When is the value of public information positive in a game?

The value of public information is studied by considering the equilibrium selections that maximize the weighted sum of players' payoffs. We show that the value of information can be deduced from the deterministic games where the uncertain parameters have given values. If the maximal weighted sum of equilibrium payoffs in deterministic games is convex then the value of information in any Bayesian game derived from the deterministic games is positive with respect to the selection. We also show the converse result that positive value of information implies convexity. Hence, the convexity of maximal weighted sum of payoffs in deterministic games fully characterizes the value of information with respect to considered selections. We also discuss the implications of our results when positive value of information means that for any equilibrium in a game with less information there is a Pareto dominant equilibrium in any game with more information.     

When is the Boston mechanism strategy-proof?

Kumano (2013) is the first to investigate the Boston school choice mechanism (BOSM) under restricted priority domains. This paper strengthens and extends his result and shows that the BOSM is strategy-proof, if and only if it is fair, if and only if it is equivalent to the student-optimal stable mechanism (SOSM), and if and only if the number of total seats at any two schools exceeds the number of students.     

When is the Diagonal Functor Frobenius?

Given a complete, cocomplete category 𝒞, we investigate the problem of describing those small categories I such that the diagonal functor Δ: 𝒞 → Functors(I, 𝒞) is a Frobenius functor. This condition can be rephrased by saying that the limits and the colimits of functors I → 𝒞 are naturally isomorphic. We find necessary conditions on I for a certain class of categories 𝒞, and, as an application, we give both necessary and sufficient conditions in the two special cases 𝒞 =Set or _R ?, the category of left modules over a ring R.     

When is the Comaximal Graph Split?

Let R be a commutative ring with non zero unity. Let Ω(R) be a graph with vertices as elements of R whose two distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if Rx + Ry = R. A graph (V, E) is said to be a split graph if V is the disjoint union of two sets K and S where K induces a complete subgraph and S is an independent set. We investigate the properties of R when Ω(R) is split.     

When is every linear transformation a sum of two commuting invertible ones?

A well-known result of Wolfson [7] and Zelinsky [8] says that every linear transformation of a vector space V over a division ring D   is a sum of two invertible linear transformations except when dim(V)=1$\dim (V)=1$ and D=_F2$D={\mathbb{F}}_2$. Indeed, many of these linear transformations satisfy a stronger property that they are sums of two commuting invertible linear transformations. The goal of this note is to prove that every linear transformation of a vector space V over a division ring D   is a sum of two commuting invertible ones if and only if |D|?3$|D|?3$ and dim(V)<∞$\dim (V)<\infty$. As a consequence, a sufficient and necessary condition is obtained for a semisimple module to have the property that every endomorphism is a sum of two commuting automorphisms.     

When is the Isbell topology a group topology?

Conditions on a topological space X under which the space C(X,R) of continuous real-valued maps with the Isbell topology κ is a topological group (topological vector space) are investigated. It is proved that the addition is jointly continuous at the zero function in Cκ(X,R) if and only if X is infraconsonant. This property is (formally) weaker than consonance, which implies that the Isbell and the compact-open topologies coincide. It is shown the translations are continuous in Cκ(X,R) if and only if the Isbell topology coincides with the fine Isbell topology. It is proved that these topologies coincide if X is prime (that is, with at most one non-isolated point), but do not even for some sums of two consonant prime spaces.     

When is Flatness Coherent?

ABSTRACT

We characterize those small categories with the property that flat (contravariant) functors on them are coherently axiomatized in the language of presheaves on them. They are exactly the categories with the property that every finite diagram into them has a finite set of (weakly) initial cocones.     

When is tit-for-tat unbeatable?

We characterize the class of symmetric two-player games in which tit-for-tat cannot be beaten even by very sophisticated opponents in a repeated game. It turns out to be the class of exact potential games. More generally, there is a class of simple imitation rules that includes tit-for-tat but also imitate-the-best and imitate-if-better. Every decision rule in this class is essentially unbeatable in exact potential games. Our results apply to many interesting games including all symmetric 2 $\times $ 2 games, and standard examples of Cournot duopoly, price competition, public goods games, common pool resource games, and minimum effort coordination games.     

When is the self-intersection of a subvariety a fibration?

We provide a necessary and sufficient condition for the derived self-intersection of a smooth subscheme inside a smooth scheme to be a fibration over the subscheme. As a consequence we deduce a generalized HKR isomorphism. We also investigate the relationship of our result to path spaces in homotopy theory, Buchweitz–Flenner formality in algebraic geometry, and draw parallels with similar results in Lie theory and symplectic geometry.     

When is the graph product of hyperbolic groups hyperbolic?

Given a finite simplicial graph , and an assignment of groups to the verticles of , the graph product is the free product of the vertex groups modulo relations implying that adjacent vertex groups commute. We use Gromov's link criteria for cubical complexes and techniques of Davis and Moussang to study the curvature of graph products of groups. By constructing a CAT(–1) cubical complex, it is shown that the graph product of word hyperbolic groups is itself word hyperbolic if and only if the full subgraph in , generated by vertices whose associated groups are finite, satisfies three specific criteria. The construction shows that arbitrary graph products of finite groups are Bridson groups.     

When is the Bloch–Okounkov q-bracket modular?

The Ramanujan Journal - We obtain a condition describing when the quasimodular forms given by the Bloch–Okounkov theorem as q-brackets of certain functions on partitions are actually modular....     

When is the Fourier transform of an elementary function elementary?

Let F be a local field, a nontrivial unitary additive character of F, and V a finite dimensional vector space over F. Let us say that a complex function on V is elementary if it has the form , where , Q is a rational function (the phase function), are polynomials, and multiplicative characters of F. For generic , this function canonically extends to a distribution on V (if char(F) = 0). Occasionally, the Fourier transform of an elementary function is also an elementary function (the basic example is the Gaussian integral: k = 0, Q is a nondegenerate quadratic form). It is interesting to determine when exactly this happens. This question is the main subject of our study. In the first part of this paper we show that for or , if the Fourier transform of an elementary function with phase function -Q such that is another elementary function with phase function , then is the Legendre transform of Q (the "semiclassical condition"). We study properties and examples of phase functions satisfying this condition, and give a classification of phase functions such that both Q and are of the form f(x)/t, where f is a homogeneous cubic polynomial and t is an additional variable (this is one of the simplest possible situations). Unexpectedly, the proof uses Zak's classification theorem for Severi varieties.? In the second part of the paper we give a necessary and sufficient condition for an elementary function to have an elementary Fourier transform (in an appropriate "weak" sense) and explicit formulas for such Fourier transforms in the case when Q and are monomials, over any local field F. We also describe a generalization of these results to the case of monomials of norms of finite extensions of F. Finally, we generalize some of the above results (including Fourier integration formulas) to the case when and Q comes from a prehomogeneous vector space.     

Two Orbits: When is one in the closure of the other?

Let G be a connected linear algebraic group, let V be a finite dimensional algebraic G-module, and let and be two G-orbits in V. We describe a constructive way to find out whether or not lies in the closure of . Published in Russian in Trudy Matematicheskogo Instituta imeni V.A. Steklova, 2009, Vol. 264, pp. 152–164. In memory of V.A. Iskovskikh     

When is the numerical range of a nilpotent matrix circular?

The problem formulated in the title is investigated. The case of nilpotent matrices of size at most 4 allows a unitary treatment. The numerical range of a nilpotent matrix M of size at most 4 is circular if and only if the traces tr M^∗M² and tr M^∗M³ are null. The situation becomes more complicated as soon as the size is 5. The conditions under which a 5×5 nilpotent matrix has circular numerical range are thoroughly discussed.     

When is the commutant of a Bol loop a subloop?

A left Bol loop is a loop satisfying . The commutant of a loop is the set of elements which commute with all elements of the loop. In a finite Bol loop of odd order or of order , odd, the commutant is a subloop. We investigate conditions under which the commutant of a Bol loop is not a subloop. In a finite Bol loop of order relatively prime to , the commutant generates an abelian group of order dividing the order of the loop. This generalizes a well-known result for Moufang loops. After describing all extensions of a loop such that is in the left and middle nuclei of the resulting loop, we show how to construct classes of Bol loops with a non-subloop commutant. In particular, we obtain all Bol loops of order with a non-subloop commutant.