A derived isometry theorem for sheaves (Q2064473)

Persistence theory is one of the central topics in topological data analysis. One expansion of the theory is to combine it with the powerful theory of sheaves, originally initiated by \textit{J. Curry} in [Sheaves, cosheaves and applications. (Ph.D. thesis) University of Pennsylvania (2014)]. Later, \textit{M. Kashiwara} and \textit{P. Schapira} developed persistent homology in the derived setting to take the full strength of sheaf theory [J. Appl. Comput. Topol. 2, No. 1-2, 83--113 (2018; Zbl 1423.55013)]. In that paper, they introduced the convolution distance $d_C$ on the derived category of sheaves of $\mathbf{k}$-vector spaces $\mathrm{D}^b(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{V})$ on a finite-dimensional real vector space $\mathbb{V}$. One can consider $d_C$ as the derived version of the interleaving distance between persistence modules. For usual persistence modules, the isometry theorem holds; the interleaving distance $d_I(M,N)$ between persistence modules $M$ and $N$ is equal to the bottleneck distance $d_B(B(M),B(N))$ between the associated barcodes $B(M)$ and $B(N)$. The paper under review establishes an isometry theorem in the derived setting on the real line (Theorem~5.10). This theorem allows us to compute the convolution distance between indecomposable objects explicitly. Let us review the results in the paper more precisely. Consider the category $\mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ consisting of $\mathbb{R}$-constructible objects, which, roughly speaking, correspond to pointwise finite-dimensional persistence modules. Any object $F \in \mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ is decomposed into (graded) interval modules as $F \simeq \bigoplus_{\alpha \in A} \mathbf{k}_{I_\alpha}[-d_{I_\alpha}]$, which enables us to define the graded barcode $\mathbb{B}(F)$ of $F$. We thus find that $\mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ is a Krull-Schmidt category and obtain a matching distance defined as follows. For $F,G \in \mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ and $\varepsilon \ge 0$, an $\varepsilon$-matching between $\mathbb{B}(F)$ and $\mathbb{B}(G)$ is a partial matching $\sigma \colon \mathbb{B}(F) \nrightarrow \mathbb{B}(G)$ such that \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] $d_C(\mathbf{k}_I[-d_I],\mathbf{k}_{\sigma(I)}[-d_{\sigma(I)}]) \le \varepsilon$ for any $I \in \mathrm{coim}(\sigma)$ and \item[(2)] $d_C(\mathbf{k}_J,0) \le \varepsilon$ for any unmatched interval $J$. \end{itemize} Then the matching distance $d_B$ is defined as $$ d_B(F,G) = \inf \{ \varepsilon \ge 0 \mid \text{there exists an }\varepsilon\text{-matching between }\mathbb{B}(F)\text{ and }\mathbb{B}(G) \}. $$ By the additivity of the convolution operation, one gets an inequality $d_C \le d_B$. To prove the reverse inequality, the authors investigate matchings for the three parts that appear in the decomposition of a constructible object $F \simeq F_C \oplus F_L \oplus F_R$, that is, C-part: open or closed intervals of finite length; L-part: intervals of the form $(a,b]$, $(-\infty,b]$, or $(a,+\infty)$, and R-part: intervals of the form $[a,b)$, $(-\infty,b)$, $[a,+\infty)$, or $\mathbb{R}$. For this purpose, the morphisms between the interval modules in $\mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ are explicitly computed (Proposition~3.5). Then it is proved that $F$ and $G$ are $\varepsilon$-interleaved if and only if $F_\beta$ and $G_\beta$ are $\varepsilon$-interleaved for any $\beta \in \{C,L,R\}$ (Theorem~4.8). For the L- or R-part, an interleaving is decomposed into degreewise interleavings, so the problem is reduced to the case of usual persistence modules (Proposition~5.3 and Theorem~5.4). The C-part is more complicated, and one needs to consider non-degreewise matchings. The authors show that if $F_C$ and $G_C$ are $\varepsilon$-interleaved, then there exists an $\varepsilon$-matching that possibly matches an open interval to a closed interval across degree (Theorem 5.8). This is proved by introducing a pre-order on C-parts and adapting \textit{H. B. Bjerkevik}'s proof [Discrete Comput. Geom. 66, No. 1, 92--121 (2021; Zbl 1471.55006)]. In this way, the paper reveals that the convolution distance compares intervals in different degrees due to its derived nature. As an application of the isometry theorem, it is shown that the convolution distance is closed in $\mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$, that is, $d_C(F,G) \le \varepsilon$ if and only if $F$ and $G$ are $\varepsilon$-interleaved for $F,G \in \mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ (Theorem~6.3). The authors also provide a counterexample of two non-constructible sheaves $F$ and $G$ such that $d_C(F,G)=0$ and $F \not\simeq G$ (Proposition~6.9). Moreover, using the category of graded barcodes as an explicit skeleton of $\mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$, it is shown that $\mathrm{D}^b_{\mathbb{R}c}(\mathbf{k}_\mathbb{R})$ is locally path connected (Theorem~6.12).