Null decomposition of trees

Let $T$ be a tree. We show that the null space of the adjacency matrix of $T$ has relevant information about the structure of $T$. We introduce the Null Decomposition of trees, which is a decomposition into two different types of trees: N-trees and S-trees. N-trees are the trees that have a unique maximum (perfect) matching. S-trees are the trees with a unique maximum independent set. We obtain formulas for the independence number and the matching number of a tree using this decomposition. We also show how the number of maximum matchings and the number of maximum independent sets in a tree are related to its null decomposition.     

Centers for the Kukles homogeneous systems with even degree

For the polynomial differential system $\dot{x}=-y$, $\dot{y}=x +Q_n(x,y)$, where $Q_n(x,y)$ is a homogeneous polynomial of degree $n$ there are the following two conjectures done in 1999. (1) Is it true that the previous system for $n \ge 2$ has a center at the origin if and only if its vector field is symmetric about one of the coordinate axes? (2) Is it true that the origin is an isochronous center of the previous system with the exception of the linear center only if the system has even degree? We give a step forward in the direction of proving both conjectures for all $n$ even. More precisely, we prove both conjectures in the case $n = 4$ and for $n\ge 6$ even under the assumption that if the system has a center or an isochronous center at the origin, then it is symmetric with respect to one of the coordinate axes, or it has a local analytic first integral which is continuous in the parameters of the system in a neighborhood of zero in the parameters space. The case of $n$ odd was studied in [8].     

Fibonacci, Van der Corput and Riesz-Nágy

What do the three names in the title have in common? The purpose of this paper is to relate them in a new and, hopefully, interesting way. Starting with the Fibonacci numeration system — also known as Zeckendorff's system — we will pose ourselves the problem of extending it in a natural way to represent all real numbers in (0,1). We will see that this natural extension leads to what is known as the ?-system restricted to the unit interval. The resulting complete system of numeration replicates the uniqueness of the binary system which, in our opinion, is responsible for the possibility of defining the Van der Corput sequence in (0,1), a very special sequence which besides being uniformly distributed has one of the lowest discrepancy, a measure of the goodness of the uniformity.Lastly, combining the Fibonacci system and the binary in a very special way we will obtain a singular function, more specifically, the inverse of one of the family of Riesz-Nágy.     

$${\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}$$-linear codes: rank and kernel

A code C{{\mathcal C}} is \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-additive if the set of coordinates can be partitioned into two subsets X and Y such that the punctured code of C{{\mathcal C}} by deleting the coordinates outside X (respectively, Y) is a binary linear code (respectively, a quaternary linear code). The corresponding binary codes of \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-additive codes under an extended Gray map are called \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-linear codes. In this paper, the invariants for \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-linear codes, the rank and dimension of the kernel, are studied. Specifically, given the algebraic parameters of \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-linear codes, the possible values of these two invariants, giving lower and upper bounds, are established. For each possible rank r between these bounds, the construction of a \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-linear code with rank r is given. Equivalently, for each possible dimension of the kernel k, the construction of a \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-linear code with dimension of the kernel k is given. Finally, the bounds on the rank, once the kernel dimension is fixed, are established and the construction of a \mathbbZ₂\mathbbZ₄{{\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4}}-linear code for each possible pair (r, k) is given.     

Polynomial inverse integrating factors for quadratic differential systems

We characterize all the quadratic polynomial differential systems having a polynomial inverse integrating factor and provide explicit normal forms for such systems and for their associated first integrals. We also prove that these families of quadratic systems have no limit cycles.