Parallel computation of interval bases for persistence module decomposition

A persistence module M, with coefficients in a field F, is a finite-dimensional linear representation of an equioriented quiver of type An or, equivalently, a graded module over the ring of polynomials F[x]. It is well-known that M can be written as the direct sum of indecomposable representations or as the direct sum of cyclic submodules generated by homogeneous elements. An interval basis for M is a set of homogeneous elements of M such that the sum of the cyclic submodules of M generated by them is direct and equal to M. We introduce a novel algorithm to compute an interval basis for M. Based on a flag of kernels of the structure maps, our algorithm is suitable for parallel or distributed computation and does not rely on a presentation of M. This parallel algorithm outperforms the approach via the presentation matrix and Smith normal form. We specialize our parallel approach to persistent homology modules, and we close by applying the proposed algorithm to tracking harmonics via Hodge decomposition.