The number of Reidemeister moves needed for unknotting

There is a positive constant such that for any diagram representing the unknot, there is a sequence of at most Reidemeister moves that will convert it to a trivial knot diagram, where is the number of crossings in . A similar result holds for elementary moves on a polygonal knot embedded in the 1-skeleton of the interior of a compact, orientable, triangulated 3-manifold . There is a positive constant such that for each , if consists of tetrahedra and is unknotted, then there is a sequence of at most elementary moves in which transforms to a triangle contained inside one tetrahedron of . We obtain explicit values for and .

     

The strange duality conjecture for generic curves

Let be a smooth connected projective algebraic curve of genus . The strange duality conjecture connects non-abelian theta functions of rank and level and those of rank and level on (for and , respectively). In this paper we prove this conjecture for generic in the moduli space of curves of genus .

     

Locally analytic distributions and

In this paper we study continuous representations of locally -analytic groups in locally convex -vector spaces, where is a finite extension of and is a spherically complete nonarchimedean extension field of . The class of such representations includes both the smooth representations of Langlands theory and the finite dimensional algebraic representations of , along with interesting new objects such as the action of on global sections of equivariant vector bundles on -adic symmetric spaces. We introduce a restricted category of such representations that we call ``strongly admissible' and we show that, when is compact, our category is anti-equivalent to a subcategory of the category of modules over the locally analytic distribution algebra of . As an application we prove the topological irreducibility of generic members of the -adic principal series for . Our hope is that our definition of strongly admissible representation may be used as a foundation for a general theory of continuous -valued representations of locally -analytic groups.

     

Mating Siegel quadratic polynomials

Let be a quadratic rational map of the sphere which has two fixed Siegel disks with bounded type rotation numbers and . Using a new degree Blaschke product model for the dynamics of and an adaptation of complex a priori bounds for renormalization of critical circle maps, we prove that can be realized as the mating of two Siegel quadratic polynomials with the corresponding rotation numbers and .

     

Order -adic field

Let be an algebraically closed field of characteristic the ring of Witt vectors and a complete discrete valuation ring dominating and containing a primitive -th root of unity. Let denote a uniformizing parameter for We study order automorphisms of the formal power series ring which are defined by a series

The set of fixed points of is denoted by and we suppose that they are -rational and that for Let be the minimal semi-stable model of the -adic open disc over in which specializes to distinct smooth points. We study the differential data that can be associated to each irreducible component of the special fibre of Using this data we show that if , then the fixed points are equidistant, and that there are only a finite number of conjugacy classes of order automorphisms in which are not the identity

     

Universal characteristic factors and Furstenberg averages

Let be an ergodic probability measure-preserving system. For a natural number we consider the averages

where , and are integers. A factor of is characteristic for averaging schemes of length (or -characteristic) if for any nonzero distinct integers , the limiting behavior of the averages in (*) is unaltered if we first project the functions onto the factor. A factor of is a -universal characteristic factor (-u.c.f.) if it is a -characteristic factor, and a factor of any -characteristic factor. We show that there exists a unique -u.c.f., and it has the structure of a -step nilsystem, more specifically an inverse limit of -step nilflows. Using this we show that the averages in (*) converge in . This provides an alternative proof to the one given by Host and Kra.

     

Random polynomials having few or no real zeros

Consider a polynomial of large degree whose coefficients are independent, identically distributed, nondegenerate random variables having zero mean and finite moments of all orders. We show that such a polynomial has exactly real zeros with probability as through integers of the same parity as the fixed integer . In particular, the probability that a random polynomial of large even degree has no real zeros is . The finite, positive constant is characterized via the centered, stationary Gaussian process of correlation function . The value of depends neither on nor upon the specific law of the coefficients. Under an extra smoothness assumption about the law of the coefficients, with probability one may specify also the approximate locations of the zeros on the real line. The constant is replaced by in case the i.i.d. coefficients have a nonzero mean.

     

On the geometric Langlands conjecture

Let be a smooth, complete, geometrically connected curve over a field of characteristic . The geometric Langlands conjecture states that to each irreducible rank local system on one can attach a perverse sheaf on the moduli stack of rank bundles on (irreducible on each connected component), which is a Hecke eigensheaf with respect to . In this paper we derive the geometric Langlands conjecture from a certain vanishing conjecture. Furthermore, using recent results of Lafforgue, we prove this vanishing conjecture, and hence the geometric Langlands conjecture, in the case when the ground field is finite.

     

Double affine Hecke algebras and 2-dimensional local fields

We give an interpretation of the double affine Hecke algebra of Cherednik as a (suitably regularized) algebra of double cosets of a group by a subgroup , extending the well-known interpretations of the finite and affine Hecke algebras. In this interpretation, consists of -points of a simple algebraic group, where is a 2-dimensional local field such as or , and is a certain analog of the Iwahori subgroup.

     

On intervals in subgroup lattices of finite groups

We investigate the question of which finite lattices are isomorphic to the lattice of all overgroups of a subgroup in a finite group . We show that the structure of is highly restricted if is disconnected. We define the notion of a ``signalizer lattice" in and show for suitable disconnected lattices , if is minimal subject to being isomorphic to or its dual, then either is almost simple or admits a signalizer lattice isomorphic to or its dual. We use this theory to answer a question in functional analysis raised by Watatani.

     

Finite quotients of the multiplicative group of a finite dimensional division algebra are solvable

We prove that finite quotients of the multiplicative group of a finite dimensional division algebra are solvable. Let be a finite dimensional division algebra having center , and let be a normal subgroup of finite index. Suppose is not solvable. Then we may assume that is a minimal nonsolvable group (MNS group for short), i.e. a nonsolvable group all of whose proper quotients are solvable. Our proof now has two main ingredients. One ingredient is to show that the commuting graph of a finite MNS group satisfies a certain property which we denote Property . This property includes the requirement that the diameter of the commuting graph should be , but is, in fact, stronger. Another ingredient is to show that if the commuting graph of has Property , then is open with respect to a nontrivial height one valuation of (assuming without loss of generality, as we may, that is finitely generated). After establishing the openness of (when is an MNS group) we apply the Nonexistence Theorem whose proof uses induction on the transcendence degree of over its prime subfield to eliminate as a possible quotient of , thereby obtaining a contradiction and proving our main result.

     

Computing roadmaps of semi-algebraic sets on a variety

We consider a semi-algebraic set defined by polynomials in variables which is contained in an algebraic variety . The variety is assumed to have real dimension the polynomial and the polynomials defining have degree at most . We present an algorithm which constructs a roadmap on . The complexity of this algorithm is . We also present an algorithm which, given a point of defined by polynomials of degree at most , constructs a path joining this point to the roadmap. The complexity of this algorithm is These algorithms easily yield an algorithm which, given two points of defined by polynomials of degree at most , decides whether or not these two points of lie in the same semi-algebraically connected component of and if they do computes a semi-algebraic path in connecting the two points.

     

The enumerative geometry of surfaces and modular forms

Let be a surface, and let be a holomorphic curve in representing a primitive homology class. We count the number of curves of geometric genus with nodes passing through generic points in in the linear system for any and satisfying .

When , this coincides with the enumerative problem studied by Yau and Zaslow who obtained a conjectural generating function for the numbers. Recently, Göttsche has generalized their conjecture to arbitrary in terms of quasi-modular forms. We prove these formulas using Gromov-Witten invariants for families, a degeneration argument, and an obstruction bundle computation. Our methods also apply to blown up at 9 points where we show that the ordinary Gromov-Witten invariants of genus constrained to points are also given in terms of quasi-modular forms.     

Independence of of monodromy groups

Let be a smooth curve over a finite field of characteristic , let be a number field, and let be an -compatible system of lisse sheaves on the curve . For each place of not lying over , the -component of the system is a lisse -sheaf on , whose associated arithmetic monodromy group is an algebraic group over the local field . We use Serre's theory of Frobenius tori and Lafforgue's proof of Deligne's conjecture to show that when the -compatible system is semisimple and pure of some integer weight, the isomorphism type of the identity component of these monodromy groups is ``independent of '. More precisely, after replacing by a finite extension, there exists a connected split reductive algebraic group over the number field such that for every place of not lying over , the identity component of the arithmetic monodromy group of is isomorphic to the group with coefficients extended to the local field .

     

Intermediate subfactors with no extra structure

If are type II factors with and we show that restrictions on the standard invariants of the elementary inclusions , , and imply drastic restrictions on the indices and angles between the subfactors. In particular we show that if these standard invariants are trivial and the conditional expectations onto and do not commute, then is or . In the former case is the fixed point algebra for an outer action of on and the angle is , and in the latter case the angle is and an example may be found in the GHJ subfactor family. The techniques of proof rely heavily on planar algebras.

     

The threshold for random -SAT is

Let be a random -CNF formula formed by selecting uniformly and independently out of all possible -clauses on variables. It is well known that if , then is unsatisfiable with probability that tends to 1 as . We prove that if , where , then is satisfiable with probability that tends to 1 as .

Our technique, in fact, yields an explicit lower bound for the random -SAT threshold for every . For our bounds improve all previously known such bounds.

     

Functoriality for the exterior square of

In this paper we prove the functoriality of the exterior square of cusp forms on as automorphic forms on and the symmetric fourth of cusp forms on as automorphic forms on . We prove these by applying a converse theorem of Cogdell and Piatetski-Shapiro to analytic properties of certain -functions obtained by the Langlands-Shahidi method. We give several applications: First, we prove the weak Ramanujan property of cuspidal representations of and the absolute convergence of the exterior square -functions of . Second, we prove that the fourth symmetric power -functions of cuspidal representations of are entire, except for those of dihedral and tetrahedral type. Third, we prove the bound for Hecke eigenvalues of Maass forms over any number field.

     

Compatibility of local and global Langlands correspondences

We prove the compatibility of local and global Langlands correspondences for , which was proved up to semisimplification in M. Harris and R. Taylor, The Geometry and Cohomology of Some Simple Shimura Varieties, Ann. of Math. Studies 151, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton-Oxford, 2001. More precisely, for the -dimensional -adic representation of the Galois group of an imaginary CM-field attached to a conjugate self-dual regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic representation of , which is square integrable at some finite place, we show that Frobenius semisimplification of the restriction of to the decomposition group of a place of not dividing corresponds to by the local Langlands correspondence. If is square integrable for some finite place we deduce that is irreducible. We also obtain conditional results in the case .

     

Random polynomials with prescribed Newton polytope

The Newton polytope of a polynomial is well known to have a strong impact on its behavior. The Bernstein-Kouchnirenko Theorem asserts that even the number of simultaneous zeros in of a system of polynomials depends on their Newton polytopes. In this article, we show that Newton polytopes also have a strong impact on the distribution of zeros and pointwise norms of polynomials, the basic theme being that Newton polytopes determine allowed and forbidden regions in for these distributions.

Our results are statistical and asymptotic in the degree of the polynomials. We equip the space of polynomials of degree in complex variables with its usual SU-invariant Gaussian probability measure and then consider the conditional measure induced on the subspace of polynomials with fixed Newton polytope . We then determine the asymptotics of the conditional expectation of simultaneous zeros of polynomials with Newton polytope as . When , the unit simplex, it is clear that the expected zero distributions are uniform relative to the Fubini-Study form. For a convex polytope , we show that there is an allowed region on which is asymptotically uniform as the scaling factor . However, the zeros have an exotic distribution in the complementary forbidden region and when (the case of the Bernstein-Kouchnirenko Theorem), the expected percentage of simultaneous zeros in the forbidden region approaches 0 as .