Proof of semialgebraic covering mapping cylinder conjecture with semialgebraic covering homotopy theorem

In this paper we prove the semialgebraic version of Palais' covering homotopy theorem, and use this to prove Bredon's covering mapping cylinder conjecture positively in the semialgebraic category. Bredon's conjecture was originally stated in the topological category, and a topological version of our semialgebraic proof of the conjecture answers the original topological conjecture for topological G-spaces over “simplicial” mapping cylinders.     

Absolutely graded Floer homologies and intersection forms for four-manifolds with boundary

In Ozsváth and Szabó (Holomorphic triangles and invariants for smooth four-manifolds, math. SG/0110169, 2001), we introduced absolute gradings on the three-manifold invariants developed in Ozsváth and Szabó (Holomorphic disks and topological invariants for closed three-manifolds, math.SG/0101206, Ann. of Math. (2001), to appear). Coupled with the surgery long exact sequences, we obtain a number of three- and four-dimensional applications of this absolute grading including strengthenings of the “complexity bounds” derived in Ozsváth and Szabó (Holomorphic disks and three-manifold invariants: properties and applications, math.SG/0105202, Ann. of Math. (2001), to appear), restrictions on knots whose surgeries give rise to lens spaces, and calculations of HF⁺ for a variety of three-manifolds. Moreover, we show how the structure of HF⁺ constrains the exoticness of definite intersection forms for smooth four-manifolds which bound a given three-manifold. In addition to these new applications, the techniques also provide alternate proofs of Donaldson's diagonalizability theorem and the Thom conjecture for .     

Combinatorial conditions that imply word-hyperbolicity for 3-manifolds

Thurston conjectured that a closed triangulated 3-manifold in which every edge has degree 5 or 6, and no two edges of degree 5 lie in a common 2-cell, has word-hyperbolic fundamental group. We establish Thurston's conjecture by proving that such a manifold admits a piecewise Euclidean metric of non-positive curvature and the universal cover contains no isometrically embedded flat planes. The proof involves a mixture of computer computation and techniques from small cancellation theory.     

On Hankel determinants of functions given by their expansions in <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>-fractions

We obtain explicit formulas that express the Hankel determinants of functions given by their expansions in continued P-fractions in terms of the parameters of the fraction. As a corollary, we obtain a lower bound for the capacity of the set of singular points of these functions, an analog of the van Vleck theorem for P-fractions with limit-periodic coefficients, another proof of the Gonchar theorem on the Leighton conjecture, and an upper bound for the radius of the disk of meromorphy of a function given by a C-fraction.     

Some applications of the Ohsawa–Takegoshi extension theorem

We sketch a proof of the Ohsawa–Takegoshi extension theorem (due to Berndtsson) and then present some applications of this result: optimal lower bound for the Bergman kernel, relation to the Suita conjecture, and the Demailly approximation.     

Restrictions on collapsing with a lower sectional curvature bound

We obtain new topological information about the local structure of collapsing under a lower sectional curvature bound. As an application we prove a new sphere theorem and obtain a partial result towards the conjecture that not every Alexandrov space can be obtained as a limit of a sequence of Riemannian manifolds with sectional curvature bounded from below.     

On the generalized lower bound conjecture for polytopes and spheres

In 1971, McMullen and Walkup posed the following conjecture, which is called the generalized lower bound conjecture: If P is a simplicial d-polytope then its h-vector (h ₀, h ₁, …, h _d ) satisfies $ {h_0}\leq {h_1}\leq \ldots \leq {h_{{\left\lfloor {{d \left/ {2} \right.}} \right\rfloor }}} $ . Moreover, if h _r?1 = h _r for some $ r\leq \frac{1}{2}d $ then P can be triangulated without introducing simplices of dimension ≤d ? r. The first part of the conjecture was solved by Stanley in 1980 using the hard Lefschetz theorem for projective toric varieties. In this paper, we give a proof of the remaining part of the conjecture. In addition, we generalize this result to a certain class of simplicial spheres, namely those admitting the weak Lefschetz property.     

Strengthening topological colorful results for graphs

Various results ensure the existence of large complete and colorful bipartite graphs in properly colored graphs when some condition related to a topological lower bound on the chromatic number is satisfied. We generalize three theorems of this kind, respectively due to Simonyi and Tardos 2006), Simonyi et al. (2013), and Chen 2011). As a consequence of the generalization of Chen’s theorem, we get new families of graphs whose chromatic number equals their circular chromatic number and that satisfy Hedetniemi’s conjecture for the circular chromatic number.     

On the finite field Kakeya problem in two dimensions

A two-dimensional Besicovitch set over a finite field is a subset of the finite plane containing a line in each direction. In this paper, we conjecture a sharp lower bound for the size of such a subset and prove some results toward this conjecture.     

Magidor–Malitz reflection

In this paper we investigate the consistency and consequences of the downward Löwenheim–Skolem–Tarski theorem for extension of the first order logic by the Magidor–Malitz quantifier. We derive some combinatorial results and improve the known upper bound for the consistency of Chang’s conjecture at successor of singular cardinals.     

Orlov spectra: bounds and gaps

The Orlov spectrum is a new invariant of a triangulated category. It was introduced by D. Orlov, building on work of A. Bondal-M. Van den Bergh and R. Rouquier. The supremum of the Orlov spectrum of a triangulated category is called the ultimate dimension. In this work, we study Orlov spectra of triangulated categories arising in mirror symmetry. We introduce the notion of gaps and outline their geometric significance. We provide the first large class of examples where the ultimate dimension is finite: categories of singularities associated to isolated hypersurface singularities. Similarly, given any nonzero object in the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a smooth Calabi-Yau hypersurface, we produce a generator, by closing the object under a certain monodromy action, and uniformly bound this generator’s generation time. In addition, we provide new upper bounds on the generation times of exceptional collections and connect generation time to braid group actions to provide a lower bound on the ultimate dimension of the derived Fukaya category of a symplectic surface of genus greater than one.     

A solution to de Groot’s absolute cone conjecture

A compactum X is an ‘absolute cone’ if, for each of its points x, the space X is homeomorphic to a cone with x corresponding to the cone point. In 1971, J. de Groot conjectured that each n-dimensional absolute cone is an n-cell. In this paper, we give a complete solution to that conjecture. In particular, we show that the conjecture is true for n≤3 and false for n≥5. For n=4, the absolute cone conjecture is true if and only if the 3-dimensional Poincaré Conjecture is true.     

Diameters of 3-sphere quotients

Let G⊂O(4) act isometrically on S³. In this article we calculate a lower bound for the diameter of the quotient spaces S³/G. We find it to be , which is exactly the value of the lower bound for diameters of the spherical space forms. In the process, we are also able to find a lower bound for diameters for the spherical Aleksandrov spaces, Sn/G, of cohomogeneities 1 and 2, as well as for cohomogeneity 3 (with some restrictions on the group type). This leads us to conjecture that the diameter of Sn/G is increasing as the cohomogeneity of the group G increases.     

A new upper bound for the cross number of finite abelian groups

In this paper, building among others on earlier works by U. Krause and C. Zahlten (dealing with the case of cyclic groups), we obtain a new upper bound for the little cross number valid in the general case of arbitrary finite abelian groups. Given a finite abelian group, this upper bound appears to depend only on the rank and the number of distinct prime divisors of the exponent. The main theorem of this paper allows us, among other consequences, to prove that a classical conjecture concerning the cross and little cross numbers of finite abelian groups holds asymptotically in at least two different directions.     

Extensions of the Multiplicity conjecture

The Multiplicity conjecture of Herzog, Huneke, and Srinivasan states an upper bound for the multiplicity of any graded -algebra as well as a lower bound for Cohen-Macaulay algebras. In this note we extend this conjecture in several directions. We discuss when these bounds are sharp, find a sharp lower bound in the case of not necessarily arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay one-dimensional schemes of 3-space, and propose an upper bound for finitely generated graded torsion modules. We establish this bound for torsion modules whose codimension is at most two.

     

On the deque conjecture for the splay algorithm

Splay is a simple, efficient algorithm for searching binary search trees, devised by Sleator and Tarjan, that reorganizes the tree after each search by means of rotations. An open conjecture of Sleator and Tarjan states that Splay is, in essence, the fastest algorithm for processing any sequence of search operations on a binary search tree, using only rotations to reorganize the tree. Tarjan proved a basic special case of this conjecture, called theScanning Theorem, and conjectured a more general special case, called theDeque Conjecture. The Deque Conjecture states that Splay requires linear time to process sequences of deque operations on a binary tree. We prove the following results:

1. Almost tight lower and upper bounds on the maximum numbers of occurrences of various types of right rotations in a sequence of right rotations performed on a binary tree. In particular, the lower bound for right 2-turns refutes Sleator's Right Turn Conjecture.
2. A linear times inverse Ackerman upper bound for the Deque Conjecture. This bound is derived using the above upper bounds.
3. Two new proofs of the Scanning Theorem, one, a simple potential-based proof that solves Tarjan's problem of finding a potential-based proof for the theorem, the other, an inductive proof that generalizes the theorem.

     

On nilpotent ideals in the cohomology ring of a finite group

In this paper we find upper bounds for the nilpotency degree of some ideals in the cohomology ring of a finite group by studying fixed point free actions of the group on suitable spaces. The ideals we study are the kernels of restriction maps to certain collections of proper subgroups. We recover the Quillen-Venkov lemma and the Quillen F-injectivity theorem as corollaries, and discuss some generalizations and further applications.We then consider the essential cohomology conjecture, and show that it is related to group actions on connected graphs. We discuss an obstruction for constructing a fixed point free action of a group on a connected graph with zero “k-invariant” and study the class related to this obstruction. It turns out that this class is a “universal essential class” for the group and controls many questions about the groups essential cohomology and transfers from proper subgroups.     

Combinatorics of Polytopes with a Group of Linear Symmetries of Prime Power Order

Generalizing a result of Stanley on centrally symmetric polytopes, Adin has derived tight lower bounds for the face numbers of a rational simplical polytope equipped with a fixed-point-free linear action of a cyclic group G of prime power order. The main goal of this paper is to extend these results further by replacing Adins fixed-point-free condition with the assumption that the action of G is proper. As corollaries, we obtain a generalization of Adins equivariant lower bound theorem and of a condition by Stanley implying combinatorial isomorphism with a minimal polytope. Finally, we prove sufficiency of an equivariant version of the McMullen and Walkup generalized lower bound conjecture.     

The Teichmüller TQFT volume conjecture for twist knots

The Teichmüller TQFT, defined by Andersen and Kashaev, gives rise to a quantum invariant of triangulated hyperbolic knot complements; it has an associated volume conjecture, where the hyperbolic volume of the knot appears as a certain asymptotic coefficient.In this note, we announce a proof of this volume conjecture for all twist knots up to 14 crossings; along the way we explicitly compute the partition function of the Teichmüller TQFT for the whole infinite family of twist knots.Among other tools, we use an algorithm of Thurston to construct a convenient ideal triangulation of a twist knot complement, as well as the saddle point method for computing limits of complex integrals with parameters.     

The height of faces of 3-polytopes

The height of a face in a 3-polytope is the maximum degree of the incident vertices of the face, and the height of a 3-polytope, h, is the minimum height of its faces. A face is pyramidal if it is either a 4-face incident with three 3-vertices, or a 3-face incident with two vertices of degree at most 4. If pyramidal faces are allowed, then h can be arbitrarily large; so we assume the absence of pyramidal faces. In 1940, Lebesgue proved that every quadrangulated 3-polytope has h ≤ 11. In 1995, this bound was lowered by Avgustinovich and Borodin to 10. Recently, we improved it to the sharp bound 8. For plane triangulation without 4-vertices, Borodin (1992), confirming the Kotzig conjecture of 1979, proved that h ≤ 20 which bound is sharp. Later, Borodin (1998) proved that h ≤ 20 for all triangulated 3-polytopes. Recently, we obtained the sharp bound 10 for triangle-free 3-polytopes. In 1996, Horňák and Jendrol’ proved for arbitrarily 3-polytopes that h ≤ 23. In this paper we improve this bound to the sharp bound 20.