Regularity of Sets with Quasiminimal Boundary Surfaces in Metric Spaces

This paper studies regularity of perimeter quasiminimizing sets in metric measure spaces with a doubling measure and a Poincaré inequality. The main result shows that the measure-theoretic boundary of a quasiminimizing set coincides with the topological boundary. We also show that such a set has finite Minkowski content and apply the regularity theory to study rectifiability issues related to quasiminimal sets in the strong A _∞-weighted Euclidean case.     

Rectifiability of Sets of Finite Perimeter in Carnot Groups: Existence of a Tangent Hyperplane

We consider sets of locally finite perimeter in Carnot groups. We show that if E is a set of locally finite perimeter in a Carnot group G then, for almost every x∈G with respect to the perimeter measure of E, some tangent of E at x is a vertical halfspace. This is a partial extension of a theorem of Franchi-Serapioni-Serra Cassano in step 2 Carnot groups: they show in Math. Ann. 321, 479–531, 2001 and J. Geom. Anal. 13, 421–466, 2003 that, for almost every x, E has a unique tangent at x, and this tangent is a vertical halfspace. The second author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0701515.     

Gauss‐Green theorem for weakly differentiable vector fields,sets of finite perimeter,and balance laws

We analyze a class of weakly differentiable vector fields F : ?ⁿ → ?ⁿ with the property that F ∈ L^∞ and div F is a (signed) Radon measure. These fields are called bounded divergence‐measure fields. The primary focus of our investigation is to introduce a suitable notion of the normal trace of any divergence‐measure field F over the boundary of an arbitrary set of finite perimeter that ensures the validity of the Gauss‐Green theorem. To achieve this, we first establish a fundamental approximation theorem which states that, given a (signed) Radon measure μ that is absolutely continuous with respect to ??^{N ? 1} on ?^N, any set of finite perimeter can be approximated by a family of sets with smooth boundary essentially from the measure‐theoretic interior of the set with respect to the measure ||μ||, the total variation measure. We employ this approximation theorem to derive the normal trace of F on the boundary of any set of finite perimeter E as the limit of the normal traces of F on the boundaries of the approximate sets with smooth boundary so that the Gauss‐Green theorem for F holds on E. With these results, we analyze the Cauchy flux that is bounded by a nonnegative Radon measure over any oriented surface (i.e., an (N ? 1)‐dimensional surface that is a part of the boundary of a set of finite perimeter) and thereby develop a general mathematical formulation of the physical principle of the balance law through the Cauchy flux. Finally, we apply this framework to the derivation of systems of balance laws with measure‐valued source terms from the formulation of the balance law. This framework also allows the recovery of Cauchy entropy flux through the Lax entropy inequality for entropy solutions of hyperbolic conservation laws. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sets of finite perimeter and the Hausdorff-Gauss measure on the Wiener space

In Euclidean space, the integration by parts formula for a set of finite perimeter is expressed by the integration with respect to a type of surface measure. According to geometric measure theory, this surface measure is realized by the one-codimensional Hausdorff measure restricted on the reduced boundary and/or the measure-theoretic boundary, which may be strictly smaller than the topological boundary. In this paper, we discuss the counterpart of this measure in the abstract Wiener space, which is a typical infinite-dimensional space. We introduce the concept of the measure-theoretic boundary in the Wiener space and provide the integration by parts formula for sets of finite perimeter. The formula is presented in terms of the integration with respect to the one-codimensional Hausdorff-Gauss measure restricted on the measure-theoretic boundary.     

Measure-Theoretic Properties of Level Sets of Distance Functions

We consider the level sets of distance functions from the point of view of geometric measure theory. This lays the foundation for further research that can be applied, among other uses, to the derivation of a shape calculus based on the level-set method. Particular focus is put on the \((n-1)\)-dimensional Hausdorff measure of these level sets. We show that, starting from a bounded set, all sub-level sets of its distance function have finite perimeter. Furthermore, if a uniform-density condition is satisfied for the initial set, one can even show an upper bound for the perimeter that is uniform for all level sets. Our results are similar to existing results in the literature, with the important distinction that they hold for all level sets and not just almost all. We also present an example demonstrating that our results are sharp in the sense that no uniform upper bound can exist if our uniform-density condition is not satisfied. This is even true if the initial set is otherwise very regular (i.e., a bounded Caccioppoli set with smooth boundary).     

Conditions for swappability of records in a microdata set when some marginals are fixed

We consider swapping of two records in a microdata set for the purpose of disclosure control. We give some necessary and sufficient conditions that some observations can be swapped between two records under the restriction that a given set of marginals are fixed. We also give an algorithm to find another record for swapping if one wants to swap out some observations from a particular record.     

On extremal solutions to stochastic control problems

We identify two solutions of a controlled diffusion if the corresponding one-dimensional marginals of the state and control process agree. The extreme points of the set of such equivalence classes are shown to correspond to Markov controls.     

Improved Approximation for Guarding Simple Galleries from the Perimeter

We provide an O(log?log?opt)-approximation algorithm for the problem of guarding a simple polygon with guards on the perimeter. We first design a polynomial-time algorithm for building ε-nets of size \(O(\frac{1}{\varepsilon}\log\log\frac{1}{\varepsilon})\) for the instances of Hitting Set associated with our guarding problem. We then apply the technique of Brönnimann and Goodrich to build an approximation algorithm from this ε-net finder. Along with a simple polygon P, our algorithm takes as input a finite set of potential guard locations that must include the polygon’s vertices. If a finite set of potential guard locations is not specified, e.g., when guards may be placed anywhere on the perimeter, we use a known discretization technique at the cost of making the algorithm’s running time potentially linear in the ratio between the longest and shortest distances between vertices. Our algorithm is the first to improve upon O(log?opt)-approximation algorithms that use generic net finders for set systems of finite VC-dimension.     

Three general multivariate semi-Pareto distributions and their characterizations

Three general multivariate semi-Pareto distributions are developed in this paper. First one—GMP^(k)(III) has univariate Pareto (III) marginals, it is characterized by the minimum of two independent and identically distributed random vectors. Second one—GMSP has univariate semi-Pareto marginals and it is characterized by finite sample minima. Third one—MSP is characterized through a geometric minimization procedure. All these three characterizations are based on the general and the particular solutions of the Euler's functional equations of k-variates.     

On marginal distributions and isomorphisms of stationary processes

LetT be an invertible ergodic aperiodic measure preserving transformation of a Lebesgue space, letA be a finite alphabet, and let π be a probability measure onA ⁿ which admits a mixing shift-invariant measureμ _π onΩ=A ^? such that the marginals of anyn successive coordinates are π and the entropyh(T) ofT is smaller than the entropy of the shift in (Ω,μ _π). Then there exists a shift invariant measure ν_π in Ω which also has marginals π and for whichT is isomorphic to the shift in (Ω, ν_π). This contains Krieger's finite generator theorem and strengthens the measure theoretic part of his approximation theorem for shift-invariant measures by showing that the preassigned marginal π can not only be achieved up to an ε>0 but exactly. Our result also contains an as yet unpublished theorem of Krieger, which says thatT can be embedded in an arbitrary mixing subshift of finite type, as long as the entropy of the subshift under the measure with maximal entropy exceeds that ofT. In the final section we show that the method can be extended to yield also exact marginals for the generator in the Jewett-Krieger theorem, i.e.T is shown to be isomorphic to a shift in (Ω, ν_π) where ν_π has exact marginals π and the shift is uniquely ergodic on the support of ν_π.     

Extremal measures with prescribed marginals (finite case)

The problem of describing the extremal mesures with given marginals on a finite Cartesian product is studied.     

Acharacterization of Newtonian functions with zero boundary values

We give an intrinsic characterization of the property that the zero extension of a Newtonian function, defined on an open set in a doubling metric measure space supporting a strong relative isoperimetric inequality, belongs to the Newtonian space on the entire metric space. The theory of functions of bounded variation is used extensively in the argument and we also provide a structure theorem for sets of finite perimeter under the assumption of a strong relative isoperimetric inequality. The characterization is used to prove a strong version of quasicontinuity of Newtonian functions.     

Dynamic Markov Bases

This article presents a computational approach for generating Markov bases for multiway contingency tables whose cell counts might be constrained by fixed marginals and by lower and upper bounds. Our framework includes tables with structural zeros as a particular case. Instead of computing the entire Markov bases in an initial step, our framework finds sets of local moves that connect each table in the reference set with a set of neighbor tables. We construct a Markov chain on the reference set of tables that requires only a set of local moves at each iteration. The union of these sets of local moves forms a dynamic Markov basis. We illustrate the practicality of our algorithms in the estimation of exact p-values for a three-way table with structural zeros and a sparse eight-way table. This article has online supplementary materials.     

Random sets of finite perimeter

An approach to modelling random sets with locally finite perimeter as random elements in the corresponding subspace of L¹ functions is suggested. A Crofton formula for flat sections of the perimeter is shown. Finally, random processes of particles with finite perimeter are introduced and it is shown that their union sets are random sets with locally finite perimeter.     

The smoothness of the free boundary for a class of vector-valued problems

We consider a minimizer u: Rⁿ Ω→ⁿ of Dirichlet's integral under the additional side condition In(.) ? M for a smooth domain M?R^N. Imposing certain geometric conditions on M we show that the coincidence set {x?Ω: u(x) ? ?M) is of locally finite perimeter in Ω. Moreover, we formulate a condition implying the regularity of the free boundary near a given point.     

Sklar’s theorem obtained via regularization techniques

Sklar’s theorem establishes the connection between a joint d-dimensional distribution function and its univariate marginals. Its proof is straightforward when all the marginals are continuous. The hard part is the extension to the case where at least one of the marginals has a discrete component. We present a new proof of this extension based on some analytical regularization techniques (i.e., mollifiers) and on the compactness (with respect to the L^∞ norm) of the class of copulas.     

The gonality of smooth curves with plane models

The Hausdorff measure with fractional index is used in order to define a functional on measurable sets of the plane. A fractal set, constructed using the well-known Von Koch set, is involved in the definition. This functional is proved to arise as the limit of a sequence of classical functionals defined on sets of finite perimeter. Thus it is shown that a natural extension of the ordinary functionals of the calculus of variations leads both to fractal sets and to the fractional Hausdorff measure.     

Thermodynamic limit for the invariant measures in supercritical zero range processes

We prove a strong form of the equivalence of ensembles for the invariant measures of zero range processes conditioned to a supercritical density of particles. It is known that in this case there is a single site that accomodates a macroscopically large number of the particles in the system. We show that in the thermodynamic limit the rest of the sites have joint distribution equal to the grand canonical measure at the critical density. This improves the result of Großkinsky, Schütz and Spohn, where convergence is obtained for the finite dimensional marginals. We obtain as corollaries limit theorems for the order statistics of the components and for the fluctuations of the bulk.     

A structure theorem on bivariate positive quadrant dependent distributions and tests for independence in two-way contingency tables

In this paper, the set of all bivariate positive quadrant dependent distributions with fixed marginals is shown to be compact and convex. Extreme points of this convex set are enumerated in some specific examples. Applications are given in testing the hypothesis of independence against strict positive quadrant dependence in the context of ordinal contingency tables. The performance of two tests, one of which is based on eigenvalues of a random matrix, is compared. Various procedures based upon certain functions of the eigenvalues of a random matrix are also proposed for testing for independence in a two-way contingency table when the marginals are random.     

Dependence between two multivariate extremes

We extend the characterizations given by Takahashi (1988) for the independence and the total dependence of the univariate marginals of a multivariate extreme value distribution to its multivariate marginals. We also deal with the problem of how to measure the strength of the dependence among multivariate extremes. By presenting new definitions for the extremal coefficient, we propose measures that summarize the dependence between two multivariate extreme value distributions and preserve the main properties of the known bivariate coefficient for two univariate extreme value distributions. Finally, we illustrate these contributions to model the dependence among multivariate marginals with examples.