Cycle and circle tests of balance in gain graphs: Forbidden minors and their groups

We examine two criteria for balance of a gain graph, one based on binary cycles and one on circles. The graphs for which each criterion is valid depend on the set of allowed gain groups. The binary cycle test is invalid, except for forests, if any possible gain group has an element of odd order. Assuming all groups are allowed, or all abelian groups, or merely the cyclic group of order 3, we characterize, both constructively and by forbidden minors, the graphs for which the circle test is valid. It turns out that these three classes of groups have the same set of forbidden minors. The exact reason for the importance of the ternary cyclic group is not clear. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Learning events in the life of a community of mathematics educators

The paper examines some characteristics of learning events of a community of mathematics educators. Participation in the community entailed gaining familiarity with agreed upon conventions, goals, and forms of communication. The case discussed herein is an attempt to convey the complexities underlying learning in such a community through (re)negotiation of practices and goals. The notion ofreflective discourse is borrowed to describe a group discussion involving collective reflection that constituted an occasion for meaningful learning.     

An Enumerative Geometry for Magic and Magilatin Labellings

A magic labelling of a set system is a labelling of its points by distinct positive integers so that every set of the system has the same sum, the magic sum. Examples are magic squares (the sets are the rows, columns, and diagonals) and semimagic squares (the same, but without the diagonals). A magilatin labelling is like a magic labelling but the values need be distinct only within each set. We show that the number of n × n magic or magilatin labellings is a quasipolynomial function of the magic sum, and also of an upper bound on the entries in the square. Our results differ from previous ones because we require that the entries in the square all be different from each other, and because we derive our results not by ad hoc reasoning but from a general theory of counting lattice points in rational inside-out polytopes. We also generalize from set systems to rational linear forms. Dedicated to the memory of Claudia Zaslavsky, 1917–2006 Received August 10, 2005     

Students' Verification Strategies for Combinatorial Problems

We focus on a major difficulty in solving combinatorial problems, namely, on the verification of a solution. Our study aimed at identifying undergraduate students' tendencies to verify their solutions, and the verification strategies that they employ when solving these problems. In addition, an attempt was made to evaluate the level of efficiency of the students' various verification strategies in terms of their contribution to reaching a correct solution. 14 undergraduate students, who had taken at least 1 course in combinatorics, participated in the study. None of the students had prior direct learning experience with combinatorial verification strategies. Data were collected through interviews with individual or pairs of participants as they solved, 1 by 1, 10 combinatorial problems. 5 types of verification strategies were identified, 2 of which were more frequent and more helpful than others. Students' verifications proved most efficient in terms of reaching a correct solution when they were informed that their solution was incorrect. Implications for teaching and learning combinatorics are discussed.     

Renormalization group theory of anomalous transport in systems with Hamiltonian chaos

We present a general scheme to describe particle kinetics in the case of incomplete Hamiltonian chaos when a set of islands of stability forms a complicated fractal space-time dynamics and when there is orbit stickiness to the islands' boundary. This kinetics is alternative to the "normal" Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov equation. A new kinetic equation describes random wandering in the fractal space-time. Critical exponents of the anomalous kinetics are expressed through dynamical characteristics of a Hamiltonian using the renormalization group approach. Renormalization transformation has been applied simultaneously for space and time and fractional calculus has been exploited.     

Billiard in a barrel

Orbits in the three-dimensional billiard of the form of a truncated ellipsoid ("barrel") are studied both analytically and numerically. A special form of mapping is proposed to get the expression for Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, and the transition from strong chaos to weak chaos is obtained.     

Dynamics of the chain of forced oscillators with long-range interaction: from synchronization to chaos

We consider a chain of nonlinear oscillators with long-range interaction of the type 1l(1+alpha), where l is a distance between oscillators and 0相似文献   

Chaotic advection in compressible helical flow

Compressible helical flow with div v not equal to 0 drastically increases the area of chaotic dynamics and mixing properties when the helicity parameter is spatially dependent. We show that the density dependence on the z coordinate can be incorporated in new variables in a way that leads to a Hamiltonian formulation of the system. This permits the application of various important results like the Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theory and, particularly, an understanding of why and in which sense the compressible helical flow is "more chaotic" than the incompressible one. Simulation demonstrates this property for an analog of the ABC flow. An interesting type of the dynamical system with "dense" island chains is described.     

On the spectrum of the system of interacting quantum nonlinear resonances

Correlation functions of the density matrix components and the frequency spectrum are numerically analysed in the system of two interacting quantum nonlinear resonances. For overlapping resonances and a sufficiently large number of resonance-trapped levels the motion of the system is shown to be close to stochasticity.