Dimension zero vs measure zero

The following problem is discussed: If is a topological space of universal measure zero, does it have also dimension zero? It is shown that in a model of set theory it is so for separable metric spaces and that under the Martin's Axiom there are separable metric spaces of positive dimension yet of universal measure zero. It is also shown that for each finite measure in a metric space there is a zero-dimensional subspace that has full measure. Similar questions concerning perfectly meager sets and other types of small sets are also discussed.

     

A generalization of the notion of microscopic sets

We investigate families of subsets of the real line defined by nonincreasing sequences of positive real numbers. One of these families coincides with the σ-ideal of microscopic sets. We prove that the union of our families is equal to the σ-ideal of Lebesgue measure zero sets and the intersection of all such families is the σ-ideal of sets of strong measure zero. We also study other properties concerning homeomorphisms between sets of the first category and sets from our families.     

Removable sets for continuous solutions of quasilinear elliptic equations

We show that sets of Hausdorff measure zero are removable for -Hölder continuous solutions to quasilinear elliptic equations similar to the -Laplacian. The result is optimal. We also treat larger sets in terms of a growth condition. In particular, our results apply to quasiregular mappings.

     

Polar sets on metric spaces

We show that if is a proper metric measure space equipped with a doubling measure supporting a Poincaré inequality, then subsets of with zero -capacity are precisely the -polar sets; that is, a relatively compact subset of a domain in is of zero -capacity if and only if there exists a -superharmonic function whose set of singularities contains the given set. In addition, we prove that if is a -hyperbolic metric space, then the -superharmonic function can be required to be -superharmonic on the entire space . We also study the the following question: If a set is of zero -capacity, does there exist a -superharmonic function whose set of singularities is precisely the given set?

     

Some remarks on totally imperfect sets

We prove the following two theorems.

Theorem 1. Let be a strongly meager subset of . Then it is dual Ramsey null.

We will say that a -ideal of subsets of satisfies the condition iff for every , if

then .

Theorem 2. The -ideals of perfectly meager sets, universally meager sets and perfectly meager sets in the transitive sense satisfy the condition .

     

Universally meager sets

We study category counterparts of the notion of a universal measure zero set of reals.

We say that a set is universally meager if every Borel isomorphic image of is meager in . We give various equivalent definitions emphasizing analogies with the universally null sets of reals.

In particular, two problems emerging from an earlier work of Grzegorek are solved.

     

Zero sets of bivariate Hermite polynomials

We establish various properties for the zero sets of three families of bivariate Hermite polynomials. Special emphasis is given to those bivariate orthogonal polynomials introduced by Hermite by means of a Rodrigues type formula related to a general positive definite quadratic form. For this family we prove that the zero set of the polynomial of total degree n+m$n+m$ consists of exactly n+m$n+m$ disjoint branches and possesses n+m$n+m$ asymptotes. A natural extension of the notion of interlacing is introduced and it is proved that the zero sets of the family under discussion obey this property. The results show that the properties of the zero sets, considered as affine algebraic curves in R²${\mathbb{R}}^2$, are completely different for the three families analyzed.     

Intersection of sets with -connected unions

We show that if sets in a topological space are given so that all the sets are closed or all are open, and for each every of the sets have a -connected union, then the sets have a point in common. As a consequence, we obtain the following starshaped version of Helly's theorem: If every or fewer members of a finite family of closed sets in have a starshaped union, then all the members of the family have a point in common. The proof relies on a topological KKM-type intersection theorem.

     

Self-similar sets in complete metric spaces

We develop a theory for Hausdorff dimension and measure of self-similar sets in complete metric spaces. This theory differs significantly from the well-known one for Euclidean spaces. The open set condition no longer implies equality of Hausdorff and similarity dimension of self-similar sets and that has nonzero Hausdorff measure in this dimension. We investigate the relationship between such properties in the general case.

     

On some random thin sets of integers

We show how different random thin sets of integers may have different behaviour. First, using a recent deviation inequality of Boucheron, Lugosi and Massart, we give a simpler proof of one of our results in Some new thin sets of integers in harmonic analysis, Journal d'Analyse Mathématique 86 (2002), 105-138, namely that there exist -Rider sets which are sets of uniform convergence and -sets for all but which are not Rosenthal sets. In a second part, we show, using an older result of Kashin and Tzafriri, that, for , the -Rider sets which we had constructed in that paper are almost surely not of uniform convergence.

     

Exponential number of inequivalent difference sets in ℤ

Kantor [ 5 ] proved an exponential lower bound on the number of pairwise inequivalent difference sets in the elementary abelian group of order 2^2s+2. Dillon [ 3 ] generalized a technique of McFarland [ 6 ] to provide a framework for determining the number of inequivalent difference sets in 2‐groups with a large elementary abelian direct factor. In this paper, we consider the opposite end of the spectrum, the rank 2 group ? , and compute an exponential lower bound on the number of pairwise inequivalent difference sets in this group. In the process, we demonstrate that Dillon difference sets in groups ? can be constructed via the recursive construction from [ 2 ] and we show that there are exponentially many pairwise inequivalent difference sets that are inequivalent to any Dillon difference set. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 11: 249–259, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/jcd.10046     

Every three-point set is zero dimensional

This paper answers a question of Jan J. Dijkstra by giving a proof that all three-point sets are zero dimensional. It is known that all two-point sets are zero dimensional, and it is known that for all 3$">, there are -point sets which are not zero dimensional, so this paper answers the question for the last remaining case.

     

Random intersections of thick Cantor sets

Let , be Cantor sets embedded in the real line, and let , be their respective thicknesses. If , then it is well known that the difference set is a disjoint union of closed intervals. B. Williams showed that for some , it may be that is as small as a single point. However, the author previously showed that generically, the other extreme is true; contains a Cantor set for all in a generic subset of . This paper shows that small intersections of thick Cantor sets are also rare in the sense of Lebesgue measure; if , then contains a Cantor set for almost all in .

     

Comparing Packing Measures to Hausdorff Measures on the Line

For each 0 < s < 1, define where , denote respectively the s‐dimensional packing measure and Hausdorff measure, and the infimum is taken over all the sets E ⊂ R with . In this paper we give a nontrivial estimation of c(s), namely, for each 0 < s < 1, where . As an application, we obtain a lower density theorem for Hausdorff measures.     

Structure of closed finitely starshaped sets

A set is finitely starshaped if any finite subset of is totally visible from some point of . It is well known that in a finite-dimensional linear space, a closed finitely starshaped set which is not starshaped must be unbounded. It is proved here that such a set must admit at least one direction of recession. This fact clarifies the structure of such sets and allows the study of properties of their visibility elements, well known in the case of starshaped sets. A characterization of planar finitely starshaped sets by means of its convex components is obtained. Some plausible conjectures are disproved by means of counterexamples.     

Uncountable intersections of open sets under CPA

We prove that the Covering Property Axiom CPA , which holds in the iterated perfect set model, implies the following facts.

• If is an intersection of -many open sets of a Polish space and has cardinality continuum, then contains a perfect set.

• There exists a subset of the Cantor set which is an intersection of -many open sets but is not a union of -many closed sets.

The example from the second fact refutes a conjecture of Brendle, Larson, and Todorcevic.

     

Generalized subdifferential of the distance function

We derive the proximal normal formula for almost proximinal sets in a smooth and locally uniformly convex Banach space. Our technique leads us to show the generic Fréchet smoothness of the distance function in the case the norm is Fréchet smooth, and we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the convexity of a Chebyshev set in a Banach space with norms on and locally uniformly convex.

     

Completely invariant Julia sets of polynomial semigroups

Let be a semigroup of rational functions of degree at least two, under composition of functions. Suppose that contains two polynomials with non-equal Julia sets. We prove that the smallest closed subset of the Riemann sphere which contains at least three points and is completely invariant under each element of , is the sphere itself.

     

Schreier sets in Ramsey theory

We show that Ramsey theory, a domain presently conceived to guarantee the existence of large homogeneous sets for partitions on -tuples of words (for every natural number ) over a finite alphabet, can be extended to one for partitions on Schreier-type sets of words (of every countable ordinal). Indeed, we establish an extension of the partition theorem of Carlson about words and of the (more general) partition theorem of Furstenberg-Katznelson about combinatorial subspaces of the set of words (generated from -tuples of words for any fixed natural number ) into a partition theorem about combinatorial subspaces (generated from Schreier-type sets of words of order any fixed countable ordinal). Furthermore, as a result we obtain a strengthening of Carlson's infinitary Nash-Williams type (and Ellentuck type) partition theorem about infinite sequences of variable words into a theorem, in which an infinite sequence of variable words and a binary partition of all the finite sequences of words, one of whose components is, in addition, a tree, are assumed, concluding that all the Schreier-type finite reductions of an infinite reduction of the given sequence have a behavior determined by the Cantor-Bendixson ordinal index of the tree-component of the partition, falling in the tree-component above that index and in its complement below it.