Apex Representatives

Abstract: Given a zigzag filtration, we want to find its barcode representatives, i.e., a compatible choice of bases for the homology groups that diagonalize the linear maps in the zigzag. To achieve this, we convert the input zigzag to a levelset zigzag of a real-valued function. This function generates a Mayer-Vietoris pyramid of spaces, which generates an infinite strip of homology groups. We call the origins of indecomposable (diamond) summands of this strip their apexes and give an algorithm to find representative cycles in these apexes from ordinary persistence computation. The resulting representatives map back to the levelset zigzag and thus yield barcode representatives for the input zigzag. Our algorithm for lifting a $p$-dimensional cycle from ordinary persistence to an apex representative takes $O(p \cdot m \log m)$ time. From this we can recover zigzag representatives in time $O(\log m + C)$, where $C$ is the size of the output.