Universality in Random Persistent Homology and Scale-Invariant Functionals

Abstract: In this paper, we prove a universality result for the limiting distribution of persistence diagrams arising from geometric filtrations over random point processes. Specifically, we consider the distribution of the ratio of persistence values (death/birth), and show that for fixed dimension, homological degree and filtration type (Cech or Vietoris-Rips), the limiting distribution is independent of the underlying point process distribution, i.e., universal. In proving this result, we present a novel general framework for universality in scale-invariant functionals on point processes. Finally, we also provide a number of new results related to Morse theory in random geometric complexes, which may be of an independent interest.