Decomposing filtered chain complexes: geometry behind barcoding algorithms (Q2096381)

``In Topological Data Analysis, filtered chain complexes enter the persistence pipeline between the initial filtering of data'' and the extraction of persistence invariants. This paper provides an algorithm for the decomposition of filtered chain complexes as direct sums of indecomposables called interval spheres which was established in [\textit{W. Chachólski} et al., Homology Homotopy Appl. 23, No. 2, 183--213 (2021; Zbl 1484.55005)]. The interval spheres are ``algebraic shadows of geometry in the form of algebraic discs and spheres glued together'' and the authors discuss ``geometric insights into various aspects of the standard persistence algorithm'' and its clear and compress optimizations. The authors apply the decomposition algorithm to kernels of epimorphisms between filtered simplicial complexes, called filtered kernels, to obtain a quasi-minimal set of generators with corresponding boundary matrix for such filtered kernels.