On a Problem of Dobrowolski and Williams and the Pólya-Vinogradov Inequality

In [2] E. Dobrowolski and K.S. Williams considered a problem of obtaining estimates for the sum _n=a+1 ^a+N f(n),for a certain class of functions f. One specific application of their result is a new method for estimating character sums. In particular, they obtain a form of the Pólya-Vinogradov inequality with the constant 1/(2 log 2). In this note we improve their estimates and obtain, in particular, a form of the Pólya-Vinogradov inequality with the constant 1/(3 log 3). A nice feature of our estimate is that it is obtained by a very simple argument.     

Periodic stationary processes and the Pólya-Vinogradov inequality

Inequalities for the moments of the maximum of the sums of elements of a random stationary sequence are suggested. The consequences of the results obtained include the Pólya-Vinogradov inequality for sums of the Dirichlet characters.     

Bar weights of bar partitions and spin character zeros

The main combinatorial result in this article is a classification of bar partitions of n which are of maximal p-bar weight for all odd primes p ≤ n. As a consequence, we show that apart from very few exceptions any irreducible spin character of the double covers of the symmetric and alternating groups vanishes on some element of odd prime order. Mathematics Subject Classification 05A17, 20C30 An extended abstract for this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the FPSAC’06 conference.     

Some sufficient conditions on the number of non-abelian subgroups of a finite group to be solvable

Thompson’s theorem indicates that a finite group with a nilpotent maximal subgroup of odd order is solvable. As an important application of Thompson’s theorem, a finite group is solvable if it has an abelian maximal subgroup. In this paper, we give some sufficient conditions on the number of non-abelian subgroups of a finite group to be solvable.     

Isoperimetric inequalities and the gap between the first and second eigenvalues of an Euclidean domain

In this paper we introduce a weighted Cheeger constant and show that the gap between the first two eigenvalues of a Riemannian manifold given Dirichlet conditions can be bounded from below in terms of this constant. When the Riemannian manifold is a bounded Euclidean domain satisfying an interior rolling sphere condition we give an estimate on the weighted Cheeger constant in terms of the rolling sphere radius, volume, a bound on the principal curvatures of the boundary and the dimension. This yields a lower bound on the nontrivial gap for Euclidean domains. S-Y. Cheng’s research partially supported by the CUHK direct grant A/C # 220600260. K. Oden’s research partially supported by the Department of Education Graduate Fellowship     

Hardy and BMO spaces associated to divergence form elliptic operators

Consider a second order divergence form elliptic operator L with complex bounded measurable coefficients. In general, operators based on L, such as the Riesz transform or square function, may lie beyond the scope of the Calderón–Zygmund theory. They need not be bounded in the classical Hardy, BMO and even some L ^p spaces. In this work we develop a theory of Hardy and BMO spaces associated to L, which includes, in particular, a molecular decomposition, maximal and square function characterizations, duality of Hardy and BMO spaces, and a John–Nirenberg inequality. S. Hofmann was supported by the National Science Foundation.     

On error distance of Reed-Solomon codes

The complexity of decoding the standard Reed-Solomon code is a well known open problem in coding theory. The main problem is to compute the error distance of a received word. Using the Weil bound for character sum estimate, we show that the error distance can be determined precisely when the degree of the received word is small. As an application of our method, we give a significant improvement of the recent bound of Cheng-Murray on non-existence of deep holes (words with maximal error distance).      

The Erdős–Pósa Property for Odd Cycles in Highly Connected Graphs

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős In [9] Thomassen proved that a -connected graph either contains k vertex disjoint odd cycles or an odd cycle cover containing at most 2k-2 vertices, i.e. he showed that the Erdős–Pósa property holds for odd cycles in highly connected graphs. In this paper, we will show that the above statement is still valid for 576k-connected graphs which is essentially best possible. Received November 17, 1999 RID="*" ID="*" This work was supported by a post-doctoral DONET grant. RID="†" ID="†" This work was supported by an NSF-CNRS collaborative research grant. RID="‡" ID="‡" This work was performed while both authors were visiting the LIRMM, Université de Montpellier II, France.     

A Characterization of Generalized Příkrý Sequences

A generalization of Příkry's forcing is analyzed which adjoins to a model of ZFC a set of order type at most ω below each member of a discrete set of measurable cardinals. A characterization of generalized Příkry generic sequences reminiscent of Mathias' criterion for Příkry genericity is provided, together with a maximality theorem which states that a generalized Příkry sequence almost contains every other one lying in the same extension. This forcing can be used to falsify the covering lemma for a higher core model if there is an inner model with infinitely many measurable cardinals – changing neither cardinalities nor cofinalities. Another application is an alternative proof of a theorem of Mitchell stating that if the core model contains a regular limit θ of measurable cardinals, then there is a model in which every set of measurable cardinals of K bounded in θ has an indiscernible sequence but there is no such sequence for the entire set of measurables of K below θ. During the research for this paper the author was supported by DFG-Project Je209/1-2.     

Covering odd cycles

We estimate the number of vertices/edges necessary to cover all odd cycles in graphs of given order and odd girth.To the memory of Pál Erds     

Rational Brauer characters

It is known that every finite group of even order has a non-trivial complex irreducible character which is rational valued. We prove the modular version of this result: If p is an odd prime and G is any finite group of even order, then G has a non-trivial irreducible p-Brauer character which is rational valued. The first author is partially supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia proyecto MTM2004-06067-C02-01, while the second gratefully acknowledges the support of the NSA (grant H98230-04-0066).     

Factoring an infinite abelian group by lacunary cyclic subsets

It was proved in Corrádi and Szabó (Math Pannonica 5:275–280, 1994) that if a finite abelian group of odd order is factored into a direct product of lacunary cyclic subsets, then at least one of the factors must be a subgroup. The paper extends this result for certain infinite torsion groups.      

A priori error estimates for upwind finite volume schemes for two-dimensional linear convection diffusion problems

It is still an open problem to prove a priori error estimates for finite volume schemes of higher order MUSCL type, including limiters, on unstructured meshes, which show some improvement compared to first order schemes. In this paper we use these higher order schemes for the discretization of convection dominated elliptic problems in a convex bounded domain Ω in R² and we can prove such kind of an a priori error estimate. In the part of the estimate, which refers to the discretization of the convective term, we gain h^1/2. Although the original problem is linear, the numerical problem becomes nonlinear, due to MUSCL type reconstruction/limiter technique.     

On Multiplicity-Free Skew Characters and the Schubert Calculus

In this paper we introduce a partial order on the set of skew characters of the symmetric group which we use to classify the multiplicity-free skew characters. Furthermore, we give a short and easy proof that the Schubert calculus is equivalent to that of skew characters in the following sense: If we decompose the product of two Schubert classes we get the same as if we decompose a skew character and replace the irreducible characters by Schubert classes of the ‘inverse’ partitions (Theorem 4.3).     

$BMO, H^1$, and Calderón-Zygmund operators for non doubling measures

Given a Radon measure on , which may be non doubling, we introduce a space of type BMO with respect to this measure. It is shown that many properties which hold for the classical space when is a doubling measure remain valid for the space of type BMO introduced in this paper, without assuming doubling. For instance, Calderón-Zygmund operators which are bounded on are also bounded from into the new BMO space. Moreover, this space also satisfies a John-Nirenberg inequality, and its predual is an atomic space . Using a sharp maximal operator it is shown that operators which are bounded from into the new BMO space and from its predual into must be bounded on , . From this result one can obtain a new proof of the T(1) theorem for the Cauchy transform for non doubling measures. Finally, it is proved that commutators of Calderón-Zygmund operators bounded on with functions of the new BMO are bounded on . Received February 18, 2000 / Published online October 11, 2000     

Upper bounds on the length of the shortest closed geodesic on simply connected manifolds

The subject of this paper is upper bounds on the length of the shortest closed geodesic on simply connected manifolds with non-trivial second homology group. We will give three estimates. The first estimate will explicitly depend on volume and the upper bound for the sectional curvature; the second estimate will depend on diameter, a positive lower bound for the volume, and on the (possibly negative) lower bound on sectional curvature; the third estimate will depend on diameter, on a (possibly negative) lower bound for the sectional curvature and on a lower bound for the simply-connectedness radius. The technique that we develop in order to obtain the last result will also enable us to estimate the homotopy distance between any two closed curves on compact simply connected manifolds of sectional curvature bounded from below and diameter bounded from above. More precisely, let c be a constant such that any metric ball of radius is simply connected. There exists a homotopy connecting any two closed curves such that the length of the trajectory of the points during this homotopy has an upper bound in terms of the lower bound of the curvature, the upper bound of diameter and c. Received November 10, 1997; in final form June 23, 1998     

Fitting Height and Character Degree Graphs

Given a group G, Γ(G) is the graph whose vertices are the primes that divide the degree of some irreducible character and two vertices p and q are joined by an edge if pq divides the degree of some irreducible character of G. By a definition of Lewis, a graph Γ has bounded Fitting height if the Fitting height of any solvable group G with Γ(G)=Γ is bounded (in terms of Γ). In this note, we prove that there exists a universal constant C such that if Γ has bounded Fitting height and Γ(G)=Γ then h(G)≤C. This solves a problem raised by Lewis. Research supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, MTM2004-06067-C02-01 and MTM2004-04665, the FEDER and Programa Ramón y Cajal.     

The Sarkovskii order for periodic continua II

In this paper it is shown that the existence of three maximal proper periodic continua for a map of a hereditarily decomposable chainable continuum onto itself implies the existence of a maximal proper periodic continuum with odd period greater than one. Hence, while the periods of such continua do follow the Sarkovskii order apart from the case in which the ambient space is the union of two maximal proper periodic continua with period two, for any nondegenerate terminal segment of the Sarkovskii order that fails to contain an odd integer greater than one, there does not exist a map of a hereditarily decomposable chainable continuum onto itself for which the set of all periods of such continua is the prescribed terminal segment. It is also shown that, for any terminal segment of the Sarkovskii order that does contain an odd integer greater than one, there is a map of [0,1] onto itself for which the set of all periods of such continua is the prescribed terminal segment.     

Extrapolation of Weighted norm inequalities for multivariable operators and applications

Two versions of Rubio de Francia’s extrapolation theorem for multivariable operators of functions are obtained. One version assumes an initial estimate with different weights in each space and implies boundedness on all products of Lebesgue spaces. Another version assumes an initial estimate with the same weight but yields boundedness on a product of Lebesgue spaces whose indices lie on a line. Applications are given in the context of multilinear Calderón-Zygmund operators. Vector-valued inequalities are automatically obtained for them without developing a multilinear Banach-valued theory. A multilinear extension of the Marcinkiewicz and Zygmund theorem on ℓ²-valued extensions of bounded linear operators is also obtained.     

Brauer characters with cyclotomic field of values

It has been shown in an earlier paper [G. Navarro, Pham Huu Tiep, Rational Brauer characters, Math. Ann. 335 (2006) 675-686] that, for any odd prime p, every finite group of even order has a non-trivial rational-valued irreducible p-Brauer character. For p=2 this statement is no longer true. In this paper we determine the possible non-abelian composition factors of finite groups without non-trivial rational-valued irreducible 2-Brauer characters. We also prove that, if p≠q are primes, then any finite group of order divisible by q has a non-trivial irreducible p-Brauer character with values in the cyclotomic field Q(exp(2πi/q)).