The Number of <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Sumsets in an Abelian Group

Let G be an abelian group of order n. The sum of subsets A₁,...,A_k of G is defined as the collection of all sums of k elements from A₁,...,A_k; i.e., A₁ + A₂ + · · · + A_k = {a₁ + · · · + a_k | a₁ ∈ A₁,..., a_k ∈ A_k}. A subset representable as the sum of k subsets of G is a k-sumset. We consider the problem of the number of k-sumsets in an abelian group G. It is obvious that each subset A in G is a k-sumset since A is representable as A = A₁ + · · · + A_k, where A₁ = A and A₂ = · · · = A_k = {0}. Thus, the number of k-sumsets is equal to the number of all subsets of G. But, if we introduce a constraint on the size of the summands A₁,...,A_k then the number of k-sumsets becomes substantially smaller. A lower and upper asymptotic bounds of the number of k-sumsets in abelian groups are obtained provided that there exists a summand A_i such that |A_i| = n log^qn and |A₁ +· · ·+ A_i-1 + A_i+1 + · · ·+A_k| = n log^qn, where q = -1/8 and i ∈ {1,..., k}.     

Block partitions of sequences

Given a sequence A = (a ₁, …, a _n ) of real numbers, a block B of A is either a set B = {a _i , a _i+1, …, a _j } where i ≤ j or the empty set. The size b of a block B is the sum of its elements. We show that when each a _i ∈ [0, 1] and k is a positive integer, there is a partition of A into k blocks B ₁, …, B _k with |b _i ?b _j | ≤ 1 for every i, j. We extend this result in several directions.     

Optimum super-simple mixed covering arrays of type <Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>−1</Superscript>

A mixed covering array (MCA) of type (_v 1, v ₂,..., v _k ), denoted by MCA_λ (N; t, k, (v ₁, v ₂,..., v _k )), is an N × k array with entries in the i-th column from a set _{V i} of v _i symbols and has the property that each N × t sub-array covers all the t-tuples at least λ times, where 1 ≤ i ≤ k. An MCA _λ (N; t, k, (_v 1, v ₂,..., v _k )) is said to be super-simple, if each of its N × (t + 1) sub-arrays contains each (t + 1)-tuple at most once. Recently, it was proved by Tang, Yin and the author that an optimum super-simple MCA of type (a, b, b,..., b) is equivalent to a mixed detecting array (DTA) of type (a, b, b,..., b) with optimum size. Such DTAs can be used to generate test suites to identify and determine the interaction faults between the factors in a component-based system. In this paper, some combinatorial constructions of optimum super-simple MCAs of type (a, b, b,..., b) are provided. By employing these constructions, some optimum super-simple MCAs are then obtained. In particular, the spectrum across which optimum super-simple MCA₂(2b ²; 2, 4, (a, b, b, b))′s exist, is completely determined, where 2 ≤ a ≤ b.     

On a matrix trace inequality due to Ando,Hiai and Okubo

Ando et al. have proved that inequality \(\Re \mathfrak{e}trA^{p_1 } B^{q_1 \ldots } A^{p_k } B^{q_k } \leqslant trA^{p_1 + \ldots + p_k } B^{q_1 + \ldots + q_k }p\) is valid for all positive semidefinite matrices A,B and those nonnegative real numbers p₁, q₁,..., p_k, q_k which satisfy certain additional conditions. We give an example to show that this inequality is not valid for all collections of p₁, q₁,..., p_k, q_k ≥ 0. We also study related trace inequalities.     

Centralizers of generalized skew derivations on multilinear polynomials

Let R be a prime ring of characteristic different from 2, let Q be the right Martindale quotient ring of R, and let C be the extended centroid of R. Suppose that G is a nonzero generalized skew derivation of R and f(x ₁,..., x _n ) is a noncentral multilinear polynomial over C with n noncommuting variables. Let f(R) = {f(r ₁,..., r _n ): r _i ∈ R} be the set of all evaluations of f(x ₁,..., x _n ) in R, while A = {[G (f(r ₁,..., r _n )), f(r ₁,..., r _n )]: r _i ∈ R}, and let C _R (A) be the centralizer of A in R; i.e., C _R (A) = {a ∈ R: [a, x] = 0, ? _x ∈ A }. We prove that if A ≠ (0), then C _R (A) = Z(R).     

Paranormal Elements in Normed Algebra

For a normed algebra A and natural numbers k we introduce and investigate the ∥ · ∥ closed classes P _k (A). We show that P₁(A) is a subset of P _k (A) for all k. If T in P₁(A), then Tⁿ lies in P₁(A) for all natural n. If A is unital, U, V ∈ A are such that ∥U∥ = ∥V∥ = 1, VU = I and T lies in P _k (A), then UTV lies in P _k (A) for all natural k. Let A be unital, then 1) if an element T in P₁(A) is right invertible, then any right inverse element T^?1 lies in P₁(A); 2) for ßßIßß = 1 the class P₁(A) consists of normaloid elements; 3) if the spectrum of an element T, T ∈ P₁(A) lies on the unit circle, then ∥TX∥ = ∥X∥ for all X ∈ A. If A = B(H), then the class P₁(A) coincides with the set of all paranormal operators on a Hilbert space H.     

On Tverberg partitions

A theorem of Tverberg from 1966 asserts that every set X ? ? ^d of n = T(d, r) = (d + 1)(r ? 1) + 1 points can be partitioned into r pairwise disjoint subsets, whose convex hulls have a point in common. Thus every such partition induces an integer partition of n into r parts (that is, r integers a ₁,..., a _r satisfying n = a ₁ + ··· + a _r ), in which the parts a _i correspond to the number of points in every subset. In this paper, we prove that for any partition of n where the parts satisfy a _i ≤ d + 1 for all i = 1,..., r, there exists a set X ? ? of n points, such that every Tverberg partition of X induces the same partition on n, given by the parts a ₁,..., a _r .     

On Dominions of the Rationals in Nilpotent Groups

The dominion of a subgroup H of a group G in a class M is the set of all a ∈ G that have the same images under every pair of homomorphisms, coinciding on H from G to a group in M. A group H is n-closed in M if for every group G = gr(H, a₁,..., a_n) in M that includes H and is generated modulo H by some n elements, the dominion of H in G (in M) is equal to H. We prove that the additive group of the rationals is 2-closed in every quasivariety of torsion-free nilpotent groups of class at most 3.     

On the k-polygonal numbers and the mean value of Dedekind sums

For any positive integer k ≥ 3, it is easy to prove that the k-polygonal numbers are a_n(k) = (2n+n(n?1)(k?2))/2. The main purpose of this paper is, using the properties of Gauss sums and Dedekind sums, the mean square value theorem of Dirichlet L-functions and the analytic methods, to study the computational problem of one kind mean value of Dedekind sums S(a_n(k)ā_m(k), p) for k-polygonal numbers with 1 ≤ m, n ≤ p ? 1, and give an interesting computational formula for it.     

The boundary of the outer space of a free product

Let G be a countable group that splits as a free product of groups of the form G = G ₁ *···* G _k * F _N , where F _N is a finitely generated free group. We identify the closure of the outer space PO(G, {G ₁,..., G _k }) for the axes topology with the space of projective minimal, very small (G, {G ₁,..., G _k })-trees, i.e. trees whose arc stabilizers are either trivial, or cyclic, closed under taking roots, and not conjugate into any of the G _i ’s, and whose tripod stabilizers are trivial. Its topological dimension is equal to 3N + 2k ? 4, and the boundary has dimension 3N + 2k ? 5. We also prove that any very small (G, {G ₁,..., G _k })-tree has at most 2N + 2k?2 orbits of branch points.     

Generalized separants of differential polynomials

Let f ∈ K{y} be an element of the ring of differential polynomials in one differential variable y with one differential operator δ. For any variable y _k , the polynomial g = δ ⁿ (f) can be represented in the form g = A _k y _k + go, where go does not depend on y _k . If y _k is the leader of g, then A _k is a separant of the polynomial f. A formula for A _k is obtained for sufficiently large numbers n and k and some applications of this formula are presented.     

Tensor convolutions and Hankel tensors

Let A be an mth order n-dimensional tensor, where m, n are some positive integers and N:= m(n?1). Then A is called a Hankel tensor associated with a vector v ∈ ?^N+1 if A_σ = v _k for each k = 0, 1,...,N whenever σ = (i₁,..., i_m) satisfies i₁ +· · ·+i_m = m+k. We introduce the elementary Hankel tensors which are some special Hankel tensors, and present all the eigenvalues of the elementary Hankel tensors for k = 0, 1, 2. We also show that a convolution can be expressed as the product of some third-order elementary Hankel tensors, and a Hankel tensor can be decomposed as a convolution of two Vandermonde matrices following the definition of the convolution of tensors. Finally, we use the properties of the convolution to characterize Hankel tensors and (0,1) Hankel tensors.     

Small prime solutions to cubic equations

Let a_1,..., a_9 be nonzero integers not of the same sign, and let b be an integer. Suppose that a_1,..., a_9 are pairwise coprime and a_1 + + a_9 ≡ b(mod 2). We apply the p-adic method of Davenport to find an explicit P = P(a_1,..., a_9, n) such that the cubic equation a_1p_1~3+ + a9p_9~3= b is solvable with p_j 《 P for all 1 ≤ j ≤ 9. It is proved that one can take P = max{|a_1|,..., |a_9|}~c+ |b|~(1/3) with c = 2. This improves upon the earlier result with c = 14 due to Liu(2013).     

Bent functions with stronger nonlinear properties: K-bent functions

We introduce the notion of k-bent function, i.e., a Boolean functionwith evennumber m of variables υ ₁, …, υ _m which can be approximated with all functions of the form 〈u, v〉 _j ⊕ a in the equally poor manner, where u ∈ ? ₂ ^m , a ∈ ?₂, and 1 ? j ? k. Here 〈·, ·〉 _j is an analog of the inner product of vectors; k changes from 1 to m/2. The operations 〈·, ·〉 _k , 1 ? k ? m/2, are defined by using the special series of binary Hadamard-like codes A _m ^k of length 2 ^m . Namely, the vectors of values for the functions 〈u, v〉 _k ⊕ a are codewords of the code A _m ^k . The codes A _m ^k are constructed using subcodes of the ?₄-linear Hadamard-like codes of length 2 ^m+1, which were classified by D. S. Krotov (2001). At that the code A _m ¹ is linear and A _m ¹ , …, A _m ^m/2 are pairwise nonequivalent. On the codewords of a code A _m ^k , we define a group operation ? coordinated with the Hamming metric. That is why we can consider k-bent functions as functions that are maximal nonlinear in k distinct senses of linearity at the same time. Bent functions in usual sense coincide with 1-bent functions. For k > ? ? 1, the class of k-bent functions is a proper subclass of the class of ?-bent functions. In the paper, we give methods for constructing k-bent functions and study their properties. It is shown that there exist k-bent functions with an arbitrary algebraic degree d, where 2 ? d ? max {2, m/2 ? k + 1}. Given an arbitrary k, we define the subset \(\mathfrak{F}_m^k \mathcal{F}_m^k \) of the set \(\mathfrak{F}_m^k \mathcal{F}_m^k \) \(\mathcal{A}_m^k \mathcal{B}_m^k \) of all Boolean functions in m variables with the following property: on this subset k-bent functions and 1-bent functions coincide.     

On 2-Closedness of the Rational Numbers in Quasivarieties of Nilpotent Groups

The dominion of a subgroup H of a group G in a class M is the set of all elements a ∈ G that have equal images under every pair of homomorphisms from G to a group of M coinciding on H. A group H is said to be n-closed in M if for every group G = gr(H, a₁,..., a _n ) of M that contains H and is generated modulo H by some n elements, the dominion of H in G (in M) is equal to H. We prove that the additive group of the rational numbers is 2-closed in every quasivariety M of torsion-free nilpotent groups of class at most 3 whenever every 2-generated group of M is relatively free.     

On a question of Sárközy on gaps of product sequences

Motivated by a question of Sárközy, we study the gaps in the product sequence B = A · A = {b ₁ < b ₂ < …} of all products a _i a _j with a _i , a _j ∈ A when A has upper Banach density α > 0. We prove that there are infinitely many gaps b _n+1 ? b _n ? α ^?3 and that for t ≥ 2 there are infinitely many t-gaps b _n+t ? b _n ? t ² α ^?4. Furthermore, we prove that these estimates are best possible.We also discuss a related question about the cardinality of the quotient set A/A = {a _i /a _j , a _i , a _j ∈ A} when A ? {1, …, N} and |A| = αN.     

A gradual rank increasing process for matrix completion

The matrix completion problem is easy to state: let A be a given data matrix in which some entries are unknown. Then, it is needed to assign “appropriate values” to these entries. A common way to solve this problem is to compute a rank-k matrix, B _k , that approximates A in a least squares sense. Then, the unknown entries in A attain the values of the corresponding entries in B _k . This raises the question of how to determine a suitable matrix rank. The method proposed in this paper attempts to answer this question. It builds a finite sequence of matrices \(B_{k}, k = 1, 2, \dots \), where B _k is a rank-k matrix that approximates A in a least squares sense. The computational effort is reduced by using B _k-1 as starting point in the computation of B _k . The ability of B _k to serve as substitute for A is measured with two objective functions: a “training” function that measures the distance between the known part of A and the corresponding part of B _k , and a “probe” function that assesses the quality of the imputed entries. Watching the changes in these functions as k increases enables us to find an optimal matrix rank. Numerical experiments illustrate the usefulness of the proposed approach.     

Consecutive integers in high-multiplicity sumsets

Sharpening (a particular case of) a result of Szemerédi and Vu [4] and extending earlier results of Sárközy [3] and ourselves [2], we find, subject to some technical restrictions, a sharp threshold for the number of integer sets needed for their sumset to contain a block of consecutive integers, whose length is comparable with the lengths of the set summands.A corollary of our main result is as follows. Let k,l≥1 and n≥3 be integers, and suppose that A ₁,…,A _k ?[0,l] are integer sets of size at least n, none of which is contained in an arithmetic progression with difference greater than 1. If k≥2?(l?1)/(n?2)?, then the sumset A ₁+???+A _k contains a block of at least k(n?1)+1 consecutive integers.     

Ranks of matrices with few distinct entries

It is consistent that P(ω ₁) is the union of less than \({2^{{\aleph _1}}}\) parts such that if A ₀,..., A _n?1, B ₀,..., B _m?1 are distinct elements of the same part, then |A ₀ ∩ · · · ∩ A _n?1 ∩ (ω ₁ ? B ₀) ∩ · · ·∩ (ω ₁ ? B _m?1)| = N₁.     

Nonlinear trigonometric approximations of multivariate function classes

Order-sharp estimates are established for the best N-term approximations of functions from Nikol’skii–Besov type classes B_pq^sm(T^k) with respect to the multiple trigonometric system T^(k) in the metric of L_r(T^k) for a number of relations between the parameters s, p, q, r, and m (s = (s₁,..., s_n) ∈ R₊ⁿ, 1 ≤ p, q, r ≤ ∞, m = (m₁,..., m_n) ∈ Nⁿ, k = m₁ +... + m_n). Constructive methods of nonlinear trigonometric approximation—variants of the so-called greedy algorithms—are used in the proofs of upper estimates.