title: Computational topology for configuration spaces of hard disks.
abstract: We explore the topology of configuration spaces of hard disks experimentally and show that several changes in the topology can already be observed with a small number of particles. The results illustrate a theorem of Baryshnikov, Bubenik, and Kahle  that critical points correspond to configurations of disks with balanced mechanical stresses and suggest conjectures about the asymptotic topology as the number of disks tends to infinity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. gunnar@math.stanford.edu
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carlsson
authors.forename: Jackson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gorham
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kahle
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mason
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D006244:Hardness; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013314:Stress, Mechanical