Quantum effects, sequential independence and majorization

A quantum effect is a positive Hilbert space contraction operator. If {E_i}, 1?i?n, are n quantum effects (defined on some Hilbert space H), then their sequential product is the operator . It is proved that the quantum effects {E_i}, 1?i?n, are sequentially independent if and only if for every permutation r₁r₂…r_n of the set S_n={1,2,…,n}. The sequential independence of the effects E_i, 1?i?n, implies E_noE_n-1o…oE_j+1oE_jo…oE₁=(E_noE_n-1o…E_j+1)oE_jo…oE₁ for every 1?j?n. It is proved that if there exists an effect E_j, 1?j?n, such that E_j?(E_noE_n-1o…E_j+1)oE_jo…oE₁, then the effects {E_i} are sequentially independent and satisfy .     

Asymptotic enumeration of sparse 0-1 matrices with irregular row and column sums

Let s=(s₁,…,s_m) and t=(t₁,…,t_n) be vectors of non-negative integer-valued functions with equal sum . Let N(s,t) be the number of m×n matrices with entries from {0,1} such that the ith row has row sum s_i and the jth column has column sum t_j. Equivalently, N(s,t) is the number of labelled bipartite graphs with degrees of the vertices in one side of the bipartition given by s and the degrees of the vertices in the other side given by t. We give an asymptotic formula for N(s,t) which holds when S→∞ with 1?st=o(S^2/3), where and . This extends a result of McKay and Wang [Linear Algebra Appl. 373 (2003) 273-288] for the semiregular case (when s_i=s for 1?i?m and t_j=t for 1?j?n). The previously strongest result for the non-semiregular case required 1?max{s,t}=o(S^1/4), due to McKay [Enumeration and Design, Academic Press, Canada, 1984, pp. 225-238].     

Likelihood ratio orderings of spacings of heterogeneous exponential random variables

Let X₁,X₂,…,X_n be independent exponential random variables such that X_i has failure rate λ for i=1,…,p and X_j has failure rate λ^* for j=p+1,…,n, where p≥1 and q=n-p≥1. Denote by D_i:n(p,q)=X_i:n-X_i-1:n the ith spacing of the order statistics , where X_0:n≡0. It is shown that D_i:n(p,q)?_lrD_i+1:n(p,q) for i=1,…,n-1, and that if λ?λ^* then , and for i=1,…,n, where ?_lr denotes the likelihood ratio order. The main results are used to establish the dispersive orderings between spacings.     

Point estimation for multi-spectral distributed random matrices

In this communication, we consider a p×n random matrix which is normally distributed with mean matrix M and covariance matrix Σ, where the multivariate observation x_i=y_i+?_i with p dimensions on an object consists of two components, the signal y_i with mean vector μ and covariance matrix Σ_s and noise with mean vector zero and covariance matrix Σ_?, then the covariance matrix of x_i and x_j is given by Σ=Cov(x_i,x_j)=Γ⊗(B_|i-j|Σ_s+C_|i-j|Σ_?), where Γ is a correlation matrix; B_|i-j| and C_|i-j| are diagonal constant matrices. The statistical objective is to consider the maximum likelihood estimate of the mean matrix M and various components of the covariance matrix Σ as well as their statistical properties, that is the point estimates of Σ_s,Σ_? and Γ. More importantly, some properties of these estimators are investigated in slightly more general models.     

Regular Steinhaus graphs of odd degree

A Steinhaus matrix is a binary square matrix of size n which is symmetric, with a diagonal of zeros, and whose upper-triangular coefficients satisfy a_i,j=a_i−1,j−1+a_i−1,j for all 2?i<j?n. Steinhaus matrices are determined by their first row. A Steinhaus graph is a simple graph whose adjacency matrix is a Steinhaus matrix. We give a short new proof of a theorem, due to Dymacek, which states that even Steinhaus graphs, i.e. those with all vertex degrees even, have doubly-symmetric Steinhaus matrices. In 1979 Dymacek conjectured that the complete graph on two vertices K₂ is the only regular Steinhaus graph of odd degree. Using Dymacek’s theorem, we prove that if (a_i,j)_1?i,j?n is a Steinhaus matrix associated with a regular Steinhaus graph of odd degree then its sub-matrix (a_i,j)_2?i,j?n−1 is a multi-symmetric matrix, that is a doubly-symmetric matrix where each row of its upper-triangular part is a symmetric sequence. We prove that the multi-symmetric Steinhaus matrices of size n whose Steinhaus graphs are regular modulo 4, i.e. where all vertex degrees are equal modulo 4, only depend on parameters for all even numbers n, and on parameters in the odd case. This result permits us to verify Dymacek’s conjecture up to 1500 vertices in the odd case.     

Any Diophantine quintuple contains a regular Diophantine quadruple

A set {a₁,…,am} of m distinct positive integers is called a Diophantine m-tuple if aiaj+1 is a perfect square for all i, j with 1?i<j?m. It is conjectured that if {a,b,c,d} is a Diophantine quadruple with a<b<c<d, then d=d₊, where d₊=a+b+c+2abc+2rst and , , . In this paper, we show that if {a,b,c,d,e} is a Diophantine quintuple with a<b<c<d<e, then d=d₊.     

On almost prime k-tuples

Let k?2 and ai,bi(1?i?k) be integers such that ai>0 and _∏1?i<j?k(aibj−ajbi)≠0. Let Ω(m) denote the total number of prime factors of m. Suppose has no fixed prime divisors. Results of the form where rk is asymptotic to klogk have been obtained by using sieve methods, in particular weighted sieves. In this paper, we use another kind of weighted sieve due to Selberg to obtain improved admissible values for rk.     

On a property of plane curves

Let γ:[0,1]→²[0,1] be a continuous curve such that γ(0)=(0,0), γ(1)=(1,1), and γ(t)∈²(0,1) for all t∈(0,1). We prove that, for each n∈N, there exists a sequence of points Ai, 0?i?n+1, on γ such that A₀=(0,0), An+1=(1,1), and the sequences and , 0?i?n, are positive and the same up to order, where π₁, π₂ are projections on the axes.     

Quadratic equations with five prime unknowns

Let b₁,?,b₅ be non-zero integers satisfying gcd(b_i,b_j,b_k)=1, for 1?i<j<k?5 and |b_j|?|b₅| for 1?j?5 and n an integer satisfying . In this paper we improve earlier work by M.C. Liu and Tsang and by the first author and J.Y. Liu. In particular, we prove that if b_j are not all of the same sign, then the quadratic equation

     

A recurrence formula for leaping convergents of non-regular continued fractions

Given a continued fraction [a₀;a₁,a₂,…], p_n/q_n=[a₀;a₁,…,a_n] is called the n-th convergent for n=0,1,2,…. Leaping convergents are those of every r-th convergent p_rn+i/q_rn+i (n=0,1,2,…) for fixed integers r and i with r?2 and i=0,1,…,r-1. This leaping step r can be chosen as the length of period in the continued fraction. Elsner studied the leaping convergents p_3n+1/q_3n+1 for the continued fraction of and obtained some arithmetic properties. Komatsu studied those p_3n/q_3n for (s?2). He has also extended such results for some more general continued fractions. Such concepts have been generalized in the case of regular continued fractions. In this paper leaping convergents in the non-regular continued fractions are considered so that a more general three term relation is satisfied. Moreover, the leaping step r need not necessarily to equal the length of period. As one of applications a new recurrence formula for leaping convergents of Apery’s continued fraction of ζ(3) is shown.     

Stochastic matrices and a property of the infinite sequences of linear functionals

Our starting point is the proof of the following property of a particular class of matrices. Let T={T_i,j} be a n×m non-negative matrix such that ∑_jT_i,j=1 for each i. Suppose that for every pair of indices (i,j), there exists an index l such that T_i,l≠T_j,l. Then, there exists a real vector k=(k₁,k₂,…,k_m)^T,k_i≠k_j,i≠j;0<k_i?1, such that, if i≠j.Then, we apply that property of matrices to probability theory. Let us consider an infinite sequence of linear functionals , corresponding to an infinite sequence of probability measures {μ_(·)(i)}_i∈N, on the Borel σ-algebra such that, . The property of matrices described above allows us to construct a real bounded one-to-one piecewise continuous and continuous from the left function f such that

     

A short proof of a cross-intersection theorem of Hilton

Families A₁,…,A_k of sets are said to be cross-intersecting if for any A_i∈A_i and A_j∈A_j, i≠j. A nice result of Hilton that generalises the Erd?s-Ko-Rado (EKR) Theorem says that if r≤n/2 and A₁,…,A_k are cross-intersecting sub-families of , then

     

Long cycles and paths in distance graphs

For n∈N and D⊆N, the distance graph has vertex set {0,1,…,n−1} and edge set {ij∣0≤i,j≤n−1,|j−i|∈D}. Note that the important and very well-studied circulant graphs coincide with the regular distance graphs.A fundamental result concerning circulant graphs is that for these graphs, a simple greatest common divisor condition, their connectivity, and the existence of a Hamiltonian cycle are all equivalent. Our main result suitably extends this equivalence to distance graphs. We prove that for a finite set D of order at least 2, there is a constant c_D such that the greatest common divisor of the integers in D is 1 if and only if for every n, has a component of order at least n−c_D if and only if for every n≥c_D+3, has a cycle of order at least n−c_D. Furthermore, we discuss some consequences and variants of this result.     

Equitable specialized block-colourings for 4-cycle systems—I

A block-colouring of a 4-cycle system (V,B) of order v=1+8k is a mapping ?:B→C, where C is a set of colours. Every vertex of a 4-cycle system of order v=8k+1 is contained in blocks and r is called, using the graph theoretic terminology, the degree or the repetition number. A partition of degree r into s parts defines a colouring of type s in which the blocks containing a vertex x are coloured exactly with s colours. For a vertex x and for i=1,2,…,s, let B_x,i be the set of all the blocks incident with x and coloured with the ith colour. A colouring of type s is equitable if, for every vertex x, we have |B_x,i−B_x,j|≤1, for all i,j=1,…,s. In this paper we study bicolourings, tricolourings and quadricolourings, i.e. the equitable colourings of type s with s=2, s=3 and s=4, for 4-cycle systems.     

A new approach to constructing exponentially many nonisomorphic nonorientable triangular embeddings of complete graphs

We prove a theorem that for an integer s?0, if 12s+7 is a prime number, then the number of nonisomorphic face 3-colorable nonorientable triangular embeddings of K_n, where n=(12s+7)(6s+7), is at least . By some number-theoretic arguments there are an infinite number of integers s satisfying the hypothesis of the theorem. The theorem is the first known example of constructing at least 2^αn?+o(n?), ?>1, nonisomorphic nonorientable triangular embeddings of K_n for n=6t+1, . To prove the theorem, we use a new approach to constructing nonisomorphic triangular embeddings of complete graphs. The approach combines a cut-and-paste technique and the index one current graph technique. A new connection between Steiner triple systems and constructing triangular embeddings of complete graphs is given.     

4-regular claw-free IM-extendable graphs

A graph G is induced matching extendable (shortly, IM-extendable), if every induced matching of G is included in a perfect matching of G. A graph G is claw-free, if G does not contain any induced subgraph isomorphic to K_1,3. The kth power of a graph G, denoted by G^k, is the graph with vertex set V(G) in which two vertices are adjacent if and only if the distance between them in G is at most k. In this paper, the 4-regular claw-free IM-extendable graphs are characterized. It is shown that the only 4-regular claw-free connected IM-extendable graphs are , and T_r, r?2, where T_r is the graph with 4r vertices u_i,v_i,x_i,y_i, 1?i?r, such that for each i with 1?i?r, {u_i,v_i,x_i,y_i} is a clique of T_r and . We also show that a 4-regular strongly IM-extendable graph must be claw-free. As a consequence, the only 4-regular strongly IM-extendable graphs are K₄×K₂, and .     

Arithmetical properties of wendt's determinant

Wendt's determinant of order n is the circulant determinant W_n whose (i,j)-th entry is the binomial coefficient , for 1?i,j?n, where n is a positive integer. We establish some congruence relations satisfied by these rational integers. Thus, if p is a prime number and k a positive integer, then and . If q is another prime, distinct from p, and h any positive integer, then . Furthermore, if p is odd, then . In particular, if p?5, then . Also, if m and n are relatively prime positive integers, then W_mW_n divides W_mn.