The Isolated Points of G{rho} and the w*-Strongly Exposed Points of P{rho}(G)0

Let G be a separable locally compact group and let be its dualspace with Fell's topology. It is well known that the set P(G)of continuous positive-definite functions on G can be identifiedwith the set of positive linear functionals on the group C^*-algebraC^*(G). We show that if is discrete in , then there exists anonzero positive-definite function associated with such that is a w^*-strongly exposed point of P(G)₀, where P(G)₀={f P(G):f(e)1. Conversely, if some nonzero positive-definite function associatedwith is a w^*-strongly exposed point of P(G)₀, then is isolatedin . Consequently, G is compact if and only if, for every ,there exists a nonzero positive-definite function associatedwith that is a w^*-strongly exposed point of P(G)₀. If, in addition,G is unimodular and , then is isolated in if and only if somenonzero positive-definite function associated with is a w^*-stronglyexposed point of P(G)₀, where is the left regular representationof G and is the reduced dual space of G. We prove that if B(G)has the Radon–Nikodym property, then the set of isolatedpoints of (so square-integrable if G is unimodular) is densein . It is also proved that if G is a separable SIN-group, thenG is amenable if and only if there exists a closed point in. In particular, for a countable discrete non-amenable groupG (for example the free group F₂ on two generators), there isno closed point in its reduced dual space .     

Some Remarks on the Cone of Completely Positive Maps between Von Neumann Algebras

The close relationship between the notions of positive formsand representations for a C*-algebra A is one of the most basicfacts in the subject. In particular the weak containment ofrepresentations is well understood in terms of positive forms:given a representation of A in a Hilbert space H and a positiveform on A, its associated representation is weakly containedin (that is, ker ker ) if and only if belongs to the weak*closure of the cone of all finite sums of coefficients of .Among the results on the subject, let us recall the followingones. Suppose that A is concretely represented in H. Then everypositive form on A is the weak* limit of forms of the typex ^k_{i=1 i}, x_i with the _i in H; moreover if A is a von Neumannsubalgebra of (H) and is normal, there exists a sequence (_i)_{i 1} in H such that (x) = _{i 1 i}, x_i for all x.     

Higher Generation Subgroup Sets and the Virtual Cohomological Dimension of Graph Products of Finite Groups

We introduce panels of stabilizer schemes (K, G_*) associatedwith finite intersection-closed subgroup sets of a given groupG, generalizing in some sense Davis' notion of a panel structureon a triangulated manifold for Coxeter groups. Given (K, G_*),we construct a G-complex X with K as a strong fundamental domainand simplex stabilizers conjugate to subgroups in . It turnsout that higher generation properties of in the sense of Abels-Holzare reflected in connectivity properties of X. Given a finite simplicial graph and a non-trivial group G()for every vertex of , the graph product G() is the quotientof the free product of all vertex groups modulo the normal closureof all commutators [G(), G(w)] for which the vertices , w areadjacent. Our main result allows the computation of the virtualcohomological dimension of a graph product with finite vertexgroups in terms of connectivity properties of the underlyinggraph .     

On the Total Coloring of Graphs Embeddable in Surfaces

The paper shows that any graph G with the maximum degree (G) 8, which is embeddable in a surface of Euler characteristic() 0, is totally ((G)+2)-colorable. In general, it is shownthat any graph G which is embeddable in a surface and satisfiesthe maximum degree (G) (20/9) (3–())+1 is totally ((G)+2)-colorable.     

Extremal Subgroups in Chevalley Groups

Throughout this paper G(k) denotes a Chevalley group of rankn defined over the field k, where n3. Let be the root systemassociated with G(k) and let ={₁, ₂, ..., _n} be a set of fundamentalroots of , with ⁺ being the set of positive roots of with respectto . For and ⁺, let n() be the coefficient of in the expressionof as a sum of fundamental roots; so =n(). Also we recall thatht(), the height of , is given by ht()=n(). The highest rootin ⁺ will be denoted by . We additionally assume that the Dynkindiagram of G(k) is connected.     

Movement and Separation of Subsets of Points Under Group Actions

Let G be a permutation group on a set , and let m and k be integerswhere 0<m<k. For a subset of , if the cardinalities ofthe sets ^g\, for gG, are finite and bounded, then is said tohave bounded movement, and the movement of is defined as move()=max_gG|^g\|. If there is a k-element subset such that move()m, it is shown that some G-orbit has length at most (k²–m)/(k–m).When combined with a result of P. M. Neumann, this result hasthe following consequence: if some infinite subset has boundedmovement at most m, then either is a G-invariant subset withat most m points added or removed, or nontrivially meets aG-orbit of length at most m²+m+1. Also, if move ()m for allk-element subsets and if G has no fixed points in , then either||k+m (and in this case all permutation groups on have thisproperty), or ||5m–2. These results generalise earlierresults about the separation of finite sets under group actionsby B. J. Birch, R. G. Burns, S. O. Macdonald and P. M. Neumann,and groups in which all subsets have bounded movement (by theauthor).     

On the Edge Reconstruction of Graphs Embedded in Surfaces II

In this paper, we prove the following theorems. (i) Let G bea graph of minimum degree 5. If G is embeddable in a surface and satisfies (–5)|V(G)|+6()0, then G is edge reconstructible.(ii) Any graph of minimum degree 4 that triangulates a surfaceis edge reconstructible. (iii) Any graph which triangulatesa surface of characteristic 0 is edge reconstructible.     

Character Quotients for Coprime Acting Groups

Let the finite group A be acting on a finite group G with (|A|,|G|)=1. Let be the semidirect product of A and G. Let be acharacter of irreducible after restriction to G. In a previouspaper by Brian Hartley and the author, we proved that the restrictionof to S belongs to the set C(S) obtained by running over all that arise in this manner, by assuming, in addition, that Gis a product of extraspecial groups. This was proved in general,assuming only some condition on the Green functions of groupsof Lie type that is not as yet fully verified. In the presentpaper, we define the map Q(): SC by Q()(s)=|C_G(s)|/(s). We provethat Q()C(S) under the same hypotheses. In particular, the characterquotient Q() is an ordinary character.     

Faithful Representations of Free Products

In 1940 Nisnevi published the following theorem [3]. Let (G) be a family of groups indexed by some set and (F) a family of fields of the same characteristic p0. Iffor each the group G has a faithful representation of degreen over F then the free product* G has a faithful representationof degree n+1 over some field of characteristic p. In [6] Wehrfritzextended this idea. If (G) GL(n, F) is a family of subgroupsfor which there exists ZGL(n, F) such that for all the intersectionGF.1_n=Z, then the free product of the groups *_ZG with Z amalgamatedvia the identity map is isomorphic to a linear group of degreen over some purely transcendental extension of F. Initially, the purpose of this paper was to generalize theseresults from the linear to the skew-linear case, that is, togroups isomorphic to subgroups of GL(n, D) where the D are divisionrings. In fact, many of the results can be generalized to ringswhich, although not necessarily commutative, contain no zero-divisors.We have the following.     

Majorations Uniformes de Normes D'Inverses Dans Les Algebres de Beurling

The Beurling algebras l¹(D,)(D=N,Z) that are semi-simple, withcompact Gelfand transform, are considered. The paper gives anecessary and sufficient condition (on ) such that l¹(D,) possessesa uniform quantitative version of Wiener's theorem in the sensethat there exists a function :]0,+[]0,+ such that, for everyinvertible element x in the unit ball of l¹(D,), we have ||x^–1||(r(x^–1)) r(x^–1) is the spectral radiusof x^–1.     

BOUNDARY CONCENTRATION IN RADIAL SOLUTIONS TO A SYSTEM OF SEMILINEAR ELLIPTIC EQUATIONS

We study concentration phenomena for the system in the unit ball B₁ of ³ with Dirichlet boundaryconditions. Here , , > 0 and p > 1. We prove the existenceof positive radial solutions (, ) such that concentrates ata distance (/2)|log | away from the boundary B₁ as the parameter tends to 0. The approach is based on a combination of Lyapunov–Schmidtreduction procedure together with a variational method.     

Random walks on free products of cyclic groups

Let G be a free product of a finite family of finite groups,with the set of generators being formed by the union of thefinite groups. We consider a transient nearest-neighbour randomwalk on G. We give a new proof of the fact that the harmonicmeasure is a special Markovian measure entirely determined bya finite set of polynomial equations. We show that in severalsimple cases of interest, the polynomial equations can be explicitlysolved to get closed form formulae for the drift. The examplesconsidered are /2 /3, /3 /3, /k /k and the Hecke groups /2 /k.We also use these various examples to study Vershik's notionof extremal generators, which is based on the relation betweenthe drift, the entropy and the growth of the group.     

An Access Theorem for Continuous Functions

Let f be a continuous function on an open subset of R² suchthat for every x there exists a continuous map : [–1,1] with (0) = x and f increasing on [–1, 1]. Thenfor every there exists a continuous map : [0, 1) suchthat (0) = y, f is increasing on [0; 1), and for every compactsubset K of , max{t : (t) K} < 1. This result gives an answerto a question posed by M. Ortel. Furthermore, an example showsthat this result is not valid in higher dimensions.     

Constructing {kappa}-like Models of Arithmetic

A model (M, <, ...) is -like if M has cardinality but, forall M, the cardinality of {x M : x < a} is strictly lessthan . In this paper we shall give constructions of -like modelsof arithmetic satisfying an arbitrarily large finite part ofPA but not PA itself, for various singular cardinals . The mainresults are: (1) for each countable nonstandard M ₂–Th(PA)with arbitrarily large initial segments satisfying PA and eachuncountable of cofinality there is a cofinal extension K ofM which is -like; also hierarchical variants of this resultfor _n–Th(PA); and (2) for every n 1, every singular and every M B_n+exp+¬ I_n there is a -like model K elementarilyequivalent to M.     

2-Ruled Calibrated 4-Folds in R7 and R8

This article introduces the notion of 2-ruled 4-folds: submanifoldsof Rⁿ fibred over a 2-fold by affine 2-planes. This is motivatedby a paper by Joyce and previous work of the present author.A 2-ruled 4-fold M is r-framed if an oriented basis is smoothlyassigned to each fibre, and then we may write M in terms oforthogonal smooth maps ₁,₂ : S^n–1 and a smooth map : Rⁿ. We focus on 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds in R⁸ as certainother calibrated 4-folds in R⁷ and R⁸ can be considered as specialcases. The main result characterizes non-planar, r-framed, 2-ruledCayley 4-folds, using a coupled system of nonlinear, first-order,partial differential equations that ₁ and ₂ satisfy, and anothersuch equation on which is linear in . We give a means of constructing2-ruled Cayley 4-folds starting from particular 2-ruled Cayleycones using holomorphic vector fields. This is used to giveexplicit examples of U(1)-invariant 2-ruled Cayley 4-folds asymptoticto a U(1)³-invariant 2-ruled Cayley cone. Examples are alsogiven based on ruled calibrated 3-folds in C³ and R⁷ and complexcones in C⁴.     

The Continuous Postage Stamp Problem

For a real set A consider the semigroup S(A), additively generatedby A; that is, the set of all real numbers representable asa (finite) sum of elements of A. If A (0, 1) is open and non-empty,then S(A) is easily seen to contain all sufficiently large realnumbers, and we let G(A): = sup{u R: u S(A)}. Thus G(A) isthe smallest number with the property that any u > G(A) isrepresentable as indicated above. We show that if the measure of A is large, then G(A) is small;more precisely, writing for brevity : = mes A, we have Indeed, the first and the last of these three estimates arethe best possible, attained for A = (1–, 1) and A = (1–,1)\{2(1–)}, respectively; the second is close to the bestpossible and can be improved by {1/}1/ {1/} at most. The problem studied is a continuous analogue of the linear Diophantineproblem of Frobenius (in its extremal settings due to Erdösand Graham), also known as the ‘postage stamp problem’or the ‘coin exchange problem’.     

Geometry of Critical Loci

Let :(Z,z)(U,0) be the germ of a finite (that is, proper with finite fibres)complex analytic morphism from a complex analytic normal surfaceonto an open neighbourhood U of the origin 0 in the complexplane C². Let u and v be coordinates of C² defined on U. Weshall call the triple (, u, v) the initial data. Let stand for the discriminant locus of the germ , that is,the image by of the critical locus of . Let ()_A be the branches of the discriminant locus at O whichare not the coordinate axes. For each A, we define a rational number d by where I(–, –) denotes the intersection number at0 of complex analytic curves in C². The set of rational numbersd, for A, is a finite subset D of the set of rational numbersQ. We shall call D the set of discriminantal ratios of the initialdata (, u, v). The interesting situation is when one of thetwo coordinates (u, v) is tangent to some branch of , otherwiseD = {1}. The definition of D depends not only on the choiceof the two coordinates, but also on their ordering. In this paper we prove that the set D is a topological invariantof the initial data (, u, v) (in a sense that we shall definebelow) and we give several ways to compute it. These resultsare first steps in the understanding of the geometry of thediscriminant locus. We shall also see the relation with thegeometry of the critical locus.     

TURAN'S EXTREMAL PROBLEM FOR POSITIVE DEFINITE FUNCTIONS ON GROUPS

We study the following question: given an open set , symmetricabout 0, and a continuous, integrable, positive definite functionf, supported in and with f(0) = 1, how large can f be? Thisproblem has been studied so far mostly for convex domains inEuclidean space. In this paper we study the question in arbitrarylocally compact abelian groups and for more general domains.Our emphasis is on finite groups as well as Euclidean spacesand ^d. We exhibit upper bounds for f assuming geometric propertiesof of two types: (a) packing properties of and (b) spectralproperties of . Several examples and applications of the maintheorems are shown. In particular, we recover and extend severalknown results concerning convex domains in Euclidean space.Also, we investigate the question of estimating f over possiblydispersed sets solely in dependence of the given measure m :=||of . In this respect we show that in and the integral is maximalfor intervals.     

A New Notion of Transitivity for Groups and Sets of Permutations

Let = {1, 2, ..., n} where n 2. The shape of an ordered setpartition P = (P₁, ..., P_k) of is the integer partition =(₁, ..., _k) defined by _i = |P_i|. Let G be a group of permutationsacting on . For a fixed partition of n, we say that G is -transitiveif G has only one orbit when acting on partitions P of shape. A corresponding definition can also be given when G is justa set. For example, if = (n – t, 1, ..., 1), then a -transitivegroup is the same as a t-transitive permutation group, and if = (n – t, t), then we recover the t-homogeneous permutationgroups. We use the character theory of the symmetric group S_n to establishsome structural results regarding -transitive groups and sets.In particular, we are able to generalize a celebrated resultof Livingstone and Wagner [Math. Z. 90 (1965) 393–403]about t-homogeneous groups. We survey the relevant examplescoming from groups. While it is known that a finite group ofpermutations can be at most 5-transitive unless it containsthe alternating group, we show that it is possible to constructa nontrivial t-transitive set of permutations for each positiveinteger t. We also show how these ideas lead to a combinatorialbasis for the Bose–Mesner algebra of the association schemeof the symmetric group and a design system attached to thisassociation scheme.     

Approximately Multiplicative Functionals on Algebras of Smooth Functions

Let be a bounded linear functional on A, where A is a commutativeBanach algebra, then the bilinear functional is defined as (a,b)= (ab)- (a) (b) for each a and b in A. If the norm of is small then is approximatelymultiplicative, and it is of interest whether or not |||| being small implies that is nearto a multiplicative functional. If this property holds for acommutative Banach algebra then A is an AMNM algebra (approximatelymultiplicative functionals are near multiplicative functionals).The main result of the paper shows that C^N [0,1]^M (the complexvalued functions defined on [0,1]^M with all Nth order partialderivatives continuous) is AMNM. It is also shown that a similarproof can be applied to certain Lipschitz algebras.