Ordering Candidates via Vantage Points

Abstract: Given an $n$-element set $C\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$ and a (sufficiently generic) $k$-element multiset $V\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$, we can order the points in $C$ by ranking each point $c\in C$ according to the sum of the distances from $c$ to the points of $V$. Let $\Psi_k(C)$ denote the set of orderings of $C$ that can be obtained in this manner as $V$ varies, and let $\psi^{\mathrm{max}}_{d,k}(n)$ be the maximum of $\lvert\Psi_k(C)\rvert$ as $C$ ranges over all $n$-element subsets of $\mathbb{R}^d$. We prove that $\psi^{\mathrm{max}}{d,k}(n)=\Theta{d,k}(n^{2dk})$ when $d \geq 2$ and that $\psi^{\mathrm{max}}_{1,k}(n)=\Theta_k(n^{4\lceil k/2\rceil -1})$. As a step toward proving this result, we establish a bound on the number of sign patterns determined by a collection of functions that are sums of radicals of nonnegative polynomials; this can be understood as an analogue of a classical theorem of Warren. We also prove several results about the set $\Psi(C)=\bigcup_{k\geq 1}\Psi_k(C)$; this includes an exact description of $\Psi(C)$ when $d=1$ and when $C$ is the set of vertices of a vertex-transitive polytope.