  We consider the RMS distance (sum of squared distances between pairs of
points) under translation between two point sets in the plane, in two different
setups. In the partial-matching setup, each point in the smaller set is matched
to a distinct point in the bigger set. Although the problem is not known to be
polynomial, we establish several structural properties of the underlying
subdivision of the plane and derive improved bounds on its complexity. These
results lead to the best known algorithm for finding a translation for which
the partial-matching RMS distance between the point sets is minimized. In
addition, we show how to compute a local minimum of the partial-matching RMS
distance under translation, in polynomial time. In the Hausdorff setup, each
point is paired to its nearest neighbor in the other set. We develop algorithms
for finding a local minimum of the Hausdorff RMS distance in nearly linear time
on the line, and in nearly quadratic time in the plane. These improve
substantially the worst-case behavior of the popular ICP heuristics for solving
this problem.
