Skip to main content
3 of 5
added further pictures
mathoverflowUser
  • 3.1k
  • 1
  • 9
  • 36

How is this 3d curve called which looks like the infinity sign?

How is this 3d curve called, which looks like a 2d lemniscate but is 3d? (Is there a known parametric equation for it?)

Rydberg_dihedral_kernel_KPCA_visualization_dim_3

It was generated with this Sagemath - script, where you can zoom in 3d in your browser. The background lies in the following formula of a positive semidefinite matrix, which then is processed with Kernel-PCA to be visualized in 3dim and is related to this question and this question.

In the book "Matrices and Graphs in Geometry" by Miroslav Fiedler, we have the following generalisation of the sum of angles equals $\pi$ in triangles:

theorem_dihedral_kernel

In this case, which we are looking at, we have:

$$G_n^{-1} = (d_1^T,d_2^T,\dots,d_n^T)$$

where

$$G_n = (1/\max(i,j)^2)_{1 \le i,j \le n}$$

is a Gram matrix and $d_{n+1} := \sum_{i=1}^n d_i$. Aftwerwards we treat the entries in the positive semidefinite matrix above as a p.s.d. kernel and thus can visualize its entries $1,\cdots,n+1$ with KernelPCA to get the picture above.

Visualized (with KernelPCA) in 2dim, it looks like this:

Rydberg_dihedral_kernel_KPCA_visualization_dim_2

Edit: Changing the kernel to $K(a,b) = \frac{k(a,b)}{\sqrt{k(a,a)k(b,b}} = \frac{\min(a,b)}{\max(a,b)}$ will give us the following surface in 3d:

visualization_rydberg_angle_kernel_kpca_3dim_pic_1

visualization_rydberg_angle_kernel_kpca_3dim_pic_2

visualization_rydberg_angle_kernel_kpca_3dim_pic_3

I would also be intersted to know how this surface is called, if it has a name.

mathoverflowUser
  • 3.1k
  • 1
  • 9
  • 36