A note on completeness and strongly clean rings

Many authors have investigated the behavior of strong cleanness under certain ring extensions. In this note, we investigate the classical problem of lifting idempotents, in order to consolidate and extend these results. Our main result is that if R$R$ is a ring which is complete with respect to an ideal I$I$ and if x$x$ is an element of R$R$ whose image in R/I$R/I$ is strongly π$\pi$-regular, then x$x$ is strongly clean in R$R$. This generalizes Theorem 2.1 of Chen and Zhou (2007)  [9].     

Sensitivity of Boolean formulas

The sensitivity set of a Boolean function at a particular input is the set of input positions where changing that one bit changes the output. Analogously we define the sensitivity set of a Boolean formula in a conjunctive normal form at a particular truth assignment, it is the set of positions where changing that one bit of the truth assignment changes the evaluation of at least one of the conjunct in the formula. We consider Boolean formulas in a generalized conjunctive normal form. Given a set ?$?$ of Boolean functions, an ?$?$-constraint is an application of a function from ?$?$ to a tuple of literals built upon distinct variables, an ?$?$-formula is then a conjunction of ?$?$-constraints. In this framework, given a truth assignment I$I$ and a set of positions S$S$, we are able to enumerate all ?$?$-formulas that are satisfied by I$I$ and that have S$S$ as the sensitivity set at I$I$. We prove that this number depends on the cardinality of S$S$ only, and can be expressed according to the sensitivity of the Boolean functions in ?$?$.     

Some combinatorial arrays generated by context-free grammars

A context-free grammar G$G$ over an alphabet A$A$ is defined as a set of substitution rules that replace a letter in A$A$ by a formal function over A$A$. The purpose of this paper is to show that some combinatorial arrays, such as the Catalan’s triangle, can be generated by context-free grammars in three variables.     

Quandle cocycles from invariant theory

Let G$G$ be a group. Any G$G$-module M$M$ has an algebraic structure called a G$G$-family of Alexander quandles. Given a 2-cocycle of a cohomology associated with this G$G$-family, topological invariants of (handlebody) knots in the 3-sphere are defined. We develop a simple algorithm to algebraically construct n$n$-cocycles of this G$G$-family from G$G$-invariant group n$n$-cocycles of the abelian group M$M$. We present many examples of 2-cocycles of these G$G$-families using facts from (modular) invariant theory.     

A short proof of the Doob–Meyer theorem

Every submartingale S$S$ of class D$D$ has a unique Doob–Meyer decomposition S=M+A$S=M+A$, where M$M$ is a martingale and A$A$ is a predictable increasing process starting at 0.     

On the complexity of the bondage and reinforcement problems

Let G=(V,E)$G=(V,E)$ be a graph. A subset D⊆V$D\subseteq V$ is a dominating set if every vertex not in D$D$ is adjacent to a vertex in D$D$. A dominating set D$D$ is called a total dominating set if every vertex in D$D$ is adjacent to a vertex in D$D$. The domination (resp. total domination) number of G$G$ is the smallest cardinality of a dominating (resp. total dominating) set of G$G$. The bondage (resp. total bondage) number of a nonempty graph G$G$ is the smallest number of edges whose removal from G$G$ results in a graph with larger domination (resp. total domination) number of G$G$. The reinforcement (resp. total reinforcement) number of G$G$ is the smallest number of edges whose addition to G$G$ results in a graph with smaller domination (resp. total domination) number. This paper shows that the decision problems for the bondage, total bondage, reinforcement and total reinforcement numbers are all NP-hard.     

[1, 2]-sets in graphs

A subset S⊆V$S\subseteq V$ in a graph G=(V,E)$G=(V,E)$ is a [j,k]$[j,k]$-set if, for every vertex v∈V?S$v\in V?S$, j≤|N(v)∩S|≤k$j\le |N\left(v\right)\cap S|\le k$ for non-negative integers j$j$ and k$k$, that is, every vertex v∈V?S$v\in V?S$ is adjacent to at least j$j$ but not more than k$k$ vertices in S$S$. In this paper, we focus on small j$j$ and k$k$, and relate the concept of [j,k]$[j,k]$-sets to a host of other concepts in domination theory, including perfect domination, efficient domination, nearly perfect sets, 2-packings, and k$k$-dependent sets. We also determine bounds on the cardinality of minimum [1, 2]-sets, and investigate extremal graphs achieving these bounds. This study has implications for restrained domination as well. Using a result for [1, 3]-sets, we show that, for any grid graph G$G$, the restrained domination number is equal to the domination number of G$G$.     

Every point is critical

We show that, for any compact Alexandrov surface S$S$ (without boundary) and any point y$y$ in S$S$, there exists a point x$x$ in S$S$ for which y$y$ is a critical point. Moreover, we prove that uniqueness characterizes the surfaces homeomorphic to the sphere among smooth orientable surfaces.     

Multi-dimensional G-Brownian motion and related stochastic calculus under G-expectation

We develop a notion of nonlinear expectation–G$G$-expectation–generated by a nonlinear heat equation with infinitesimal generator G$G$. We first study multi-dimensional G$G$-normal distributions. With this nonlinear distribution we can introduce our G$G$-expectation under which the canonical process is a multi-dimensional G$G$-Brownian motion. We then establish the related stochastic calculus, especially stochastic integrals of Itô’s type with respect to our G$G$-Brownian motion, and derive the related Itô’s formula. We have also obtained the existence and uniqueness of stochastic differential equations under our G$G$-expectation.     

Ordinary and symbolic powers are Golod

Let S$S$ be a positively graded polynomial ring over a field of characteristic 0$0$, and I⊂S$I\subset S$ a proper graded ideal. In this note it is shown that S/I$S/I$ is Golod if ∂(I)²⊂I$\partial {\left(I\right)}^2\subset I$. Here ∂(I)$\partial \left(I\right)$ denotes the ideal generated by all the partial derivatives of elements of I$I$. We apply this result to find large classes of Golod ideals, including powers, symbolic powers, and saturations of ideals.     

Tournaments associated with multigraphs and a theorem of Hakimi

A tournament of order n$n$ is usually considered as an orientation of the complete graph _Kn$K_n$. In this note, we consider a more general definition of a tournament that we call aC$C$-tournament, where C$C$ is the adjacency matrix of a multigraph G$G$, and a C$C$-tournament is an orientation of G$G$. The score vector of a C$C$-tournament is the vector of outdegrees of its vertices. In 1965 Hakimi obtained necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a C$C$-tournament with a prescribed score vector R$R$ and gave an algorithm to construct such a C$C$-tournament which required, however, some backtracking. We give a simpler and more transparent proof of Hakimi’s theorem, and then provide a direct construction of such a C$C$-tournament which works even for weighted graphs.     

Hopf subalgebras and tensor powers of generalized permutation modules

By means of a certain module V$V$ and its tensor powers in a finite tensor category, we study a question of whether the depth of a Hopf subalgebra R$R$ of a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra H$H$ is finite. The module V$V$ is the counit representation induced from R$R$ to H$H$, which is then a generalized permutation module, as well as a module coalgebra. We show that if in the subalgebra pair either Hopf algebra has finite representation type, or V$V$ is either semisimple with R^∗$R^{\ast }$ pointed, projective, or its tensor powers satisfy a Burnside ring formula over a finite set of Hopf subalgebras including R$R$, then the depth of R$R$ in H$H$ is finite. One assigns a nonnegative integer depth to V$V$, or any other H$H$-module, by comparing the truncated tensor algebras of V$V$ in a finite tensor category and so obtains upper and lower bounds for depth of a Hopf subalgebra. For example, a relative Hopf restricted module has depth 1, and a permutation module of a corefree subgroup has depth less than the number of values of its character.     

Products of conjugacy classes in finite and algebraic simple groups

We prove the Arad–Herzog conjecture for various families of finite simple groups — if A$A$ and B$B$ are nontrivial conjugacy classes, then AB$AB$ is not a conjugacy class. We also prove that if G$G$ is a finite simple group of Lie type and A$A$ and B$B$ are nontrivial conjugacy classes, either both semisimple or both unipotent, then AB$AB$ is not a conjugacy class. We also prove a strong version of the Arad–Herzog conjecture for simple algebraic groups and in particular show that almost always the product of two conjugacy classes in a simple algebraic group consists of infinitely many conjugacy classes. As a consequence we obtain a complete classification of pairs of centralizers in a simple algebraic group which have dense product. A special case of this has been used by Prasad to prove a uniqueness result for Tits systems in quasi-reductive groups. Our final result is a generalization of the Baer–Suzuki theorem for p$p$-elements with p≥5$p\ge 5$.     

Cone-separation and star-shaped separability with applications

Let X$X$ be a (real) Banach space, A$A$ be a subset of X$X$ and x∉A$x\notin A$. We present cone-separation in terms of separation by a collection of linear functionals defined on X$X$ and obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for cone-separability A$A$ and x$x$. Also, we give characterizations for star-shaped separability. Finally, as an application of separability, we characterize best approximation problem by elements of star-shaped sets.     

The Laplacian polynomial and Kirchhoff index of graphs derived from regular graphs

Let R(G)$R\left(G\right)$ be the graph obtained from G$G$ by adding a new vertex corresponding to each edge of G$G$ and by joining each new vertex to the end vertices of the corresponding edge, and Q(G)$Q\left(G\right)$ be the graph obtained from G$G$ by inserting a new vertex into every edge of G$G$ and by joining by edges those pairs of these new vertices which lie on adjacent edges of G$G$. In this paper, we determine the Laplacian polynomials of R(G)$R\left(G\right)$ and Q(G)$Q\left(G\right)$ of a regular graph G$G$; on the other hand, we derive formulae and lower bounds of the Kirchhoff index of these graphs.     

Modules satisfying the weak Nakayama property

Let R$R$ be a commutative ring with identity. We will say that an R$R$-module M$M$ satisfies the weak Nakayama property, if IM=M$IM=M$, where I$I$ is an ideal of R$R$, implies that for any x∈M$x\in M$ there exists a∈I$a\in I$ such that (a−1)x=0$(a-1)x=0$. In this paper, we will study modules satisfying the weak Nakayama property. It is proved that if R$R$ is a local ring, then R$R$ is a Max ring if and only if J(R)$J\left(R\right)$, the Jacobson radical of R$R$, is T$T$-nilpotent if and only if every R$R$-module satisfies the weak Nakayama property.     

Polychromatic 4-coloring of cubic even embeddings on the projective plane

A polychromatic     k$k$-coloring   of a map G$G$ on a surface is a k$k$-coloring such that each face of G$G$ has all k$k$ colors on its boundary vertices. An even embedding     G$G$ on a surface is a map of a simple graph on the surface such that each face of G$G$ is bounded by a cycle of even length. In this paper, we shall prove that a cubic even embedding G$G$ on the projective plane has a polychromatic proper 4-coloring if and only if G$G$ is not isomorphic to a Möbius ladder with an odd number of rungs. For proving the theorem, we establish a generating theorem for 3-connected Eulerian multi-triangulations on the projective plane.