The Most Dispersed Subset of Random Points in $\mathbb{R}^d$

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Cunden, Fabio Deelan, Cuppone, Noemi, Gramegna, Giovanni, Vivo, Pierpaolo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Cunden, Fabio Deelan
Cuppone, Noemi
Gramegna, Giovanni
Vivo, Pierpaolo
author_facet Cunden, Fabio Deelan
Cuppone, Noemi
Gramegna, Giovanni
Vivo, Pierpaolo
contents Consider a population of $N$ individuals, each having $d\geq 1$ different traits, and an additive measure, called dispersion, which rewards large pairwise separations between traits. The goal is to select $M\leq N$ individuals such that their traits are as dispersed as possible. We compute analytically the full statistics (including large deviation tails) of the maximally achievable dispersion among sub-populations of size $M$ when the traits are independent and identically distributed. Two complementary approaches are developed, one based on a mean-field theory for order statistics, and the other on the replica method from the field of disordered systems. In all dimensions $d$, and for rotationally symmetric distributions, the optimal subset for large populations consists of all points lying outside a $d$-dimensional ball whose radius is determined self-consistently. For a single trait ($d=1$), the statistics of the maximal dispersion can be tackled for finite $N,M$ as well. The formulae we obtained are corroborated by numerical simulations on small instances and by heuristic algorithms that find near-optimal solutions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_04626
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Most Dispersed Subset of Random Points in $\mathbb{R}^d$
Cunden, Fabio Deelan
Cuppone, Noemi
Gramegna, Giovanni
Vivo, Pierpaolo
Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
Consider a population of $N$ individuals, each having $d\geq 1$ different traits, and an additive measure, called dispersion, which rewards large pairwise separations between traits. The goal is to select $M\leq N$ individuals such that their traits are as dispersed as possible. We compute analytically the full statistics (including large deviation tails) of the maximally achievable dispersion among sub-populations of size $M$ when the traits are independent and identically distributed. Two complementary approaches are developed, one based on a mean-field theory for order statistics, and the other on the replica method from the field of disordered systems. In all dimensions $d$, and for rotationally symmetric distributions, the optimal subset for large populations consists of all points lying outside a $d$-dimensional ball whose radius is determined self-consistently. For a single trait ($d=1$), the statistics of the maximal dispersion can be tackled for finite $N,M$ as well. The formulae we obtained are corroborated by numerical simulations on small instances and by heuristic algorithms that find near-optimal solutions.
title The Most Dispersed Subset of Random Points in $\mathbb{R}^d$
topic Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04626