A continuum of K\"unneth theorems for persistence modules

TL;DR

This paper develops a new homological algebra framework for persistence modules, introducing tensor products and internal homs with K"unneth theorems, applicable to both one- and multi-parameter settings, and demonstrates computational advantages.

Contribution

It introduces novel tensor products and internal homs for persistence modules, establishing K"unneth theorems and applications to filtered CW complexes and efficient persistent homology computations.

Findings

Derived functors computed explicitly for interval modules.

Universal Coefficient Theorem applied to persistent Borel-Moore homology.

K"unneth sequences enable faster, approximate persistent homology calculations.

Abstract

We develop new aspects of the homological algebra theory for persistence modules, in both the one-parameter and multi-parameter settings. For a poset $P$ and an order preserving map $\varphi:P\times P\to P$, we introduce a novel tensor product of persistence modules indexed by $P$, $\otimes_{\varphi}$. We prove that each $\otimes_{\varphi}$ has a right adjoint, $\mathbf{Hom}^{\varphi}$, the internal hom of persistence modules that also depends on $\varphi$. We prove that every $\otimes_{\varphi}$ yields a K\"unneth short exact sequence of chain complexes of persistence modules. Dually, the $\mathbf{Hom}^{\varphi}$ also has an associated K\"unneth short exact sequence in cohomology. As special cases both of these short exact sequences yield Universal Coefficient Theorems. We show how to apply these to chain complexes of persistence modules arising from filtered CW complexes. For the special case of $P=\mathbb{R}_+$, the $p$-quasinorms for each $p\in (0,\infty]$ yield a distinct $\otimes_{\ell^p_c}$ and its adjoint $\mathbf{Hom}^{\ell^p_c}$. We compute their derived functors, $\mathbf{Tor}^{\ell^p_c}$ and $\mathbf{Ext}_{\ell^p_c}$ explicitly for interval modules. We show that the Universal Coefficient Theorem developed can be used to compute persistent Borel-Moore homology of a filtration of non-compact spaces. Finally, we show that for every $p\in [1,\infty]$ the associated K\"unneth short exact sequence can be used to significantly speed up and approximate persistent homology computations in a product metric space $(X\times Y,d^p)$ with the distance $d^p((x,y),(x',y'))=||d_X(x,x'),d_Y(y,y')||_p$.