Morse connection graphs for piecewise constant vector fields on surfaces

Abstract

We describe an algorithm for constructing Morse Connection Graphs (MCGs) of Piecewise Constant (PC) vector fields on surfaces. The main novel aspect of our algorithm is its way of dealing with false positives that could arise when computing Morse sets from an inexact graph representation. First, our MCG does not contain trivial Morse sets that may not contain any vector field features, or contain features that cancel each other. Second, we provide a simple criterion that can be used to rigorously verify MCG edges, i.e. to determine if a respective connecting chain of trajectories indeed exists. We also introduce an adaptive refinement scheme for the transition graph that aims to minimize the number of MCG arcs that the algorithm is not able to positively verify.