Ovoids from theE 8 root lattice

New families of ovoids are constructed in O ₈ ⁺ (p) forp prime, using theE ₈ root lattice, generalizing a construction of Conway, Kleidman and Wilson. Using this construction, it appears likely that O ₈ ⁺ (p) has unboundedly many ovoids asp.     

Ovoids and translation planes revisited

Kantor has previously described the translation planes which may be obtained by projecting sections of ovoids in ⁺(8, q)-spaces to ovoids in corresponding ⁺(6, q)-spaces. Since the Klein correspondence associates spreads in 4-dimensional vector spaces with ovoids in ⁺(6, q)-spaces, there are corresponding translation planes of order q ² and kernel containing GF(q). In this article, we revisit some of these translation planes and give some presentations of the spreads. Motivated by various properties of the planes, we study, in general, translation planes which admit certain homology groups and/or elation groups. In particular, we develop new constructions of projective planes of Lenz-Barlotti class II-1.Finally, we show how certain projective planes of order q ² of Lenz-Barlotti class II-1 may be considered equivalent to flocks of quadratic cones in PG(3, q).This work was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-8800843.     

Some p-Ranks Related to Orthogonal Spaces

We determine the p-rank of the incidence matrix of hyperplanes of PG(n, p ^e) and points of a nondegenerate quadric. This yields new bounds for ovoids and the size of caps in finite orthogonal spaces. In particular, we show the nonexistence of ovoids in and . We also give slightly weaker bounds for more general finite classical polar spaces. Another application is the determination of certain explicit bases for the code of PG(2, p) using secants, or tangents and passants, of a nondegenerate conic.     

New families of ovoids in O + 8

We construct four new infinite families of ovoids in the 8-dimensional orthogonal geometry O _inf8 ^sup+ . We determine the automorphism groups of these ovoids and we show that the two sporadic ovoids recently found by Cooperstein [2] and Shult [11] are members of our families.     

Spreads and ovoids in finite generalized quadrangles

This paper is a survey on the existence and non-existence of ovoids and spreads in the known finite generalized quadrangles. It also contains the following new results. We prove that translation generalized quadrangles of order (s,s ²), satisfying certain properties, have a spread. This applies to three known infinite classes of translation generalized quadrangles. Further a new class of ovoids in the classical generalized quadranglesQ(4, 3 ^e ),e3, is constructed. Then, by the duality betweenQ(4, 3 ^e ) and the classical generalized quadrangleW (3 ^e ), we get line spreads of PG(3, 3 ^e ) and hence translation planes of order 3^2e . These planes appear to be new. Note also that only a few classes of ovoids ofQ(4,q) are known. Next we prove that each generalized quadrangle of order (q ²,q) arising from a flock of a quadratic cone has an ovoid. Finally, we give the following characterization of the classical generalized quadranglesQ(5,q): IfS is a generalized quadrangle of order (q,q ²),q even, having a subquadrangleS isomorphic toQ(4,q) and if inS each ovoid consisting of all points collinear with a given pointx ofS\S is an elliptic quadric, thenS is isomorphic toQ(5,q).     

Projections for harmonic Bergman spaces and applications

On the setting of general bounded smooth domains in , we construct L¹-bounded nonorthogonal projections and obtain related reproducing formulas for the harmonic Bergman spaces. In addition, we show that those projections satisfy Sobolev L^p-estimates of any order even for p=1. Among applications are Gleason's problems for the harmonic Bergman-Sobolev and (little) Bloch functions on star-shaped domains with strong reference points.     

A superconvergent local discontinuous Galerkin method for nonlinear two-point boundary-value problems

In this paper, we present and analyze a superconvergent and high order accurate local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) method for nonlinear two-point boundary-value problems (BVPs) of the form u ^″ = f (t, u), which arise in a wide variety of engineering applications. We prove the L ² stability of the LDG scheme and optimal L ² error estimates for the solution and for the auxiliary variable that approximates the first-order derivative. The order of convergence is proved to be p +?1, when piecewise polynomials of degree at most p are used. Our numerical experiments demonstrate optimal rates of convergence. Moreover, we show that the derivatives of the LDG solutions are superconvergent with order p +?1 toward the derivatives of Gausss-Radau projections of the exact solutions. Finally, we prove that the LDG solutions are superconvergent with order p +?3/2 toward Gauss-Radau projections of the exact solutions. Our computational results indicate that the observed numerical superconvergence rate is p +?2. Our proofs are valid for arbitrary regular meshes using piecewise polynomials of degree p ≥?1 and for the periodic, Dirichlet, and mixed boundary conditions. All proofs are valid under the hypotheses of the existence and uniqueness theorem for BVPs. Several numerical results are presented to validate the theoretical results.     

On the graph of a function in two variables over a finite field

We show that if the number of directions not determined by a pointset of , of size q² is at least p^e q then every plane intersects in 0 modulo p^e+1 points and apply the result to ovoids of the generalised quadrangles and .     

Translation Ovoids of Generalized Quadrangles and Hexagnos

We define the notion of a translation ovoid in the classical generalized quadrangles and hexagons of order q, and we enumerate all known examples; translation spreads are defined dually. A modification of the known ovoids in the generalized hexagon H(q), q=3^2h+1, yields new ovoids of that hexagon. Dualizing and projecting along reguli, we obtain an alternative construction of the Roman ovoids due to Thas and Payne. Also, we construct a new translation spread in H(q) for any 1 mod 3, q odd, with the property that any projection along reguli yields the classical ovoid in the generalized quadrangle Q(4,q). Finally, we prove that for q odd, the new example is the only non-Hermitian translation spread in H(q) with the property that any projection along reguli yields the classical ovoid in Q(4,q).     

Two-parameter estimates for joint spectral projections on complex spheres

We prove sharp two-parameter estimates for the L ^p -L ² norm, 1 ≤ p ≤ 2, of the joint spectral projectors associated to the Laplace–Beltrami operator and to the Kohn Laplacian on the unit sphere S ^2n-1 in . Then, by using the notion of contraction of Lie groups, we deduce the estimates recently obtained by H. Koch and F. Ricci for joint spectral projections on the reduced Heisenberg group h ¹.      

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Subscript>-Approximation Order of Surface Spline Interpolation for 1 \leq <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> \leq 2

We show that the L_p-approximation order of surface spline interpolation equals m+1/p for p in the range 1 \leq p \leq 2, where m is an integer parameter which specifies the surface spline. Previously it was known that this order was bounded below by m + &frac; and above by m+1/p. With h denoting the fill-distance between the interpolation points and the domain , we show specifically that the L_p()-norm of the error between f and its surface spline interpolant is O(h^{m + 1/p}) provided that f belongs to an appropriate Sobolev or Besov space and that \subset R^d is open, bounded, and has the C^2m-regularity property. We also show that the boundary effects (which cause the rate of convergence to be significantly worse than O(h^2m)) are confined to a boundary layer whose width is no larger than a constant multiple of h |log h|. Finally, we state numerical evidence which supports the conjecture that the L_p-approximation order of surface spline interpolation is m + 1/p for 2 < p \leq \infty.     

Besov regularity and new error estimates for finite volume approximations of the p-laplacian

Summary. In [1], we have constructed a family of finite volume schemes on rectangular meshes for the p-laplacian and we proved error estimates in case the exact solution lies in W^2,p. Actually, W^2,p is not a natural space for solutions of the p-laplacian in the case p>2. Indeed, for general L^p data it can be shown that the solution only belongs to the Besov space In this paper, we prove Besov kind a priori estimates on the approximate solution for any data in L^p. We then obtain new error estimates for such solutions in the case of uniform meshes     

On eigenvalues of differentiable positive definite kernels

If a positive definite kernelK(x, y) has thepth order partial derivative ( ^p /y ^p )K(x,y) continuous on the square [0,1]², we show that the eigenvalues of the integral operator generated byK(x, y) are asymptoticallyo(1/n ^p+1 ). We also obtain the anticipated asymptotic estimate when ( ^p /y ^p )K(x,y) satisfies further a Lipschitz condition iny of order 0<1. These results, which extend some classical estimates of I. Fredholm and H. Weyl under the additional positive definiteness assumption, are based on two interesting inequalities of K. Fan.     

Elements of compact connected simple Lie groups with prime power order and given field of characters

In this paper we derive polynomial formulas for the number of conjugacy classes of elements of prime power orderp ^K (p not dividing the order of the Weyl groupW) of a compact connected simple Lie group whose character values generate a given extension of .The authors acknowledge the support of the CRM in Montréal and of NSERC Canada.     

Bessel Potentials with Logarithmic Components and Sobolev-Type Embeddings

In a recent paper Edmunds, Gurka, and Opic [5] showed that Sobolev spaces of order k, based on the Zygmund spaces L ^n/k (log L) (R ⁿ ), are continuously embedded into L (R ⁿ ) if > 1/p, p n/k. In this paper we replace L ^n/k (log L) (R ⁿ ) by the Lebesgue space L ^n/k (R ⁿ ) and increase the smoothness of the functions involved by a "logarithmic" order > 1/p to obtain the continuous embedding into L (R ⁿ ). Both approaches turn out to be equivalent. We also derive results of Trudinger-type [16] on embeddings into Orlicz spaces in the limit case k = n/p as well as results of Brézis-Wainger-type [2] on almost Lipschitz continuity in the superlimiting case k = n/p + 1.     

On thep-ranks of net graphs

Let be ak-net of ordern with line-point incidence matrixN and letA be the adjacency matrix of its collinearity graph. In this paper we study thep-ranks (that is, the rank over ) of the matrixA+kl withp a prime dividingn. SinceA+kI=N ^T N thesep-ranks are closely related to thep-ranks ofN. Using results of Moorhouse on thep-ranks ofN, we can determiner _p (A+kI) if is a 3-net (latin square) or a desarguesian net of prime order. On the other hand we show how results for thep-ranks ofA+kI can be used to get results for thep-ranks ofN, especially in connection with the Moorhouse conjecture. Finally we generalize the result of Moorhouse on thep-rank ofN for desarguesian nets of orderp a bit to special subnets of the desarguesian affine plane of orderp ^e .The author is financially supported by the Cooperation Centre Tilburg and Eindhoven Universities.     

On (p a,p, p a,p a−1 )-relative difference sets

Abelian relative difference sets of parameters (m, n, k, )=(p ^a , p, p ^a , p ^a–1 )are studied in this paper. In particular, we show that for an abelian groupG of orderp ^2c+1 and a subgroupN ofG of orderp, a (p ^2c , p, p ^2c , p ^2c–1 )-relative difference set exists inG relative toN if and only if exp (G)p ^c+1 .Furthermore, we have some structural results on (p ^2c p, p ^2c , p ^2c–1 )-relative difference sets in abelian groups of exponentp ^c+1 . We also show that for an abelian groupG of order 2^2c+2 and a subgroupN ofG of order 2, a (2^2c+1, 2, 2^2c+1, 2^2c )-relative difference set exists inG relative toN if and only if exp(G)2 ^c+2 andN is contained in a cyclic subgroup ofG of order 4. New constructions of (p ^2c+1 , p, p ^2c+1 , p ^2c )-relative difference sets, wherep is an odd prime, are given. However, we cannot find the necessary and sufficient condition for this case.     

The classification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-local finite groups over the extraspecial group of order <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Superscript>3</Superscript> and exponent <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>

In this paper we classify the p-local finite groups over p¹⁺²₊, the extraspecial group of order p³ and exponent p for odd p. This study reduces to the classification of the saturated fusion systems over p¹⁺²₊, which will be characterized by the outer automorphism group, the number of -radical subgroups and the automorphism group of each nontrivial -radical subgroup. As part of this classification, we obtain three new exotic 7-local finite groups.Partially supported by MCYT grant BFM2001-2035.Partially supported by MCYT grant BFM2001-1825.Both authors have been supported by the EU grant nr HPRN-CT-1999-00119.in final form: 1 October 2003     

A characterization of Buekenhout-Metz unitals in PG(2, q 2), q even

The known examples of embedded unitals (i.e. Hermitian arcs) in PG(2, q ²) are B-unitals, i.e. they can be obtained from ovoids of PG(3, q) by a method due to Buekenhout. B-unitals arising from elliptic quadrics are called BM-unitals. Recently, BM-unitals have been classified and their collineation groups have been investigated. A new characterization is given in this paper. We also compute the linear collineation group fixing the B-unital arising from the Segre-Tits ovoid of PG(3, 2 ^r ), r3 odd. It turns out that this group is an Abelian group of order q ².Research supported by MURST.