier equations. We discuss the implication of our result for computational complexity and give a formula for the Euclidean distance degree when the Newton polytope is a rectangular parallelepiped.
We define Euclidean scissor congruence groups for an arbitrary algebraically closed field F and propose their conjectural description. We suggest how they should be related to mixed Tate motives over dual numbers for F.
Computing mixed volume of convex polytopes is an important problem in computational algebraic geometry. This paper establishes sufficient conditions under which the mixed volume of several convex polytopes exactly equals the normalized volume of the convex hull of their union. Under these conditions the problem of computing mixed volume of several polytopes can be transformed into a volume computation problem for a single polytope in the same dimension. We demonstrate through problems from real world applications that substantial reduction in computational costs can be achieved via this transf…
The main results of this paper interpret mixed volumes of lattice polytopes as mixed multiplicities of ideals and mixed multiplicities of ideals as Samuel's multiplicities. In particular, we can give a purely algebraic proof of Bernstein's theorem which asserts that the number of common zeros of a system of Laurent polynomial equations in the torus is bounded above by the mixed volume of their Newton polytopes.
This note provides a simple proof for the equality between the normalized volume of a convex polytope with $m$ vertices and the mixed volume of $m$ simplices and thus shows the seemingly restrictive problem of computing mixed volume of simplices is still at least as hard as computing volumes of convex polytopes.
Using a certain Pick-type formula for the mixed volume of Cayley polyhedra, we compute the multiplicity of the isolated common zero of the maximal minors for a matrix of generic homogeneous polynomials of given degrees.
Normal complexes are orthogonal truncations of polyhedral fans. In this paper, we develop the study of mixed volumes for normal complexes. Our main result is a sufficiency condition that ensures when the mixed volumes of normal complexes associated to a given fan satisfy the Alexandrov-Fenchel inequalities. By specializing to Bergman fans of matroids, we give a new proof of the Heron-Rota-Welsh Conjecture as a consequence of the Alexandrov-Fenchel inequalities for normal complexes.
In the course of classifying generic sparse polynomial systems which are solvable in radicals, Esterov recently showed that the volume of the Minkowski sum $P_1+\dots+P_d$ of $d$-dimensional lattice polytopes is bounded from above by a function of order $O(m^{2^d})$, where $m$ is the mixed volume of the tuple $(P_1,\dots,P_d)$. This is a consequence of the well-known Aleksandrov-Fenchel inequality. Esterov also posed the problem of determining a sharper bound. We show how additional relations between mixed volumes can be employed to improve the bound to $O(m^d)$, which is asymptotically sharp.…
Generalizing the famous Bernstein-Kushnirenko Theorem, Khovanskii proved in 1978 a combinatorial formula for the arithmetic genus of the compactification of a generic complete intersection associated to a family of lattice polytopes. Recently, an analogous combinatorial formula, called the discrete mixed volume, was introduced by Bihan and shown to be nonnegative. By making a footnote of Khovanskii in his paper explicit, we interpret this invariant as the (motivic) arithmetic genus of the non-compact generic complete intersection associated to the family of lattice polytopes.
We present an algorithm for the classification of triples of lattice polytopes with a given mixed volume $m$ in dimension 3. It is known that the classification can be reduced to the enumeration of so-called irreducible triples, the number of which is finite for fixed $m$. Following this algorithm, we enumerate all irreducible triples of normalized mixed volume up to 4 that are inclusion-maximal. This produces a classification of generic trivariate sparse polynomial systems with up to 4 solutions in the complex torus, up to monomial changes of variables. By a recent result of Esterov, this lea…
Two different constructions of an invariant of an odd dimensional hyperbolic manifold in the K-group $K_{2n-1}(\bar \Bbb Q)\otimes \Bbb Q$ are given. The volume of the manifold is equal to the value of the Borel regulator on that element. The scissor congruence groups in non euclidian geometries are studied and their relationship with algebraic K-theory of the field of complex numbers is discussed.
We construct a certain $\F_2$-valued analogue of the mixed volume of lattice polytopes. This 2-mixed volume cannot be defined as a polarization of any kind of an additive measure, or characterized by any kind of its monotonicity properties, because neither of the two makes sense over $\F_2$. In this sense, the convex-geometric nature of the 2-mixed volume remains unclear. On the other hand, the 2-mixed volume seems to be no less natural and useful than the classical mixed volume -- in particular, it also plays an important role in algebraic geometry. As an illustration of this role, we obtain …
In 1996 I.Kh. Sabitov proved that the volume of a simplicial polyhedron in a 3-dimensional Euclidean space is a root of certain polynomial with coefficients depending on the combinatorial type and on edge lengths of the polyhedron only. Moreover, the coefficients of this polynomial are polynomials in edge lengths of the polyhedron. This result implies that the volume of a simplicial polyhedron with fixed combinatorial type and edge lengths can take only finitely many values. In particular, this yields that the volume of a flexible polyhedron in a 3-dimensional Euclidean space is constant. Unti…
We show that the Euclidean ball has the smallest volume among sublevel sets of nonnegative forms of bounded Bombieri norm as well as among sublevel sets of sum of squares forms whose Gram matrix has bounded Frobenius or nuclear (or, more generally, p-Schatten) norm. These volume-minimizing properties of the Euclidean ball with respect to its representation (as a sublevel set of a form of fixed even degree) complement its numerous intrinsic geometric properties. We also provide a probabilistic interpretation of the results.
Let $P_1,\dots, P_n$ and $Q_1,\dots, Q_n$ be convex polytopes in $\mathbb{R}^n$ such that $P_i\subset Q_i$. It is well-known that the mixed volume has the monotonicity property: $V(P_1,\dots,P_n)\leq V(Q_1,\dots,Q_n)$. We give two criteria for when this inequality is strict in terms of essential collections of faces as well as mixed polyhedral subdivisions. This geometric result allows us to characterize sparse polynomial systems with Newton polytopes $P_1,\dots,P_n$ whose number of isolated solutions equals the normalized volume of the convex hull of $P_1\cup\dots\cup P_n$. In addition, we ob…
We give an Eynard-Orantin type topological recursion formula for the canonical Euclidean volume of the combinatorial moduli space of pointed smooth algebraic curves. The recursion comes from the edge removal operation on the space of ribbon graphs. As an application we obtain a new proof of the Kontsevich constants for the ratio of the Euclidean and the symplectic volumes of the moduli space of curves.
We show that the mixed volumes of arbitrary convex bodies are equal to mixed multiplicities of graded families of monomial ideals, and to normalized limits of mixed multiplicities of monomial ideals. This result evinces the close relation between the theories of mixed volumes from convex geometry and mixed multiplicities from commutative algebra.
We prove bounds for the volume of neighborhoods of algebraic sets, in the euclidean space or the sphere, in terms of the degree of the defining polynomials, the number of variables and the dimension of the algebraic set, without any smoothness assumption. This generalizes previous work of Lotz on smooth complete intersections in the euclidean space and of Bürgisser, Cucker and Lotz on hypersurfaces in the sphere, and gives a complete solution to Problem 17 in the book titled "Condition" by Bürgisser and Cucker.
