Chains in the Bruhat order

We study a family of polynomials whose values express degrees of Schubert varieties in the generalized complex flag manifold G/B. The polynomials are given by weighted sums over saturated chains in the Bruhat order. We derive several explicit formulas for these polynomials, and investigate their relations with Schubert polynomials, harmonic polynomials, Demazure characters, and generalized Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. In the second half of the paper, we study the classical flag manifold and discuss related combinatorial objects: flagged Schur polynomials, 312-avoiding permutations, generalized Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes, the inverse Schubert-Kostka matrix, parking functions, and binary trees. A.P. was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant DMS-0201494 and by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation research fellowship. R.S. was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant DMS-9988459.     

Mixed hyperbolic-elliptic systems in self-similar flows

From the observation that self-similar solutions of conservation laws in two space dimensions change type, it follows that for systems of more than two equations, such as the equations of gas dynamics, the reduced systems will be of mixed hyperbolic-elliptic type, in some regions of space. In this paper, we derive mixed systems for the isentropic and adiabatic equations of compressible gas dynamics. We show that the mixed systems which arise exhibit complicated nonlinear dependence. In a prototype system, the nonlinear wave system, this behavior is much simplified, and we outline the solution to some typical Riemann problems.Dedicated to Constantine Dafermos on his 60^th birthdayResearch supported by the National Science Foundation, grant DMS-9970310.Research supported by the Department of Energy, grant DE-FG-03-94-ER25222 and by the National Science Foundation, grant DMS-9973475 (POWRE).Research supported by the Department of Energy, grant DE-FG-03-94-ER25222 and by the National Science Foundation, grant DMS-0103823.     

The Essential Spectrum of Schrödinger, Jacobi, and CMV Operators

We provide a very general result which identifies the essential spectrum of broad classes of operators as exactly equal to the closure of the union of the spectra of suitable limits at infinity. Included is a new result on the essential spectra when potentials are asymptotic to isospectral tori. We also recover within a unified framework the HVZ Theorem and Krein's results on orthogonal polynomials with finite essential spectra. Supported in part by The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 188/02). Supported in part by NSF grant DMS-01 40592. Research supported in part by grant No. 2002068 from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), Jerusalem, Israel.     

Convergence in distribution of sums of bivariate Appell polynomials with long-range dependence

Summary Normalized quadratic forms of moving averages converge to double Wiener-Itô integrals if the summands are sufficiently dependent. This result extends to sums of bivariate Appell polynomials of arbitrary degree.This research was supported at Boston University by the National Science Foundation grant DMS-88-05627 and by the AFSOR grant 89-0115     

A globally and quadratically convergent affine scaling method for linearℓ 1 problems

Recently, various interior point algorithms related to the Karmarkar algorithm have been developed for linear programming. In this paper, we first show how this interior point philosophy can be adapted to the linear ₁ problem (in which there are no feasibility constraints) to yield a globally and linearly convergent algorithm. We then show that the linear algorithm can be modified to provide aglobally and ultimatelyquadratically convergent algorithm. This modified algorithm appears to be significantly more efficient in practise than a more straightforward interior point approach via a linear programming formulation: we present numerical results to support this claim.This paper was presented at the Third SIAM Conference on Optimization, in Boston, April 1989.Research partially supported by the Applied Mathematical Sciences Research Program (KC-04-02) of the Office of Energy Research of the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-86ER25013.A000, by the U.S. Army Research Office through the Mathematical Sciences Institute, Cornell University, and by the Computational Mathematics Program of the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-8706133.Research partially supported by the U.S. Army Research Office through the Mathematical Sciences Institute, Cornell University and by the Computational Mathematics Program of the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-8706133.     

Nonlocal superconductivity

The research of D. Brandon was partially supported by the National Science Foundation through grant # DMS-9296011 and by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis.     

Ramanujan's identities for eta-functions

Research partially supported by National Science Foundation grant DMS-8820680     

Classification of overtwisted contact structures on 3-manifolds

Research partially supported by National Science Foundation grant DMS-87-01609     

A mountain pass method for the numerical solution of semilinear wave equations

Summary It is well-known that periodic solutions of semilinear wave equations can be obtained as critical points of related functionals. In the situation that we studied, there is usually an obvious solution obtained as a solution of linear problem. We formulate a dual variational problem in such a way that the obvious solution is a local minimum. We then find additional non-obvious solutions via a numerical mountain pass algorithm, based on the theorems of Ambrosetti, Rabinowitz and Ekeland. Numerical results are presented.Research supported in part by grant DMS-9208636 from the National Science FoundationResearch supported in part by grant DMS-9102632 from the National Science Foundation     

The structure of singly-periodic minimal surfaces

The research described in this paper was supported by research grant DE-FG02-86ER250125 of the Applied Mathematical Science subprogram of Office of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation grants DMS-8611574 and DMS-8802858     

The arithmetic of Fermat curves

This research was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant DMS-9002095     

Large regular graphs with no induced 2K 2

Letr be a positive integer. Considerr-regular graphs in which no induced subgraph on four vertices is an independent pair of edges. The numberv of vertices in such a graph does not exceed 5r/2; this proves a conjecture of Bermond. More generally, it is conjectured that ifv>2r, then the ratiov/r must be a rational number of the form 2+1/(2k). This is proved forv/r≥21/10. The extremal graphs and many other classes of these graphs are described and characterized. Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under ISP 80110451. Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under DMS-8401281. Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under DMS-8504322, and by the Office of Naval Research under N00014-85K0570.     

The maximum principle at infinity for minimal surfaces in flat three manifolds

The research described in this paper was supported by research grant DE-FG02-86ER250125 of the Applied Mathematical Science subprogram of Office of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation grant DMS-8611574.     

Embedded minimal surfaces with an infinite number of ends

The research described in this paper was supported by research grant DE-FG02-86ER250125 of the Applied Mathematical Science subprogram of the Office of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation grants DMS-8503350 and DMS-8611574     

Minimal surfaces bounded by convex curves in parallel planes

The research described in this paper was supported by research grant DE-FG02-86ER250125 of the Applied Mathematical Science subprogram of Office of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation grant DMS-8900285.     

Toeplitz determinants from compatibility conditions

In this paper we show, how a straightforward and natural application of a pair of fundamental identities valid for polynomials orthogonal over the unit circle, can be used to calculate the determinant of the finite Toeplitz matrix Δ _n , with the Fisher-Hartwig symbol. We use the same approach to compute a difference equation for expressions related to the determinants of symbols that have important application in the study of random permutations. E.L. Basor was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant DMS-0200167 and also in part by the EPSRC for a Visiting Fellowship.     

On the spectra of sums of orthogonal projections with applications to parallel computing

Many parallel iterative algorithms for solving symmetric, positive definite problems proceed by solving in each iteration, a number of independent systems on subspaces. The convergence of such methods is determined by the spectrum of the sums of orthogonal projections on those subspaces, while the convergence of a related sequential method is determined by the spectrum of the product of complementary projections. We study spectral properties of sums of orthogonal projections and in the case of two projections, characterize the spectrum of the sum completely in terms of the spectrum of the product.This work was supported in part by the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities under grant D.01.08.054 and by The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research under grant IT2.28.28484; also supported in part by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant AFOSR-86-0126 and by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-8704169.     

Zero asymptotic behaviour for orthogonal matrix polynomials

Weak-star asymptotic results are obtained for the zeros of orthogonal matrix polynomials (i.e., the zeros of their determinants) on ℝ from two different assumptions: first from the convergence of matrix coefficients occurring in the three-term recurrence for these polynomials; and, second, from conditions on the generating matrix measure. The matrix analogues of the Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are also investigated. The research of the first and second authors has been supported by DGICYT ref. PB96-1321-C02-01, and the research of the third author was supported, in part, by the U.S. National Science Foundation under the grant DMS-9501130.     

Remarks on “Dense analytic subspaces in fractalL 2-spaces” by P.E.T. Jorgensen and S. Pedersen

An alternate method is given for proving completeness of the bases of exponentials constructed in the paper of Jorgensen and Pedersen [JP]. This proof is similar in spirit to the Albert Cohen criterion in wavelet theory. Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation, grant DMS-9623250.     

Characterization of the barrier parameter of homogeneous convex cones

We characterize the smallest (best) barrier parameter of self-concordant barriers for homogeneous convex cones. In particular, we prove that this parameter is the same as the rank of the cone which is the number of steps in a recursive construction of the cone (Siegel domain construction). We also provide lower bounds on the barrier parameter in terms of the Carathéodory number of the cone. The bounds are tight for homogeneous self-dual cones. © 1998 The Mathematical Programming Society, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.Research supported in part by an operating grant from NSERC of Canada.Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-9306318.