Generalized splines on arbitrary graphs

DOI10.2140/PJM.2016.281.333zbMATH Open1331.05183arXiv1306.0801OpenAlexW3103413680WikidataQ57432425 ScholiaQ57432425MaRDI QIDQ5962783FDOQ5962783

Julianna Tymoczko, Shira Viel, Simcha Gilbert

Publication date: 24 February 2016

Published in: Pacific Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Let G be a graph whose edges are labeled by ideals of a commutative ring. We introduce a generalized spline, which is a vertex-labeling of G by elements of the ring so that the difference between the labels of any two adjacent vertices lies in the corresponding edge ideal. Generalized splines arise naturally in combinatorics (em algebraic splines of Billera and others) and in algebraic topology (certain equivariant cohomology rings, described by Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson and others). The central question of this manuscript asks when an arbitrary edge-labeled graph has nontrivial generalized splines. The answer is `always', and we prove the stronger result that generalized splines contain a free submodule whose rank is the number of vertices in G. We describe all generalized splines when G is a tree, and give several ways to describe the ring of generalized splines as an intersection of generalized splines for simpler subgraphs of G. We also present a new tool which we call the GKM matrix, an analogue of the incidence matrix of a graph, and end with open questions.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.0801

zbMATH Keywords

splinesequivariant cohomologyGKM theoryalgebraic graph theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Graphs and abstract algebra (groups, rings, fields, etc.) (05C25) Graph labelling (graceful graphs, bandwidth, etc.) (05C78) Spline approximation (41A15) Homology with local coefficients, equivariant cohomology (55N25)

Cited In (11)

• Graphs admitting only constant splines
• \(GB\)-splines of arbitrary order
• Basis condition for generalized spline modules
• Generalized splines on graphs with two labels and polynomial splines on cycles
• Basis criteria for generalized spline modules via determinant
• Multivariate generalized splines and syzygies on graphs
• Flow-up bases for generalized spline modules on arbitrary graphs
• Determinantal conditions for modules of generalized splines
• A concise introduction to GKM theory, 25 years on
• Module Basis for Generalized Spline Modules
• Generalized integer splines on arbitrary graphs

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