Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Olave, Astrid A., Munch, Elizabeth
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.09034
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909989859229696
author Olave, Astrid A.
Munch, Elizabeth
author_facet Olave, Astrid A.
Munch, Elizabeth
contents The interleaving distance is arguably the most widely used metric in topological data analysis (TDA) due to its applicability to a wide array of inputs of interest, such as (multiparameter) persistence modules, Reeb graphs, merge trees, and zigzag modules. However, computation of the interleaving distance in the vast majority of this settings is known to be NP-hard, limiting its use in practical settings. Inspired by the work of Chambers et al. on the interleaving distance for mapper graphs, we solve a more general problem bounding the interleaving distance between generalized persistence modules on concrete categories via a loss function. This loss function measures how far an assignment, which can be thought of as an interleaving that might not commute, is from defining a true interleaving. We give settings for which the loss can be computed in polynomial time, including for certain assumptions on $k$-parameter persistence modules.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_09034
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bounding the interleaving distance on concrete categories using a loss function
Olave, Astrid A.
Munch, Elizabeth
Algebraic Topology
Computational Geometry
The interleaving distance is arguably the most widely used metric in topological data analysis (TDA) due to its applicability to a wide array of inputs of interest, such as (multiparameter) persistence modules, Reeb graphs, merge trees, and zigzag modules. However, computation of the interleaving distance in the vast majority of this settings is known to be NP-hard, limiting its use in practical settings. Inspired by the work of Chambers et al. on the interleaving distance for mapper graphs, we solve a more general problem bounding the interleaving distance between generalized persistence modules on concrete categories via a loss function. This loss function measures how far an assignment, which can be thought of as an interleaving that might not commute, is from defining a true interleaving. We give settings for which the loss can be computed in polynomial time, including for certain assumptions on $k$-parameter persistence modules.
title Bounding the interleaving distance on concrete categories using a loss function
topic Algebraic Topology
Computational Geometry
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.09034