Frank Sottile

Anton Leykin, Frank Sottile

Numerical homotopy continuation of solutions to polynomial equations is the foundation for numerical algebraic geometry, whose development has been driven by applications of mathematics. We use numerical homotopy continuation to investigate the problem in pure mathematics of determining Galois groups in the Schubert calculus. For example, we show by direct computation that the Galois group of the Schubert problem of 3-planes in C^8 meeting 15 fixed 5-planes non-trivially is the full symmetric group S_6006.

Jonathan D. Hauenstein, Jose Israel Rodriguez, Frank Sottile

The Galois/monodromy group of a family of geometric problems or equations is a subtle invariant that encodes the structure of the solutions. Computing monodromy permutations using numerical algebraic geometry gives information about the group, but can only determine it when it is the full symmetric group. We give numerical methods to compute the Galois group and study it when it is not the full symmetric group. One algorithm computes generators while the other gives information on its structure as a permutation group. We illustrate these algorithms with examples using a Macaulay2 package we are developing that relies upon Bertini to perform monodromy computations.

Jonathan D. Hauenstein, Frank Sottile

Smale's alpha-theory uses estimates related to the convergence of Newton's method to give criteria implying that Newton iterations will converge quadratically to solutions to a square polynomial system. The program alphaCertified implements algorithms based on alpha-theory to certify solutions to polynomial systems using both exact rational arithmetic and arbitrary precision floating point arithmetic. It also implements an algorithm to certify whether a given point corresponds to a real solution to a real polynomial system, as well as algorithms to heuristically validate solutions to overdetermined systems. Examples are presented to demonstrate the algorithms.

Jonathan D. Hauenstein, Frank Sottile

We present two algorithms that compute the Newton polytope of a polynomial defining a hypersurface H in C^n using numerical computation. The first algorithm assumes that we may only compute values of f - this may occur if f is given as a straight-line program, as a determinant, or as an oracle. The second algorithm assumes that H is represented numerically via a witness set. That is, it computes the Newton polytope of H using only the ability to compute numerical representatives of its intersections with lines. Such witness set representations are readily obtained when H is the image of a map or is a discriminant. We use the second algorithm to compute a face of the Newton polytope of the Lüroth invariant, as well as its restriction to that face.

Nickolas Hein, Frank Sottile

Formulating a Schubert problem as the solutions to a system of equations in either Plücker space or in the local coordinates of a Schubert cell usually involves more equations than variables. Using reduction to the diagonal, we previously gave a primal-dual formulation for Schubert problems that involved the same number of variables as equations (a square formulation). Here, we give a different square formulation by lifting incidence conditions which typically involves fewer equations and variables. Our motivation is certification of numerical computation using Smale's α-theory.

Daniel J. Bates, Jonathan D. Hauenstein, Matthew E. Niemerg et al.

We give a Descartes'-like bound on the number of positive solutions to a system of fewnomials that holds when its exponent vectors are not in convex position and a sign condition is satisfied. This was discovered while developing algorithms and software for computing the Gale transform of a fewnomial system, which is our main goal. This software is a component of a package we are developing for Khovanskii-Rolle continuation, which is a numerical algorithm to compute the real solutions to a system of fewnomials.

Jonathan D. Hauenstein, Nickolas Hein, Frank Sottile

Formulating a Schubert problem as the solutions to a system of equations in either Plücker space or in the local coordinates of a Schubert cell typically involves more equations than variables. We present a novel primal-dual formulation of any Schubert problem on a Grassmannian or flag manifold as a system of bilinear equations with the same number of equations as variables. This formulation enables numerical computations in the Schubert calculus to be certified using algorithms based on Smale's α-theory.

Frank Sottile, Ravi Vakil, Jan Verschelde

We present a new numerical homotopy continuation algorithm for finding all solutions to Schubert problems on Grassmannians. This Littlewood-Richardson homotopy is based on Vakil's geometric proof of the Littlewood-Richardson rule. Its start solutions are given by linear equations and they are tracked through a sequence of homotopies encoded by certain checker configurations to find the solutions to a given Schubert problem. For generic Schubert problems the number of paths tracked is optimal. The Littlewood-Richardson homotopy algorithm is implemented using the path trackers of the software package PHCpack.

Dan Bates, Frank Sottile

We present a new continuation algorithm to find all nondegenerate real solutions to a system of polynomial equations. Unlike homotopy methods, it is not based on a deformation of the system; instead, it traces real curves connecting the solutions of one system of equations to those of another, eventually leading to the desired real solutions. It also differs from homotopy methods in that it follows only real paths and computes no complex solutions of the original equations. The number of curves traced is bounded by the fewnomial bound for real solutions, and the method takes advantage of any slack in that bound.