Congruence by Dissection of Topological Discs—An Elementary Approach to Tarski's Circle Squaring Problem

Let G be a group of affine transformations of the plane R ² and let the family F consist of all topological discs in R ² whose boundary is subject to some smoothness condition (general, rectifiable, piecewise C ¹ , piecewise C ² ). Are any two members D,E ∈ F congruent by dissection with respect to G such that all the pieces in the corresponding dissections of D and E belong to F as well? We give an affirmative answer if G contains all affine transformations and F consists of the discs whose boundary is piecewise C ¹ . An example shows that C ¹ cannot be replaced by C ² . Moreover, if G is either the group of equiaffine transformations or the group of similarities, then congruence by dissection of two convex discs D and E turns out to be essentially equivalent to congruence by dissection of the boundaries bd(D ) and bd(E ).     

Analysis on discrete cocompact subgroups of the generic filiform Lie groups

Summary Let F_n, n≧ 1, denote the sequence of generic filiform (connected, simply connected) Lie groups. Here we study, for each F_n, the infinite dimensional simple quotients of the group C*-algebra of (the most obvious) one of its discrete cocompact subgroups D_n. For D_n, the most attractive concrete faithful representations are given in terms of Anzai flows, in analogy with the representations of the discrete Heisenberg group H₃ ⊆G₃ on L²(T) that result from the irrational rotation flows on T; the representations of D_n generate infinite-dimensional simple quotients A_n,θ of the group C*-algebra C*(D_n). For n>1, there are other infinite-dimensional simple quotients of C*(D_n) arising from non-faithful representations of D_n. Flows for these are determined, and they are also characterized and represented as matrix algebras over simple affine Furstenberg transformation group C*-algebras of the lower dimensional tori.     

On the Constructive Inverse Problem in Differential Galois Theory#

We give sufficient conditions for a differential equation to have a given semisimple group as its Galois group. For any group G with G ⁰ = G ₁ · ··· · G _r , where each G _i is a simple group of type A_?, C_?, D_?, E₆, or E₇, we construct a differential equation over C(x) having Galois group G.     

Unramified cohomology of degree 3 and Noether’s problem

Let G be a finite group and W be a faithful representation of G over C. The group G acts on the field of rational functions C(W). The question whether the field of invariant functions C(W) ^G is purely transcendental over C goes back to Emmy Noether. Using the unramified cohomology group of degree 2 of this field as an invariant, Saltman gave the first examples for which C(W) ^G is not rational over C. Around 1986, Bogomolov gave a formula which expresses this cohomology group in terms of the cohomology of the group G. In this paper, we prove a formula for the prime to 2 part of the unramified cohomology group of degree 3 of C(W) ^G . Specializing to the case where G is a central extension of an F _p -vector space by another, we get a method to construct nontrivial elements in this unramified cohomology group. In this way we get an example of a group G for which the field C(W) ^G is not rational although its unramified cohomology group of degree 2 is trivial. Dedicated to Jean-Louis Colliot-Thélène.     

On locally trivial G a -actions

If the additive group of complex numbers acts algebraically on a normal affine variety, then the associated ring of invariants need not be finitely generated, but is an ideal transform of some normal affine algebra (Theorem 1). We investigate such normal affine algebras in the case of a locally trivial action on a factorial variety. If the variety is a complex affine space and the ring of invariants is isomorphic to a polynomial ring, then the action is conjugate to a translation (Theorem 3). Equivalently, ifC ⁿ , is the total space for a principalG _a -bundle over some open subset ofC ^n–1 then the bundle is trivial. On the other hand, there is a locally trivialG _a -action on a normal affine variety with nonfinitely generated ring of invariants (Theorem 2).Supported in part by NSA Grant No. MDA904-96-1-0069     

Torsion in Boundary Coinvariants and K -Theory for Affine Buildings

Let (G, I, N, S) be an affine topological Tits system, and let Γ be a torsion-free cocompact lattice in G. This article studies the coinvariants H ₀(Γ; C(Ω,Z)), where Ω is the Furstenberg boundary of G. It is shown that the class [1] of the identity function in H ₀(Γ; C(Ω, Z)) has finite order, with explicit bounds for the order. A similar statement applies to the K ₀ group of the boundary crossed product C ^*-algebra C(Ω)Γ. If the Tits system has type ? ₂, exact computations are given, both for the crossed product algebra and for the reduced group C ^*-algebra.     

Affine congruence by dissection of discs - appropriate groups and optimal dissections

Let be a group of affine transformations of the Euclidean plane . Two topological discs D, are called congruent by dissection with respect to if D can be dissected into a finite number of subdiscs that can be rearranged by maps from to a dissection of E. Our main result says in particular that admits congruence by dissection of any circular disc C with any square S if and only if contains a contractive map and all orbits , , are dense in . In this case any two discs D and E are congruent by dissection with respect to and every disc D is congruent by dissection with n copies of D for every n ≥ 2. Moreover, we give estimates on minimal numbers of pieces that are needed to realize congruences by dissection. Dedicated to Irmtraud Stephani on the occasion of her 70th birthday     

Irreducible Subgroups of GL 1(D) Satisfying Group Identities

ABSTRACT

Let D be a finite dimensional F -central division algebra and G an irreducible subgroup of D*: = GL ₁(D). Here we investigate the structure of D under various group identities on G. In particular, it is shown that when [D:F] = p ², p a prime, then D is cyclic if and only if D* contains a nonabelian subgroup satisfying a group identity.     

Building ofGL(m, D) and centralizers

LetG=GL(m, D) whereD is a central division algebra over a commutative nonarchimedean local fieldF. LetE/F be a field extension contained inM(m, D). We denote byI (resp.I _E) the nonextended affine building ofG (resp. of the centralizer ofE ^x inG). In this paper we prove that there exists a uniqueG _E-equivariant affine mapj _EI_EI. It is injective and its image coincides with the set ofE ^x-fixed points inI. Moreover, we prove thatj _E is compatible with the Moy-Prasad filtrations.This author's contribution was written while he was a post-doctoral student at King's College London and supported by an european TMR grant     

ON TWIN-TRIANGULAR ADDITIVE GROUP ACTIONS ON C4

This paper concerns some of the conditions satisfied by additive group actions on complex affine space which can be written locally as a translation of a variable. Assume X is the affine variety C ⁿ , G_a = (C, +), and σ : G_a × X → X is the action defined by a group monomorphism G _a → Aut _C X. If σ is locally trivial, then the action satisfies what is termed a “GICO” condition.

It will be shown that a large class of G_a -actions on C ⁴, that is, fixed-point free, “twin-triangular” actions with finitely-generated rings of invariants, are at least GICO. Remaining questions are discussed.