Paramotopy: Parameter Homotopies in Parallel

Abstract

Numerical algebraic geometry provides tools for approximating solutions of polynomial systems. One such tool is the parameter homotopy, which can be an extremely efficient method to solve numerous polynomial systems that differ only in coefficients, not monomials. This technique is frequently used for solving a parameterized family of polynomial systems at multiple parameter values. This article describes Paramotopy, a parallel, optimized implementation of this technique, making use of the Bertini software package. The novel features of this implementation include allowing for the simultaneous solutions of arbitrary polynomial systems in a parameterized family on an automatically generated or manually provided mesh in the parameter space of coefficients, front ends and back ends that are easily specialized to particular classes of problems, and adaptive techniques for solving polynomial systems near singular points in the parameter space.