On finite groups acting on ℤ<Subscript>2</Subscript>-homology 3-spheres

We consider finite groups G admitting orientation-preserving actions on homology 3-spheres (arbitrary, i.e. not necessarily free actions), concentrating on the case of nonsolvable groups. It is known that every finite group G admits actions on rational homology 3-spheres (and even free actions). On the other hand, the class of groups admitting actions on integer homology 3-spheres is very restricted (and close to the class of finite subgroups of the orthogonal group SO(4), acting on the 3-sphere). In the present paper, we consider the intermediate case of ₂-homology 3-spheres (i.e., with the ₂-homology of the 3-sphere where ₂ denote the integers mod two; we note that these occur much more frequently in 3-dimensional topology than the integer ones). Our main result is a list of finite nonsolvable groups G which are the candidates for orientation-preserving actions on ₂-homology 3-spheres. From this we deduce a corresponding list for the case of integer homology 3-spheres. In the integer case, the groups of the list are closely related to the dodecahedral group or the binary dodecahedral group most of these groups are subgroups of the orthogonal group SO(4) and hence admit actions on S³. Roughly, in the case of ₂-homology 3-spheres the groups PSL(2,5) and SL(2,5) get replaced by the groups PSL(2,q) and SL(2,q), for an arbitrary odd prime power q. We have many examples of actions of the groups PSL(2,q) and SL(2,q) on ₂-homology 3-spheres, for various small values of q (constructed as regular coverings of suitable hyperbolic 3-orbifolds and 3-manifolds, using computer-supported methods to calculate the homology of the coverings). We think that all of them occur but have no method to prove this at present (in particular, the exact classification of the finite nonsolvable groups admitting actions on ₂-homology 3-spheres remains still open).     

False Hyperelliptic Surfaces with Section

Let X be a nonsingular relatively minimal projective surface over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p > 0. We call X a false hyperelliptic surface if X satisfies the following conditions: (1) c₂(X) = 0, c₁(X)² = 0, dim Alb (X) = 1, and (2) All fibres of the Albanese mapping of X are rational curves with only one cusp of type xp^v + yⁿ = 0. In this article, we consider a false hyperelliptic surface whose Albanese mapping has a cross-section. We prove that every false hyperellyptic surface with section arises from an elliptic ruled surface and that every false hyperelliptic surface has an elliptic fibration with multiple fibre. Moreover, we construct an example of false hyperelliptic surface with section, whose elliptic fibration has a multiple fibre of supersingular elliptic curve of multiplicity p^v (v > 1).     

Cyclic coverings of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-adic projective line by Mumford curves

Exact bounds for the positions of the branch points for cyclic coverings of the p-adic projective line by Mumford curves are calculated in two ways. Firstly, by using Fumiharu Kato’s *-trees, and secondly by giving explicit matrix representations of the Schottky groups corresponding to the Mumford curves above the projective line through combinatorial group theory.     

Murphy’s law in algebraic geometry: Badly-behaved deformation spaces

We consider the question: “How bad can the deformation space of an object be?” The answer seems to be: “Unless there is some a priori reason otherwise, the deformation space may be as bad as possible.” We show this for a number of important moduli spaces. More precisely, every singularity of finite type over ? (up to smooth parameters) appears on: the Hilbert scheme of curves in projective space; and the moduli spaces of smooth projective general-type surfaces (or higher-dimensional varieties), plane curves with nodes and cusps, stable sheaves, isolated threefold singularities, and more. The objects themselves are not pathological, and are in fact as nice as can be: the curves are smooth, the surfaces are automorphism-free and have very ample canonical bundle, the stable sheaves are torsion-free of rank 1, the singularities are normal and Cohen-Macaulay, etc. This justifies Mumford’s philosophy that even moduli spaces of well-behaved objects should be arbitrarily bad unless there is an a priori reason otherwise. Thus one can construct a smooth curve in projective space whose deformation space has any given number of components, each with any given singularity type, with any given non-reduced behavior. Similarly one can give a surface over $\mathbb{F}_{p}We consider the question: “How bad can the deformation space of an object be?” The answer seems to be: “Unless there is some a priori reason otherwise, the deformation space may be as bad as possible.” We show this for a number of important moduli spaces. More precisely, every singularity of finite type over ℤ (up to smooth parameters) appears on: the Hilbert scheme of curves in projective space; and the moduli spaces of smooth projective general-type surfaces (or higher-dimensional varieties), plane curves with nodes and cusps, stable sheaves, isolated threefold singularities, and more. The objects themselves are not pathological, and are in fact as nice as can be: the curves are smooth, the surfaces are automorphism-free and have very ample canonical bundle, the stable sheaves are torsion-free of rank 1, the singularities are normal and Cohen-Macaulay, etc. This justifies Mumford’s philosophy that even moduli spaces of well-behaved objects should be arbitrarily bad unless there is an a priori reason otherwise. Thus one can construct a smooth curve in projective space whose deformation space has any given number of components, each with any given singularity type, with any given non-reduced behavior. Similarly one can give a surface over that lifts to ℤ/p⁷ but not ℤ/p⁸. (Of course the results hold in the holomorphic category as well.) It is usually difficult to compute deformation spaces directly from obstruction theories. We circumvent this by relating them to more tractable deformation spaces via smooth morphisms. The essential starting point is Mn?v’s universality theorem. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 14B12, 14C05, 14J10, 14H50, 14B07, 14N20, 14D22, 14B05     

Partitioning Sets of Triples into Small Planes

We study partitions of the set of all ₃ ^v triples chosen from a v-set intopairwise disjoint planes with three points per line. Our partitions may contain copies of PG(2,2) only (Fano partitions) or copies of AG(2, 3) only (affine partitions)or copies of some planes of each type (mixed partitions).We find necessary conditions for Fano or affine partitions to exist. Such partitions are already known in severalcases: Fano partitions for v = 8 and affine partitions for v = 9 or 10. We constructsuch partitions for several sporadic orders, namely, Fano partitions for v = 14, 16, 22, 23, 28, andan affine partition for v = 18. Using these as starter partitions, we prove that Fano partitionsexist for v = 7 ⁿ + 1, 13 ⁿ + 1,27 ⁿ + 1, and affine partitions for v = 8 ⁿ + 1,9 ⁿ + 1, 17 ⁿ + 1. In particular, both Fano and affine partitionsexist for v = 3⁶ⁿ + 1. Using properties of 3-wise balanced designs, weextend these results to show that affine partitions also exist for v = 3²ⁿ .Similarly, mixed partitions are shown to exist for v = 8 ⁿ ,9 ⁿ , 11 ⁿ + 1.     

Constructing quasi-random subsets of ZN by using elliptic curves

Let ε:y2 =x3 + Ax + B be an elliptic curve defined over the finite field Zp(p ＞ 3)and G be a rational point of prime order N on ε.Define a subset of ZN,the residue class ring modulo N,as S ∶={n ∶n ∈ZN,...     

Symmetry of iteration graphs

We examine iteration graphs of the squaring function on the rings ℤ/nℤ when n = 2 ^k p, for p a Fermat prime. We describe several invariants associated to these graphs and use them to prove that the graphs are not symmetric when k = 3 and when k ⩾ 5 and are symmetric when k = 4.     

Filtrations, mixed complexes, and cyclic homology in mixed characteristic

We describe an approach to computing cyclic homology suited to ground rings of characteristicp or mixed characteristic. We illustrate the method by computing HC for coordinate rings of affine plane curves and for maximal orders of semisimple algebras.Partially supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-8807203 and NSA Grant No. MDA 904-92-H-3026.     

Plane curves whose tangent lines at collinear points are concurrent

We are interested in a particular geometry of plane curves in characteristicp>0, which was inspired by Thas's article [13]. We will prove that any plane curve of degree > 2 whose tangent lines at collinear points are concurrent is either a strange curve or projectively equivalent to the Fermat curve of degreeq + 1, whereq is a power ofp.     

Mappings of group shifts

A group shift is a proper closed shift-invariant subgroup ofG ^ℤ ₂ whereG is a finite group. We consider a class of group shifts in whichG is a finite field and show that mixing is a necessary and sufficient condition on such a group shift for all codes from it into another group shift to be affine and all codes from another group shift into it to be affine. As a corollary, it will follow forG=ℤ _p that two mixing group shifts are topologically conjugate if and only if they are equal.     

Infinite families of 2- and 3-designs with parameters v = p + 1, k = (p − 1)/2i + 1, where p odd prime, 2e T (p − 1), e ≥ 2, 1 ≤ i ≤ e

Let p be an odd prime number such that p − 1 = 2^em for some odd m and e ≥ 2. In this article, by using the special linear fractional group PSL(2, p), for each i, 1 ≤ i ≤ e, except particular cases, we construct a 2-design with parameters v = p + 1, k = (p − 1)/2ⁱ + 1 and λ = ((p − 1)/2ⁱ+1)(p − 1)/2 = k(p − 1)/2, and in the case i = e we show that some of these 2-designs are 3-designs. Likewise, by using the linear fractional group PGL(2,p) we construct an infinite family of 3-designs with the same v k and λ = k(k − 2). These supplement a part of [4], in which we gave an infinite family of 3-designs with parameters v = q + 1, k = (q + 1)/2 = (q − 1)/2 + 1 and λ = (q + 1)(q − 3)/8 = k(k − 2)/2, where q is a prime power such that q − 1 = 2m for some odd m and q > 7. Some of the designs given in this article and in [4] fill in a few blanks in the table of Chee, Colbourn, and Kreher [2]. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On the structure ofp-zero-sum free sequences and its application to a variant of Erdös-Ginzburg-Ziv theorem

Letp be any odd prime number. Letk be any positive integer such that . LetS = (a ₁,a ₂,...,a _2p−k ) be any sequence in ℤ_p such that there is no subsequence of lengthp of S whose sum is zero in ℤ_p. Then we prove that we can arrange the sequence S as follows:

Pick invariant and affine Gauss-Kronecker curvature

The elliptic paraboloid and the homogeneous affine surface given by (u, v, 1/2(u ²+v ^–2/3)),v>0, are characterized as locally strongly convex affine surfaces inA, with constant Pick invariant and vanishing affine Gauss-Kronecker curvature.Research partially supported by DGICYT Grant PB90-0014-C03-02.     

Steiner systems with automorphism groups PSL(2, 71), PSL(2, 83), and P∑L(2, 35)

The first 5-(72, 6, 1) designs with automorphism group PSL(2, 71) were found by Mills [10]. We presently enumerate all 5-(72, 6, 1) designs with this automorphism group. There are in all 926299 non-isomorphic designs. We show that a necessary condition for semiregular5-(v, 6, 1) designs with automorphism group PSL(2, v 1) to exist is thatv=84, 228 (mod 360). In particular, there are exactly 3 non-isomorphic semiregular 5-(84, 6, 1) designs with automorphism group PSL(2, 83). There are at least 6450 non-isomorphic 5-(244, 6, 1) designs with automorphism group PL(2, 3⁵).     

On symmetric nets and generalized Hadamard matrices from affine designs

Symmetric nets are affine resolvable designs whose duals are also affine. It is shown that. up to isomorphism, there are exactly four symmetric (3, 3)-nets (v=b=27,k=9), and exactly two inequivalent 9×9 generalized Hadamard matrices over the group of order 3. The symmetric (3, 3)-nets are found as subnets of affine resolvable 2-(27, 9, 4) designs. Ten of the 68 non-isomorphic affine resolvable 2-(27, 9, 4) designs are not extensions of symmetric (3, 3)-subnets, providing the first examples of affine 2-(q³, q², q²–1/q–1) designs without symmetric (q, q)-subnets.     

Totally Disconnected and Locally Compact Heisenberg-Weyl Groups

Harmonic analysis on ℤ(p ^ℓ ) and the corresponding representation of the Heisenberg-Weyl group HW[ℤ(p ^ℓ ),ℤ(p ^ℓ ),ℤ(p ^ℓ )], is studied. It is shown that the HW[ℤ(p ^ℓ ),ℤ(p ^ℓ ),ℤ(p ^ℓ )] with a homomorphism between them, form an inverse system which has as inverse limit the profinite representation of the Heisenberg-Weyl group \mathfrak HW[\mathbbZ_p,\mathbbZ_p,\mathbbZ_p]\mathfrak {HW}[{\mathbb{Z}}_{p},{\mathbb{Z}}_{p},{\mathbb{Z}}_{p}]. Harmonic analysis on ℤ _p is also studied. The corresponding representation of the Heisenberg-Weyl group HW[(ℚ _p /ℤ _p ),ℤ _p ,(ℚ _p /ℤ _p )] is a totally disconnected and locally compact topological group.     

Gorenstein projective dimensions of complexes

We show that over a right coherent left perfect ring R, a complex C of left R-modules is Gorenstein projective if and only if C ^m is Gorenstein projective in R-Mod for all m ∈ ℤ. Basing on this we show that if R is a right coherent left perfect ring then Gpd(C) = sup{Gpd(C ^m )|m ∈ ℤ} where Gpd(−) denotes Gorenstein projective dimension.     

Tilting on non-commutative rational projective curves

In this article we introduce a new class of non-commutative projective curves and show that in certain cases the derived category of coherent sheaves on them has a tilting complex. In particular, we prove that the right bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a reduced rational projective curve with only nodes and cusps as singularities, can be fully faithfully embedded into the right bounded derived category of the finite dimensional representations of a certain finite dimensional algebra of global dimension two. As an application of our approach we show that the dimension of the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a rational projective curve with only nodal or cuspidal singularities is at most two. In the case of the Kodaira cycles of projective lines, the corresponding tilted algebras belong to a well-known class of gentle algebras. We work out in details the tilting equivalence in the case of the Weierstrass nodal curve zy ² = x ³ + x ² z.     

Some graphs with small second eigenvalue

For any prime,p, we construct a Cayley graph on the group,G, of affine linear transformations ofℤ/pℤ of degree 2(p−1) and second eigenvalue with the following special property: the adjacency matrix of the graph is supported on the “blocks” associated to the trivial representation and the irreducible representation of sizep−1. SinceG is of orderp(p−1), the correspondingt-uniform Cayley hypergraph has essentially optimal second eigenvalue for this degree and size of the graph (see [2] for definitions). En route we give, for any integerk>1, a simple Cayley graph onp ^k nodes of degreep of second eigenvalue . The author wishes to acknowledge the National Science Foundation for supporting this research in part under Grant CCR-8858788, and the Office of Naval Research under Grant N00014-87-K-0467.     

Isomorphism rigidity of irreducible algebraic ℤd-actions

An irreducible algebraic ℤ ^d -actionα on a compact abelian group X is a ℤ ^d -action by automorphisms of X such that every closed, α-invariant subgroup Y⊊X is finite. We prove the following result: if d≥2, then every measurable conjugacy between irreducible and mixing algebraic ℤ ^d -actions on compact zero-dimensional abelian groups is affine. For irreducible, expansive and mixing algebraic ℤ ^d -actions on compact connected abelian groups the analogous statement follows essentially from a result by Katok and Spatzier on invariant measures of such actions (cf. [4] and [3]). By combining these two theorems one obtains isomorphism rigidity of all irreducible, expansive and mixing algebraic ℤ ^d -actions with d≥2. Oblatum 30-IX-1999 & 4-V-2000?Published online: 16 August 2000