Persistent homology and the upper box dimension (Q2227236)

This paper introduces and investigates a notion of dimension for a metric space defined with respect to the persistent homology of the space. Specifically, the \(PH_i\)-dimension of a metric space \(X\) is defined as follows. We can compute the Čech complex of a subset of the metric space \(\mathsf{x} \subset X\) at distance \(r\), defined as the nerve of the union of balls of radius \(r\) centered at the points of \(\mathsf{x}\). Studying this for a varying parameter \(r\) gives a filtration of simplicial complexes; applying the homology functor to this sequence gives a persistence module and the result can be summarized in a persistence diagram. A persistence diagram, denoted \(PH_i(X)\) for homology dimension \(i\), is a collection of points \((b,d)\) in the upper half plane representing the distances for which a homological feature appeared (``born'' at \(r = b\)) and disappeared (``dies'' at \(r=d\)). For this reason, the value \((d-b)\) is often called the ``lifetime'' of the class represented by the point \((b,d)\). Letting \[E_\alpha^i(\mathsf{x}) = \sum_{(b,d) \in PH_i(\mathsf{x})}(d-b)^\alpha\] the \(PH_i\) dimension is defined to be \[ \dim_{PH}^i(X) = \inf \{ \alpha \mid \exists C \text{ with } E_\alpha^i(\mathsf{x}) <C \; \forall \text{ finite subsets }\mathsf{x} \subseteq X \}. \] The rest of the paper is dedicated to understanding the relationship between \(\dim_{PH}^i\) and the box dimension. In particular, for \(i=0\), \(\dim_{PH}^0(X) = \dim_{box}\). However, the author gives an example of a space where the closely related \(\dim_{\widetilde{PH}}^1\) (which uses Rips instead of Čech complexes) is strictly greater than \(\dim_{box}\). He also shows that for large enough box dimension, \(\dim_{PH}^1 = \dim_{box}\) and conjectures that such a constant exists for higher dimensions \(i>1\).