In this paper we describe a singly exponential algorithm for computing the first Betti number of a given semi-algebraic set. Singly exponential algorithms for computing the zero-th Betti number, and the Euler-Poincaré characteristic, were known before. No singly exponential algorithm was known for computing any of the individual Betti numbers other than the zero-th one. We also give algorithms for obtaining semi-algebraic descriptions of the semi-algebraically connected components of any given real algebraic or semi-algebraic set in single-exponential time improving on previous results.
In this paper we describe an algorithm that takes as input a description of a semi-algebraic set $S \subset \R^k$, defined by a Boolean formula with atoms of the form $P > 0, P < 0, P=0$ for $P \in {\mathcal P} \subset \R[X_1,...,X_k],$ and outputs the first $\ell+1$ Betti numbers of $S$, $b_0(S),...,b_\ell(S).$ The complexity of the algorithm is $(sd)^{k^{O(\ell)}},$ where where $s = #({\mathcal P})$ and $d = \max_{P\in {\mathcal P}}{\rm deg}(P),$ which is singly exponential in $k$ for $\ell$ any fixed constant. Previously, singly exponential time algorithms were known only for computing the …
Let $\mathrm{R}$ be a real closed field. The problem of obtaining tight bounds on the Betti numbers of semi-algebraic subsets of $\mathrm{R}^k$ in terms of the number and degrees of the defining polynomials has been an important problem in real algebraic geometry with the first results due to Ole{\uı}nik and Petrovski{\uı}, Thom and Milnor. These bounds are all exponential in the number of variables $k$. Motivated by several applications in real algebraic geometry, as well as in theoretical computer science, where such bounds have found applications, we consider in this paper the problem of bo…
The weak factorization theorem for birational maps is used to prove that for all nonnegative i the ith mod 2 Betti number of compact nonsingular real algebraic varieties has a unique extension to a "virtual Betti number" beta_i defined for all real algebraic varieties, such that if Y is a closed subvariety of X, then beta_i(X) = beta_i(X\Y) + beta_i(Y).
We study the Betti tables of reducible algebraic curves with a focus on connected line arrangements and provide a general formula for computing the quadratic strand of the Betti table for line arrangements that satisfy certain hypotheses. We also give explicit formulas for the entries of the Betti tables for all curves of genus zero and one. Last, we give formulas for the graded Betti numbers for a class of curves of higher genus.
Let $\R$ be a real closed field, $ {\mathcal Q} \subset \R[Y_1,...,Y_\ell,X_1,...,X_k], $ with $ °_{Y}(Q) \leq 2, °_{X}(Q) \leq d, Q \in {\mathcal Q}, #({\mathcal Q})=m,$ and $ {\mathcal P} \subset \R[X_1,...,X_k] $ with $°_{X}(P) \leq d, P \in {\mathcal P}, #({\mathcal P})=s$, and $S \subset \R^{\ell+k}$ a semi-algebraic set defined by a Boolean formula without negations, with atoms $P=0, P \geq 0, P \leq 0, P \in {\mathcal P} \cup {\mathcal Q}$. We prove that the sum of the Betti numbers of $S$ is bounded by \[ \ell^2 (O(s+\ell+m)\ell d)^{k+2m}. \] This is a common generalization of previous…
In [DJL07] it was shown that if A is an affine hyperplane arrangement in C^n, then at most one of the L^2-Betti numbers of its complement is non--zero. We will prove an analogous statement for complements of any algebraic curve in C^2. Furthermore we also recast and extend results of [LM06] in terms of L^2-Betti numbers.
We investigate compact complex manifolds of dimension three and second Betti number $b_2(X) = 0$. We are interested in the algebraic dimension $a(X)$, which is by definition the transcendence degree of the field of meromorphic functions over the field of complex numbers. The topological Euler characteristic $χ_{\mathrm{ top}}(X) $ equals the third Chern class $c_3(X)$ by a theorem of Hopf. Our main result is that, if $X$ is a compact 3-dimensional complex manifold with $b_2(X) = 0$ and $a(X) > 0$, then $c_3(X) = χ_{\rm top}(X) = 0$, that is, we either have $b_1(X) = 0, \ b_3(X) = 2$ or $b_1(X)…
Let X and Y be two smooth projective n-dimensional algebraic varieties X and Y over C with trivial canonical line bundles. We use methods of p-adic analysis on algebraic varieties over local number fields to prove that if X and Y are birational, they have the same Betti numbers.
We prove new bounds on the Betti numbers of real varieties and semi-algebraic sets that have a more refined dependence on the degrees of the polynomials defining them than results known before. Our method also unifies several different types of results under a single framework, such as bounds depending on the total degrees, on multi-degrees, as well as in the case of quadratic and partially quadratic polynomials. The bounds we present in the case of partially quadratic polynomials offer a significant improvement over what was previously known. Finally, we extend a result of Barone and Basu on …
We construct a dga to computing the cohomology of ordered configuration spaces on an algebraic variety with vanishing Euler characteristic. It follows that the $k$-th Betti number of $Conf(C,n)$ ($C$ is an elliptic curve) grows as a polynomial of degree exactly $2k-2$. We also compute $H^k(Conf(C,n))$ for $k \leq 5$ and arbitrary $n$.
For any $\ell > 0$, we present an algorithm which takes as input a semi-algebraic set, $S$, defined by $P_1 \leq 0,...,P_s \leq 0$, where each $P_i \in \R[X_1,...,X_k]$ has degree $\leq 2,$ and computes the top $\ell$ Betti numbers of $S$, $b_{k-1}(S), ..., b_{k-\ell}(S),$ in polynomial time. The complexity of the algorithm, stated more precisely, is $ \sum_{i=0}^{\ell+2} {s \choose i} k^{2^{O(\min(\ell,s))}}. $ For fixed $\ell$, the complexity of the algorithm can be expressed as $s^{\ell+2} k^{2^{O(\ell)}},$ which is polynomial in the input parameters $s$ and $k$. To our knowledge this is th…
Let $\mathrm{R}$ be a real closed field. We prove that for any fixed $d$, the equivariant rational cohomology groups of closed symmetric semi-algebraic subsets of $\mathrm{R}^k$ defined by polynomials of degrees bounded by $d$ vanishes in dimensions $d$ and larger. This vanishing result is tight. Using a new geometric approach we also prove an upper bound of $d^{O(d)} s^d k^{\lfloor d/2 \rfloor-1} $ on the equivariant Betti numbers of closed symmetric semi-algebraic subsets of $\mathrm{R}^k$ defined by quantifier-free formulas involving $s$ symmetric polynomials of degrees bounded by $d$, wher…
Let $\R$ be a real closed field, $ {\mathcal Q} \subset \R[Y_1,...,Y_\ell,X_1,...,X_k], $ with $ °_{Y}(Q) \leq 2, °_{X}(Q) \leq d, Q \in {\mathcal Q}, #({\mathcal Q})=m$, and $ {\mathcal P} \subset \R[X_1,...,X_k] $ with $°_{X}(P) \leq d, P \in {\mathcal P}, #({\mathcal P})=s$. Let $S \subset \R^{\ell+k}$ be a semi-algebraic set defined by a Boolean formula without negations, with atoms $P=0, P \geq 0, P \leq 0, P \in {\mathcal P} \cup {\mathcal Q}$. We describe an algorithm for computing the the Betti numbers of $S$. The complexity of the algorithm is bounded by $(\ell s m d)^{2^{O(m+k)}}$. T…
In this paper we consider the problem of bounding the Betti numbers, $b_i(S)$, of a semi-algebraic set $S \subset \R^k$ defined by polynomial inequalities $P_1 \geq 0,...,P_s \geq 0$, where $P_i \in \R[X_1,...,X_k]$ and $°(P_i) \leq 2$, for $1 \leq i \leq s$. We prove that for $0\le i\le k-1$, \[ b_i(S) \le{1/2}(\sum_{j=0}^{min\{s,k-i\}}{{s}\choose j}{{k+1}\choose {j}}2^{j}). \] In particular, for $2\le s\le \frac{k}{2}$, we have \[ b_i(S)\le {1/2} 3^{s}{{k+1}\choose {s}} \leq {1/2} (\frac{3e(k+1)}{s})^s. \] This improves the bound of $k^{O(s)}$ proved by Barvinok. This improvement is made pos…
Recently Brosnan and Chow have proven a conjecture of Shareshian and Wachs describing a representation of the symmetric group on the cohomology of regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties for $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$. A key component of their argument is that the Betti numbers of regular Hessenberg varieties for $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$ are palindromic. In this paper, we extend this result to all reductive algebraic groups, proving that the Betti numbers of regular Hessenberg varieties are palindromic.
We prove a bound conjectured by Itenberg on the Betti numbers of real algebraic hypersurfaces near non-singular tropical limits. These bounds are given in terms of the Hodge numbers of the complexification. To prove the conjecture we introduce a real variant of tropical homology and define a filtration on the corresponding chain complex inspired by Kalinin's filtration. The spectral sequence associated to this filtration converges to the homology groups of the real algebraic variety and we show that the terms of the first page are tropical homology groups with $\mathbb{Z}_2$-coefficients. The …
A generalization of the formula of Fine and Rao for the ranks of the intersection homology groups of a complex algebraic variety is given. The proof uses geometric properties of intersection homology and mixed Hodge theory.
Let $S \subset \R^{k + m}$ be a compact semi-algebraic set defined by a system of $\ell$ polynomial inequalities of degree at most 2. $ Let $π$ denote the standard projection from $\R^{k + m}$ onto $\R^m$. We prove that for any $q >0$, the sum of the first $q$ Betti numbers of $π(S)$ is bounded by $(k + m)^{O(q\ell)}.$ We also present an algorithm for computing the the first $q$ Betti numbers of $π(S)$, whose complexity is $ (k+m)^{2^{O(q\ell)}}.$ For fixed $q$ and $\ell$, both the bounds are polynomial in $k+m$.
We study the GIT quotients for the diagonal action of the algebraic group $SL_3(\mathbb{C})$ on the $n$-fold product of $\mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{C})$: in particular we determine a strategy in order to determine the (intersection) Poincaré polynomial of any quotient variety. In the special case $n=6$ we determine an explicit formula for the (intersection) Betti numbers of a quotient variety, depending only on the combinatorics of the weights of the polarization $m\in \mathbb{Z}^6_{>0}$.
This article proves the existence of a bound on the sum of local Betti numbers of a real analytic germ by a polynomial function of its multiplicity. This result can be interpreted as a localization of the classical Oleinik-Petrovsky bound (also known as Thom-Milnor bound) on the sum of Betti numbers of a semi-algebraic set. The proof relies on an interplay between geometric and algebraic arguments whose key elements are the tangent cone of the germ, the Thom-Mather topological trivialization theorem, the Oleinik-Petrovsky bound, and a result by D. Mumford and J. Heintz bounding the degrees of …
The Betti numbers of a graded module over the polynomial ring form a table of numerical invariants that refines the Hilbert polynomial. A sequence of papers sparked by conjectures of Boij and Söderberg have led to the characterization of the possible Betti tables up to rational multiples---that is, to the rational cone generated by the Betti tables. We will summarize this work by describing the cone and the closely related cone of cohomology tables of vector bundles on projective space, and we will give new, simpler proofs of some of the main results. We also explain some of the applications o…
It is well-known that the Eulerian polynomials, which count permutations in $S_n$ by their number of descents, give the $h$-polynomial/$h$-vector of the simple polytopes known as permutohedra, the convex hull of the $S_n$-orbit for a generic weight in the weight lattice of $S_n$. Therefore the Eulerian polynomials give the Betti numbers for certain smooth toric varieties associated with the permutohedra. In this paper we derive recurrences for the $h$-vectors of a family of polytopes generalizing this. The simple polytopes we consider arise as the orbit of a non-generic weight, namely a weight…
In this paper, by a modification of a previously constructed minimal free resolution for a transversal monomial ideal, the Betti numbers of this ideal is explicitly computed. For convenient characteristics of the ground field, up to a change of coordinates, the ideal of $t$-minors of a generic pluri-circulant matrix is a transversal monomial ideal . Using a Gröbner basis for this ideal, it is shown that the initial ideal of a generic pluri-circulant matrix is a stable monomial ideal when the matrix has two square blocks. By means of the Eliahou-Kervair resolution, the Betti numbers of this ini…
We give some explicit bounds for the number of cobordism classes of real algebraic manifolds of real degree less than $d$, and for the size of the sum of $\mod 2$ Betti numbers for the real form of complex manifolds of complex degree less than $d$.
The purpose of this note is to give a refinement of the product formula proved in [1] for the Poincare polynomial of a smooth Schubert variety in the flag variety of an algebraic group G over C. This yields a factorization of the number of elements in a Bruhat interval [e,w] in the Weyl group W of G provided the Schubert variety associated to w is smooth. This gives an elementary necessary condition for a Schubert variety in the flag variety to be smooth.
A complex algebraic variety defined over the reals is maximal when the sum of its Betti numbers for Borel Moore homology with $\zz$ coefficients coincides with the sum of the Betti numbers of its real part. We will show in this paper that toric varieties of dimension 4 are maximal.
The Abelian Sandpile Model (ASM) is a game played on a graph realizing the dynamics implicit in the discrete Laplacian matrix of the graph. The purpose of this primer is to apply the theory of lattice ideals from algebraic geometry to the Laplacian matrix, drawing out connections with the ASM. An extended summary of the ASM and of the required algebraic geometry is provided. New results include a characterization of graphs whose Laplacian lattice ideals are complete intersection ideals; a new construction of arithmetically Gorenstein ideals; a generalization to directed multigraphs of a dualit…
In this thesis, we consider semi-algebraic sets over a real closed field $R$ defined by quadratic polynomials. Semi-algebraic sets of $R^k$ are defined as the smallest family of sets in $R^k$ that contains the algebraic sets as well as the sets defined by polynomial inequalities, and which is also closed under the boolean operations (complementation, finite unions and finite intersections). We prove new bounds on the Betti numbers as well as on the number of different stable homotopy types of certain fibers of semi-algebraic sets over a real closed field $R$ defined by quadratic polynomials, i…
The comparison theorem for a smooth projective variety $X$ over $\mathbb{C}$ tells us that the Betti numbers are independent of $l$. We aim to understand the $l$ independence of Betti numbers for smooth projective varieties $X$ over $k$, where $k$ is an algebraic extension of $\mathbb{F}_p$.
In this paper we study graded Betti numbers of any nondegenerate 3-regular algebraic set $X$ in a projective space $\mathbb P^{n}$. More concretely, via Generic initial ideals (Gins) method we mainly consider `tailing' Betti numbers, whose homological index is not less than $\mathrm{codim}(X,\mathbb P^{n})$. For this purpose, we first introduce a key definition `$\mathrm{ND(1)}$ property', which provides a suitable ground where one can generalize the concepts such as `being nondegenerate' or `of minimal degree' from the case of varieties to the case of more general closed subschemes and give a…
The aim of this article is to investigate the cohomology (l-adic as well as Betti) of schemes, and more generally of certain algebraic stacks, that are proper and smooth over the integers and have the property that there exists a polynomial P with rational coefficients such that for all prime powers q the number of points over the field with q elements is P(q). We prove that for all prime numbers l the l-adic etale cohomology is a direct sum of Tate twists of the trivial representation. Our main tools here are Behrend's Lefschetz trace formula and l-adic Hodge theory. In the last section we in…
We are interested in the maximal values of the Betti numbers b_i({\mathbb R}X_m^n) for fixed i,m,n; where {\mathbb R}X_m^n is the real part of a real nonsingular hypersurface of degree m in the complex projective space {\mathbb C}P^n, and in the maximal values of the Betti numbers b_i({\mathbb R}Y_{2k}^n) for fixed i,k,n; where {\mathbb R}Y_{2k}^n is the real part of a double covering Y_{2k}^n of{\mathbb C}P^n ramified over some real nonsingular hypersurface of degree 2k. We show the existence of limits lim_{m -> +\infty} [Max b_i({\mathbb R}X_m^n)]/m^n=h_{i,n} and lim_{k -> +\infty} [Max b_i(…
We give a survey of algorithms for computing topological invariants of semi-algebraic sets with special emphasis on the more recent developments in designing algorithms for computing the Betti numbers of semi-algebraic sets. Aside from describing these results, we discuss briefly the background as well as the importance of these problems, and also describe the main tools from algorithmic semi-algebraic geometry, as well as algebraic topology, which make these advances possible. We end with a list of open problems.
The Poincaré polynomial of a Weyl group calculates the Betti numbers of the projective homogeneous space $G/B$, while the $h$-vector of a simple polytope calculates the Betti numbers of the corresponding rationally smooth toric variety. There is a common generalization of these two extremes called the $H$-polynomial. It applies to projective, homogeneous spaces, toric varieties and, much more generally, to any algebraic variety $X$ where there is a connected, solvable, algebraic group acting with a finite number of orbits. We illustrate this situation by describing the $H$-polynomials of certa…
Developing an algorithm for computing the Betti numbers of semi-algebraic sets with singly exponential complexity has been a holy grail in algorithmic semi-algebraic geometry and only partial results are known. In this paper we consider the more general problem of computing the image under the homology functor of a semi-algebraic map $f:X \rightarrow Y$ between closed and bounded semi-algebraic sets. For every fixed $\ell \geq 0$ we give an algorithm with singly exponential complexity that computes bases of the homology groups $\mathrm{H}_i(X), \mathrm{H}_i(Y)$ (with rational coefficients) and…
Given a real algebraic variety $X$ of dimension $n$, a very ample divisor $D$ on $X$ and a smooth closed hypersurface $Σ$ of $\mathbf{R}^n$, we construct real algebraic hypersurfaces in the linear system $|mD|$ whose real locus contains many connected components diffeomorphic to $Σ$. As a consequence, we show the existence of real algebraic hypersurfaces in the linear system $|mD|$ whose Betti numbers grow by the maximal order, as $m$ goes to infinity. As another application, we recover a result by D. Gayet on the existence of many disjoint lagrangians with prescribed topology in any smooth co…
A real algebraic variety is maximal (with respect to the Smith-Thom inequality) if the sum of the Betti numbers (with $\mathbb{Z}_2$ coefficients) of the real part of the variety is equal to the sum of Betti numbers of its complex part. We prove that there exist polytopes that are not Newton polytopes of any maximal hypersurface in the corresponding toric variety. On the other hand we show that for any polytope $Δ$ there are families of hypersurfaces with the Newton polytopes $(λΔ)_{λ\in \mathbb{N}}$ that are asymptotically maximal when $λ$ tends to infinity. We also show that these results ge…
An amoeba is the image of a subvariety of an algebraic torus under the logarithmic moment map. We consider some qualitative aspects of amoebas, establishing some results and posing problems for further study. These problems include determining the dimension of an amoeba, describing an amoeba as a semi-algebraic set, and identifying varieties whose amoebas are a finite intersection of amoebas of hypersurfaces. We show that an amoeba that is not of full dimension is not such a finite intersection if its variety is nondegenerate and we describe amoebas of lines as explicit semi-algebraic sets.
We propose a new geometrical model of matter, in which neutral atoms are modelled by compact, complex algebraic surfaces. Proton and neutron numbers are determined by a surface's Chern numbers. Equivalently, they are determined by combinations of the Hodge numbers, or the Betti numbers. Geometrical constraints on algebraic surfaces allow just a finite range of neutron numbers for a given proton number. This range encompasses the known isotopes.
We use basic algebraic topology and Ellingsrud-Stromme results on the Betti numbers of punctual Hilbert schemes of surfaces to compute a generating function for the Euler characteristic numbers of the Douady spaces of "n-points" associated with a complex surface. The projective case was first proved by L. Göttsche.
Let X be a smooth complex projective manifold of dimension n equipped with an ample line bundle L and a rank k holomorphic vector bundle E. We assume that 0< k <=n, that X, E and L are defined over the reals and denote by RX the real locus of X. Then, we estimate from above and below the expected Betti numbers of the vanishing loci in RX of holomorphic real sections of E tensored with L^d, where d is a large enough integer. Moreover, given any closed connected codimension k submanifold S of R^n with trivial normal bundle, we prove that a real section of E tensored with L^d has a positive proba…
We consider symmetric (under the action of products of finite symmetric groups) real algebraic varieties and semi-algebraic sets, as well as symmetric complex varieties in affine and projective spaces, defined by polynomials of degrees bounded by a fixed constant $d$. We prove that if a Specht module, $\mathbb{S}^λ$, appears with positive multiplicity in the isotypic decomposition of the cohomology modules of such sets, then the rank of the partition $λ$ is bounded by $O(d)$. This implies a polynomial (in the dimension of the ambient space) bound on the number of such modules. Furthermore, we …
Real algebraic geometry is the study of semi-algebraic sets, subsets of $\R^k$ defined by Boolean combinations of polynomial equalities and inequalities. The focus of this thesis is to study quantitative results in real algebraic geometry, primarily upper bounds on the topological complexity of semi-algebraic sets as measured, for example, by their Betti numbers. Another quantitative measure of topological complexity which we study is the number of homotopy types of semi-algebraic sets of bounded description complexity. The description complexity of a semi-algebraic set depends on the context,…
We study the maximal values of Betti numbers of tropical subvarieties of a given dimension and degree in $\mathbb{TP}^n$. We provide a lower estimate for the maximal value of the top Betti number, which naturally depends on the dimension and degree, but also on the codimension. In particular, when the codimension is large enough, this lower estimate is larger than the maximal value of the corresponding Hodge number of complex algebraic projective varieties of the given dimension and degree. In the case of surfaces, we extend our study to all tropical homology groups. As a special case, we prov…
The graded Betti numbers of the minimal free resolution (and also therefore the Hilbert function) of the ideal of a fat point subscheme Z of P^2 are determined whenever Z is supported at any 6 or fewer distinct points. All results hold over an algebraically closed field k of arbitrary characteristic.
In the present paper, we consider upper bounds of higher linear syzygies i.e. graded Betti numbers in the first linear strand of the minimal free resolutions of projective varieties in arbitrary characteristic. For this purpose, we first remind `Partial Elimination Ideals (PEIs)' theory and introduce a new framework in which one can study the syzygies of embedded projective schemes well using PEIs theory and the reduction method via inner projections. Next we establish fundamental inequalities which govern the relations between the graded Betti numbers in the first linear strand of an algebrai…
We construct a period regulator for motivic cohomology of an algebraic scheme over a subfield of the complex numbers. For the field of algebraic numbers we formulate a period conjecture for motivic cohomology by saying that this period regulator is surjective. Showing that a suitable Betti--de Rham realization of 1-motives is fully faithful we can verify this period conjecture in several cases. The divisibility properties of motivic cohomology imply that our conjecture is a neat generalization of the classical Grothendieck period conjecture for algebraic cycles on smooth and proper schemes. Th…
