Let $mathcal{D}$ be a set of $n$ disks in the plane. The disk graph $G_mathcal{D}$ for $mathcal{D}$ is the undirected graph with vertex set $mathcal{D}$ in which two disks are joined by an edge if and only if they intersect. The directed transmission
graph $G^{rightarrow}_mathcal{D}$ for $mathcal{D}$ is the directed graph with vertex set $mathcal{D}$ in which there is an edge from a disk $D_1 in mathcal{D}$ to a disk $D_2 in mathcal{D}$ if and only if $D_1$ contains the center of $D_2$. Given $mathcal{D}$ and two non-intersecting disks $s, t in mathcal{D}$, we show that a minimum $s$-$t$ vertex cut in $G_mathcal{D}$ or in $G^{rightarrow}_mathcal{D}$ can be found in $O(n^{3/2}text{polylog} n)$ expected time. To obtain our result, we combine an algorithm for the maximum flow problem in general graphs with dynamic geometric data structures to manipulate the disks. As an application, we consider the barrier resilience problem in a rectangular domain. In this problem, we have a vertical strip $S$ bounded by two vertical lines, $L_ell$ and $L_r$, and a collection $mathcal{D}$ of disks. Let $a$ be a point in $S$ above all disks of $mathcal{D}$, and let $b$ a point in $S$ below all disks of $mathcal{D}$. The task is to find a curve from $a$ to $b$ that lies in $S$ and that intersects as few disks of $mathcal{D}$ as possible. Using our improved algorithm for minimum cuts in disk graphs, we can solve the barrier resilience problem in $O(n^{3/2}text{polylog} n)$ expected time.
Consider a metric space $(P,dist)$ with $N$ points whose doubling dimension is a constant. We present a simple, randomized, and recursive algorithm that computes, in $O(N log N)$ expected time, the closest-pair distance in $P$. To generate recursive
calls, we use previous results of Har-Peled and Mendel, and Abam and Har-Peled for computing a sparse annulus that separates the points in a balanced way.
Let $P$ be a set of $2n$ points in convex position, such that $n$ points are colored red and $n$ points are colored blue. A non-crossing alternating path on $P$ of length $ell$ is a sequence $p_1, dots, p_ell$ of $ell$ points from $P$ so that (i) all
points are pairwise distinct; (ii) any two consecutive points $p_i$, $p_{i+1}$ have different colors; and (iii) any two segments $p_i p_{i+1}$ and $p_j p_{j+1}$ have disjoint relative interiors, for $i eq j$. We show that there is an absolute constant $varepsilon > 0$, independent of $n$ and of the coloring, such that $P$ always admits a non-crossing alternating path of length at least $(1 + varepsilon)n$. The result is obtained through a slightly stronger statement: there always exists a non-crossing bichromatic separated matching on at least $(1 + varepsilon)n$ points of $P$. This is a properly colored matching whose segments are pairwise disjoint and intersected by common line. For bo
The classic Ham-Sandwich theorem states that for any $d$ measurable sets in $mathbb{R}^d$, there is a hyperplane that bisects them simultaneously. An extension by Barany, Hubard, and Jeronimo [DCG 2008] states that if the sets are convex and emph{wel
l-separated}, then for any given $alpha_1, dots, alpha_d in [0, 1]$, there is a unique oriented hyperplane that cuts off a respective fraction $alpha_1, dots, alpha_d$ from each set. Steiger and Zhao [DCG 2010] proved a discrete analogue of this theorem, which we call the emph{$alpha$-Ham-Sandwich theorem}. They gave an algorithm to find the hyperplane in time $O(n (log n)^{d-3})$, where $n$ is the total number of input points. The computational complexity of this search problem in high dimensions is open, quite unlike the complexity of the Ham-Sandwich problem, which is now known to be PPA-complete (Filos-Ratsikas and Goldberg [STOC 2019]). Recently, Fearley, Gordon, Mehta, and Savani [ICALP 2019] introduced a new sub-class of CLS (Continuous Local Search) called emph{Unique End-of-Potential Line} (UEOPL). This class captures problems in CLS that have unique solutions. We show that for the $alpha$-Ham-Sandwich theorem, the search problem of finding the dividing hyperplane lies in UEOPL. This gives the first non-trivial containment of the problem in a complexity class and places it in the company of classic search problems such as finding the fixed point of a contraction map, the unique sink orientation problem and the $P$-matrix linear complementarity problem.
Let $Vsubsetmathbb{R}^2$ be a set of $n$ sites in the plane. The unit disk graph $DG(V)$ of $V$ is the graph with vertex set $V$ in which two sites $v$ and $w$ are adjacent if and only if their Euclidean distance is at most $1$. We develop a compact
routing scheme for $DG(V)$. The routing scheme preprocesses $DG(V)$ by assigning a label $l(v)$ to every site $v$ in $V$. After that, for any two sites $s$ and $t$, the scheme must be able to route a packet from $s$ to $t$ as follows: given the label of a current vertex $r$ (initially, $r=s$) and the label of the target vertex $t$, the scheme determines a neighbor $r$ of $r$. Then, the packet is forwarded to $r$, and the process continues until the packet reaches its desired target $t$. The resulting path between the source $s$ and the target $t$ is called the routing path of $s$ and $t$. The stretch of the routing scheme is the maximum ratio of the total Euclidean length of the routing path and of the shortest path in $DG(V)$, between any two sites $s, t in V$. We show that for any given $varepsilon>0$, we can construct a routing scheme for $DG(V)$ with diameter $D$ that achieves stretch $1+varepsilon$ and label size $O(log Dlog^3n/loglog n)$ (the constant in the $O$-Notation depends on $varepsilon$). In the past, several routing schemes for unit disk graphs have been proposed. Our scheme is the first one to achieve poly-logarithmic label size and arbitrarily small stretch without storing any additional information in the packet.
Let $P subseteq mathbb{R}^2$ be a set of points and $T$ be a spanning tree of $P$. The emph{stabbing number} of $T$ is the maximum number of intersections any line in the plane determines with the edges of $T$. The emph{tree stabbing number} of $P$ i
s the minimum stabbing number of any spanning tree of $P$. We prove that the tree stabbing number is not a monotone parameter, i.e., there exist point sets $P subsetneq P$ such that treestab{$P$} $>$ treestab{$P$}, answering a question by Eppstein cite[Open Problem~17.5]{eppstein_2018}.
Let $S subset mathbb{R}^2$ be a set of $n$ sites, where each $s in S$ has an associated radius $r_s > 0$. The disk graph $D(S)$ is the undirected graph with vertex set $S$ and an undirected edge between two sites $s, t in S$ if and only if $|st| leq
r_s + r_t$, i.e., if the disks with centers $s$ and $t$ and respective radii $r_s$ and $r_t$ intersect. Disk graphs are used to model sensor networks. Similarly, the transmission graph $T(S)$ is the directed graph with vertex set $S$ and a directed edge from a site $s$ to a site $t$ if and only if $|st| leq r_s$, i.e., if $t$ lies in the disk with center $s$ and radius $r_s$. We provide algorithms for detecting (directed) triangles and, more generally, computing the length of a shortest cycle (the girth) in $D(S)$ and in $T(S)$. These problems are notoriously hard in general, but better solutions exist for special graph classes such as planar graphs. We obtain similarly efficient results for disk graphs and for transmission graphs. More precisely, we show that a shortest (Euclidean) triangle in $D(S)$ and in $T(S)$ can be found in $O(n log n)$ expected time, and that the (weighted) girth of $D(S)$ can be found in $O(n log n)$ expected time. For this, we develop new tools for batched range searching that may be of independent interest.
We perform an experimental evaluation of algorithms for finding geodesic shortest paths between two points inside a simple polygon in the constant-workspace model. In this model, the input resides in a read-only array that can be accessed at random.
In addition, the algorithm may use a constant number of words for reading and for writing. The constant-workspace model has been studied extensively in recent years, and algorithms for geodesic shortest paths have received particular attention. We have implemented three such algorithms in Python, and we compare them to the classic algorithm by Lee and Preparata that uses linear time and linear space. We also clarify a few implementation details that were missing in the original description of the algorithms. Our experiments show that all algorithms perform as advertised in the original works and according to the theoretical guarantees. However, the constant factors in the running times turn out to be rather large for the algorithms to be fully useful in practice.
We consider asymmetric convex intersection testing (ACIT). Let $P subset mathbb{R}^d$ be a set of $n$ points and $mathcal{H}$ a set of $n$ halfspaces in $d$ dimensions. We denote by $text{ch}(P)$ the polytope obtained by taking the convex hull of $
P$, and by $text{fh}(mathcal{H})$ the polytope obtained by taking the intersection of the halfspaces in $mathcal{H}$. Our goal is to decide whether the intersection of $mathcal{H}$ and the convex hull of $P$ are disjoint. Even though ACIT is a natural variant of classic LP-type problems that have been studied at length in the literature, and despite its applications in the analysis of high-dimensional data sets, it appears that the problem has not been studied before. We discuss how known approaches can be used to attack the ACIT problem, and we provide a very simple strategy that leads to a deterministic algorithm, linear on $n$ and $m$, whose running time depends reasonably on the dimension $d$.
In the limited workspace model, we consider algorithms whose input resides in read-only memory and that use only a constant or sublinear amount of writable memory to accomplish their task. We survey recent results in computational geometry that fall
into this model and that strive to achieve the lowest possible running time. In addition to discussing the state of the art, we give some illustrative examples and mention open problems for further research.
