Periodic diffeomorphisms on homotopy E(4) surfaces

In this paper, we study the periodic diffeomorphisms on homotopy E(4) surfaces. Under some conditions, we prove the non-existence of periodic diffeomorphisms of odd prime order that act trivially on the cohomology of elliptic surfaces E(4). Besides, we give an application of our main theorem.     

Long Snakes in Powers of the Complete Graph with an Odd Number of Vertices

In [5] Abbott and Katchalski ask if there exists a constantc < 0 such that for every d 2 there is a snake (cycle withoutchords) of length at least c3^d in the product of d copies ofthe complete graph K₃. We show that the answer to the abovequestion is positive, and that in general for any odd integern there is a constant c_n such that for every d 2 there is asnake of length at least c_n n^d in the product of d copies ofthe complete graph K_n.     

ON THE INTEGRAL GALOIS MODULE STRUCTURE OF CYCLIC EXTENSIONS OF p-ADIC FIELDS

We strengthen results of Miyata on the integral Galois modulestructure of totally ramified cyclic Kummer extensions K ofdegree pⁿ of a p-adic field k. Let c₁(K/k) be the first ramificationnumber of K/k, and let c(K/k) be the least non-negative residueof c₁(K/k) modulo pⁿ. Suppose that K is of the form k() with^pn k and val _K(–1)>0, (val _K(–1), p)= 1. Thenthe valuation ring of K is free over its associated order ifc(K/k) divides p^m–1 for some m with 1mn; the converseholds if n= 2; and is a Hopf order (or a Gorenstein order)if and only if c(K/k) = pⁿ–1.     

Seiberg-Witten Invariants and Surface Singularities. II: Singularities with Good C*-Action

A previous conjecture is verified for any normal surface singularitywhich admits a good C^*-action. This result connects the Seiberg–Witteninvariant of the link (associated with a certain ‘canonical’spin^c structure) with the geometric genus of the singularity,provided that the link is a rational homology sphere. As an application, a topological interpretation is found ofthe generalized Batyrev stringy invariant (in the sense of Veys)associated with such a singularity. The result is partly based on the computation of the Reidemeister–Turaevsign-refined torsion and the Seiberg–Witten invariant(associated with any spin^c structure) of a Seifert 3-manifoldwith negative orbifold Euler number and genus zero.     

On the Discreteness and Convergence in n-Dimensional Mobius Groups

Throughout this paper, we adopt the same notations as in [1,6, 8] such as the Möbius group M(Rⁿ), the Clifford algebraC_n–1, the Clifford matrix group SL(2, _n), the Cliffordnorm of ||A||=(|a|²+|b|²+|c|²+|d|²) (1) and the Clifford metric of SL(2, _n) or of the Möbius groupM(Rⁿ) d(A₁,A₂)=||A₁–A₂||(|a₁–a₂|²+|b₁–b₂|²+|c₁–c₂|²+|d₁–d₂|²)(2) where |·| is the norm of a Clifford number and represents f_i M(), i = 1,2, and so on. In addition, we adopt some notions in [6, 12]:the elementary group, the uniformly bounded torsion, and soon. For example, the definition of the uniformly bounded torsionis as follows.     

Hypersurface Singularities with 2-Dimensional Critical Locus

Consider an analytic germ f:(C^m, 0)(C, 0) (m3) whose criticallocus is a 2-dimensional complete intersection with an isolatedsingularity (icis). We prove that the homotopy type of the Milnorfiber of f is a bouquet of spheres, provided that the extendedcodimension of the germ f is finite. This result generalizesthe cases when the dimension of the critical locus is zero [8],respectively one [12]. Notice that if the critical locus isnot an icis, then the Milnor fiber, in general, is not homotopicallyequivalent to a wedge of spheres. For example, the Milnor fiberof the germ f:(C⁴, 0)(C, 0), defined by f(x₁, x₂, x₃, x₄) =x₁x₂x₃x₄ has the homotopy type of S¹xS¹xS¹. On the other hand,the finiteness of the extended codimension seems to be the rightgeneralization of the isolated singularity condition; see forexample [9–12, 17, 18]. In the last few years different types of ‘bouquet theorems’have appeared. Some of them deal with germs f:(X, x)(C, 0) wheref defines an isolated singularity. In some cases, similarlyto the Milnor case [8], F has the homotopy type of a bouquetof (dim X–1)-spheres, for example when X is an icis [2],or X is a complete intersection [5]. Moreover, in [13] Siersmaproved that F has a bouquet decomposition FF₀Sⁿ...Sⁿ (whereF₀ is the complex link of (X, x)), provided that both (X, x)and f have an isolated singularity. Actually, Siersma conjecturedand Tibr proved [16] a more general bouquet theorem for thecase when (X, x) is a stratified space and f defines an isolatedsingularity (in the sense of the stratified spaces). In thiscase F_iF_i, where the F_i are repeated suspensions of complexlinks of strata of X. (If (X, x) has the ‘Milnor property’,then the result has been proved by Lê; for details see[6].) In our situation, the space-germ (X, x) is smooth, but f hasbig singular locus. Surprisingly, for dim Sing f^–1(0)2,the Milnor fiber is again a bouquet (actually, a bouquet ofspheres, maybe of different dimensions). This result is in thespirit of Siersma's paper [12], where dim Sing f^–1(0)= 1. In that case, there is only a rather small topologicalobstruction for the Milnor fiber to be homotopically equivalentto a bouquet of spheres (as explained in Corollary 2.4). Inthe present paper, we attack the dim Sing f^–1(0) = 2 case.In our investigation some results of Zaharia are crucial [17,18].     

Gromov-Witten Invariants of Flag Manifolds, VIA D-Modules

We present a method for computing the 3-point genus zero Gromov–Witteninvariants of the complex flag manifold G/B from the relationsof the small quantum cohomology algebra QH^*G/B (G is a complexsemisimple Lie group and B is a Borel subgroup). In [3] and[9], at least in the case G = GL_nC, two algebraic/combinatoricmethods have been proposed, based on suitably designed axioms.Our method is quite different, being differential geometricin nature; it is based on the approach to quantum cohomologydescribed in [7], which is in turn based on the integrable systemspoint of view of Dubrovin and Givental.     

Non-Complex Symplectic 4-Manifolds with Formula

Simply connected closed symplectic 4-manifolds with and K² = 0 are investigated. As aresult, it is confirmed that most of homotopy elliptic surfaces{E(1)_k|K is a fibred knot in S³} constructed by R. Fintusheland R. Stern in Invent. Math. 134 (1998) 363–400 are simplyconnected closed minimal symplectic 4-manifolds that do notadmit a complex structure. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification57R17, 57R57 (primary), 14J26 (secondary).     

Geometric Approximation Of The Fibre Of The Freudenthal Suspension

Let Rat_k(CPⁿ) denote the space of based holomorphic maps ofdegree k from the Riemannian sphere S² to the complex projectivespace CPⁿ. The basepoint condition we assume is that f()=[1,..., 1]. Such holomorphic maps are given by rational functions: Rat_k(CPⁿ) ={(p₀(z), ..., p_n(z)):each p_i(z) is a monic, degree-kpolynomial and such that there are no roots common to all p_i(z)}.(1.1) The study of the topology of Rat_k(CPⁿ) originated in [10]. Later,the stable homotopy type of Rat_k(CPⁿ) was described in [3] interms of configuration spaces and Artin's braid groups. LetW(S²ⁿ) denote the homotopy theoretic fibre of the Freudenthalsuspension E:S²ⁿ S²ⁿ⁺¹. Then we have the following sequenceof fibrations: ²S²ⁿ⁺¹ W(S²ⁿ)S²ⁿ S²ⁿ⁺¹. A theorem in [10] tellsus that the inclusion Rat_k(CPⁿ) ²_kCP^{n 2}S²ⁿ⁺¹ is a homotopy equivalenceup to dimension k(2n–1). Thus if we form the direct limitRat(CPⁿ)= lim_k Rat_k(CPⁿ), we have, in particular, that Rat(CPⁿ)is homotopy equivalent to ²S²ⁿ⁺¹. If we take the results of [3] and [10] into account, we naturallyencounter the following problem: how to construct spaces X_k(CPⁿ),which are natural generalizations of Rat_k(CPⁿ), so that X(CPⁿ)approximates W(S²ⁿ). Moreover, we study the stable homotopytype of X_k(CPⁿ). The purpose of this paper is to give an answer to this problem.The results are stated after the following definition. 1991Mathematics Subject Classification 55P35.     

An Euler-Type Version of the Local Steiner Formula for Convex Bodies

The purpose of this note is to establish a new version of thelocal Steiner formula and to give an application to convex bodiesof constant width. This variant of the Steiner formula generalizesresults of Hann [3] and Hug [6], who use much less elementarytechniques than the methods of this paper. In fact, Hann askedfor a simpler proof of these results [4, Problem 2, p. 900].We remark that our formula can be considered as a Euclideananalogue of a spherical result proved in [2, p. 46], and thatour method can also be applied in hyperbolic space. For some remarks on related formulas in certain two-dimensionalMinkowski spaces, see Hann [5, p. 363]. For further information about the notions used below, we referto Schneider's book [9]. Let Kⁿ be the set of all convex bodiesin Euclidean space Rⁿ, that is, the set of all compact, convex,non-empty subsets of Rⁿ. Let S^n–1 be the unit sphere.For KKⁿ, let NorK be the set of all support elements of K, thatis, the pairs (x, u)RⁿxS^n–1 such that x is a boundarypoint of K and u is an outer unit normal vector of K at thepoint x. The support measures (or generalized curvature measures)of K, denoted by ₀(K.), ..., _n–1(K.), are the unique Borelmeasures on RⁿxS^n–1 that are concentrated on NorK andsatisfy [formula] for all integrable functions f:RⁿR; here denotes the Lebesguemeasure on Rⁿ. Equation (1), which is a consequence and a slightgeneralization of Theorem 4.2.1 in Schneider [9], is calledthe local Steiner formula. Our main result is the following.1991 Mathematics Subject Classification 52A20, 52A38, 52A55.     

Beardon's Diophantine Equations and Non-Free Mobius Groups

Let µ be a real number. The Möbius group G_µis the matrix group generated by It is known that G_µ is free if |µ| 2 (see [1])or if µ is transcendental (see [3, 8]). Moreover, thereis a set of irrational algebraic numbers µ which is densein (–2, 2) and for which G_µ is non-free [2, p. 528].We may assume that µ > 0, and in this paper we considerrational µ in (0, 2). The following problem is difficult. Let G^nf denote the set of all rational numbers µ in (0,2) for which G_µ is non-free. In 1969 Lyndon and Ullman[8] proved that G^nf contains the elements of the forms p/(p²+ 1) and 1/(p + 1), where p = 1, 2, ..., and that if µ₀ G^nf, then µ₀/p G^nf for p = 1, 2, .... In 1993 Beardon[2] studied problem (P) by means of the words of the form A^rB^s A^t and A^r B^s A^t B^u A^v, and he obtained a sufficient conditionfor solvability of (P), included implicitly in [2, pp. 530–531],by means of the following Diophantine equations: 1991 Mathematics SubjectClassification 20E05, 20H20, 11D09.     

Shape-preserving interpolation by G1 and G2 PH quintic splines

The interpolation of a planar sequence of points p₀, ..., p_Nby shape-preserving G¹ or G² PH quintic splines with specifiedend conditions is considered. The shape-preservation propertyis secured by adjusting ‘tension’ parameters thatarise upon relaxing parametric continuity to geometric continuity.In the G² case, the PH spline construction is based on applyingNewton–Raphson iterations to a global system of equations,commencing with a suitable initialization strategy—thisgeneralizes the construction described previously in NumericalAlgorithms 27, 35–60 (2001). As a simpler and cheaperalternative, a shape-preserving G¹ PH quintic spline schemeis also introduced. Although the order of continuity is lower,this has the advantage of allowing construction through purelylocal equations.     

Weakly Almost Periodic Functions on N with a Negative Base

Weakly almost periodic compactifications have been seriouslystudied for over 30 years. In the pioneering papers of de Leeuwand Glicksberg [4] and [5], the approach adopted was operator-theoretic.The current definition is more likely to be created from theperspective of universal algebra (see [1, Chapter 3]). For adiscrete group or semigroup S, the weakly almost periodic compactificationwS is the largest compact semigroup which (i) contains S asa dense subsemigroup, and (ii) has multiplication continuousin each variable separately (where largest means that any othercompact semigroup with the properties (i) and (ii) is a quotientof wS). A third viewpoint is to envisage wS as the Gelfand spaceof the C*-algebra of bounded weakly almost periodic functionson S (for the definition of such functions, see below). In this paper, we are concerned only with the simplest semigroup(N, +). The three approaches described above give three methodsof obtaining information about wN. An early striking resultabout wN, that it contains more than one idempotent, was obtainedby T. T. West using operator theory [13]. He considered theweak operator closure of the semigroup {T, T², T³, ...} of iteratesof a single operator T on the Hilbert space L²(µ) fora particular measure µ on [0, 1]. Brown and Moran, ina series of papers culminating in [2], used sophisticated techniquesfrom harmonic analysis to produce measures µ that permittedthe detection of further structure in wN; in particular, theyfound 2^cdistinct idempotents. However, for many years, no otherway of showing the existence of more than one idempotent inwN was found. The breakthrough came in 1991, and it was made by Ruppert [11].In his paper, he created a direct construction of a family ofweakly almost periodic functions which could detect 2^c differentidempotents in wN. His method was very ingenious (he used aunique variant of the p-adic expansion of integers) and rathercomplicated. Our main aim in this paper is to construct weaklyalmost periodic functions which are easy to describe and soappear more ‘natural’ than Ruppert's. We also showthat there are enough functions of our type to distinguish 2^cidempotentsin wN.     

Spreading speed and travelling wave solutions of a partially sedentary population

In this paper, we extend the population genetics model of Weinberger(1978, Asymptotic behavior of a model in population genetics.Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Applications (J.Chadam ed.). Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 648. New York:Springer, pp. 47–98.) to the case where a fraction ofthe population does not migrate after the selection process.Mathematically, we study the asymptotic behaviour of solutionsto the recursion u_n+1 = Q_g[u_n], where In the above definition of Q_g, K is a probabilitydensity function and f behaves qualitatively like the Beverton–Holtfunction. Under some appropriate conditions on K and f, we showthat for each unit vector R^d, there exists a c^*_g() which hasan explicit formula and is the spreading speed of Q_g in thedirection . We also show that for each c c^*_g(), there existsa travelling wave solution in the direction which is continuousif gf '(0) 1.     

Complex Monodromy and Changing Real Pictures

The purpose of this note is to generalise, and give a more illuminatingproof, of a theorem of [13] (Theorem 1.1 below). Before statingit, we provide some introductory information. Consider the followingtwo sequences of pictures: in each we see a 1-parameter familyX_R,t of real algebraic hypersurfaces, which undergoes a bifurcationwhen the parameter t is equal to 0. Note that in Figure 1, both(i) (a) and (i) (b), and in (ii) (b), the surface X_R,t has apurely 1-dimensional part, which we have indicated with a dottedline, and that in (i) (b) we have drawn a curve vertically alongthe middle of the surface to make clearer the way it passesthrough itself. The reader will observe that in (a) the surfaceX_R,t is homotopically a 2-sphere when t>0 and a 0-spherewhen t<0, while in (b) X_R,t is a homotopy 1-sphere both fort<0 and t>0. Such sequences are typical in singularity theory; each is infact the family of algebraic closures of images of a versaldeformation of a codimension 1 singularity of mapping. Now suppose that the complexification X_C,t is a homotopy n-sphere.In [13] the second author pointed out that it follows that X_R,tis a homotopy sphere for t0 (allowing the empty set as a –1-sphere).Indeed, in the local situation, or globally in the weightedhomogeneous case, there are well-defined integers k₊ and k_–between –1 and n such that X_R,tS^k+ for t>0 and X_R,tS^k–for t<0. We describe X_R,t for tR–0 as ‘good’ if thehomotopy dimension of X_R,t is equal to n. In this case the inclusionX_R,tX_t is a homotopy equivalence [13, 1.1].     

The tower of K-theory of truncated polynomial algebras

Let A be a regular noetherian F_p-algebra. The relative K-groupsK_q(A[x]/(x^m),(x)) and the Nil-groups Nil_q(A[x]/(x^m)) were evaluatedby the author and Ib Madsen in terms of the big de Rham–Wittgroups W_rA^q of the ring A. In this paper, we evaluate the mapsof relative K-groups and Nil-groups induced by the canonicalprojection f: A[x]/(x^m) A[x]/(xⁿ). The result depends stronglyon the prime p. It generalizes earlier work by Stienstra onthe groups in degrees 2 and 3. Received February 28, 2007.     

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Exponential Stability and Ultimate Boundedness of Systems Governed by Stochastic Partial Differential Equations

Consider the following infinite dimensional stochastic evolutionequation over some Hilbert space H with norm |·|: It is proved that under certain mild assumptions, the strongsolution X_t(x₀)VHV*, t 0, is mean square exponentially stableif and only if there exists a Lyapunov functional (·,·):HxR₊R¹ which satisfies the following conditions: (i)c₁|x|²–k₁e^–µ₁t(x,t)c₂|x|²+k₂+k₂e^–µ₂t; (ii) L(x,t)–c₃(x,t)+k₃e^–µ₃t, xV, t0; where L is the infinitesimal generator of the Markov processX_t and c_i, k_i, µ_i, i = 1, 2, 3, are positive constants.As a by-product, the characterization of exponential ultimateboundedness of the strong solution is established as the nulldecay rates (that is, µ_i = 0) are considered.     

The Seiberg-Witten invariant conjecture for splice-quotients

Splice-quotient singularities were introduced recently and studiedintensively by Neumann and Wahl. For such a singularity we provethat the geometric genus can be recovered from the topologyof the singularity, namely from the Seiberg–Witten invariant(associated with the canonical spin^c structure) of the link.This answers positively the conjecture formulated by the firstauthor and Nicolaescu.     

On 4-Dimensional Mapping Tori and Product Geometries

The paper gives simple necessary and sufficient conditions fora closed 4-manifold to be homotopy equivalent to the mappingtorus of a self homotopy equivalence of a PD₃-complex. Thisis a homotopy analogue of the Stallings and Farrell fibrationtheorems available in other dimensions. The paper also considers4-manifolds which admit a geometry of Euclidean factor typeand complex surfaces which fibre over S¹.