Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Share

Publications

Publications

CMAP Theses  are available by following this link:
Discover CMAP theses

Listed below, are sorted by year, the publications appearing in the HAL open archive.

2025

  • Accelerating Nash Learning from Human Feedback via Mirror Prox
    • Tiapkin Daniil
    • Calandriello Daniele
    • Belomestny Denis
    • Moulines Eric
    • Naumov Alexey
    • Rasul Kashif
    • Valko Michal
    • Menard Pierre
    , 2025. Traditional Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) often relies on reward models, frequently assuming preference structures like the Bradley-Terry model, which may not accurately capture the complexities of real human preferences (e.g., intransitivity). Nash Learning from Human Feedback (NLHF) offers a more direct alternative by framing the problem as finding a Nash equilibrium of a game defined by these preferences. In this work, we introduce Nash Mirror Prox ($\mathtt{Nash-MP}$), an online NLHF algorithm that leverages the Mirror Prox optimization scheme to achieve fast and stable convergence to the Nash equilibrium. Our theoretical analysis establishes that Nash-MP exhibits last-iterate linear convergence towards the $β$-regularized Nash equilibrium. Specifically, we prove that the KL-divergence to the optimal policy decreases at a rate of order $(1+2β)^{-N/2}$, where $N$ is a number of preference queries. We further demonstrate last-iterate linear convergence for the exploitability gap and uniformly for the span semi-norm of log-probabilities, with all these rates being independent of the size of the action space. Furthermore, we propose and analyze an approximate version of Nash-MP where proximal steps are estimated using stochastic policy gradients, making the algorithm closer to applications. Finally, we detail a practical implementation strategy for fine-tuning large language models and present experiments that demonstrate its competitive performance and compatibility with existing methods. (10.48550/arXiv.2505.19731)
    DOI : 10.48550/arXiv.2505.19731
  • Optimal Liquidation with Signals: the General Propagator Case
    • Abi Jaber Eduardo
    • Neuman Eyal
    Mathematical Finance, Wiley, 2025, 35 (4), pp.841–866. We consider a class of optimal liquidation problems where the agent's transactions create transient price impact driven by a Volterra-type propagator along with temporary price impact. We formulate these problems as minimization of a revenue-risk functionals, where the agent also exploits available information on a progressively measurable price predicting signal. By using an infinite dimensional stochastic control approach, we characterize the value function in terms of a solution to a free-boundary $L^2$-valued backward stochastic differential equation and an operator-valued Riccati equation. We then derive analytic solutions to these equations which yields an explicit expression for the optimal trading strategy. We show that our formulas can be implemented in a straightforward and efficient way for a large class of price impact kernels with possible singularities such as the power-law kernel.
  • A new approach for the unitary Dyson Brownian motion through the theory of viscosity solutions
    • Bertucci Charles
    • Pesce Valentin
    , 2025. In this paper, we study the unitary Dyson Brownian motion through a partial differential equation approach recently introduced for the real Dyson case. The main difference with the real Dyson case is that the spectrum is now on the circle and not on the real line, which leads to particular attention to comparison principles. First we recall why the system of particles which are the eigenvalues of unitary Dyson Brownian motion is well posed thanks to a containment function. Then we proved that the primitive of the limit spectral measure of the unitary Dyson Brownian motion is the unique solution to a viscosity equation obtained by primitive the Dyson equation on the circle. Finally, we study some properties of solutions of Dyson's equation on the circle. We prove a L ∞ regularization. We also look at the long time behaviour in law of a solution through a study of the so-called free entropy of the system. We conclude by discussing the uniform convergence towards the uniform measure on the circle of a solution of the Dyson equation.
  • Maxwell's equations with hypersingularities at a negative index material conical tip
    • Bonnet-Ben Dhia Anne-Sophie
    • Chesnel Lucas
    • Rihani Mahran
    Pure and Applied Analysis, Mathematical Sciences Publishers, 2025, 7 (1), pp.127–169. We study a transmission problem for the time harmonic Maxwell's equations between a classical positive material and a so-called negative index material in which both the permittivity ε and the permeability µ take negative values. Additionally, we assume that the interface between the two domains is smooth everywhere except at a point where it coincides locally with a conical tip. In this context, it is known that for certain critical values of the contrasts in ε and in µ, the corresponding scalar operators are not of Fredholm type in the usual H^1 spaces. In this work, we show that in these situations, the Maxwell's equations are not well-posed in the classical L^2 framework due to existence of hypersingular fields which are of infinite energy at the tip. By combining the T-coercivity approach and the Kondratiev theory, we explain how to construct new functional frameworks to recover well-posedness of the Maxwell's problem. We also explain how to select the setting which is consistent with the limiting absorption principle. From a technical point of view, the fields as well as their curls decompose as the sum of an explicit singular part, related to the black hole singularities of the scalar operators, and a smooth part belonging to some weighted spaces. The analysis we propose rely in particular on the proof of new key results of scalar and vector potential representations of singular fields.
  • Universal complexity bounds based on value iteration for stochastic mean payoff games and entropy games
    • Allamigeon Xavier
    • Gaubert Stéphane
    • Katz Ricardo
    • Skomra Mateusz
    Information and Computation, Elsevier, 2025, 302, pp.105236. We develop value iteration-based algorithms to solve in a unified manner different classes of combinatorial zero-sum games with mean-payoff type rewards. These algorithms rely on an oracle, evaluating the dynamic programming operator up to a given precision. We show that the number of calls to the oracle needed to determine exact optimal (positional) strategies is, up to a factor polynomial in the dimension, of order R/sep, where the “separation” sep is defined as the minimal difference between distinct values arising from strategies, and R is a metric estimate, involving the norm of approximate sub and super-eigenvectors of the dynamic programming operator. We illustrate this method by two applications. The first one is a new proof, leading to improved complexity estimates, of a theorem of Boros, Elbassioni, Gurvich and Makino, showing that turn-based mean-payoff games with a fixed number of random positions can be solved in pseudo-polynomial time. The second one concerns entropy games, a model introduced by Asarin, Cervelle, Degorre, Dima, Horn and Kozyakin. The rank of an entropy game is defined as the maximal rank among all the ambiguity matrices determined by strategies of the two players. We show that entropy games with a fixed rank, in their original formulation, can be solved in polynomial time, and that an extension of entropy games incorporating weights can be solved in pseudo-polynomial time under the same fixed rank condition. (10.1016/j.ic.2024.105236)
    DOI : 10.1016/j.ic.2024.105236
  • Ergodic control of a heterogeneous population and application to electricity pricing
    • Jacquet Quentin
    • van Ackooij Wim
    • Alasseur Clémence
    • Gaubert Stéphane
    IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2025, 70 (7). We consider a control problem for a heterogeneous population composed of agents able to switch at any time between different options. The controller aims to maximize an average gain per time unit, supposing that the population is of infinite size. This leads to an ergodic control problem for a “mean-field” Markov Decision Process in which the state space is a product of simplices, and the population evolves according to controlled linear dynamics. By exploiting contraction properties of the dynamics in Hilbert’s projective metric, we prove that the infinite-dimensional ergodic eigenproblem admits a solution and show that the latter is in general non unique. This allows us to obtain optimal strategies, and to quantify the gap between steady-state strategies and optimal ones. In particular, we prove in the one-dimensional case that there exist cyclic policies – alternating between discount and profit taking stages – which secure a greater gain than constant-price policies. On numerical aspects, we develop a policy iteration algorithm with “on-the-fly” generated transitions, specifically adapted to decomposable models, leading to substantial memory savings. We finally apply our results on realistic instances coming from an electricity pricing problem encountered in the retail markets, and numerically observe the emergence of cyclic promotions for sufficient inertia in the customer behavior.
  • ExceedGAN: Simulation above extreme thresholds using Generative Adversarial Networks
    • Allouche Michaël
    • Girard Stéphane
    • Gobet Emmanuel
    Extremes, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2025. This paper devises a novel neural-inspired approach for simulating multivariate extremes. Specifically, we propose a GAN-based generative model for sampling multivariate data exceeding large thresholds, giving rise to what we refer to as the ExceedGAN algorithm. Our approach is based on approximating marginal log-quantile functions using feedforward neural networks with eLU activation functions specifically introduced for bias correction. An error bound is provided {on the margins}, assuming a $J$th order condition from extreme value theory. The numerical experiments illustrate that ExceedGAN outperforms competitors, both on synthetic and real-world data sets.
  • Understanding the worst-kept secret of high-frequency trading
    • Pulido Sergio
    • Rosenbaum Mathieu
    • Sfendourakis Emmanouil
    Finance and Stochastics, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2025. Volume imbalance in a limit order book is often considered as a reliable indicator for predicting future price moves. In this work, we seek to analyse the nuances of the relationship between prices and volume imbalance. To this end, we study a market-making problem which allows us to view the imbalance as an optimal response to price moves. In our model, there is an underlying efficient price driving the mid-price, which follows the model with uncertainty zones. A single market maker knows the underlying efficient price and consequently the probability of a mid-price jump in the future. She controls the volumes she quotes at the best bid and ask prices. Solving her optimization problem allows us to understand endogenously the price-imbalance connection and to confirm in particular that it is optimal to quote a predictive imbalance. Our model can also be used by a platform to select a suitable tick size, which is known to be a crucial topic in financial regulation. The value function of the market maker's control problem can be viewed as a family of functions, indexed by the level of the market maker's inventory, solving a coupled system of PDEs. We show existence and uniqueness of classical solutions to this coupled system of equations. In the case of a continuous inventory, we also prove uniqueness of the market maker's optimal control policy.
  • Efficient treatment of the model error in the calibration of computer codes: the Complete Maximum a Posteriori method
    • Kahol Omar
    • Congedo Pietro Marco
    • Le Maitre Olivier
    • Denimal Goy Enora
    International Journal for Uncertainty Quantification, Begell House Publishers, 2025. <div><p>Computer models are widely used for the prediction of complex physical phenomena. Based on observations of these physical phenomena, it is possible to calibrate the model parameters. In most cases, such computer models are mis-specified, and the calibration process must be improved by including a model error term. The model error hyperparameters are, however, rarely learned jointly with the model parameters to reduce the dimensionality of the problem. Sequential and non-sequential approaches have been introduced to estimate the hyperparameters. The former, such as the Kennedy and O'Hagan (KOH) framework, estimates the model error hyperparameters before calibrating the model parameters. The latter, such as the Full Maximum a Posteriori (FMP), introduces a functional dependence between the model parameters and the model error hyperparameters. Despite being more reliable in some cases (bimodality e.g.), the FMP method still fails to estimate correctly the posterior distribution shape. This work proposes a new methodology for treating the model error term in computer code calibration. It builds upon the KOH and FMP framework. Called the Complete Maximum a Posteriori (CMP) method, it provides a closed-form expression for the marginalization integral over the model error hyperparameters, significantly reducing the dimensionality of the calibration problem. Such expression re- lies on a set of assumptions that are more general and less stringent than the ones usually employed. The CMP method is applied to four examples of increasing complexity, from elementary to real fluid dynamics problems, including or not bimodality. Compared to the true reference solution and unlike the KOH and FMP, the CMP method correctly captures the shape of the posterior distribution, including all modes and their weights. Moreover, it provides an accurate estimate of the distribution tails</p></div> (10.1615/Int.J.UncertaintyQuantification.2025056317)
    DOI : 10.1615/Int.J.UncertaintyQuantification.2025056317
  • PSWF-Radon approach to reconstruction from band-limited Hankel transform
    • Goncharov Fedor
    • Isaev Mikhail
    • Novikov Roman
    • Zaytsev Rodion
    Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, Elsevier, 2025. We give new formulas for reconstructions from band-limited Hankel transform of integer or half-integer order. Our formulas rely on the PSWF-Radon approach to super-resolution in multidimensional Fourier analysis. This approach consists of combining the theory of classical one-dimensional prolate spheroidal wave functions with the Radon transform theory. We also use the relation between Fourier and Hankel transforms and Cormack-type inversion of the Radon transform. Finally, we investigate numerically the capabilities of our approach to super-resolution for band-limited Hankel inversion in relation to varying levels of noise.
  • Taking Advantage of Multiple Scattering for Optical Reflection Tomography
    • Wasik Thomas
    • Barolle Victor
    • Aubry Alexandre
    • Garnier Josselin
    , 2025. <div><p>Optical Diffraction Tomography (ODT) is a powerful non-invasive imaging technique widely used in biological and medical applications. While significant progress has been made in transmission configuration, reflection ODT remains challenging due to the ill-posed nature of the inverse problem. We present a novel optimization algorithm for 3D refractive index (RI) reconstruction in reflection-mode microscopy. Our method takes advantage of the multiply-scattered waves that are reflected by uncontrolled background structures and that illuminate the foreground RI from behind. It tackles the ill-posed nature of the problem using weighted time loss, positivity constraints and Total Variation regularization. We have validated our method with data generated by detailed 2D and 3D simulations, demonstrating its performance under weak multiple scattering conditions and with simplified forward models used in the optimization routine for computational efficiency.</p><p>In addition, we highlight the need for multi-wavelength analysis and the use of regularization to ensure the reconstruction of the low spatial frequencies of the foreground RI.</p></div>
  • Byzantine-Robust Gossip: Insights from a Dual Approach
    • Gaucher Renaud
    • Dieuleveut Aymeric
    • Hendrikx Hadrien
    , 2025. Distributed learning has many computational benefits but is vulnerable to attacks from a subset of devices transmitting incorrect information. This paper investigates Byzantine resilient algorithms in a decentralized setting, where devices communicate directly in a peer-to-peer manner within a communication network. We leverage the so-called dual approach for decentralized optimization and propose a Byzantine-robust algorithm. We provide convergence guarantees in the average consensus subcase, discuss the potential of the dual approach beyond this subcase, and re-interpret existing algorithms using the dual framework. Lastly, we experimentally show the soundness of our method.
  • Optimisation of space-time periodic eigenvalues
    • Bogosel Beniamin
    • Mazari Idriss
    • Nadin Grégoire
    Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, 2025. <div><p>The goal of this paper is to provide a qualitative analysis of the optimisation of space-time periodic principal eigenvalues. Namely, considering a fixed time horizon T and the d-dimensional torus T d , let, for any m ∈ L ∞ ((0, T ) × T d ), λ(m) be the principal eigenvalue of the operator ∂t -∆ -m endowed with (time-space) periodic boundary conditions. The main question we set out to answer is the following: how to choose m so as to minimise λ(m)? This question stems from population dynamics. We prove that in several cases it is always beneficial to rearrange m with respect to time in a symmetric way, which is the first comparison result for the rearrangement in time of parabolic equations. Furthermore, we investigate the validity (or lack thereof) of Talenti inequalities for the rearrangement in time of parabolic equations. The numerical simulations which illustrate our results were obtained by developing a framework within which it is possible to optimise criteria with respect to functions having a prescribed rearrangement (or distribution function).</p></div> (10.2422/2036-2145.202501_012)
    DOI : 10.2422/2036-2145.202501_012
  • Inverse scattering for the multipoint potentials of Bethe-Peierls-Thomas-Fermi type
    • Kuo Pei-Cheng
    • Novikov Roman
    Inverse Problems, IOP Publishing, 2025, 41 (6), pp.065021. <div><p>We consider the Schrödinger equation with a multipoint potential of the Bethe-Peierls-Thomas-Fermi type. We show that such a potential in dimension d = 2 or d = 3 is uniquely determined by its scattering amplitude at a fixed positive energy. Moreover, we show that there is no non-zero potential of this type with zero scattering amplitude at a fixed positive energy and a fixed incident direction. Nevertheless, we also show that a multipoint potential of this type is not uniquely determined by its scattering amplitude at a positive energy E and a fixed incident direction. Our proofs also contribute to the theory of inverse source problem for the Helmholtz equation with multipoint source.</p></div> (10.1088/1361-6420/ade282)
    DOI : 10.1088/1361-6420/ade282
  • Long time behavior of a degenerate stochastic system modeling the response of a population face to environmental impacts
    • Collet Pierre
    • Ecotière Claire
    • Méléard Sylvie
    Electronic Communications in Probability, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), 2025, 30 (none). We study the asymptotics of a two-dimensional stochastic differential system with a degenerate diffusion matrix. This system describes the dynamics of a population where individuals contribute to the degradation of their environment through two different behaviors. We exploit the almost one-dimensional form of the dynamical system to compute explicitly the Freidlin-Wentzell action functional. That allows to give conditions under which the small noise regime of the invariant measure is concentrated around the equilibrium of the dynamical system having the smallest diffusion coefficient. (10.1214/24-ECP650)
    DOI : 10.1214/24-ECP650
  • Adaptive Destruction Processes for Diffusion Samplers
    • Gritsaev Timofei
    • Morozov Nikita
    • Tamogashev Kirill
    • Tiapkin Daniil
    • Samsonov Sergey
    • Naumov Alexey
    • Vetrov Dmitry
    • Malkin Nikolay
    , 2025. This paper explores the challenges and benefits of a trainable destruction process in diffusion samplers -- diffusion-based generative models trained to sample an unnormalised density without access to data samples. Contrary to the majority of work that views diffusion samplers as approximations to an underlying continuous-time model, we view diffusion models as discrete-time policies trained to produce samples in very few generation steps. We propose to trade some of the elegance of the underlying theory for flexibility in the definition of the generative and destruction policies. In particular, we decouple the generation and destruction variances, enabling both transition kernels to be learned as unconstrained Gaussian densities. We show that, when the number of steps is limited, training both generation and destruction processes results in faster convergence and improved sampling quality on various benchmarks. Through a robust ablation study, we investigate the design choices necessary to facilitate stable training. Finally, we show the scalability of our approach through experiments on GAN latent space sampling for conditional image generation. (10.48550/arXiv.2506.01541)
    DOI : 10.48550/arXiv.2506.01541
  • Crediting football players for creating dangerous actions in an unbiased way: the generation of threat (GoT) indices
    • Baouan Ali
    • Coustou Sebastien
    • Lacome Mathieu
    • Pulido Sergio
    • Rosenbaum Mathieu
    Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, 2025. We introduce an innovative methodology to identify football players at the origin of threatening actions in a team. In our framework, a threat is defined as entering the opposing team's danger area. We investigate the timing of threat events and ball touches of players, and capture their correlation using Hawkes processes. Our model-based approach allows us to evaluate a player's ability to create danger both directly and through interactions with teammates. We define a new index, called Generation of Threat (GoT), that measures in an unbiased way the contribution of a player to threat generation. For illustration, we present a detailed analysis of Chelsea's 2016-2017 season, with a standout performance from Eden Hazard. We are able to credit each player for his involvement in danger creation and determine the main circuits leading to threat. In the same spirit, we investigate the danger generation process of Stade Rennais in the 2021-2022 season. Furthermore, we establish a comprehensive ranking of Ligue 1 players based on their generated threat in the 2021-2022 season. Our analysis reveals surprising results, with players such as Jason Berthomier, Moses Simon and Frederic Guilbert among the top performers in the GoT rankings. We also present a ranking of Ligue 1 central defenders in terms of generation of threat and confirm the great performance of some center-back pairs, such as Nayef Aguerd and Warmed Omari.
  • Partial regularity for optimal transport with $p$-cost away from fixed points
    • Goldman Michael
    • Koch Lukas
    Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, American Mathematical Society, 2025. We consider maps $T$ solving the optimal transport problem with a cost $c(x-y)$ modeled on the $p$-cost. For Hölder continuous marginals, we prove a $C^{1,\alpha}$-partial regularity result for $T$ in the set $\{\lvert T(x)-x\rvert&gt;0\}$.
  • Signature volatility models: pricing and hedging with Fourier
    • Abi Jaber Eduardo
    • Gérard Louis-Amand
    SIAM Journal on Financial Mathematics, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 2025, 16 (2). We consider a stochastic volatility model where the dynamics of the volatility are given by a possibly infinite linear combination of the elements of the time extended signature of a Brownian motion. First, we show that the model is remarkably universal, as it includes, but is not limited to, the celebrated Stein-Stein, Bergomi, and Heston models, together with some path-dependent variants. Second, we derive the joint characteristic functional of the log-price and integrated variance provided that some infinitedimensional extended tensor algebra valued Riccati equation admits a solution. This allows us to price and (quadratically) hedge certain European and path-dependent options using Fourier inversion techniques. We highlight the efficiency and accuracy of these Fourier techniques in a comprehensive numerical study. (10.1137/24M1636952)
    DOI : 10.1137/24M1636952
  • Probing the speckle to estimate the effective speed of sound, a first step towards quantitative ultrasound imaging
    • Garnier Josselin
    • Giovangigli Laure
    • Goepfert Quentin
    • Millien Pierre
    Inverse Problems and Imaging, AIMS American Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 2025 (1930-8337). <div><p>In this paper, we present a mathematical model and analysis for a new experimental method [Bureau and al., arXiv:2409.13901, 2024] for effective sound velocity estimation in medical ultrasound imaging. We perform a detailed analysis of the point spread function of a medical ultrasound imaging system when there is a mismatch between the effective sound speed in the medium and the one used in the backpropagation imaging functional. Based on this analysis, an estimator for the speed of sound error is introduced. Using recent results on stochastic homogenization of the Helmholtz equation, we provide a representation formula for the field scattered by a random multi-scale medium (whose acoustic behavior is similar to a biological tissue) in the time-harmonic regime. We then prove that statistical moments of the imaging function can be accessed from data collected with only one realization of the medium. We show that it is possible to locally extract the point spread function from an image constituted only of speckle and build an estimator for the effective sound velocity in the micro-structured medium. Some numerical illustrations are presented at the end of the paper.</p></div> (10.3934/ipi.2026001)
    DOI : 10.3934/ipi.2026001
  • Learning homogenized hyperelastic behavior for topology optimization of lattice structures
    • Ribeiro Nogueira Breno
    • Allaire Grégoire
    , 2025. (10.5281/zenodo.14900138)
    DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.14900138
  • Objective assessment of cardiac function using patient-specific biophysical modeling based on cardiovascular MRI combined with catheterization
    • Gusseva Maria
    • Castellanos Daniel Alexander
    • Veeram Reddy Surendranath
    • Hussain Tarique
    • Chapelle Dominique
    • Chabiniok Radomír
    AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology, American Physiological Society, 2025, 329 (5), pp.H118-H1191. Synthesizing multi-modality data, such as cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with catheterization, into a single framework is challenging. Different acquisition systems are subjected to different measurement errors. Coupling clinical data with biomechanical models can assist in clinical data processing (e.g., model-based filtering of measurement noise) and quantify myocardial mechanics via metrics not readily available in the data, such as myocardial contractility. In this work we use a biomechanical modeling with the aim 1) to quantitatively compare model- and data-derived signals, and 2) to explore the potential of model-derived myocardial contractility and distal resistance of the circulation (Rd) to robustly quantify cardiovascular physiology. We used 51 ventricular catheterization pressure and cine MRI volume datasets from patients with single-ventricle physiology and left and right ventricles of patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Ventricular time-varying elastance (TVE) metrics and linear regression were used to quantify the relationship between the maximum value of TVE (Emax) and maximum time derivative of ventricular pressure (max(dP/dt)) in data- and model-derived pressure and volume signals at p&lt;0.05. Pearson’s correlations were used to compare model-derived contractility and data-derived Emax and max(dP/dt), and model-derived Rd and data-derived vascular resistance. All data and model-derived linear regressions were significant (p&lt;0.05). Model-derived max(dP/dt) vs. data-derived Emax produced higher R2 than data-derived max(dP/dt) vs. data-derived Emax. Correlations demonstrated significant relationships between most data- and model-derived metrics. This work revealed the clinical value of biomechanical modeling to assist in clinical data processing by providing high-quality pressure and volume signals, and to quantify cardiovascular pathophysiology. (10.1152/ajpheart.00232.2025)
    DOI : 10.1152/ajpheart.00232.2025
  • Finite elements for Wasserstein $W_p$ gradient flows
    • Cancès Clément
    • Matthes Daniel
    • Nabet Flore
    • Rott Eva-Maria
    ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis, Société de Mathématiques Appliquées et Industrielles (SMAI) / EDP, 2025, 59 (3), pp.1565-1600. Wasserstein $\bbW_p$ gradient flows for nonlinear integral functionals of the density yield degenerate parabolic equations involving diffusion operators of $q$-Laplacian type, with $q$ being $p$'s conjugate exponent. We propose a finite element scheme building on conformal $\mathbb{P}_1$ Lagrange elements with mass lumping and a backward Euler time discretization strategy. Our scheme preserves mass and positivity while energy decays in time. Building on the theory of gradient flows in metric spaces, we further prove convergence towards a weak solution of the PDE that satisfies the energy dissipation equality. The analytical results are illustrated by numerical simulations. (10.1051/m2an/2025035)
    DOI : 10.1051/m2an/2025035
  • Volume growth of Funk geometry and the flags of polytopes
    • Faifman Dmitry
    • Vernicos Constantin
    • Walsh Cormac
    Geometry and Topology, Mathematical Sciences Publishers, 2025, 29 (7), pp.3773-3811. We consider the Holmes-Thompson volume of balls in the Funk geometry on the interior of a convex domain. We conjecture that for a fixed radius, this volume is minimized when the domain is a simplex and the ball is centered at the barycenter, or in the centrally-symmetric case, when the domain is a Hanner polytope. This interpolates between Mahler's conjecture and Kalai's flag conjecture. We verify this conjecture for unconditional domains. For polytopal Funk geometries, we study the asymptotics of the volume of balls of large radius, and compute the two highest-order terms. The highest depends only on the combinatorics, namely on the number of flags. The second highest depends also on the geometry, and thus serves as a geometric analogue of the centro-affine area for polytopes. We then show that for any polytope, the second highest coefficient is minimized by a unique choice of center point, extending the notion of Santaló point. Finally, we show that, in dimension two, this coefficient, with respect to the minimal center point, is uniquely maximized by affine images of the regular polygon. (10.2140/gt.2025.29.3773)
    DOI : 10.2140/gt.2025.29.3773
  • A holographic uniqueness theorem for the two-dimensional Helmholtz equation
    • Nair Arjun
    • Novikov Roman
    The Journal of Geometric Analysis, Springer, 2025, 35 (4), pp.123. We consider a plane wave, a radiation solution, and the sum of these solutions (total solution) for the Helmholtz equation in an exterior region in $\mathbb R^2$. We consider a straight line in this region, such that the direction of propagation of the plane wave is not parallel to this line. We show that the radiation solution in the exterior region is uniquely determined by the intensity of the total solution on an interval of this line. In particular, this result solves one of the old mathematical questions of holography in its two-dimensional setting. Our proofs also contribute to the theory of the Karp expansion of radiation solutions in two dimensions. (10.1007/s12220-025-01949-x)
    DOI : 10.1007/s12220-025-01949-x