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Section: New Results
Tropical algebra and convex geometry
Formalizing convex polyhedra in Coq
Participant : Xavier Allamigeon.
This work is joint with Ricardo Katz (Conicet, Argentina) and Pierre-Yves Strub (LIX, Ecole Polytechnique).
In [54], we have made the first steps of a formalization of the theory of convex polyhedra in the proof assistant Coq. The originality of our approach lies in the fact that our formalization is carried out in an effective way, in the sense that the basic predicates over polyhedra (emptiness, boundedness, membership, etc) are defined by means of Coq programs. All these predicates are then proven to correspond to the usual logical statements. The latter take the form of the existence of certificates: for instance, the emptiness of a polyhedron is shown to be equivalent to the existence of a certificate a la Farkas. This equivalence between Boolean predicates and formulas living in the kind is implemented by using the boolean reflection methodology, and the supporting tools provided by the Mathematical Components library and its tactic language. The benefit of the effective nature of our approach is demonstrated by the fact that we easily arrive at the proof of important results on polyhedra, such as several versions of Farkas Lemma, duality theorem of linear programming, separation from convex hulls, Minkowski Theorem, etc.
Our effective approach is made possible by implementing the simplex method inside Coq, and proving its correctness and termination. Two difficulties need to be overcome to formalize it. On the one hand, we need to deal with its termination. More precisely, the simplex method iterates over the so-called bases. Its termination depends on the specification of a pivoting rule, whose aim is to determine, at each iteration, the next basis. In this work, we have focused on proving that the lexicographic rule ensures termination. On the other hand, the simplex method is actually composed of two parts. The part that we previously described, called Phase II, requires an initial basis to start with. Finding such a basis is the purpose of Phase I. It consists in building an extended problem (having a trivial initial basis), and applying to it Phase II. Both phases need to be formalized to obtain a fully functional algorithm.
The most recent advances on the project are described in the software section.
Tropical totally positive matrices and planar networks
Participant : Stéphane Gaubert.
In [79] (joint work with Adi Niv) we characterized the tropical analogues of totally positive and totally non-negative matrices, i.e, the images by the valuation of the corresponding classes of matrices over a non-archimedean field. We showed in particular that tropical totally positive matrices essentially coincide with the Monge matrices (defined by the positivity of tropical minors), arising in optimal transport, and compare the set of tropical totally positive matrices with the tropicalization of the totally positive Grassmannian. A fundamental property of classical totally positive matrices is their representation as weight matrices of planar network; in the recent work [31], we studied the tropical analogue of this property.
Linear algebra over systems
Participants : Marianne Akian, Stéphane Gaubert.
In a joint work with Louis Rowen (Univ. Bar Ilan), we study linear algebra and convexity properties over “systems”. The latter provide a general setting encompassing extensions of the tropical semifields and hyperfields. A first account of this work was presented by Marianne Akian and Louis Rowen at the SIAM conference on applied algebraic geometry, in Bern.
Ambitropical convexity and Shapley retracts
Participants : Marianne Akian, Stéphane Gaubert.
Closed tropical convex cones are the most basic examples of modules over the tropical semifield. They coincide with sub-fixed-point sets of Shapley operators – dynamic programming operators of zero-sum games. We study a larger class of cones, which we call “ambitropical” as it includes both tropical cones and their duals. Ambitropical cones can be defined as lattices in the order induced by Rn. Closed ambitropical cones are precisely the fixedpoint sets of Shapley operators. They are characterized by a property of best co-approximation arising from the theory of nonexpansive retracts of normed spaces. Finitely generated ambitropical cones arise when considering Shapley operators of deterministic games with finite action spaces. Finitely generated ambitropical cones are special polyhedral complexes whose cells are alcoved poyhedra, and locally, they are in bijection with order preserving retracts of the Boolean cube This is a joint work with Sara Vannucci (invited PhD student from Salerno university). A first account of this work was presented by Stéphane Gaubert at the JAMI Workshop, Riemann-Roch theorem in characteristic one and related topics, in Baltimore.
Volume and integer points of tropical polytopes
Participant : Stéphane Gaubert.
We investigate in [20] (joint work with Marie McCaig) the volume of tropical polytopes, as well as the number of integer points contained in integer polytopes. We proved that even approximating these values for a tropical polytope given by its vertices is hard, with no approximation algorithm with factor existing unless P NP.