  A fundamental tool in topological data analysis is persistent homology, which
allows extraction of information from complex datasets in a robust way.
Persistent homology assigns a module over a principal ideal domain to a
one-parameter family of spaces obtained from the data. In applications data
often depend on several parameters, and in this case one is interested in
studying the persistent homology of a multiparameter family of spaces
associated to the data. While the theory of persistent homology for
one-parameter families is well-understood, the situation for multiparameter
families is more delicate. Following Carlsson and Zomorodian we recast the
problem in the setting of multigraded algebra, and we propose multigraded
Hilbert series, multigraded associated primes and local cohomology as
invariants for studying multiparameter persistent homology. Multigraded
associated primes provide a stratification of the region where a multigraded
module does not vanish, while multigraded Hilbert series and local cohomology
give a measure of the size of components of the module supported on different
strata. These invariants generalize in a suitable sense the invariant for the
one-parameter case.
