A linkage is a finite graph with lengths assigned to each edge. A planar realization is a map to the plane which preserves edge lengths. It can be thought of as a mechanical device formed from stiff rods and rotating joints. We look at the configuration space of all planar realizations of a linkage (following work of Kapovich-Millson). We also look at configuration spaces of cabled linkages, where some edges are flexible cables. These configuration spaces are classified up to analytic isomorphism.
We prove realizability theorems for vector-valued polynomial mappings, real-algebraic sets and compact smooth manifolds by moduli spaces of planar linkages. We also establish a relation between universality theorems for moduli spaces of mechanical linkages and projective arrangements.
This paper characterizes which subsets of C^n can be the set of positions of n points on a linkage in the complex plane C. For example, assuming compactness they are just compact semialgebraic sets. Noncompact configuration spaces are semialgebraics sets invariant under the Euclidean group, with compact quotient.
This paper studies the configuration space of all possible positions of a linkage in R^n. For example, it shows that for every compact algebraic set, there is a linkage whose configuration space is analytically isomorphic to a finite number of copies of the algebraic set. If flexible edges are allowed, any compact set given by polynomial equalities and inequalities is the configuration space of a linkage. This paper also characterizes functions which can be computed by linkages.
Methods from algebra and algebraic geometry have been used in various ways to study linkages in kinematics. These methods have failed so far for the study of linkages with helical joints (joints with screw motion), because of the presence of some non-algebraic relations. In this article, we explore a delicate reduction of some analytic equations in kinematics to algebraic questions via a theorem of Ax. As an application, we give a classification of mobile closed 5-linkages with revolute, prismatic, and helical joints.
Johann Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics (RICAM)（约翰·拉德诺计算与应用数学研究所）；Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院）；Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC)（符号计算研究所）；Johannes Kepler University（约翰·开普勒大学）
Designing mechanical devices, called linkages, that draw a given plane curve has been a topic that interested engineers and mathematicians for hundreds of years, and recently also computer scientists. Already in 1876, Kempe proposed a procedure for solving the problem in full generality, but his constructions tend to be extremely complicated. We provide a novel algorithm that produces much simpler linkages, but works only for parametric curves. Our approach is to transform the problem into a factorization task over some noncommutative algebra. We show how to compute such a factorization, and h…
A summary of an experimental course on algebraic curves is given that was held for young learners at age 11. The course was a part of Epsilon camp, a program designed for very gifted students who have already demonstrated high interest in studying mathematics. Prerequisites for the course were mastery of Algebra I and at least one preliminary year in a prior Epsilon camp. The summary gives an overview of the flow of teaching, the achieved results and some evaluation of the given feedback.
Let $Y$ be a generic link of a subvariety $X$ of a nonsingular variety $A$. We give a description of the Grauert-Riemenschneider canonical sheaf of $Y$ in terms of the multiplier ideal sheaves associated to $X$ and use it to study the singularities of $Y$. As the first application, we give a criterion when $Y$ has rational singularities and show that log canonical threshold increases and log canonical pairs are preserved in generic linkage. As another application we give a quick and simple liaison method to generalize the results of de Fernex-Ein and Chardin-Ulrich on the Castelnuovo-Mumford r…
Vienna University of Technology（维也纳工业大学）；Johannes Kepler University（约翰·开普勒大学）
The complete classification of hexapods - also known as Stewart Gough platforms - of mobility one is still open. To tackle this problem, we can associate to each hexapod of mobility one an algebraic curve, called the configuration curve. In this paper we establish an upper bound for the degree of this curve, assuming the hexapod is general enough. Moreover, we provide a construction of hexapods with curves of maximal degree, which is based on liaison, a technique used in the theory of algebraic curves.
We present novel, deterministic, efficient algorithms to compute the symmetries of a planar algebraic curve, implicitly defined, and to check whether or not two given implicit planar algebraic curves are similar, i.e. equal up to a similarity transformation. Both algorithms are based on the fact, well-known in Harmonic Analysis, that the Laplacian operator commutes with orthogonal transformations, and on efficient algorithms to find the symmetriessimilarities of a harmonic algebraic curvetwo given harmonic algebraic curves. In fact, we show that in general the problem can be reduced to the har…
In this paper we study a correspondence between cyclic modules over the first Weyl algebra and planar algebraic curves in positive characteristic. In particular, we show that any such curve has a preimage under a morphism of certain ind-schemes. This property might pave the way for an indirect proof of existence of a canonical isomorphism between the group of algebra automorphisms of the first Weyl algebra over the field complex numbers and the group of polynomial symplectomorphisms of $\mathbb{C}^2$.
The famous conjecture of V.Ya.Ivrii (1978) says that {\it in every billiard with infinitely-smooth boundary in a Euclidean space the set of periodic orbits has measure zero}. In the present paper we study the complex algebraic version of Ivrii's conjecture for quadrilateral orbits in two dimensions, with reflections from complex algebraic curves. We present the complete classification of 4-reflective algebraic counterexamples: billiards formed by four complex algebraic curves in the projective plane that have open set of quadrilateral orbits.
Equivalence classes of $n$-point configurations in Euclidean, Hermitian, and quaternionic spaces are related, respectively, to classical determinantal varieties of symmetric, general, and skew-symmetric bilinear forms. Cayley-Menger varieties arise in the Euclidean case, and have relevance for mechanical linkages, polygon spaces and rigidity theory. Applications include upper bounds for realizations of planar Laman graphs with prescribed edge-lengths and examples of special Lagrangians in Calabi-Yau manifolds.
In this paper we show how we can transform quadratic systems into new quadratic systems after some kind of birational transformations, the quadratic plane Cremona maps. We afterwards apply these transformations to the families of quadratic differential systems having an algebraic limit cycle. As a consequence, we provide a new family of quadratic systems having an algebraic limit cycle of degree 5. Moreover we show how the known families of quadratic differential systems having an algebraic limit cycle of degree greater than four are obtained using these transformations. We also provide the ph…
In this paper, we consider a family of closed planar algebraic curves $\mathcal{C}$ which are given in parametrization form via a trigonometric polynomial $p$. When $\mathcal{C}$ is the boundary of a compact convex set, the polynomial $p$ represents the support function of this set. Our aim is to examine properties of the degree of the defining polynomial of this family of curves in terms of the degree of $p$. Thanks to the theory of elimination, we compute the total degree and the partial degrees of this polynomial, and we solve in addition a question raised by Rabinowitz in \cite{Rabi} on th…
Using the possibility of computationally determining points on a finite cover of a unirational variety over a finite field, we determine all possibilities for direct Gorenstein linkages between general sets of points in P^3 over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. As a consequence we show that a general set of d points is glicci (that is, in the Gorenstein linkage class of a complete intersection) if d <= 33 or d=37,38. Computer algebra plays an essential role in the proof. The case of 20 points had been an outstanding problem in the area for a dozen years.
In this paper, we give improved bounds for the computational complexity of computing with planar algebraic curves. More specifically, for arbitrary coprime polynomials $f$, $g \in \mathbb{Z}[x,y]$ and an arbitrary polynomial $h \in \mathbb{Z}[x,y]$, each of total degree less than $n$ and with integer coefficients of absolute value less than $2^τ$, we show that each of the following problems can be solved in a deterministic way with a number of bit operations bounded by $\tilde{O}(n^6+n^5τ)$, where we ignore polylogarithmic factors in $n$ and $τ$: (1) The computation of isolating regions in $\m…
We present a new certified and complete algorithm to compute arrangements of real planar algebraic curves. Our algorithm provides a geometric-topological analysis of the decomposition of the plane induced by a finite number of algebraic curves in terms of a cylindrical algebraic decomposition of the plane. Compared to previous approaches, we improve in two main aspects: Firstly, we significantly reduce the amount of exact operations, that is, our algorithms only uses resultant and gcd as purely symbolic operations. Secondly, we introduce a new hybrid method in the lifting step of our algorithm…
We present a novel certified and complete algorithm to compute arrangements of real planar algebraic curves. It provides a geometric-topological analysis of the decomposition of the plane induced by a finite number of algebraic curves in terms of a cylindrical algebraic decomposition. From a high-level perspective, the overall method splits into two main subroutines, namely an algorithm denoted Bisolve to isolate the real solutions of a zero-dimensional bivariate system, and an algorithm denoted GeoTop to analyze a single algebraic curve. Compared to existing approaches based on elimination te…
Given a non-rational real space curve and a tolerance $ε>0$, we present an algorithm to approximately parametrize the curve. The algorithm checks whether a planar projection of the space curve is $ε$-rational and, in the affirmative case, generates a planar parametrization that is lifted to an space parametrization. This output rational space curve is of the same degree as the input curve, both have the same structure at infinity, and the Hausdorff distance between them is always finite.
We study initial degrees of symbolic powers of ideals of arbitrary finite sets of points in the projective plane over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. We show, how bounds on the growth of these degrees determine the geometry of the given set of points.
Let $P \in \mathbb{Z} [X, Y]$ be a given square-free polynomial of total degree $d$ with integer coefficients of bitsize less than $τ$, and let $V_{\mathbb{R}} (P) := \{ (x,y) \in \mathbb{R}^2, P (x,y) = 0 \}$ be the real planar algebraic curve implicitly defined as the vanishing set of $P$. We give a deterministic and certified algorithm to compute the topology of $V_{\mathbb{R}} (P)$ in terms of a straight-line planar graph $\mathcal{G}$ that is isotopic to $V_{\mathbb{R}} (P)$. Our analysis yields the upper bound $\tilde O (d^5 τ+ d^6)$ on the bit complexity of our algorithm, which matches …
In this paper we prove the following result: if two 2-dimensional 2-homogeneous rational vector fields commute, then either both vector fields can be explicitly integrated to produce rational flows with orbits being lines through the origin, or both flows can be explicitly integrated in terms of algebraic functions. In the latter case, orbits of each flow are given in terms of $1$-homogeneous rational functions $W$ as curves $W(x,y)=\textrm{const}$. An exhaustive method to construct such commuting algebraic flows is presented. The degree of the so-obtained algebraic functions in two variables …
In this note we show that abstract planar algebras are algebras over the topological operad of moduli spaces of stable maps with Lagrangian boundary conditions, which in the case of the projective line are described in terms of real rational functions. These moduli spaces appear naturally in the formulation of open string theory on the projective line. We also show two geometric ways to obtain planar algebras from real algebraic geometry, one based on string topology and one on Gromov-Witten theory. In particular, through the well known relation between planar algebras and subfactors, these re…
We study a planar polynomial differential system, given by \dot{x}=P(x,y), \dot{y}=Q(x,y). We consider a function I(x,y)=\exp \{h_2(x) A_1(x,y) \diagup A_0(x,y) \} h_1(x) \prod_{i=1}^{\ell} (y-g_i(x))^{α_i}, where g_i(x) are algebraic functions, A_1(x,y)=\prod_{k=1}^r (y-a_k(x)), A_0(x,y)=\prod_{j=1}^s (y-\tilde{g}_j(x)) with a_k(x) and \tilde{g}_j(x) algebraic functions, A_0 and A_1 do not share any common factor, h_2(x) is a rational function, h(x) and h_1(x) are functions with a rational logarithmic derivative and α_i are complex numbers. We show that if I(x,y) is a first integral or an int…
Tropical geometry is a relatively recent field in mathematics created as a simplified model for certain problems in algebraic geometry. We introduce the definition of abstract and planar tropical curves as well as their properties, including combinatorial type and degree. We also talk about the moduli space, a geometric object that parameterizes all possible types of abstract or planar tropical curves subject to certain conditions. Our research focuses on the moduli spaces of planar tropical curves of genus one, arbitrary degree d and any number of marked, unbounded edges. We prove that these …
This is a study of a problem in geodesy with methods from complex algebraic geometry: for a fixed number of measure points and target points at unknown position in the Euclidean plane, we study the problem of determining their relative position when the viewing angles between target points seen from measure points are known. In particular, we determine all situations in which there is more than one solution.
In the complex setting, let $F(x,y,y')=0$ be an analytic or algebraic differential equation with $y'$-degree $d$. We deal with the qualitative study of such equations through the geometry of the planar $d$-web generated by the generic family of integral curves. Infinitesimal symmetries of these configurations are discussed by using meromorphic connections methods "à la Cartan-Spencer".
