Curvature and uniformization

We approach the problem of uniformization of general Riemann surfaces through consideration of the curvature equation, and in particular the problem of constructing Poincaré metrics (i.e., complete metrics of constant negative curvature) by solving the equation Δu-e ^2u=K_o(z) on general open surfaces. A few other topics are discussed, including boundary behavior of the conformal factore ^2u giving the Poincaré metric when the Riemann surface has smoothly bounded compact closure, and also a curvature equation proof of Koebe's disk theorem. Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-9971975 and also at MSRI by NSF grant DMS-9701755. Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-9877077     

A Markov-modulated M/G/1 queue II: Busy period and time for buffer overflow

We consider an M/G/1 queue where the arrival and service processes are modulated by a two state Markov chain. We assume that the arrival rate, service time density and the rates at which the Markov chain switches its state, are functions of the total unfinished work (buffer content) in the queue. We compute asymptotic approximations to performance measures such as the mean residual busy period, mean length of a busy period, and the mean time to reach capacity.This research was supported in part by NSF Grants DMS-84-06110, DMS-85-01535 and DMS-86-20267, and grants from the U.S. Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Israel Academy of Sciences.     

On the eigenvalues of matrices with given upper triangular part

We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a set of numbers to be the eigenvalues of a completion of a matrix prescribed in its upper triangular part.Partially supported by the NSF Grant DMS-8701615-02Partially supported by the NSF Grant DMS-8802836 and United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation Grant 88-00304/I.     

The subgaussian constant and concentration inequalities

We study concentration inequalities for Lipschitz functions on graphs by estimating the optimal constant in exponential moments of subgaussian type. This is illustrated on various graphs and related to various graph constants. We also settle, in the affirmative, a question of Talagrand on a deviation inequality for the discrete cube. Research supported in part by NSF Grant No. DMS-0405587 and by EPSRC Visiting Fellowship. Research supported in part by NSF Grant No. DMS-9803239, DMS-0100289. Research supported in part by NSF Grant No. DMS-0401239.     

Avoidable structures, I: Finite ordered sets, semilattices and lattices

We find all finite unavoidable ordered sets, finite unavoidable semilattices and finite unavoidable lattices. While working on this paper, the second and third authors were supported by US NSF grant DMS-0604065. The second author was also supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, grant #201/05/0002 and by the institutional grant MSM0021620839 financed by MSMT.     

A non-local flow for Riemann surfaces

A non-local flow is defined for compact Riemann surfaces. Assuming the initial metric has positive Gauss curvature and is not conformal to the round sphere, the flow exists on some maximal time interval, and converges along a subsequence to a metric which admits a conformal Killing vector field. By a result of Tashiro (Trans Am Math Soc 117:251–275, 1965), the limiting metric must be conformal to the round sphere. Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0500538.     

Extremal eigenvalue problems for composite membranes,II

Given an open bounded connected set R ^N and a prescribed amount of two homogeneous materials of different density, for smallk we characterize the distribution of the two materials in that extremizes thekth eigenvalue of the resulting clamped membrane. We show that these extremizers vary continuously with the proportion of the two constituents. The characterization of the extremizers in terms of level sets of associated eigenfunctions provides geometric information on their respective interfaces. Each of these results generalizes toN dimensions the now classical one-dimensional work of M. G. Krein.The work of the first author was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-8201719 (A. Manitius, P. I.), an IBM fellowship, a GE teaching incentive, and DARPA Contract F49620-87-C-0065. That of the second author was supported in part by ONR Grant N00014-84-5-516, AFOSR Grant AFOSR-86-0180, and NSF Grant DMS-8713722.     

Extremal eigenvalue problems for composite membranes,I

Given an open bounded connected set R ^N and a prescribed amount of two homogeneous materials of different density, for smallk we characterize the distribution of the two materials in that extremizes thekth eigenvalue of the resulting clamped membrane. We show that these extremizers vary continuously with the proportion of the two constituents. The characterization of the extremizers in terms of level sets of associated eigenfunctions provides geometric information on their respective interfaces. Each of these results generalizes toN dimensions the now classical one-dimensional work of M. G. Krein.The work of the first author was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-8201719 (A. Manitius, P. I.), an IBM fellowship, a GE teaching incentive, and DARPA Contract F49620-87-C-0065. That of the second author was supported in part by ONR Grant N00014-84-5-516, AFOSR Grant AFOSR-86-0180, and NSF Grant DMS-8713722.     

Knot polynomials and Vassiliev's invariants

Summary A fundamental relationship is established between Jones' knot invariants and Vassiliev's knot invariants. Since Vassiliev's knot invariants have a firm grounding in classical topology, one obtains as a result a first step in understanding the Jones polynomial by topological methods.Oblatum 20-V-1991 & 10-VI-1992Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-88-055627.Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-90-04017.     

Rigidity of locally homogeneous metrics of negative curvature on the leaves of a foliation

We consider the relationship between diffeomorphism and leafwise isometry for foliations whose leaves are locally homogeneous Riemannian manifolds of negative curvature. Partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-8301882.     

Formal degree and existence of stable arithmetic lattices of cuspidal representations ofp-adic reductive groups

Research at MSRI supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-812079-05     

Superconvergence in the generalized finite element method

In this paper, we address the problem of the existence of superconvergence points of approximate solutions, obtained from the Generalized Finite Element Method (GFEM), of a Neumann elliptic boundary value problem. GFEM is a Galerkin method that uses non-polynomial shape functions, and was developed in (Babuška et al. in SIAM J Numer Anal 31, 945–981, 1994; Babuška et al. in Int J Numer Meth Eng 40, 727–758, 1997; Melenk and Babuška in Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 139, 289–314, 1996). In particular, we show that the superconvergence points for the gradient of the approximate solution are the zeros of a system of non-linear equations; this system does not depend on the solution of the boundary value problem. For approximate solutions with second derivatives, we have also characterized the superconvergence points of the second derivatives of the approximate solution as the roots of a system of non-linear equations. We note that smooth generalized finite element approximation is easy to construct. I. Babuška’s research was partially supported by NSF Grant # DMS-0341982 and ONR Grant # N00014-99-1-0724. U. Banerjee’s research was partially supported by NSF Grant # DMS-0341899. J. E. Osborn’s research was supported by NSF Grant # DMS-0341982.     

On the structure of stationary sets

We isolate several classes of stationary sets of [k]ωand investigate implications among them. Under a large cardinal assumption, we prove a structure theorem for stationary sets.     

A class of bounds for convex bodies in Hilbert space

We extend to infinite dimensions a class of bounds forL _p metrics of finite-dimensional convex bodies. A generalization to arbitrary increasing convex functions is done simultaneously. The main tool is the use of Gaussian measure to effect a normalization for varying dimension. At a point in the proof we also invoke a strong law of large numbers for random sets to produce a rotational averaging.Supported in part by ONR Grant N0014-90-J-1641 and NSF Grant DMS-9002665.     

On the complexity of approximating the maximal inscribed ellipsoid for a polytope

We give a new polynomial bound on the complexity of approximating the maximal inscribed ellipsoid for a polytope.Research supported by NSF Grant DMS-8706133.Research supported by NSF Grant DMS-8904406.     

Finite rank operators with large trace

We give some estimates for how well the normalized trace functional exposes the identity map on a finite-dimensional space. Research supported by NSF Grant DMS-8320632. Research supported by NSF Grant DMS-8400960.     

Superlinear and quadratic convergence of primal-dual interior-point methods for linear programming revisited

Recently, Zhang, Tapia, and Dennis (Ref. 1) produced a superlinear and quadratic convergence theory for the duality gap sequence in primal-dual interior-point methods for linear programming. In this theory, a basic assumption for superlinear convergence is the convergence of the iteration sequence; and a basic assumption for quadratic convergence is nondegeneracy. Several recent research projects have either used or built on this theory under one or both of the above-mentioned assumptions. In this paper, we remove both assumptions from the Zhang-Tapia-Dennis theory.Dedicated to the Memory of Magnus R. Hestenes, 1906–1991This research was supported in part by NSF Cooperative Agreement CCR-88-09615 and was initiated while the first author was at Rice University as a Visiting Member of the Center for Research in Parallel Computation.The authors thank Yinyu Ye for constructive comments and discussions concerning this material.This author was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-91-02761 and DOE Grant DE-FG05-91-ER25100.This author was supported in part by AFOSR Grant 89-0363, DOE Grant DE-FG05-86-ER25017, and ARO Grant 9DAAL03-90-G-0093.     

A Morera type theorem forL 2 functions in the Heisenberg group

We obtain a Morera type characterization for the square integrable CR functions on the Heisenberg group. Partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-90524569. $Partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-9000968.     

On the connected components of the space of line transversals to a family of convex sets

Let ℒ be the space of line transversals to a finite family of pairwise disjoint compact convex sets in ℝ³. We prove that each connected component of ℒ can itself be represented as the space of transversals to some finite family of pairwise disjoint compact convex sets. The research of J. E. Goodman was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS91-22065 and by NSA Grant MDA904-92-H-3069. R. Pollack's research was supported in part by NSF Grant CCR91-22103 and by NSA Grant MDA904-92-H-3075. The research of R. Wenger was supported in part by NSA Grant MDA904-93-H-3026 and by the NSF Regional Geometry Institute (Smith College, July 1993) Grant DMS90-13220.     

Positivity and strict contractivity of functions of operators

Carathéodory class functionsf(z) are described having the property that the self-adjoint part off(A) is positive definite for every contractionA whose spectral radius is less than 1. Analogous results are obtained for bounded analytic functions in the unit disc, and for the Nevanlinna class. Applications to Markov chains are indicated.Partially supported by the US Air Force Grant AFOSR-94-0293.Partially supported by the NSF Grant DMS-9500924.