The main objective of this paper is to extend Morse-Forman theory to vector-valued functions. This is mostly motivated by the need to develop new tools and methods to compute multiparameter persistence. To generalize the theory, in addition to adapting the main definitions and results of Forman to this vectorial setting, we use concepts of combinatorial topological dynamics studied in recent years. This approach proves to be successful in the following ways. First, we establish a result which is more general than that of Forman regarding the sublevel sets of a multidimensional discrete Morse function. Second, we find a way to induce a Morse decomposition in critical components from the critical points of such a function. Finally, we deduce a set of Morse equation and inequalities specific to the multiparameter setting.
We define a class of multiparameter persistence modules that arise from a one-parameter family of functions on a topological space and prove that these persistence modules are stable. We show that this construction can produce indecomposable persistence modules with arbitrarily large dimension. In the case of smooth functions on a compact manifold, we apply cobordism theory and Cerf theory to study the resulting persistence modules. We give examples in which we obtain a complete description of the persistence module as a direct sum of indecomposable summands and provide a corresponding visuali…
We derive a discrete analogue of Morse-Bott theory on CW complexes and use this discrete Morse-Bott function to do some Conley theory analysis. It turns out that our discrete Morse-Bott theory is indeed a generalization of Forman's discrete Morse theory.
From the topological viewpoint, Morse shellings of finite simplicial complexes are {\it pinched} handle decompositions and extend the classical shellings. We prove that every discrete Morse function on a finite simplicial complex induces Morse shellings on its second barycentric subdivision whose critical tiles-or pinched handles-are in oneto-one correspondence with the critical faces of the function, preserving the index. The same holds true, given any smooth Morse function on a closed manifold, for any piecewise-linear triangulation on it after sufficiently many barycentric subdivisions.
We introduce a notion of Morse shellings (and tilings) on finite simplicial complexes which extends the classical one and its relation to discrete Morse theory.Skeletons and barycentric subdivisions of Morse shellable (or tileable) simplicial complexes are Morse shellable (or tileable). Moreover, every triangulated closed surface is Morse shellable while every closed three-manifold carries Morse shellable triangulations. Finally, any shelling encodes a class of discrete Morse functions whose critical points are in one-to-one correspondence, preserving the index, with the critical tiles of the …
It is proved that every discrete Morse function in the sense of Forman on a finite regular CW complex can be represented by a polyhedral Morse function in the sense of Banchoff on an appropriate embedding in Euclidean space of the barycentric subdivision of the CW complex; such a representation preserves critical points. The proof is stated in terms of discrete Morse functions on a class of posets that is slightly broader than the class of face posets of finite regular CW complexes.
In the case of smooth manifolds, we use Forman's discrete Morse theory to realize combinatorially any Thom-Smale complex coming from a smooth Morse function by a couple triangulation-discrete Morse function. As an application, we prove that any Euler structure on a smooth oriented closed 3-manifold has a particular realization by a complete matching on the Hasse diagram of a triangulation of the manifold.
In this paper, we study a class of discrete Morse functions, coming from Discrete Morse Theory, that are equivalent to a class of simplicial stacks, coming from Mathematical Morphology. We show that, as in Discrete Morse Theory, we can see the gradient vector field of a simplicial stack (seen as a discrete Morse function) as the only relevant information we should consider. Last, but not the least, we also show that the Minimum Spanning Forest of the dual graph of a simplicial stack is induced by the gradient vector field of the initial function. This result allows computing a watershed-cut fr…
In 1967, Chillingworth proved that all convex simplicial 3-balls are collapsible. Using the classical notion of tightness, we generalize this to arbitrary manifolds: We show that all tight simplicial 3-manifolds admit some perfect discrete Morse function. We also strengthen Chillingworth's theorem by proving that all convex simplicial 3-balls are non-evasive. In contrast, we show that many non-evasive 3-balls are not convex.
After surveying classical notions of PL topology of the Seventies, we clarify the relation between Morse theory and its discretization by Forman. We show that PL handles theory and discrete Morse theory are equivalent, in the sense that every discrete Morse vector on some PL triangulation is also a PL handle vector, and conversely, every PL handle vector is also a discrete Morse vector on some PL triangulation. It follows that in dimension up to 7, every discrete Morse vector on some PL triangulation is also a smooth Morse vector; the vice versa is true in all dimensions. This revises and impr…
1) We introduce random discrete Morse theory as a computational scheme to measure the complicatedness of a triangulation. The idea is to try to quantify the frequence of discrete Morse matchings with a certain number of critical cells. Our measure will depend on the topology of the space, but also on how nicely the space is triangulated. (2) The scheme we propose looks for optimal discrete Morse functions with an elementary random heuristic. Despite its naïveté, this approach turns out to be very successful even in the case of huge inputs. (3) In our view the existing libraries of examples in …
We address the basic question in discrete Morse theory of combining discrete gradient fields that are partially defined on subsets of the given complex. This is a well-posed question when the discrete gradient field $V$ is generated using a fixed algorithm which has a local nature. One example is ProcessLowerStars, a widely used algorithm for computing persistent homology associated to a grey-scale image in 2D or 3D. While the algorithm for $V$ may be inherently local, being computed within stars of vertices and so embarrassingly parallelizable, in practical use it is natural to want to distri…
We study the geometry and dynamics of discrete infinite covolume subgroups of higher rank semisimple Lie groups. We introduce and prove the equivalence of several conditions, capturing "rank one behavior'' of discrete subgroups of higher rank Lie groups. They are direct generalizations of rank one equivalents to convex cocompactness. We also prove that our notions are equivalent to the notion of Anosov subgroup, for which we provide a closely related, but simplified and more accessible reformulation, avoiding the geodesic flow of the group. We show moreover that the Anosov condition can be rel…
We obtain a simple and complete characterisation of which matchings on the Tait graph of a knot diagram induce a discrete Morse function (dMf) on $S^2$, extending a construction due to Cohen. We show these dMfs are in bijection with certain rooted spanning forests in the Tait graph. We use this to count the number of such dMfs with a closed formula involving the graph Laplacian. We then simultaneously generalise Kauffman's Clock Theorem and Kenyon-Propp-Wilson's correspondence in two different directions; we first prove that the image of the correspondence induces a bijection on perfect dMfs, …
We present extremal constructions connected with the property of simplicial collapsibility. (1) For each $d \ge 2$, there are collapsible (and shellable) simplicial $d$-complexes with only one free face. Also, there are non-evasive $d$-complexes with only two free faces. (Both results are optimal in all dimensions.) (2) Optimal discrete Morse vectors need not be unique. We explicitly construct a contractible, but non-collapsible $3$-dimensional simplicial complex with face vector $f=(106,596,1064,573)$ that admits two distinct optimal discrete Morse vectors, $(1,1,1,0)$ and $(1,0,1,1)$. Indeed…
Given a finite set of points in $\mathbb R^n$ and a radius parameter, we study the Čech, Delaunay-Čech, Delaunay (or Alpha), and Wrap complexes in the light of generalized discrete Morse theory. Establishing the Čech and Delaunay complexes as sublevel sets of generalized discrete Morse functions, we prove that the four complexes are simple-homotopy equivalent by a sequence of simplicial collapses, which are explicitly described by a single discrete gradient field.
Discrete Morse theory emerged as an essential tool for computational geometry and topology. Its core structures are discrete gradient fields, defined as acyclic matchings on a complex $C$, from which topological and geometrical informations of $C$ can be efficiently computed, in particular its homology or Morse-Smale decomposition. Given a function $f$ sampled on $C$, it is possible to derive a discrete gradient that mimics the dynamics of $f$. Many such constructions are based on some variant of a greedy pairing of adjacent cells, given an appropriate weighting. However, proving that the dyna…
Optimal Morse matchings reveal essential structures of cell complexes which lead to powerful tools to study discrete geometrical objects, in particular discrete 3-manifolds. However, such matchings are known to be NP-hard to compute on 3-manifolds, through a reduction to the erasability problem. Here, we refine the study of the complexity of problems related to discrete Morse theory in terms of parameterized complexity. On the one hand we prove that the erasability problem is W[P]-complete on the natural parameter. On the other hand we propose an algorithm for computing optimal Morse matchings…
We inspect Vietoris-Rips complexes $VR_t(X)$ of certain metric spaces $X$ using a new generalization of Bestvina-Brady discrete Morse theory. Our main result is a pair of metric criteria on $X$, called the Morse Criterion and Link Criterion, that allow us to deduce information about the homotopy types of certain $VR_t(X)$. One application is to topological data analysis, specifically persistence of homotopy type for certain Vietoris-Rips complexes. For example we recover some results of Adamaszek-Adams and Hausmann regarding homotopy types of $VR_t(S^n)$. Another application is to geometric gr…
If Gamma is any finite graph, then the unlabelled configuration space of n points on Gamma, denoted UC^n(Gamma), is the space of n-element subsets of Gamma. The braid group of Gamma on n strands is the fundamental group of UC^n(Gamma). We apply a discrete version of Morse theory to these UC^n(Gamma), for any n and any Gamma, and provide a clear description of the critical cells in every case. As a result, we can calculate a presentation for the braid group of any tree, for any number of strands. We also give a simple proof of a theorem due to Ghrist: the space UC^n(Gamma) strong deformation re…
The aim of this paper is to develop a refinement of Forman's discrete Morse theory. To an acyclic partial matching $μ$ on a finite regular CW complex $X$, Forman introduced a discrete analogue of gradient flows. Although Forman's gradient flow has been proved to be useful in practical computations of homology groups, it is not sufficient to recover the homotopy type of $X$. Forman also proved the existence of a CW complex which is homotopy equivalent to $X$ and whose cells are in one-to-one correspondence with the critical cells of $μ$, but the construction is ad hoc and does not have a combin…
We study Morse representations of discrete subgroups in higher rank semi-simple Lie groups defined by M. Kapovich, B. Leeb and J. Porti. We show that, if a sequence of Morse representations $ρ_n : Γ\rightarrow G$ is (strongly) unbounded in the character variety, the group must have a very particular structure.
The counting function on the natural numbers defines a discrete Morse-Smale complex with a cohomology for which topological quantities like Morse indices, Betti numbers or counting functions for critical points of Morse index are explicitly given in number theoretical terms. The Euler characteristic of the Morse filtration is related to the Mertens function, the Poincaré-Hopf indices at critical points correspond to the values of the Moebius function. The Morse inequalities link number theoretical quantities like the prime counting functions relevant for the distribution of primes with cohomol…
We formalize an equivariant version of Bestvina-Brady discrete Morse theory, and apply it to Vietoris-Rips complexes in order to exhibit finite universal spaces for proper actions for all asymptotically CAT(0) groups.
