Nonhomogeneous Euclidean first-passage percolation and distance learning

Abstract: Consider an i.i.d. sample from an unknown density function supported on an unknown manifold embedded in a high dimensional Euclidean space. We tackle the problem of learning a distance between points, able to capture both the geometry of the manifold and the underlying density. We prove the convergence of this microscopic distance, as the sample size goes to infinity, to a macroscopic one that we call Fermat distance as it minimizes a path functional, resembling Fermat principle in optics. The proof boils down to the study of geodesics in Euclidean first-passage percolation for nonhomogeneous Poisson point processes.