Hopf C*-Algebras

In this paper we define and study Hopf C^*-algebras. Roughlyspeaking, a Hopf C^*-algebra is a C^*-algebra A with a comultiplication: A M(A A) such that the maps a b (a)(1 b) and a (a 1)(b)have their range in A A and are injective after being extendedto a larger natural domain, the Haagerup tensor product A _hA. In a purely algebraic setting, these conditions on are closelyrelated to the existence of a counit and antipode. In this topologicalcontext, things turn out to be much more subtle, but neverthelessone can show the existence of a suitable counit and antipodeunder these conditions. The basic example is the C^*-algebra C₀(G) of continuous complexfunctions tending to zero at infinity on a locally compact groupwhere the comultiplication is obtained by dualizing the groupmultiplication. But also the reduced group C^*-algebra of a locally compact group with thewell-known comultiplication falls in this category. In factall locally compact quantum groups in the sense of Kustermansand the first author (such as the compact and discrete ones)as well as most of the known examples are included. This theory differs from other similar approaches in that thereis no Haar measure assumed. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 46L65, 46L07, 46L89.     

Bounding the number of stable homotopy types of a parametrized family of semi-algebraic sets defined by quadratic inequalities

We prove a nearly optimal bound on the number of stable homotopytypes occurring in a k-parameter semi-algebraic family of setsin R, each defined in terms of m quadratic inequalities. Ourbound is exponential in k and m, but polynomial in . More precisely,we prove the following. Let R be a real closed field and let = {P₁, ... , P_m} R[Y₁, ... ,Y,X₁, ... ,X_k], with deg_Y(P_i) 2, deg_X(P_i) d, 1 i m. Let S R^+k be a semi-algebraic set,defined by a Boolean formula without negations, with atoms ofthe form P 0, P 0, P . Let : R^+k R^k be the projection onthe last k coordinates. Then the number of stable homotopy typesamongst the fibers S_x = ^–1(x) S is bounded by (2^mkd)^O(mk).     

Sub-Laplacians of Holomorphic Lp-Type on Exponential Solvable Groups

Let L denote a right-invariant sub-Laplacian on an exponential,hence solvable Lie group G, endowed with a left-invariant Haarmeasure. Depending on the structure of G, and possibly alsothat of L, L may admit differentiable L^p-functional calculi,or may be of holomorphic L^p-type for a given p 2. ‘HolomorphicL^p-type’ means that every L^p-spectral multiplier for Lis necessarily holomorphic in a complex neighbourhood of somenon-isolated point of the L²-spectrum of L. This can in factonly arise if the group algebra L¹(G) is non-symmetric. Assume that p 2. For a point in the dual g^* of the Lie algebrag of G, denote by ()=Ad^*(G) the corresponding coadjoint orbit.It is proved that every sub-Laplacian on G is of holomorphicL^p-type, provided that there exists a point g^* satisfying Boidol'scondition (which is equivalent to the non-symmetry of L¹(G)),such that the restriction of () to the nilradical of g is closed.This work improves on results in previous work by Christ andMüller and Ludwig and Müller in twofold ways: on theone hand, no restriction is imposed on the structure of theexponential group G, and on the other hand, for the case p>1,the conditions need to hold for a single coadjoint orbit only,and not for an open set of orbits. It seems likely that the condition that the restriction of ()to the nilradical of g is closed could be replaced by the weakercondition that the orbit () itself is closed. This would thenprove one implication of a conjecture by Ludwig and Müller,according to which there exists a sub-Laplacian of holomorphicL¹ (or, more generally, L^p) type on G if and only if there existsa point g^* whose orbit is closed and which satisfies Boidol'scondition.     

Hilbert Transforms Along Curves in the Heisenberg Group

We consider Hilbert transforms along curves on the Heisenberggroup. In particular, necessary and sufficient conditions forthe L²-boundedness are given for (t)=(t,(t),0) when is evenor odd and convex on R⁺. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification:42B20, 42B25.     

On Decomposition Numbers and Branching Coefficients for Symmetric and Special Linear Groups

In this paper we find the multiplicities dim L()_– where is an arbitrary root and L() is an irreducible SL_n-module withhighest weight . We provide different bases of the correspondingweight spaces and outline some applications to the symmetricgroups. In particular we describe certain composition multiplicitiesin the modular branching rule. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification:20C05, 20G05.     

Trace Inequalities of Sobolev Type in the Upper Triangle Case

We give a new non-capacitary characterization of positive Borelmeasures µ on Rⁿ such that the potential space I*L^p isimbedded in L^q(dµ) for $1qp+, that is, the trace inequality holds, for Riesz potentials I = (- )². A weak-type trace inequality is also characterized. A non-isotropic version on the unit sphere Sⁿ is studied,as well as the holomorphic case for Hardy–Sobolev spaces in the ball. 1991 MathematicsSubject Classification: primary 31C15, 42B20; secondary 32A35.     

Spectra of graph neighborhoods and scattering

Let (G)_>0 be a family of ‘-thin’ Riemannian manifoldsmodeled on a finite metric graph G, for example, the -neighborhoodof an embedding of G in some Euclidean space with straight edges.We study the asymptotic behavior of the spectrum of the Laplace–Beltramioperator on G, as 0, for various boundary conditions. We obtaincomplete asymptotic expansions for the kth eigenvalue and theeigenfunctions, uniformly for kC^–1, in terms of scatteringdata on a non-compact limit space. We then use this to determinethe quantum graph which is to be regarded as the limit object,in a spectral sense, of the family (G). Our method is a directconstruction of approximate eigenfunctions from the scatteringand graph data, and the use of a priori estimates to show thatall eigenfunctions are obtained in this way.     

Variation of the Milnor Fibration in Pencils of Hypersurface Singularities

Let = (f, g):(Cⁿ_{+ 1},0) (C₂, 0) be a pair of holomorphic germswith no blowing up in codimension 0. (Two examples are the following: defines an isolated complete intersection singularity; g =l^N where is a generic linear form with respect to f and N>0.) We study how the Milnor fibrations of the germs _(:ß)= g-ß f are related to each other when (:ß)varies in P¹. More precisely, we construct isotopic subfibrationsor subfibres of the Milnor fibrations of any two such germs.The proofs are based on the precise study of the subdiscs ofcomplex lines meeting a fixed complex plane curve germ transversally,generalizing Lê's work on the Cerf diagram. 2000 MathematicalSubject Classification: 32S55, 32S15, 32S30.     

Unicity of Types for Supercuspidal Representations of GLN

Let F be a non-Archimedean local field, with the ring of integerso_F. Let G = GL_N(F), K = GL_N (o_F), and be a supercuspidal representationof G. We show that there exists a unique irreducible smoothrepresentation of K, such that the restriction to K of a smoothirreducible representation ' of G contains if and only if 'is isomorphic to ° det, where is an unramified quasicharacterof F^x. Moreover, we show that contains with the multiplicity1. As a corollary we obtain a kind of inertial local Langlandscorrespondence. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 22E50.     

A bifurcation problem governed by the boundary condition II

In this work we consider the problem u = a(x)u^p in on , where is a smooth bounded domain, isthe outward unit normal to , is regarded as a parameter and0 < p < 1. We consider both cases where a(x) > 0 in or a(x) is allowed to vanish in a whole subdomain ₀ of . Ourmain results include existence of non-negative non-trivial solutionsin the range 0 < < ₁, where ₁ is characterized by meansof an eigenvalue problem, uniqueness and bifurcation from infinityof such solutions for small , and the appearance of dead coresfor large enough .     

General Uniqueness Results and Variation Speed for Blow-Up Solutions of Elliptic Equations

Let be a smooth bounded domain in R^N. We prove general uniquenessresults for equations of the form – u = au – b(x)f(u) in , subject to u = on . Our uniqueness theorem is establishedin a setting involving Karamata's theory on regularly varyingfunctions, which is used to relate the blow-up behavior of u(x)with f(u) and b(x), where b 0 on and a certain ratio involvingb is bounded near . A key step in our proof of uniqueness usesa modification of an iteration technique due to Safonov. 2000Mathematics Subject Classification 35J25 (primary), 35B40, 35J60(secondary).     

Projection Methods for Discrete Schrodinger Operators

Let H be the discrete Schrödinger operator acting on l² Z⁺, where the potential v is real-valued and v(n) 0 as n . Let P be the orthogonal projection onto a closedlinear subspace l² Z⁺). In a recent paper E. B. Davies definesthe second order spectrum Spec₂(H, ) of H relative to as theset of z C such that the restriction to of the operator P(H- z)²P is not invertible within the space . The purpose of thisarticle is to investigate properties of Spec₂(H, ) when islarge but finite dimensional. We explore in particular the connectionbetween this set and the spectrum of H. Our main result providessharp bounds in terms of the potential v for the asymptoticbehaviour of Spec₂(H, ) as increases towards l² Z⁺). 2000 MathematicsSubject Classification 47B36 (primary), 47B39, 81-08 (secondary).     

On the Asphericity of Length Five Relative Group Presentations

We investigate asphericity of the relative group presentation G,t |atbtctdtet=1 and prove it aspherical provided thesubgroupof G generated by ab^–1, bc^–1, cd^–1, de^–1is neither finite cyclic nor a finite triangle group. We alsoprove a similar result for the closely related relative grouppresentation G,s,t | sßst=1=tts^–1. 2000 MathematicsSubject Classification: 20F05, 57M05.     

On Lp boundedness of wave operators for 4-dimensional Schrodinger operators with threshold singularities

Let H=–+V(x) be a Schrödinger operator on L²(R⁴),H₀=–. Assume that |V(x)|+| V(x)|C x ^– for some>8. Let be the wave operators. It is known that W_± extend to bounded operators in L^p(R⁴)for all 1p, if 0 is neither an eigenvalue nor a resonance ofH. We show that if 0 is an eigenvalue, but not a resonance ofH, then the W_± are still bounded in L^p(R⁴) for all psuch that 4/3<p<4.     

Global Branch of Solutions for Non-Linear Schrodinger Equations with Deepening Potential Well

We consider the stationary non-linear Schrödinger equation where > 0 and the functionsf and g are such that and for some bounded open set R^N. We use topological methods to establish the existenceof two connected sets D^± of positive/negative solutionsin R x W², ^p R^N where that cover the interval (, ()) in the sense that and furthermore, The number () is characterized as the unique value of in theinterval (, ) for which the asymptotic linearization has a positiveeigenfunction. Our work uses a degree for Fredholm maps of indexzero. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 35J60, 35B32,58J55.     

Strength of convergence and multiplicities in the spectrum of a C*-dynamical system

We consider separable C*-dynamical systems (A, G,) for whichthe induced action of the group G on the primitive ideal spacePrim A of the C*-algebra A is free. We study how the representationtheory of the associated crossed product C*-algebra A G dependson the representation theory of A and the properties of theaction of G on Prim A and the spectrum Â. Our main toolsinvolve computations of upper and lower bounds on multiplicitynumbers associated to irreducible representations of A G. Weapply our techniques to give necessary and sufficient conditions,in terms of A and the action of G, for AG to be (i) a continuous-traceC*-algebra, (ii) a Fell C*-algebra and (iii) a bounded-traceC*-algebra. When G is amenable, we also give necessary and sufficientconditions for the crossed product C*-algebra AG to be (iv)a liminal C*-algebra and (v) a Type I C*-algebra. The resultsin (i), (iii)–(v) extend some earlier special cases inwhich A was assumed to have the corresponding property.     

Sums of Connectivity Functions on Rn

A function f: Rⁿ R is a connectivity function if the graphof its restriction f|C to any connected C Rⁿ is connected inRⁿ x R. The main goal of this paper is to prove that every functionf: Rⁿ R is a sum of n + 1 connectivity functions (Corollary2.2). We will also show that if n > 1, then every functiong: Rⁿ R which is a sum of n connectivity functions is continuouson some perfect set (see Theorem 2.5) which implies that thenumber n + 1 in our theorem is best possible (Corollary 2.6). Toprove the above results, we establish and then apply the followingtheorems which are of interest on their own. For every dense G-subset G of Rⁿ there are homeomorphisms h₁,..., h_n of Rⁿ such that Rⁿ = G h₁(G) ... h_n(G) (Proposition2.4). For every n > 1 and any connectivity function f: Rⁿ R, ifx Rⁿ and > 0 then there exists an open set U Rⁿ such thatx U Bⁿ(x, ), f|bd(U) is continuous, and |(x) – f(y)|< for every y bd(U) (Proposition 2.7). 1991 MathematicsSubject Classification: 26B40, 54C30, 54F45.     

Decomposition of weighted Triebel-Lizorkin and Besov spaces on the ball

Weighted Triebel–Lizorkin and Besov spaces on the unitball B^d in ^d with weights w_µ(x)=(1–|x|²)^µ–1/2,µ0, are introduced and explored. A decomposition schemeis developed in terms of almost exponentially localized polynomialelements (needlets) {}, {} and it is shown that the membershipof a distribution to the weighted Triebel–Lizorkin orBesov spaces can be determined by the size of the needlet coefficients{f, } in appropriate sequence spaces.     

Skeletons and Central Sets

Let be an open proper subset of Rⁿ. Its skeleton is the setof points with more than one nearest neighbour in the complementof its central set is the set of centres in maximal open ballsincluded in . Intuitively, if we think of as a land mass inwhich height is proportional to distance from the sea, its skeletonand central set can be thought of as corresponding to ridgesin the mountains of . In this note I discuss the metric andtopological properties of such sets. I show that any skeletonin Rⁿ is F, and has dimension at most n – 1, by any ofthe usual measures of dimension; that if is bounded and connected,its skeleton and central set are connected; and that separatesRⁿ iff its skeleton does iff its central set does. Any centralset in Rⁿ is a G set of topological dimension at most n –1. In the plane, I show that both skeletons and central setsare locally path-connected, and indeed include many paths offinite length. For any , its central set includes its skeleton;I give examples to show that the central set can be significantlylarger than the skeleton. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification:54F99.