Hierarchical Zonotopal Power Ideals

International audience Zonotopal algebra deals with ideals and vector spaces of polynomials that are related to several combinatorial and geometric structures defined by a finite sequence of vectors. Given such a sequence $X$, an integer $k \geq -1$ and an upper set in the lattice of flats of the matroid defined by $X$, we define and study the associated $\textit{hierarchical zonotopal power ideal}$. This ideal is generated by powers of linear forms. Its Hilbert series depends only on the matroid structure of $X$. It is related to various other matroid invariants, $\textit{e. g.}$ the shelling polynomial and the characteristic polynomial. This work unifies and generalizes results by Ardila-Postnikov on power ideals and by Holtz-Ron and Holtz-Ron-Xu on (hierarchical) zonotopal algebra. We also generalize a result on zonotopal Cox modules due to Sturmfels-Xu. La théorie de l'algèbre "zonotopique'' s'occupe d'idéaux et d'espaces vectoriels de polynômes qui ont un rapport avec plusieurs structures combinatoires et géométriques définies par des suites finies de vecteurs. Étant donné une telle suite $X$, un nombre entier $k \geq -1$ et un ensemble supérieur dans le treillis des plans du matroïde défini par $X$, nous définissons et étudions l'$\textit{idéal hiérarchique zonotopique}$, engendré par des puissances de formes linéaires. Sa série de Hilbert dépend seulement de la structure matroïdale de $X$. Il existe des relations avec d'autres invariants de matroïdes, tels que le polynôme d'épluchage et le polynôme caractéristique. Ce travail unifie et généralise des résultats d'Ardila-Postnikov sur les idéaux de puissances et de Holtz-Ron et Holtz-Ron-Xu sur l'algèbre zonotopique (hiérarchique). Nous généralisons aussi un résultat sur les modules de Cox zonotopiques, dû à Sturmfels-Xu.

WELL-FORMED SYSTEMS OF POINT INCIDENCES FOR RESOLVING COLLECTIONS OF RIGID BODIES

For tractability, many modern geometric constraint solvers recursively decompose an input geometric constraint system into standard collections of smaller, generically rigid subsystems or clusters. These are recursively solved and their solutions or realizations are recombined to give the solution or realization of the input constraint system. Even for generically wellconstrained systems in 3D, and even when the shared objects between clusters in the decomposition are restricted to be points, it is a significant hurdle to find a wellformed system of shared object incidences that recombines a cluster decomposition. By wellformed we mean that the recombination system generically preserves the classification of the original, undecomposed system as a well, under or overconstrained system. Here we motivate, formally state and give an efficient, greedy algorithm to find such a wellformed system for a general constraint system, when the shared objects in the cluster decomposition are restricted to be points. Our solution relies on an interesting new matroid structure underlying collections of rigid clusters with shared points.