Powerful numbers in (1ℓ + qℓ)(2ℓ + qℓ)⋯(nℓ + qℓ)

Let q be a positive integer. Recently, Niu and Liu proved that, if $n\ge \max ?\{q,1198?q\}$, then the product $(1^3+q^3)(2^3+q^3)?(n^3+q^3)$ is not a powerful number. In this note, we prove (1) that, for any odd prime power ? and $n\ge \max ?\{q,11?q\}$, the product $(1^{?}+q^{?})(2^{?}+q^{?})?(n^{?}+q^{?})$ is not a powerful number, and (2) that, for any positive odd integer ?, there exists an integer $N_{q,?}$ such that, for any positive integer $n\ge N_{q,?}$, the product $(1^{?}+q^{?})(2^{?}+q^{?})?(n^{?}+q^{?})$ is not a powerful number.     

Bivariate identities related to Chebyshev and Dickson polynomials over Fq

Let ${\mathbb{F}}_q$ be a field of q elements, where q is a power of an odd prime p. The polynomial $f(y)\in {\mathbb{F}}_q[y]$ defined by$f(y):={(1+\sqrt{y})}^{(q+1)/2}+{(1-\sqrt{y})}^{(q+1)/2}$ has the property that$f(1-y)=\rho (2)f(y),$ where ρ is the quadratic character on ${\mathbb{F}}_q$. This univariate identity was applied to prove a recent theorem of N. Katz. We formulate and prove a bivariate extension, and give an application to quadratic residuacity.     

Transcendence degree one function fields over a finite field with many automorphisms

Let $\mathbb{K}$ be the algebraic closure of a finite field ${\mathbb{F}}_q$ of odd characteristic p. For a positive integer m prime to p, let $F=\mathbb{K}(x,y)$ be the transcendence degree 1 function field defined by $y^q+y=x^m+x^{?m}$. Let $t=x^{m(q?1)}$ and $H=\mathbb{K}(t)$. The extension $F|H$ is a non-Galois extension. Let K be the Galois closure of F with respect to H. By Stichtenoth [20], K has genus $\mathfrak{g}(K)=(qm?1)(q?1)$, p-rank (Hasse–Witt invariant) $\gamma (K)={(q?1)}^2$ and a $\mathbb{K}$-automorphism group of order at least $2q^{2}m(q?1)$. In this paper we prove that this subgroup is the full $\mathbb{K}$-automorphism group of K; more precisely ${\text{Aut}}_{\mathbb{K}}(K)=\mathrm{\Delta }?D$ where Δ is an elementary abelian p-group of order $q^2$ and D has an index 2 cyclic subgroup of order $m(q?1)$. In particular, $\sqrt{m}|{\text{Aut}}_{\mathbb{K}}(K)|>\mathfrak{g}{(K)}^{3/2}$, and if K is ordinary (i.e. $\mathfrak{g}(K)=\gamma (K)$) then $|{\text{Aut}}_{\mathbb{K}}(K)|>{\mathfrak{g}}^{3/2}$. On the other hand, if G is a solvable subgroup of the $\mathbb{K}$-automorphism group of an ordinary, transcendence degree 1 function field L of genus $\mathfrak{g}(L)\ge 2$ defined over $\mathbb{K}$, then $|{\text{Aut}}_{\mathbb{K}}(K)|\le 34{(\mathfrak{g}(L)+1)}^{3/2}<68\sqrt{2}\mathfrak{g}{(L)}^{3/2}$; see [15]. This shows that K hits this bound up to the constant $68\sqrt{2}$.Since ${\text{Aut}}_{\mathbb{K}}(K)$ has several subgroups, the fixed subfield $F^N$ of such a subgroup N may happen to have many automorphisms provided that the normalizer of N in ${\text{Aut}}_{\mathbb{K}}(K)$ is large enough. This possibility is worked out for subgroups of Δ.     

Recovery of sparsest signals via ℓq-minimization

In this paper, it is proved that every s-sparse vector $\mathbf{x}\in {\mathbb{R}}^n$ can be exactly recovered from the measurement vector $\mathbf{z}=\mathbf{Ax}\in {\mathbb{R}}^m$ via some ${?}^q$-minimization with $0<q?1$, as soon as each s-sparse vector $\mathbf{x}\in {\mathbb{R}}^n$ is uniquely determined by the measurement z. Moreover it is shown that the exponent q in the ${?}^q$-minimization can be so chosen to be about $0.6796\times (1?{\delta }_{2s}(\mathbf{A}))$, where ${\delta }_{2s}(\mathbf{A})$ is the restricted isometry constant of order 2s for the measurement matrix A.     

Saturating sets in projective planes and hypergraph covers

Let ${\Pi }_q$ be an arbitrary finite projective plane of order $q$. A subset $S$ of its points is called saturating if any point outside $S$ is collinear with a pair of points from $S$. Applying probabilistic tools we improve the upper bound on the smallest possible size of the saturating set to $?\sqrt{3qlnq}?+?(\sqrt{q}+1)∕2?$. The same result is presented using an algorithmic approach as well, which points out the connection with the transversal number of uniform multiple intersecting hypergraphs.     

A sharp bound on the expected number of upcrossings of an L2-bounded Martingale

For a martingale $M$ starting at $x$ with final variance ${\sigma }^2$, and an interval $(a,b)$, let $\Delta =\frac{b?a}{\sigma }$ be the normalized length of the interval and let $\delta =\frac{|x?a|}{\sigma }$ be the normalized distance from the initial point to the lower endpoint of the interval. The expected number of upcrossings of $(a,b)$ by $M$ is at most $\frac{\sqrt{1+{\delta }^2}?\delta }{2\Delta }$ if ${\Delta }^2\le 1+{\delta }^2$ and at most $\frac{1}{1+{(\Delta +\delta )}^2}$ otherwise. Both bounds are sharp, attained by Standard Brownian Motion stopped at appropriate stopping times. Both bounds also attain the Doob upper bound on the expected number of upcrossings of $(a,b)$ for submartingales with the corresponding final distribution. Each of these two bounds is at most $\frac{\sigma }{2(b?a)}$, with equality in the first bound for $\delta =0$. The upper bound $\frac{\sigma }{2}$ on the length covered by $M$ during upcrossings of an interval restricts the possible variability of a martingale in terms of its final variance. This is in the same spirit as the Dubins & Schwarz sharp upper bound $\sigma$ on the expected maximum of $M$ above $x$, the Dubins & Schwarz sharp upper bound $\sigma \sqrt{2}$ on the expected maximal distance of $M$ from $x$, and the Dubins, Gilat & Meilijson sharp upper bound $\sigma \sqrt{3}$ on the expected diameter of $M$.     

On the sub poly-harmonic property for solutions to (−Δ)pu < 0 in Rn

In this note, we mainly study the relation between the sign of ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{p}u$ and ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{p?i}u$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ with $p?2$ and $n?2$ for $1?i?p?1$. Given the differential inequality ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{p}u<0$, first we provide several sufficient conditions so that ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{p?1}u<0$ holds. Then we provide conditions such that ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{i}u<0$ for all $i=1,2,\dots ,p?1$, which is known as the sub poly-harmonic property for u. In the last part of the note, we revisit the super poly-harmonic property for solutions to ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{p}u={\mathrm{e}}^{2pu}$ and ${(?\mathrm{\Delta })}^{p}u=u^q$ with $q>0$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$.     

A Gauss sum estimate in arbitrary finite fields

We establish bounds on exponential sums ${\sum }_{x\in {\mathbb{F}}_q}\psi (x^n)$ where $q=p^m$, p prime, and ψ an additive character on ${\mathbb{F}}_q$. They extend the earlier work of Bourgain, Glibichuk, and Konyagin to fields that are not of prime order $(m?2)$. More precisely, a non-trivial estimate is obtained provided n satisfies $\gcd (n,\frac{q?1}{p^{\nu }?1})<p^{?\nu }{q}^{1?\epsilon }$ for all $1?\nu <m$, $\nu |m$, where $\epsilon >0$ is arbitrary. To cite this article: J. Bourgain, M.-C. Chang, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 342 (2006).