This thesis is about statistical models and algebraic varieties. Algebraic Statistics unites these two concepts, turning algebraic structure into statistical insight. Featured here are three types of models that have such an algebraic structure. Linear Gaussian covariance models are continuous models which are simple to define but hard to analyze. We compute their maximum likelihood degree in dimension two and find it equal to $2n-3$ generically if the model has $n$ covariates. Discrete models with rational MLE are those discrete models for which likelihood estimation is easiest. We characterize them geometrically by building on the work of Huh and Kapranov on Horn uniformization. Algebraic manifolds are a more general kind of object which is used to encode continuous data. We introduce a new method for computing integrals and sampling from distributions on them, based on intersecting with random linear spaces. A brief report on mathematics in the sciences featuring case studies from soil ecology and nonparametric statistics closes the thesis.

The ring of real-valued continuous functions on a completely regular frame L is denoted by RL. As usual, βL denotes the Stone-Cech compactification of ˇ L. In the thesis we study ideals of RL induced by sublocales of βL. We revisit the notion of purity in this ring and use it to characterize basically disconnected frames. The socle of the ring RL is characterized as an ideal induced by the sublocale of βL which is the join of all nowhere dense sublocales of βL. A localic map f : L → M induces a ring homomorphism Rh: RM → RL by composition, where h: M → L is the left adjoint of f. We explore how the sublocale-induced ideals travel along the ring homomorphism Rh, to and fro, via expansion and contraction, respectively. The socle of a ring is the sum of its minimal ideals. In the literature, the socle of RL has been characterized in terms of atoms. Since atoms do not always exist in frames, it is better to express the socle in terms of entities that exist in every frame. In the thesis we characterize the socle as one of the types of ideals induced by sublocales. A classical operator invented by Gillman, Henriksen and Jerison in 1954 is used to create a homomorphism of quantales. The frames in which every cozero element is complemented (they are called P-frames) are characterized in terms of some properties of this quantale homomorphism. Also characterized within the category of quantales are localic analogues of the continuous maps of R.G. Woods that characterize normality in the category of Tychonoff spaces. / Mathematical Sciences / Ph. D. (Mathematics)

This dissertation presents recent contributions in tropical geometry with a view towards positivity, and on certain semialgebraic sets which are constructed from polytopes. Tropical geometry is an emerging field in mathematics, combining elements of algebraic geometry and polyhedral geometry. A key in establishing this bridge is the concept of tropicalization, which is often described as mapping an algebraic variety to its 'combinatorial shadow'. This shadow is a polyhedral complex and thus allows to study the algebraic variety by combinatorial means. Recently, the positive part, i.e. the intersection of the variety with the positive orthant, has enjoyed rising attention. A driving question in recent years is: Can we characterize the tropicalization of the positive part? In this thesis we introduce the novel notion of positive-tropical generators, a concept which may serve as a tool for studying positive parts in tropical geometry in a combinatorial fashion. We initiate the study of these as positive analogues of tropical bases, and extend our theory to the notion of signed-tropical generators for more general signed tropicalizations. Applying this to the tropicalization of determinantal varieties, we develop criteria for characterizing their positive part. Motivated by questions from optimization, we focus on the study of low-rank matrices, in particular matrices of rank 2 and 3. We show that in rank 2 the minors form a set of positive-tropical generators, which fully classifies the positive part. In rank 3 we develop the starship criterion, a geometric criterion which certifies non-positivity. Moreover, in the case of square-matrices of corank 1, we fully classify the signed tropicalization of the determinantal variety, even beyond the positive part. Afterwards, we turn to the study of polytropes, which are those polytopes that are both tropically and classically convex. In the literature they are also established as alcoved polytopes of type A. We describe methods from toric geometry for computing multivariate versions of volume, Ehrhart and h^*-polynomials of lattice polytropes. These algorithms are applied to all polytropes of dimensions 2,3 and 4, yielding a large class of integer polynomials. We give a complete combinatorial description of the coefficients of volume polynomials of 3-dimensional polytropes in terms of regular central subdivisions of the fundamental polytope, which is the root polytope of type A. Finally, we provide a partial characterization of the analogous coefficients in dimension 4. In the second half of the thesis, we shift the focus to study semialgebraic sets by combinatorial means. Intersection bodies are objects arising in geometric tomography and are known not to be semialgebraic in general. We study intersection bodies of polytopes and show that such an intersection body is always a semialgebraic set. Computing the irreducible components of the algebraic boundary, we provide an upper bound for the degree of these components. Furthermore, we give a full classification for the convexity of intersection bodies of polytopes in the plane. Towards the end of this thesis, we move to the study of a problem from game theory, considering the correlated equilibrium polytope $P_G$ of a game G from a combinatorial point of view. We introduce the region of full-dimensionality for this class of polytopes, and prove that it is a semialgebraic set for any game. Through the use of oriented matroid strata, we propose a structured method for classifying the possible combinatorial types of $P_G$, and show that for (2 x n)-games, the algebraic boundary of each stratum is a union of coordinate hyperplanes and binomial hypersurfaces. Finally, we provide a computational proof that there exists a unique combinatorial type of maximal dimension for (2 x 3)-games.:Introduction 1. Background 2. Tropical Positivity and Determinantal Varieties 3. Multivariate Volume, Ehrhart, and h^*-Polynomials of Polytropes 4. Combinatorics of Correlated Equilibria

We define and study the fundamental pro-finite 2-groupoid of varieties X defined over a field k. This is a higher algebraic invariant of a scheme X, analogous to the higher fundamental path 2-groupoids as defined for topological spaces. This invariant is related to previously defined invariants, for example the absolute Galois group of a field, and Grothendieck’s étale fundamental group. The special case of Brauer-Severi varieties is considered, in which case a “sections conjecture” type theorem is proved. It is shown that a Brauer-Severi variety X has a rational point if and only if its étale fundamental 2-groupoid has a special sort of section.

Chip-firing is a deceptively simple game played on the vertices of a graph, which was independently discovered in probability theory, poset theory, graph theory, and statistical physics. In recent years, chip-firing has been employed in the development of a theory of divisors on graphs analogous to the classical theory for Riemann surfaces. In particular, Baker and Norin were able to use this set up to prove a combinatorial Riemann-Roch formula, whose classical counterpart is one of the cornerstones of modern algebraic geometry. It is now understood that the relationship between divisor theory for graphs and algebraic curves goes beyond pure analogy, and the primary operation for making this connection precise is tropicalization, a certain type of degeneration which allows us to treat graphs as “combinatorial shadows” of curves. The development of this tropical relationship between graphs and algebraic curves has allowed for beautiful applications of chip-firing to both algebraic geometry and number theory. In this thesis we continue the combinatorial development of divisor theory for graphs. In Chapter 1 we give an overview of the history of chip-firing and its connections to algebraic geometry. In Chapter 2 we describe a reinterpretation of chip-firing in the language of partial graph orientations and apply this setup to give a new proof of the Riemann-Roch formula. We introduce and investigate transfinite chip-firing, and chip-firing with respect to open covers in Chapters 3 and 4 respectively. Chapter 5 represents joint work with Arash Asadi, where we investigate Riemann-Roch theory for directed graphs and arithmetical graphs, the latter of which are a special class of balanced vertex weighted graphs arising naturally in arithmetic geometry.

We interpret the generalised gauge symmetry introduced in string theory and M-Theory as a special case of Grothendieck's stability equivalence relation in the definition of the 0th K-group and we calculate the Euler number of the elliptic de Rham complex twisted by a flat connection. Then using Polyakov's classical equivalence of flat bundles with non-linear sigma models we define a new topological invariant for foliations using techniques from noncommutative geometry, in particular the Connes' pairing between K-Theory and cyclic cohomology. This new invariant classifies foliations up to Morita equivalence.

In this dissertation, we consider six Prufer-like conditions on acommutative ring R. These conditions form a hierarchy. Being a Prufer ring is not a local property: a Prufer ring may not remain a Prufer ring when localized at a prime or maximal ideal. We introduce a seventh condition based on this fact and extend the hierarchy. All the conditions of the hierarchy become equivalent in the case of a domain, namely a Prufer domain. We also seek the relationship of the hierarchy with strong Prufer rings. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A synthetic approach to the construction of projective geometry, its methods and selected results are given in the proposed thesis. The main historical drawbacks of the original proof of Chasles's theorem for non-developable ruled surfaces and von Staudt's formalization of projective geometry are commented. The corre- sponding theoretical background is elaborated on visual demonstrations with the accent to interrelations of classical synthetic, axiomatic and analytic points of view. Synthetic methods of projective geometry and their mixture with analytic methods are described on examples including numerous alternative proofs and generalizations of some theorems. A method of four-dimensional visualization is introduced in details. Elementary constructions of images of points, lines, planes and 3-spaces are followed by models of polychora, their sections and shadows. Chasles's theorem is proven for non-developable ruled quadrics on synthetic vi- sualizations, then generalized and proven within the pure projective framework for algebraic surfaces. The synthetic classification of regular quadrics is derived from descriptive geometry constructions of sections of four-dimensional cones and analytically verified in the projective extension of the real space. An integral part of the thesis is a...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Mathematical Sciences, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc (Mathematics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The main topic of this thesis is the construction of the algebraic geometric codes (Goppa codes), and their decoding by the list-decoding, which allows one to correct beyond half of the minimum distance. We also consider the list-decoding of the Reed–Solomon codes as they are subclass of the Goppa codes, and the determination of the parameters of the non primitive BCH codes. AMS Subject Classification: 4B05, 94B15, 94B35, 94B27, 11T71, 94B65,B70. Keywords: Linear codes, cyclic codes, BCH codes, Reed–Solomon codes, list-decoding, Algebraic Geometric codes, decoding, bound on codes, error probability.