Length Bounds on Curves Arising from Tight Geodesics

Let M be a complete hyperbolic 3-manifold admitting a homotopy equivalence to a compact surface ∑, such that the cusps of M are in bijective correspondence with the boundary components of ∑. Suppose we realise a tight geodesic in the curve complex as a sequence of closed geodesics M. There is an upper bound on the lengths of such curves in terms of the lengths of the terminal curves and the topologicial type of ∑. We give proofs of these and related bounds. Similar bounds have been proven by Minsky using the sophisticated machinery of hierarchies. Such bounds feature in the work of Brock, Canary and Minsky towards the ending lamination conjecture, and can also be used to study the action of the mapping class group on the curve complex. Received: January 2006, Revision: March 2007, Accepted: July 2007     

Sub-Riemannian Geodesics on the 3-D Sphere

The unit sphere can be identified with the unitary group SU(2). Under this identification the unit sphere can be considered as a non-commutative Lie group. The commutation relations for the vector fields of the corresponding Lie algebra define a 2-step sub-Riemannian manifold. We study sub-Riemannian geodesics on this sub-Riemannian manifold making use of the Hamiltonian formalism and solving the corresponding Hamiltonian system. The first author is partially supported by a research grant from the United State Army Research Office and a Hong Kong RGC competitive earmarked research grant #600607. The second and the third authors have been supported by the grant of the Norwegian Research Council #177355/V30, and by the European Science Foundation Research Networking Programme HCAA.     

End-Point Equations and Regularity of Sub-Riemannian Geodesics

For a large class of equiregular sub-Riemannian manifolds, we show that length-minimizing curves have no corner-like singularities. Our first result is the reduction of the problem to the homogeneous, rank-2 case, by means of a nilpotent approximation. We also identify a suitable condition on the tangent Lie algebra implying existence of a horizontal basis of vector fields whose coefficients depend only on the first two coordinates x ₁, x ₂. Then, we cut the corner and lift the new curve to a horizontal one, obtaining a decrease of length as well as a perturbation of the end-point. In order to restore the end-point at a lower cost of length, we introduce a new iterative construction, which represents the main contribution of the paper. We also apply our results to some examples. Received: July 2006, Revision: October 2006, Accepted: November 2006     

Collapsing monoids consisting of permutations and constants

In this paper we determine all collapsing transformation monoids that contain at least one unary constant operation and whose nonconstant operations are permutations. Furthermore, we find an infinite family of transformation monoids that consist of at least three unary constant operations and some permutations for which the corresponding monoidal intervals are 2-element chains. This research is supported by Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research grant nos. T 37877 and K 60148.     

The operad of finite labeled tournaments

We study the operad of finite labeled tournaments. We describe the structure of suboperads of this operad generated by simple tournaments. We prove that a suboperad generated by a tournament with two vertices (i.e., the operad of finite linearly ordered sets) is isomorphic to the operad of symmetric groups, and a suboperad generated by a simple tournament with more that two vertices is isomorphic to the quotient operad of the free operad with respect to a certain congruence. We obtain this congruence explicitly.     

On the Classification of Cartan Actions

We study higher-rank Cartan actions on compact manifolds preserving an ergodic measure with full support. In particular, we classify actions by with k ≥ 3 whose one-parameter groups act transitively as well as nondegenerate totally nonsymplectic -actions for k ≥ 3. The first author is supported in part by NSF grants DMS-0140513. The second author is supported in part by NSF grant DMS-0203735. Received: July 2005 Revision: March 2006 Accepted: March 2006     

Automorphisms of Ehresmann connections

We prove that a diffeomorphism of a manifold with an Ehresmann connection is an automorphism of the Ehresmann connection, if and only if, it is a totally geodesic map (i.e., sends the geodesies, considered as parametrized curves, to geodesies) and preserves the strong torsion of the Ehresmann connection. This result generalizes and to some extent strengthens the classical theorem on the automorphisms of a D-manifold (manifold with covariant derivative). The second author is supported by the Hungarian Nat. Sci. Found. (OTKA), Grant No. NK68040.     

On the stability of the quadratic functional equation on bounded domains

A result of Skof and Terracini will be generalized; More precisely, we will prove that if a functionf : [-t, t]ⁿ →E satisfies the inequality (1) for some δ > 0 and for allx, y ∈ [-t, t]ⁿ withx + y, x - y ∈ [-t, t]ⁿ, then there exists a quadratic functionq: ℝⁿ →E such that ∥f(x) -q(x)∥ < (2912n² + 1872n + 334)δ for anyx ∈ [-t, t] ⁿ .     

Some remarks on trigonometric sums

Let

On edge-antipodal <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-polytopes

A convex d-polytope in ℝ ^d is called edge-antipodal if any two vertices that determine an edge of the polytope lie on distinct parallel supporting hyperplanes of the polytope. We introduce a program for investigating such polytopes, and examine those that are simple.      

Estimates for Mixed Character Sums

We give sharp estimates for certain families of exponential sums in several variables over finite fields. Received: May 2007, Accepted: September 2007     

On some diophantine results related to Euler polynomials

In this paper we prove that there is at most one complex number b for which the shifted Euler polynomial E _n (x) + b has at most two zeros of odd multiplicity. Supported in part, by Grants T48791 and F68872 form HNFSR, and by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.     

On the dual Stiefel-Whitney classes of some Grassmann manifolds

We present some non-vanishing dual Stiefel-Whitney classes of the Grassmann manifolds O(n)/O(4) × O(n − 4) for n = 2 ^s + 2 and n = 2 ^s + 3 (s ≧ 3), providing a supplement to results of Hiller, Stong, and Oproiu. Some applications are also mentioned. Part of this research was carried out while the first author was a member of three research teams supported in part by the grant agencies VEGA and APVV, and the second author was a member of a research team supported in part by VEGA.     

Polytopes passing through circles

Suppose a convex body wants to pass through a circular hole in a wall. Does its ability to do so depend on the thickness of the wall? In fact in most cases it does, and in this paper we present a sufficient criterion for a polytope to allow an affirmative answer to the question.     

On a pythagorean-type functional equation with exponent 3 involving finite fields

We solve the functional equationf(x ³ +y ³) =f(x)³ +f(y)³ for maps of a finite field into itself.     

Reconstruction of Function Fields

For k an algebraic closure of the finite field , ℓ prime distinct from p and X a surface over k, we prove that the field of rational functions k(X) can be recovered from the maximal pro-ℓ-quotient of its absolute Galois group – in fact already from the second central descending series quotient of . Submitted: July 2004, Revision: October 2005, Final revision: February 2008, Accepted: February 2008     

On the relationships of seven numerical sequences

We analyze the relationships of four classical and three recently defined classes of numerical sequences. This research was partially supported by the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research under Grant # T042462 and TS44782.     

On the maximum number of points at least one unit away from each other in the unit <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-cube

We present a very short survey of known results and many new estimates and results on the maximum number of points that can be chosen in the n-dimensional unit cube so that every distance between them is at least 1. Research was supported by Slovak national grant VEGA 1/3839/06.     

Lectures on topology of words

We discuss a topological approach to words introduced by the author in [Tu2]–[Tu4]. Words on an arbitrary alphabet are approximated by Gauss words and then studied up to natural modifications inspired by the Reidemeister moves on knot diagrams. This leads us to a notion of homotopy for words. We introduce several homotopy invariants of words and give a homotopy classification of words of length five. Based on notes by Eri Hatakenaka, Daniel Moskovich, and Tadayuki Watanabe