Coreduction homology algorithm for inclusions and persistent homology

We present an algorithm for computing the homology of inclusion maps which is based on the idea of coreductions and leads to significant speed improvements over current algorithms. It is shown that this algorithm can be extended to compute both persistent homology and an extension of the persistence concept to two-sided filtrations. In addition to describing the theoretical background, we present results of numerical experiments, as well as several applications to concrete problems in materials science.