On Kulikov’s problem

Kulikov has given an étale morphism of degree d > 1 which is surjective modulo codimension two with X simply connected, settling his generalized jacobian problem. His method reduces the problem to finding a hypersurface and a subgroup of index d generated by geometric generators. By contrast we show that if D has simple normal crossings away from a set of codimension three and meets the hyperplane at infinity transversely, then necessarily d = 1. Received: 21 November 2006     

On Lehmer’s problem and Dedekind sums

Let p be an odd prime and c a fixed integer with (c, p) = 1. For each integer a with 1 ≤ a ≤ p ? 1, it is clear that there exists one and only one b with 0 ? b ? p ? 1 such that ab ≡ c (mod p). Let N(c, p) denote the number of all solutions of the congruence equation ab ≡ c (mod p) for 1 ? a, b ? p?1 in which a and \(\overline b \) are of opposite parity, where \(\overline b \) is defined by the congruence equation b\(\overline b \) ≡ 1 (mod p). The main purpose of this paper is to use the properties of Dedekind sums and the mean value theorem for Dirichlet L-functions to study the hybrid mean value problem involving N(c, p)?½φ(p) and the Dedekind sums S(c, p), and to establish a sharp asymptotic formula for it.     

On Oka’s extra-zero problem and examples

After the solution of Cousin II problem by Oka III in 1939, he thought an extra-zero problem in 1945 (his posthumous paper) asking if it is possible to solve an arbitrarily given Cousin II problem adding some extra-zeros whose support is disjoint from the given one. By the secondly named author, some special case was affirmatively confirmed in dimension two and a counter-example in dimension three or more was given. The purpose of the present paper is to give a complete solution of this problem with examples and some new questions.     

On Brauer’s problem 21

For ap-blockB of a finite groupG, we give a bound of the order of its defect groupD in terms ofk(B), the number of the irreducible ordinary characters inB.     

On Brauer’s problem 21

For ap-blockB of a finite groupG, we give a bound of the order of its defect groupD in terms ofk(B), the number of the irreducible ordinary characters inB.     

On Hilbert’s solution of Waring’s problem

In 1909, Hilbert proved that for each fixed k, there is a number g with the following property: Every integer N ≥ 0 has a representation in the form N = x ₁ ^k + x ₂ ^k + … + x _g ^k , where the x _i are nonnegative integers. This resolved a conjecture of Edward Waring from 1770. Hilbert’s proof is somewhat unsatisfying, in that no method is given for finding a value of g corresponding to a given k. In his doctoral thesis, Rieger showed that by a suitable modification of Hilbert’s proof, one can give explicit bounds on the least permissible value of g. We show how to modify Rieger’s argument, using ideas of F. Dress, to obtain a better explicit bound. While far stronger bounds are available from the powerful Hardy-Littlewood circle method, it seems of some methodological interest to examine how far elementary techniques of this nature can be pushed.     

On Lachlan’s major sub-degree problem

The Major Sub-degree Problem of A. H. Lachlan (first posed in 1967) has become a long-standing open question concerning the structure of the computably enumerable (c.e.) degrees. Its solution has important implications for Turing definability and for the ongoing programme of fully characterising the theory of the c.e. Turing degrees. A c.e. degree a is a major subdegree of a c.e. degree b > a if for any c.e. degree x, if and only if . In this paper, we show that every c.e. degree b ≠ 0 or 0′ has a major sub-degree, answering Lachlan’s question affirmatively. Both authors were funded by EPSRC Research Grant no. GR/M 91419, “Turing Definability”, by INTAS-RFBR Research Grant no. 97-0139, “Computability and Models”, and by an NSFC Grand International Joint Project Grant no. 60310213, “New Directions in Theory and Applications of Models of Computation”. Both authors are grateful to Andrew Lewis for helpful suggestions regarding presentation, technical aspects of the proof, and verification. A. Li is partially supported by National Distinguished Young Investigator Award no. 60325206 (People’s Republic of China).     

On waring’s problem for cubes

Proceedings - Mathematical Sciences -     

On Karatsuba’s problem related to Gram’s law

A number of new results related to Gram’s law in the theory of the Riemann zetafunction are proved. In particular, a lower bound is obtained for the number of ordinates of the zeros of the zeta-function that lie in a given interval and satisfy Gram’s law.     

On Karatsuba’s problem concerning the divisor function

We study an asymptotic behavior of the sum ${\sum_{n \leqslant x} \frac{\tau(n)}{\tau(n+a)}}$ . Here τ(n) denote the number of divisors of n and ${a\,\geqslant\,1}$ is a fixed integer.     

On Dedekind’s problem for complete simple games

We state an integer linear programming formulation for the unique characterization of complete simple games, i.e. a special subclass of monotone Boolean functions. In order to apply the parametric Barvinok algorithm to obtain enumeration formulas for these discrete objects we provide a tailored decomposition of the integer programming formulation into a finite list of suitably chosen sub-cases. As for the original enumeration problem of Dedekind on Boolean functions we have to introduce some parameters to be able to derive exact formulas for small parameters. Recently, Freixas et al. have proven an enumeration formula for complete simple games with two types of voters. We will provide a shorter proof and a new enumeration formula for complete simple games with two minimal winning vectors.     

On Waring’s problem for several algebraic forms

We reconsider the classical problem of representing a finite number of forms of degree d in the polynomial ring over n + 1 variables as scalar combinations of powers of linear forms. We define a geometric construct called a grove, which, in a number of cases, allows us to determine the dimension of the space of forms which can be so represented for a fixed number of summands. We also present two new examples, where this dimension turns out to be less than what a naïve parameter count would predict.     

On conformal capacity and Teichmüller’s modulus problem in space

We solve an extremal problem for the conformal capacity of certain space condensers. The extremal condenser is conformally equivalent to Teichmüller’s ring. As an application, we give a dimension-free estimate for the minimal conformal capacity of the condensers with platesE, F such thata, b ∈ E,c, d ∈ F, wherea, b, c, d are given points in