Rigidity of terminal simplices in persistent homology (Q6137727)

A filtration function on a finite simplicial complex assigns to each simplex a real value such that for each simplex, the values of its faces are lower than (or equal to) the value of the simplex. The persistent homology is obtained by applying homology to a filtration. The stability of persistent homology implies that small perturbations of filtration functions induce small perturbations to the lifespans of homology classes, under the bottleneck distance between persistent modules. A simplex terminating a homology class is called a terminal simplex. Small perturbations of a filtration function may yield completely different terminal simplices which are unstable representatives of the homology class. In this paper, the authors study the region of the parameter \(\epsilon\) for which the terminal simplex of a persistent homology class of an injective filtration function \(f\) is rigid (i.e. constant) through \(\epsilon\)-perturbations of \(f\). Let \([a,b)\) be the lifespan interval of an \(n\)-dimensional homology class \([\alpha]\). Under suitable assumptions, the first main result of the paper is Theorem 9. Theorem 9. The terminal \((n+1)\)-dimensional simplex of \([\alpha]\) is rigid for \(\epsilon\)-perturbations of \(f\) if both of the following are satisfied: (1) no class of the persistent homology \(H_{n+1}\) is born on \((b, b+2\epsilon]\), (2) no class of the persistent homology \(H_n\) terminates on \([b-2\epsilon, b)\). The second main result is a version of Theorem 9 for significant bars in the barcode, stated as Theorem 11, which has the advantage that rigidity can be deduced solely from the barcode, without looking at the underlying filtration. Theorem 11. Let \(f\) be an injective filtration function on a simplicial complex \(K\). Assume \([a,b)\) is a bar of \(\{H_n(K_r^f )\}_{r\in \mathbb{R}}\) represented by \([\alpha] \in H_n(K_a^f )\) (a homology class born at \(a\) and terminating at \(b\)). Choose \(\epsilon < (b-a)/4\) and assume that for all other bars \([a_i , b_i )\) of \(\{H_n(K_r^f )\}_{r\in \mathbb{R}}\), either \(a_i > a + 2\epsilon\) or \(b_i < b-2\epsilon\). Let \(g\) be an injective filtration function satisfying \(\| f-g|_\infty\leq \epsilon\), and assume the induced matching matches the bar \([a, b)\) of \(\{H_n(K_r^f )\}_{r\in \mathbb{R}}\) to a bar \([a',b')\) of \(\{H_n(K_r^g )\}_{r\in \mathbb{R}}\). Then both of the following are satisfied: (1) \([\alpha]\) as a homology class in \(\{H_n(K_r^g )\}_{r\in \mathbb{R}}\) terminates at \(b'\), (2) the simplex in \(K^f\) terminating the bar \([a, b)\) is the same as the simplex in \(K^g\) terminating the bar \([a',b')\) if \(\epsilon \leq 1/2 \min\{R_u R_l\}\), where: \(R_u = \min\{| f(\tau)-b|\}\), \(\tau\) is a birth \((n + 1)\)-simplex with \(f (\tau) > b\) or \(\infty\) if undefined and \(R_l =\min\{|f(\tau)-b|\}\), \(\tau\) a terminal \((n+1)\)-simplex with \(f(\tau)<b\) or \(\infty\) if undefined.