Limit theorems for process-level Betti numbers for sparse, critical, and Poisson regimes

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the asymptotic behavior of Betti numbers of Čech complexes treated as stochastic processes and formed from random points in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space ${\mathbb{R}}^d$. We consider the case where the points of the Čech complex are generated by a Poisson process with intensity $nf$ for a probability density $f$. We look at the cases where the behavior of the connectivity radius of Čech complex causes simplices of dimension greater than $k+1$ to vanish in probability, the so-called sparse and Poisson regimes, as well when the connectivity radius is on the order of $n^{-1/d}$, the critical regime. We establish limit theorems in all of the aforementioned regimes, a central limit theorem for the sparse and critical regimes, and a Poisson limit theorem for the Poisson regime. When the connectivity radius of the Čech complex is $o(n^{-1/d})$, i.e., the sparse and Poisson regimes, we can decompose the limiting processes into a time-changed Brownian motion and a time-changed homogeneous Poisson process respectively. In the critical regime, the limiting process is a centered Gaussian process but has much more complicated representation, because the Čech complex becomes highly connected with many topological holes of any dimension.

30 pages, 2 figures