Probability theory of random polygons from the quaternionic viewpoint

DOI10.1002/CPA.21480MaRDI QIDQ2922152zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Jason Cantarella, Tetsuo Deguchi, Clayton Shonkwiler

Publication date 9 October 2014

Published in Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1206.3161

zbMATH Keywords

averaging chord lenghtsclosed polygon spacesedge-length distributionspolygonal arm spacesquaternionsradius of gyrationsampling random polygonsStiefel manifolds

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Random convex sets and integral geometry (aspects of convex geometry) (52A22) Geometric probability and stochastic geometry (60D05)

Abstract: We build a new probability measure on closed space and plane polygons. The key construction is a map, given by Knutson and Hausmann using the Hopf map on quaternions, from the complex Stiefel manifold of 2-frames in n-space to the space of closed n-gons in 3-space of total length 2. Our probability measure on polygon space is defined by pushing forward Haar measure on the Stiefel manifold by this map. A similar construction yields a probability measure on plane polygons which comes from a real Stiefel manifold. The edgelengths of polygons sampled according to our measures obey beta distributions. This makes our polygon measures different from those usually studied, which have Gaussian or fixed edgelengths. One advantage of our measures is that we can explicitly compute expectations and moments for chordlengths and radii of gyration. Another is that direct sampling according to our measures is fast (linear in the number of edges) and easy to code. Some of our methods will be of independent interest in studying other probability measures on polygon spaces. We define an edge set ensemble (ESE) to be the set of polygons created by rearranging a given set of n edges. A key theorem gives a formula for the average over an ESE of the squared lengths of chords skipping k vertices in terms of k, n, and the edgelengths of the ensemble. This allows one to easily compute expected values of squared chordlengths and radii of gyration for any probability measure on polygon space invariant under rearrangements of edges.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(13)

• Spherical geometry and the least symmetric triangle
• Admissibility and frame homotopy for quaternionic frames
• Probabilistic constructions in generalized quadrangles
• The knot spectrum of confined random equilateral polygons
• The symplectic geometry of closed equilateral random walks in 3-space
• Random Triangles and Polygons in the Plane
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7038802 (Why is no real title available?)
• Total curvature and total torsion of knotted random polygons in confinement
• Statistical properties of multi-theta polymer chains
• Relative frequencies of alternating and nonalternating prime knots and composite knots in random knot spaces
• The expected total curvature of random polygons
• Asymptotic laws for random knot diagrams
• Knot probabilities in equilateral random polygons

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