Mathematics · Bielefeld University

Lukas Kühne

Assistant professor (Juniorprofessor)

My research connects combinatorics, algebra and geometry, with a focus on hyperplane arrangements, matroids and polytopes.

I use and develop experimental and computational tools to study these structures.

Portrait of Lukas Kühne
Photo: Andrea Kane, Institute for Advanced Study

Contact

Office
V4-201
Phone
+49 521 106 5028
Fakultät für Mathematik
Universität Bielefeld
Postfach 100131
33501 Bielefeld, Germany

Publications

Preprints and published work

Preprints 4

  1. 2025
  2. 2025
  3. 2025

    When alcoved polytopes add

    with Nick Early and Leonid Monin.

    An extended abstract appeared in the proceedings of the conference Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2025).

  4. 2024

    Combinatorial invariants of finite metric spaces and the Wasserstein arrangement

    with Emanuele Delucchi and Leonie Mühlherr.

    An extended abstract appeared in the proceedings of the conference Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2025).

Published & accepted 23

  1. Accepted

    The Sn-equivariant Chow polynomial of the Braid matroid

    with Siddarth Kannan.

    To appear in Épijournal de Géométrie Algébrique.

  2. 2026

    On entropic and almost multilinear representability of matroids

    with Geva Yashfe.

    Duke Mathematical Journal, 175(8) (2026) pp. 1363-1451.

  3. 2026

    Free line arrangements with low maximal multiplicity

    with Alexandru Dimca and Piotr Pokora.

    Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics, Volume 63, article number 45 (2026).

  4. 2026

    On the numerical Terao's conjecture and Ziegler pairs for line arrangements

    with Dante Luber and Piotr Pokora.

    Journal of Commutative Algebra, Volume 18 (2026), No. 3, pp. 283-297.

  5. 2026

    Most q-matroids are not representable

    with Sebastian Degen.

    Combinatorial Theory, Volume 6, Issue 2 (2026) #11.

    An extended abstract appeared in the proceedings of the conference Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2025).

  6. 2026

    Arrangements and Likelihood

    with Thomas Kahle, Leonie Mühlherr, Bernd Sturmfels and Max Wiesmann.

    Vietnam Journal of Mathematics (Memorial volume for Andreas Dress).

  7. 2025

    Regular polygons, line operators, and elliptic modular surfaces as realization spaces of matroids

    with Xavier Roulleau.

    International Mathematics Research Notices (IMRN), Volume 2025, Issue 24 (2025), rnaf367.

  8. 2025

    Dynamical systems on some elliptic modular surfaces via operators on line arrangements

    with Xavier Roulleau.

    Nagoya Mathematical Journal, 258 (2025), pp. 357–375.

  9. 2025

    Projective dimension of weakly chordal graphic arrangements

    with Takuro Abe, Paul Mücksch, and Leonie Mühlherr.

    Algebraic Combinatorics, Volume 8, issue 1 (2025), pp. 157-174.

  10. 2025

    Matroids in OSCAR

    with Daniel Corey and Benjamin Schröter.

    Chapter in the book "The Computer Algebra System OSCAR. Algorithms and Computation in Mathematics", 2-2025.

  11. 2025

    Faces of Cosmological Polytopes

    with Leonid Monin.

    Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré Comb. Phys. Interact. 12 (2025), no. 3, pp. 445–461.

  12. 2025

    On arrangements of hyperplanes from connected subgraphs

    with Michael Cuntz.

    Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Scienze, 26(4) (2025) pp. 1879-1904.

  13. 2024

    Line arrangements with many triple points

    with Tomasz Szemberg and Halszka Tutaj-Gasińska.

    Rendiconti del Circolo Matematico di Palermo Series 2, Volume 73 (2024) 2501–2512.

Earlier publications 2018–2023 · 10 papers
  1. 2023

    Computing Characteristic Polynomials of Hyperplane Arrangements with Symmetries

    with Taylor Brysiewicz and Holger Eble.

    Discrete & Computational Geometry, Volume 70, pp. 1356–1377, (2023).

  2. 2023

    Computing the nonfree locus of the moduli space of arrangements and Terao's freeness conjecture

    with Mohamed Barakat.

    Mathematics of Computation, 92 (2023), pp. 1431-1452.

    An extended abstract appeared in the Oberwolfach workshop report 5/2021 and in the Computeralgebra Rundbrief Ausgabe 68.

  3. 2023

    On the geometry of flag Hilbert-Poincaré series for matroids

    with Joshua Maglione.

    Algebraic Combinatorics, 6(3), (2023), pp. 623-638.

    An extended abstract appeared in the proceedings of the conference Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2022).

  4. 2023

    Likelihood Degenerations

    with Daniele Agostini, Taylor Brysiewicz, Claudia Fevola, Bernd Sturmfels, and Simon Telen.

    Advances in Mathematics, 414 (2023), Paper No. 108863.

  5. 2023

    Von Staudt Constructions for Skew-Linear and Multilinear Matroids

    with Rudi Pendavingh and Geva Yashfe.

    Combinatorial Theory, 3(1) (2023), Paper No. 16.

  6. 2023

    The Universality of the Resonance Arrangement and its Betti Numbers

    Combinatorica, Volume 43, pp. 277–298, (2023).

    An extended abstract appeared in the proceedings of the conference Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2021).

  7. 2022

    Representability of Matroids by c-Arrangements is Undecidable

    with Geva Yashfe.

    Israel Journal of Mathematics, 252, (2022), pp. 95–147.

    An extended abstract appeared in the proceedings of the conference Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2020).

  8. 2022

    Locally heavy hyperplanes in multiarrangements

    with Takuro Abe.

    Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, 226(1), (2022) Paper No. 106791.

  9. 2021

    On the generation of rank 3 simple matroids with an application to Terao's freeness conjecture

    with Mohamed Barakat, Reimer Behrends, Christopher Jefferson, and Martin Leuner.

    SIAM Journal of Discrete Mathematics, 35(2), (2021) pp. 1201-1223.

  10. 2018

    Heavy hyperplanes in multiarrangements and their freeness

    with Takuro Abe.

    Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics, 48, (2018), pp. 581–606.

Teaching

Courses at Bielefeld University

Current · Winter term 2026/27

Linear Algebra in Action

Proseminar

Previous courses 2022–2026
  • Summer term 2026

    • Lecture course on geometry for prospective high school teachers
  • Winter term 2025/26

    • Lecture course on discrete mathematics for computer science students
  • Summer term 2025

    • Lecture course Elementary Number Theory
  • Winter term 2024/25

    • Lecture course on finite reflection groups, hyperplane arrangements, and (oriented) matroids
  • Winter term 2023/24

    • Lecture course Linear Algebra 2
    • Research seminar on AI methods in mathematics
  • Summer term 2023

    • Lecture course Linear Algebra 1
  • Winter term 2022/23

    • Lecture course on discrete mathematics for computer science students
    • Proseminar on graph theory
  • Summer term 2022

    • Proseminar on matroid theory

Outreach

I gave summer courses for high school students at the German Pupils Academy (Deutsche SchülerAkademie) on linear optimization (2016 and 2018), topological data analysis (2019), and Gödel's incompleteness theorems (2022).

Events & visits

Conferences, workshops and travel

Events co-organized

Earlier events 2016–2025
Conferences & visits 2017–2026
  • Priority Program Combinatorial Synergies Annual Conference 2026, September 2026, Frankfurt
  • Combinatorial Coworkspace — a session in algebraic and geometric combinatorics, March 2026, Kleinwalsertal
  • Northern German Algebraic Geometry Seminar, January 2026, HU Berlin
  • Beyond Permutahedra and Associahedra, December 2025, CIRM
  • Closing conference on Combinatorial Geometries and Geometric Combinatorics, November 2025, CRM Barcelona
  • Arbeitsgemeinschaft: Combinatorial Hodge Theory, October 2025, MFO
  • Topology of Arrangements with an Eye to Applications, September 2025, University of Pisa
  • New perspectives on hyperplane arrangements, May 2025, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
  • Geometry of Arrangements, March 2025, University of Hannover
  • Alcoved Polytopes in Physics and Optimization, March 2025, MFO
  • Member during the Special Year on Algebraic and Geometric Combinatorics, September—December 2024, IAS Princeton
  • Combinatorics, Resurgence and Algebraic Geometry in Quantum Field Theory, August 2024, MPI Bonn
  • FPSAC, July 2024, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
  • Arrangements, Matroids and Logarithmic Vector Fields, June 2024, MFO
  • Combinatorial Coworkspace — a session in algebraic and geometric combinatorics, March 2024, Kleinwalsertal
  • Hyperplane Arrangements 2023, December 2023, Rikkyo University, Tokyo
  • Moduli and Friends, September 2023, IMAR, Bucharest
  • Hodge and K-Theory meets Combinatorics, September 2023, Bernoulli Center, EPFL
  • GMZ 60, May 2023, FU Berlin
  • Combinatorics, geometry and commutative algebra of hyperplane arrangements, January 2023, Kyushu University, Fukuoka
  • Complex and Symplectic Curve Configurations, December 2022, University of Nantes
  • Geometry meets Combinatorics in Bielefeld, September 2022, Bielefeld University
  • Arrangements in Ticino, June 2022, Locarno
  • Combinatorial Coworkspace — a session in algebraic and geometric combinatorics, March 2022, Kleinwalsertal
  • Feynman integrals and nonlinear algebra, March 2022, MPI Leipzig
  • Computeralgebra-Tagung der Fachgruppe Computeralgebra, March 2022, Munich
  • Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC), January 2022, online
  • SIAM Conference on Applied Algebraic Geometry at Texas A&M University, August 2021, online
  • Semester Program on Combinatorial Algebraic Geometry, February - May 2021, ICERM, online
  • Workshop on Logarithmic Vector Fields and Freeness of Divisors and Arrangements, January 2021, MFO, online
  • Workshop on Discrete Geometry at MFO, September 2020, MFO
  • Arrangements at Home, August 2020, online
  • Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC), July 2020, online
  • Combinatorial Coworkspace — a session in algebraic and geometric combinatorics, March 2020, Kleinwalsertal
  • Algebraic Geometry - Varieties, Polyhedra, Computation, October 2019, FU Berlin
  • Hyperplane Arrangements and Reflection Groups, September 2019, Leibniz Universität Hannover
  • Canadian Discrete and Algorithmic Mathematics Conference, May 2019, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
  • Arrangements at Western, May 2019, Western University, London (ON)
  • Spring School and Workshop on Polytopes, March 2019, Ruhr Universität Bochum
  • Combinatorial Geometries 2018 at CIRM, September 2018, CIRM
  • Summer School - New Perspectives in Hyperplane Arrangements, September 2018, Ruhr Universität Bochum
  • High-Dimensional Combinatorics, April 2018, IIAS Jerusalem
  • Geometric and Topological Combinatorics, October 2017, MSRI
Other activities

Miscellaneous programs I participated in: International Summer Science Institute, Deutsche Schülerakademie, Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik and Früheinstieg ins Mathematikstudium.

Software

Tools for computational mathematics

CountingChambers.jl

Taylor Brysiewicz, Holger Eble, and I wrote the Julia package CountingChambers.jl. This package counts the chambers of a hyperplane arrangement by computing its characteristic polynomial. It performs this computation via a modified deletion-restriction algorithm which takes advantage of the arrangement's symmetries.

MatroidGeneration

In joint work with Mohamed Barakat, I wrote the GAP package MatroidGeneration to create an ArangoDB database of all rank 3 matroids up to size 14 whose characteristic polynomial factors over the integers. These matroids are among others relevant in the study of free or supersolvable hyperplane arrangements. Feel free to try it and contact us for questions, suggestions or feedback.

About

Biography, people and projects

Short biography

  • Autumn 2024: Erik Ellentuck Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
  • Since 2021: Juniorprofessor (without tenure-track) for Combinatorial Algebra, Universität Bielefeld
  • 2020-2021: Postdoctoral researcher, Max-Planck-Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig
  • 2017-2020: PhD, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • 2014-2017: Master, Universität Bonn
  • 2011-2014: Bachelor, TU Kaiserslautern

Previously, I worked at the Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics in Bonn to develop and apply tools from combinatorial optimization in a chip design project in cooperation with IBM.

PhD students

  • Fenja Mehlan, 2024–present, funded by DFG SPP 2458
  • Sebastian Degen, 2023–present, funded by DFG SFB-TRR 358
  • Leonie Mühlherr, 2022–2025, now postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kassel

Selected grants