Decomposing Multiparameter Persistence Modules

Dey and Xin (J.Appl.Comput.Top., 2022) describe an algorithm to decompose finitely presented multiparameter persistence modules using a matrix reduction algorithm. Their algorithm only works for modules whose generators and relations are distinctly graded. We extend their approach to work on all finitely presented modules and introduce several improvements that lead to significant speed-ups in practice. Our algorithm is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the maximal number of relations of the same degree and with further optimisation we obtain an O(n³) time algorithm for interval-decomposable modules. In particular, we can decide interval-decomposability in this time. As a by-product to the proofs of correctness we develop a theory of parameter restriction for persistence modules. Our algorithm is implemented as a software library aida, the first to enable the decomposition of large inputs. We show its capabilities via extensive experimental evaluation.