No-dimensional Tverberg Theorems and Algorithms

Abstract

Tverberg's theorem is a classic result in discrete geometry. It states that for any integer k ≥ 2 and any finite d-dimensional point set P ⊂ R d of at least (d + 1)(k − 1) + 1 points, we can partition P into k subsets whose convex hulls have a non-empty intersection. The computational problem of finding such a partition lies in the complexity class PPAD ∩ PLS, but no hardness results are known. Tverberg's theorem also has a colorful variant: the points in P have colors, and under certain conditions, P can be partitioned into colorful sets, i.e., sets in which each color appears exactly once, such that the convex hulls of the sets intersect. To date, the complexity of the corresponding computational problem has not been resolved.Recently, Adiprasito, Bárány, and Mustafa [SODA 2019] proved a no-dimensional version of Tverberg's theorem, in which the convex hulls of the sets in the partition may intersect in an approximate fashion. This allows it to relax the requirement on the cardinality of P . In fact, they prove a slightly stronger result that is based on the colorful Tverberg theorem. The argument is constructive, but it does not result in a polynomial-time algorithm.Here, we present an alternative proof for a no-dimensional Tverberg theorem that leads to an efficient algorithm to find the partition. More specifically, we show that there is a deterministic algorithm that finds for any set P ⊂ R d of n points and any k ∈ {2, . . . , n} in O(nd log k ) time a partition of P into k subsets such that there is a ball of radius * Supported in part by ERC StG 757609.