The Bertini irreducibility theorem for higher codimensional slices

In [3], Poonen and Slavov recently developed a novel approach to Bertini irreducibility theorems over an arbitrary field, based on random hyperplane slicing. In this paper, we extend their work by proving an analogous bound for the dimension of the exceptional locus in the setting of linear subspaces of higher codimensions.     

A nonlinear model for marble sulphation including surface rugosity and mechanical damage

Here we propose and analyze a mathematical model that aims to describe the marble sulphation process occurring in a given material. The model accounts for rugosity as well as for damaging effects. This model is characterized by some technical difficulties that seem hard to overcome from a theoretical viewpoint. Therefore, we introduce some physically reasonable modifications in order to establish the existence of a suitable notion of solution on a given time interval. Numerical simulations are presented and discussed, also in view of further research.     

Subword complexity of the Fibonacci–Thue–Morse sequence: The proof of Dekking’s conjecture

Recently F. M. Dekking conjectured the form of the subword complexity function for the Fibonacci–Thue–Morse sequence. In this note we prove his conjecture by purely computational means, using the free software Walnut.     

Words that almost commute

The Hamming distance $\mathrm{ham}(u,v)$ between two equal-length words u, v is the number of positions where u and v differ. The words u and v are said to be conjugates if there exist non-empty words $x,y$ such that $u=xy$ and $v=yx$. The smallest value $\mathrm{ham}(xy,yx)$ can take on is 0, when x and y commute. But, interestingly, the next smallest value $\mathrm{ham}(xy,yx)$ can take on is 2 and not 1. In this paper, we consider conjugates $u=xy$ and $v=yx$ where $\mathrm{ham}(xy,yx)=2$. More specifically, we provide an efficient formula to count the number $h(n)$ of length-n words $u=xy$ over a k-letter alphabet that have a conjugate $v=yx$ such that $\mathrm{ham}(xy,yx)=2$. We also provide efficient formulae for other quantities closely related to $h(n)$. Finally, we show that $h(n)$ grows erratically: cubically for n prime, but exponentially for n even.