On the normal bundle of curves on nodal quartic surfaces

Let k be an algebraically closed field, char k = 0. Let C be an irreducible nonsingular curve such that 2C = S ? F, where S and F are two surfaces and all the singularities of F are rational double points (if any). We prove that C can never pass through rational singularities of types A _2n n∈N, E₆ and E₈. We give conditions for C to pass through rational singularities of types. A _2k+1 k∈Z⁺ D_n n≥4 and E₇, (0.8).     

Large spaces of symmetric matrices of bounded rank are decomposable ∗

Let k and n be positive integers such that kn. Let S_n (F) denote the space of all n×n symmetric matrices over the field F with char F≠2. A subspace L of S_n (F) is said to be a k-subspace if rank Ak for every A?L.

Now suppose that k is even, and write k=2r. We say a k∥-subspace of S_n (F) is decomposable if there exists in Fⁿ a subspace W of dimension n?r such that x^tAx=0 for every x?W A?L.

We show here, under some mild assumptions on k n and F, that every k∥-subspace of S_n (F) of sufficiently large dimension must be decomposable. This is an analogue of a result obtained by Atkinson and Lloyd for corresponding subspaces of F^m,n .     

The Alpha Function of a Matroid—I. Transversal Matroids

Let n be the nullity function of the matroid G(S). The Mason alpha function is defined on subsets A of S by the recursion α(A)=n(A)?∑_F?Aα(F), the summation being over all flats F strictly contained in A. The alpha function may be viewed as the first difference of the nullity. We study the behavior of a under strong maps, and apply our results to proving Mason's alpha criterion: a matroid is the dual of a transversal matroid if and only if its alpha function is non-negative.     

Additive Maps Preserving Moore–Penrose Inverses of Matrices on Symmetric Matrix Spaces

Suppose F is a field of characteristic not 2. Let M_n F and S_n F be the n × n full matrix space and symmetric matrix space over F, respectively. All additive maps from S_n F to S_n F (respectively, M_n F) preserving Moore–Penrose inverses of matrices are characterized. We first characterize all additive Moore–Penrose inverse preserving maps from S_n F to M_n F, and thereby, all additive Moore–Penrose inverse preserving maps from S_n F to itself are characterized by restricting the range of these additive maps into the symmetric matrix space.     

Linear operators preserving unitarily invariant norms of matrices

Let F _{m × n} be the set of all m × n matrices over the field F = C or R Denote by U_n (F) the group of all n × n unitary or orthogonal matrices according as F = C or F-R. A norm N() on F m ×n, is unitarily invariant if N(UAV) = N(A): for all A ∈ F _m×n U ∈ U _m (F). and V ∈ U_n (F). We characterize those linear operators T F _{m × n} → F _{m × n} which satisfy N (T(A)) = N(A)for all A ∈ F _{m × n}

for a given unitarily invariant norm N(). It is shown that the problem is equivalent to characterizing those operators which preserve certain subsets in F _{m × n} To develop the theory we prove some results concerning unitary operators on F _{m × n} which are of independent interest.     

Some Results on Systems of Finite Sets That Satisfy a Certain Intersection Condition

Let S be a finite set, and fix K>2. Let F be a family of subsets of S with the property that whenever A₁,...,A_k are sets in F, not necessarily distinct, and A₁ ? ? ? A_k = ?, then A₁ ? ? ? A_k = S. We prove here that the maximum size of such a family is 2^|S|?1 + 1. If we require that the sets A₁,...,A_k be distinct, then the maximum size of F is again 2^|S|?1 + 1, provided that |S| ≥ log₂(K?2)+3.     

Maps on spaces of symmetric matrices preserving idempotence

Suppose F is an arbitrary field. Let |F| be the number of the elements of F. Let M_n(F) be the space of all n×n matrices over F, and let S_n(F) be the subset of M_n(F) consisting of all symmetric matrices. Let V{S_n(F),M_n(F)}, a map Φ:V→V is said to preserve idempotence if A-λB is idempotent if and only if Φ(A)-λΦ(B) is idempotent for any A,BV and λF. It is shown that: when the characteristic of F is not 2, |F|>3 and n4, Φ:S_n(F)→S_n(F) is a map preserving idempotence if and only if there exists an invertible matrix PM_n(F) such that Φ(A)=PAP^-1 for every AS_n(F) and P^tP=aI_n for some nonzero scalar a in F.     

Maps preserving square-zero matrices on the algebra consisting of all upper triangular matrices

Let F be a field, T _n (F) (respectively, N _n (F)) the matrix algebra consisting of all n × n upper triangular matrices (respectively, strictly upper triangular matrices) over F. A ∈ T _n (F) is said to be square zero if A ² = 0. In this article, we firstly characterize non-singular linear maps on N _n (F) preserving square-zero matrices in both directions, then by using it we determine non-singular linear maps on T _n (F) preserving square-zero matrices in both directions.     

The smooth Banach submanifold B*(E, F) in B(E, F)

Let E,F be two Banach spaces,B(E,F),B+(E,F),Φ(E,F),SΦ(E,F) and R(E,F) be bounded linear,double splitting,Fredholm,semi-Frdholm and finite rank operators from E into F,respectively. Let Σ be any one of the following sets:{T ∈Φ(E,F):Index T=constant and dim N(T)=constant},{T ∈ SΦ(E,F):either dim N(T)=constant< ∞ or codim R(T)=constant< ∞} and {T ∈ R(E,F):Rank T=constant< ∞}. Then it is known that Σ is a smooth submanifold of B(E,F) with the tangent space TAΣ={B ∈ B(E,F):BN(A)-R(A) } for any A ∈Σ. However,for ...     

Some results on the cartan matrix of a frobenius algebra

Let F be a field and A a Frobenius algebra over F. The Jacobson radical of A is denoted by J = J(A) and the kth socle of A by S _k (A). Let [Abar]=A/J ^k or A/S _k (A). This article gives new interesting relations between the Cartan matrix of A and that of [Abar]. From these results we prove that the Cartan matrix of A is diagonal if A/Soc(A) is a symmetric algebra. Let G be a finite group. If A is a block of F|G] with the above condition, then the Cartan matrix of A is (n), where n is the order of the defect group of A and the least integer such that Jⁿ (A)=0.     

On Codimension Growth of Finitely Generated Associative Algebras

LetAbe a PI-algebra over a fieldF. We study the asymptotic behavior of the sequence of codimensionsc_n(A) ofA. We show that ifAis finitely generated overFthenInv(A)=lim_n→∞ always exists and is an integer. We also obtain the following characterization of simple algebras:Ais finite dimensional central simple overFif and only ifInv(A)=dim=A.     

A presentation of the group Sl * (2, A), A a simple artinian ring with involution

Let (A,*) be an involutive ring. Then the groups Sl _*(2, A), are a non commutative version of the special linear groups Sl(2, F) defined over a field F. In particular, if A = M(n, F) and * is transposition, then Sl _*(2, M _n (F)) = Sp(2n, F). The above groups were defined by Pantoja and Soto-Andrade, and a set of generators for the group SSl _*(2, A) (which is either Sl _*(2, A) or a index 2 subgroup of Sl _*(2, A)) was given in the case when A is an artinian ring. In this paper, we prove that the mentioned generators provide a presentation of the mentioned groups in the case of simple artinian rings.Partially supported by FONDECYT project 1030907 and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso     

Extendible elements of the alternating groups

An element?σ?of A_n , the Alternating group of degree n, is extendible in S_n , the Symmetric group of degree n, if there exists a subgroup H of S_n but not A_n whose intersection with A_n is the cyclic group generated by σ. A simple number-theoretic criterion, in terms of the cycle-decomposition, for an element of A_n to be extendible in S_n is given here.     

The Littlewood-Richardson rule for wreath products with symmetric groups and the quiver of the category F≀FIn

We give a new proof for the Littlewood-Richardson rule for the wreath product F?S_n where F is a finite group. Our proof does not use symmetric functions but use more elementary representation theoretic tools. We also derive a branching rule for inducing the natural embedding of F?S_n to F?S_n+1. We then apply the generalized Littlewood-Richardson rule for computing the ordinary quiver of the category F?FI_n where FI_n is the category of all injective functions between subsets of an n-element set.     

An ergodic result for the limit of a sequence of substochastic products xA 1…Ak

Let P and Q be n × n nonnegativc matrices with PQ. Let w be an n-dimensional nonnegaiive vector and set S_k (u) = {uA ₁ … A_k over all substochastic A ₁ with P  A ₁  Q for all i} This paper gives conditions under which the sequence S ₁(w)S ₂(w), has a limit set S. Further, these same conditions are sufficient to guarantee that if u and z are stochastic n-dimensional vectors then the sequences S ₁(w)S ₂(w),… and S ₁(z)S ₂(z),… have the same limit set. Hence, an ergodic type result is obtained for this limit.     

A note on matrix subalgebras containing a full Jordan block

Let A be a subalgebra of the full matrix algebra M_n(F), and suppose J∈A, where J is the Jordan block corresponding to xⁿ. Let $\text{S}$ be a set of generators of A. It is shown that the graph of $\text{S}$ determines whether A is the full matrix algebra M_n(F).     

Separating convex sets in the plane

Given a setA inR ² and a collectionS of plane sets, we say that a lineL separatesA fromS ifA is contained in one of the closed half-planes defined byL, while every set inS is contained in the complementary closed half-plane.We prove that, for any collectionF ofn disjoint disks inR ², there is a lineL that separates a disk inF from a subcollection ofF with at least (n–7)/4 disks. We produce configurationsH _n andG _n , withn and 2n disks, respectively, such that no pair of disks inH _n can be simultaneously separated from any set with more than one disk ofH _n , and no disk inG _n can be separated from any subset ofG _n with more thann disks.We also present a setJ _m with 3m line segments inR ², such that no segment inJ _m can be separated from a subset ofJ _m with more thanm+1 elements. This disproves a conjecture by N. Alonet al. Finally we show that ifF is a set ofn disjoint line segments in the plane such that they can be extended to be disjoint semilines, then there is a lineL that separates one of the segments from at least n/3+1 elements ofF.     

Finiteness of Higher K -Groups of Orders and Group Rings

In this paper, we prove that if R is the ring of integers in a number field F, A any R-order in a semisimple F-algebra, then K_2n(A), G_2n(A) are finite groups for all positive integers n. Hence, even dimensional higher K- and G-groups of integral grouprings of finite groups are finite. We also show that in odd dimensions, SK_n of integral and p-adic integral grouprings of finite p-groups are also finite p-groups (Received: August 2005)