Topologically equivalent two-dimensional isometries

Let G be the group of isometries of the 2-sphere, the Euclidean plane or the hyperbolic plane, the group of similarities of the Euclidean plane or the group of Möbius transformations of the 2-sphere. In each instance we determine which conjugacy classes in G are amalgamated when we allow conjugation of the elements of G by homeomorphisms of the space on which G acts. Our results are related to recent work on the homeomeric classification of two-dimensional patterns.     

Space graphs and sphericity

For a finite point set in Euclidean n-space, if we connect each pair of points by a line segment whenever the distance between them is less than a certain positive constant, we obtain a space graph in n-space. The sphericity of a graph G is defined to be the minimum number n such that G is isomorphic to a space graph in n-space. In this paper we study the sphericities of graphs and present upper bounds on the sphericity for several types of graphs.     

The frame dimension and the complete overlap dimension of a graph

Roberts (F. S. Roberts, On the boxicity and cubicity of a graph. In Recent Progress in Combinatorics, W. T. Tutte, ed. Academic, New York (1969)), studied the intersection graphs of closed boxes (products of closed intervals) in Euclidean n-space, and introduced the concept of the boxicity of a graph G, the smallest n such that G is the intersection graph of boxes in n-space. In this paper, we study the intersection graphs of the frames or boundaries of such boxes. We study the frame dimension of a graph G—the smallest n such that G is the intersection graph of frames in n-space. We also study the complete overlap dimension of a graph, a notion that is almost equivalent. The complete overlap dimension of a graph G is the smallest dimension in which G can be represented by boxes that intersect but are not completely contained in one another. We will prove that these dimensions are in almost all cases the same and that they both can become arbitrarily large. We shall also obtain a bound for these dimensions in terms of boxicity.     

A new proof of Vázsonyi's conjecture

The diameter graph G of n points in Euclidean 3-space has a bipartite, centrally symmetric double covering on the sphere. Three easy corollaries follow: (1) A self-contained proof of Vázsonyi's conjecture that G has at most 2n−2 edges, which avoids the ball polytopes used in the original proofs given by Grünbaum, Heppes and Straszewicz. (2) G can be embedded in the projective plane. (3) Any two odd cycles in G intersect [V.L. Dol'nikov, Some properties of graphs of diameters, Discrete Comput. Geom. 24 (2000) 293-299].     

Regular 3-complexes with toroidal cells

A 3 × 3 block of squares, with opposite sides identified in the usual way, yields a “map” of nine quadrangles covering a torus. The solid figure bounded by this surface may be called a ‘toroid’. The four-dimensional double prism {3} × {3}, which is the Cartesian product of two equilateral triangles, may be regarded topologically as a pair of toroids covering the 3-sphere S³. The present paper deals with a set of twenty (instead of two) toroids covering the 3-sphere. This arrangement is realized geometrically in two ways: First in Euclidean 4-space, with some of the 90 quadrangles appearing as trapezia, and then in Euclidean 5-space with all of them appearing as squares. Both these realizations have a property of cell-complexes, namely, each toroid has exactly one quadrangle in common with each of its nine neighbors.     

Sphere orders

Ann-sphere order is a finite partially ordered set representable by containment ofn-spheres in Euclidean (n+1)-space. We present a sequence {P _i } of ordered sets such that eachP _i is ann-sphere order only forni; one consequence is that we are able to determine the dimension of a Euclidean space-time manifold from the finite suborders of its causality order.Research supported by ONR grant N00014 85-K-0769.     

Locally G-homogeneous Busemann G-spaces

We present short proofs of all known topological properties of general Busemann G-spaces (at present no other property is known for dimensions more than four). We prove that all small metric spheres in locally G-homogeneous Busemann G-spaces are homeomorphic and strongly topologically homogeneous. This is a key result in the context of the classical Busemann conjecture concerning the characterization of topological manifolds, which asserts that every n-dimensional Busemann G-space is a topological n-manifold. We also prove that every Busemann G-space which is uniformly locally G-homogeneous on an orbal subset must be finite-dimensional.     

Automorphism groups of finite posets

For any finite group G, we construct a finite poset (or equivalently, a finite T₀-space) X, whose group of automorphisms is isomorphic to G. If the order of the group is n and it has r generators, X has n(r+2) points. This construction improves previous results by G. Birkhoff and M.C. Thornton. The relationship between automorphisms and homotopy types is also analyzed.     

Cyclic and ruled Lagrangian surfaces in Euclidean four space

We study those Lagrangian surfaces in complex Euclidean space which are foliated by circles or by straight lines. The former, which we call cyclic, come in three types, each one being described by means of, respectively, a planar curve, a Legendrian curve in the 3-sphere or a Legendrian curve in the anti-de Sitter 3-space. We describe ruled Lagrangian surfaces and characterize the cyclic and ruled Lagrangian surfaces which are solutions to the self-similar equation of the Mean Curvature Flow. Finally, we give a partial result in the case of Hamiltonian stationary cyclic surfaces.     

Universal free G-spaces

For a compact Lie group G, we prove the existence of a universal G-space in the class of all paracompact (respectively, metrizable, and separable metrizable) free G-spaces. We show that such a universal free G-space cannot be compact.     

Hessian Measures III

In this paper, we continue previous investigations into the theory of Hessian measures. We extend our weak continuity result to the case of mixed k-Hessian measures associated with k-tuples of k-convex functions, on domains in Euclidean n-space, k=1,2,…,n. Applications are given to capacity, quasicontinuity, and the Dirichlet problem, with inhomogeneous terms, continuous with respect to capacity or combinations of Dirac measures.     

Wavelet para-bases and sampling numbers in function spaces on domains

This paper deals with wavelet frames (para-bases), local polynomial reproducing formulas, and sampling numbers in function spaces on arbitrary and on E-thick domains in Euclidean n-space. In an Appendix we collect some recent instruments for corresponding function spaces on Euclidean n-space.     

Computing the boxicity of a graph by covering its complement by cointerval graphs

If $\text{F}$ is a family of sets, its intersection graph has the sets in $\text{F}$ as vertices and an edge between two sets if and only if they overlap. This paper investigates the concept of boxicity of a graph G, the smallest n such that G is the intersection graph of boxes in Euclidean n-space. The boxicity, b(G), was introduced by Roberts in 1969 and has since been studied by Cohen, Gabai, and Trotter. The concept has applications to niche overlap (competition) in ecology and to problems of fleet maintenance in operations research. These applications will be described briefly. While the problem of computing boxicity is in general a difficult problem (it is NP-complete), this paper develops techniques for computing boxicity which give useful bounds. They are based on the simple observation that b(G)≤k if and only if there is an edge covering of $\text{G}$ by spanning subgraphs of $\text{G}$, each of which is a cointerval graph, the complement of an interval graph (a graph of boxicity ≤1.).     

A volume convergence theorem for Alexandrov spaces with curvature bounded above

We obtain a volume convergence theorem for Alexandrov spaces with curvature bounded above with respect to the Gromov-Hausdorff distance. As one of the main tools proving this, we construct an almost isometry between Alexandrov spaces with curvature bounded above, with weak singularities, which are close to each other. Furthermore, as an application of our researches of convergence phenomena, for given positive integer , we prove that, if a compact, geodesically complete, n-dimensional CAT(1)-space has the volume sufficiently close to that of the unit n-sphere, then it is bi-Lipschitz homeomorphic to the unit n-sphere. Received: 30 January 2001; in final form: 30 October 2001 / Published online: 4 April 2002     

Darboux transforms and spectral curves of Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian tori

The multiplier spectral curve of a conformal torus f : T ² → S ⁴ in the 4-sphere is essentially (Bohle et al., Conformal maps from a 2-torus to the 4-sphere. arXiv:0712.2311) given by all Darboux transforms of f. In the particular case when the conformal immersion is a Hamiltonian stationary torus ${f: T^2 \to\mathbb{R}^4}$ in Euclidean 4-space, the left normal N : M → S ² of f is harmonic, hence we can associate a second Riemann surface: the eigenline spectral curve of N, as defined in Hitchin (J Differ Geom 31(3):627–710, 1990). We show that the multiplier spectral curve of a Hamiltonian stationary torus and the eigenline spectral curve of its left normal are biholomorphic Riemann surfaces of genus zero. Moreover, we prove that all Darboux transforms, which arise from generic points on the spectral curve, are Hamiltonian stationary whereas we also provide examples of Darboux transforms which are not even Lagrangian.     

On finite simple groups acting on homology spheres

It is a consequence of the classical Jordan bound for finite subgroups of linear groups that in each dimension n there are only finitely many finite simple groups which admit a faithful, linear action on the n-sphere. In the present paper we prove an analogue for smooth actions on arbitrary homology n-spheres: in each dimension n there are only finitely many finite simple groups which admit a faithful, smooth action on some homology sphere of dimension n, and in particular on the n-sphere. We discuss also the finite simple groups which admit an action on a homology sphere of dimension 3, 4 or 5.     

Spherical functions on Euclidean space

We study spherical functions on Euclidean spaces from the viewpoint of Riemannian symmetric spaces. Here the Euclidean space En=G/K where G is the semidirect product Rn⋅K of the translation group with a closed subgroup K of the orthogonal group O(n). We give exact parameterizations of the space of (G,K)—spherical functions by a certain affine algebraic variety, and of the positive definite ones by a real form of that variety. We give exact formulae for the spherical functions in the case where K is transitive on the unit sphere in En.     

How tightly can you fold a sphere?

Consider a compact, connected Lie group G acting isometrically on a sphere Sn of radius 1. The quotient of Sn by this group action, Sn/G, has a natural metric on it, and so we may ask what are its diameter and q-extents. These values have been computed for cohomogeneity one actions on spheres. In this paper, we compute the diameters, extents, and several q-extents of cohomogeneity two orbit spaces resulting from such actions, and we also obtain results about the q-extents of Euclidean disks. Additionally, via a simple geometric criterion, we can identify which of these actions give rise to a decomposition of the sphere as a union of disk bundles. In addition, as a service to the reader, we give a complete breakdown of all the isotropy subgroups resulting from cohomogeneity one and two actions.     

Actions of Totally Disconnected Groups and Equivariant Singular Cohomology

In this work, we study the special properties of the equivariant singular cohomology of a G-space X, where G is a totally disconnected, locally compact group. We prove that any short exact sequence of coefficient systems for G, over a ring R, gives a long exact sequence of the associated equivariant singular cohomology modules. We establish the relationship between the ordinary singular cohomology modules and the equivariant singular cohomology modules with the natural contravariant coefficient system. Moreover, under some conditions, we give an isomorphism of the equivariant singular cohomology modules of the G-space X onto the ordinary singular cohomology modules of the orbit space X/G.     

Distances in Sierpiński graphs and on the Sierpiński gasket

The well known planar fractal called the Sierpiński gasket can be defined with the help of a related sequence of graphs {G _n } _{n ≥ 0}, where G _n is the n-th Sierpiński graph, embedded in the Euclidean plane. In the present paper we prove geometric criteria that allow us to decide, whether a shortest path between two distinct vertices x and y in G _n , that lie in two neighbouring elementary triangles (of the same level), goes through the common vertex of the triangles or through two distinct vertices (both distinct from the common vertex) of those triangles. We also show criteria for the analogous problem on the planar Sierpiński gasket and in the 3-dimensional Euclidean space.