A combinatorial condition on a certain variety of groups

Let n be an integer and B_n \mathcal B_n be the variety defined by the law [xⁿ,y][x,yⁿ]^-1 = 1.¶ Let B_n^* \mathcal B_n^* be the class of groups in which for any infinite subsets X, Y there exist x ? X x \in X and y ? Y y \in Y such that [xⁿ,y][x,yⁿ]^-1 = 1. For $ n \in {\pm 2, 3\} $ n \in {\pm 2, 3\} we prove that¶ B_n^* = B_n èF \mathcal B_n^* = \mathcal B_n \cup \mathcal F , F \mathcal F being the class of finite groups. Also for $ n \in {- 3, 4\} $ n \in {- 3, 4\} and an infinite group G which has finitely many elements of order 2 or 3 we prove that G ? B_n^* G \in \mathcal B_n^* if and only if G ? B_n G \in \mathcal B_n .     

The Theorem of the k-1 Happy Divorces

Given a binary relation R between the elements of two sets X and Y and a natural number k, it is shown that there exist k injective maps f₁, f₂,...,f_k: X \hookrightarrow Y X \hookrightarrow Y with # {f₁(x), f₂(x),...,f_k(x)}=k    and    (x,f₁(x)), (x, f₂(x)),...,(x, f_k(x)) ? R \# \{f_1(x), f_2(x),...,f_k(x)\}=k \quad{\rm and}\quad (x,f_1(x)), (x, f_2(x)),...,(x, f_k(x)) \in R for all x ? X x \in X if and only if the inequality k ·# A ￡ ?_{y ? Y} min(k, #{a ? A | (a,y) ? R}) k \cdot \# A \leq \sum_{y \in Y} min(k, \#\{a \in A \mid (a,y) \in R\}) holds for every finite subset A of X, provided {y ? Y | (x,y) ? R} \{y \in Y \mid (x,y) \in R\} is finite for all x ? X x \in X .¶Clearly, as suggested by this paper's title, this implies that, in the context of the celebrated Marriage Theorem, the elements x in X can (simultaneously) marry, get divorced, and remarry again a partner from their favourite list as recorded by R, for altogether k times whenever (a) the list of favoured partners is finite for every x ? X x \in X and (b) the above inequalities all hold.¶In the course of the argument, a straightforward common generalization of Bernstein's Theorem and the Marriage Theorem will also be presented while applications regarding (i) bases in infinite dimensional vector spaces and (ii) incidence relations in finite geometry (inspired by Conway's double sum proof of the de Bruijn-Erdös Theorem) will conclude the paper.     

Extension theorems for functional equations with bisymmetric operations

Summary. In this paper we deal with the extension of the following functional equation¶¶ f (x) = M (f (m₁(x, y)), ..., f (m_k(x, y)))        (x, y ? K) f (x) = M \bigl(f (m_{1}(x, y)), \dots, f (m_{k}(x, y))\bigr) \qquad (x, y \in K) , (*)¶ where M is a k-variable operation on the image space Y, m₁,..., m_k are binary operations on X, K ì X K \subset X is closed under the operations m₁,..., m_k, and f : K ? Y f : K \rightarrow Y is considered as an unknown function.¶ The main result of this paper states that if the operations m₁,..., m_k, M satisfy certain commutativity relations and f satisfies (*) then there exists a unique extension of f to the (m₁,..., m_k)-affine hull K^* of K, such that (*) holds over K^*. (The set K^* is defined as the smallest subset of X that contains K and is (m₁,..., m_k)-affine, i.e., if x ? X x \in X , and there exists y ? K^* y \in K^* such that m₁(x, y), ?, m_k(x, y) ? K^* m_{1}(x, y), \ldots, m_{k}(x, y) \in K^* then x ? K^* x \in K^* ). As applications, extension theorems for functional equations on Abelian semigroups, convex sets, and symmetric convex sets are obtained.     

Polar factorization of maps on Riemannian manifolds

Let (M,g) be a connected compact manifold, C³ smooth and without boundary, equipped with a Riemannian distance d(x,y). If s : M ? M s : M \to M is merely Borel and never maps positive volume into zero volume, we show s = t °u s = t \circ u factors uniquely a.e. into the composition of a map t(x) = exp_x[-?y(x)] t(x) = {\rm exp}_x[-\nabla\psi(x)] and a volume-preserving map u : M ? M u : M \to M , where y: M ? \bold R \psi : M \to {\bold R} satisfies the additional property that (y^c)^c = y (\psi^c)^c = \psi with y^c(y) :=inf{c(x,y) - y(x) | x ? M} \psi^c(y) :={\rm inf}\{c(x,y) - \psi(x)\,\vert\,x \in M\} and c(x,y) = d²(x,y)/2. Like the factorization it generalizes from Euclidean space, this non-linear decomposition can be linearized around the identity to yield the Hodge decomposition of vector fields.¶The results are obtained by solving a Riemannian version of the Monge--Kantorovich problem, which means minimizing the expected value of the cost c(x,y) for transporting one distribution f 3 0 f \ge 0 of mass in L¹(M) onto another. Parallel results for other strictly convex cost functions c(x,y) 3 0 c(x,y) \ge 0 of the Riemannian distance on non-compact manifolds are briefly discussed.     

Bounded solutions of the Golab—Schinzel equation

Summary. Let \Bbb K {\Bbb K} be either the field of reals or the field of complex numbers, X be an F-space (i.e. a Fréchet space) over \Bbb K {\Bbb K} n be a positive integer, and f : X ? \Bbb K f : X \to {\Bbb K} be a solution of the functional equation¶¶f(x + f(x)ⁿ y) = f(x) f(y) f(x + f(x)^n y) = f(x) f(y) .¶We prove that, if there is a real positive a such that the set { x ? X : |f(x)| ? (0, a)} \{ x \in X : |f(x)| \in (0, a)\} contains a subset of second category and with the Baire property, then f is continuous or { x ? X : |f(x)| ? (0, a)} \{ x \in X : |f(x)| \in (0, a)\} for every x ? X x \in X . As a consequence of this we obtain the following fact: Every Baire measurable solution f : X ? \Bbb K f : X \to {\Bbb K} of the equation is continuous or equal zero almost everywhere (i.e., there is a first category set A ì X A \subset X with f(X \A) = { 0 }) f(X \backslash A) = \{ 0 \}) .     

Wilson's functional equation on P3-groups

Summary. Consider Wilson's functional equation¶¶f(xy) + f(xy^-1) = 2f(f)g(y) f(xy) + f(xy^{-1}) = 2f(f)g(y) , for f,g : G ? K f,g : G \to K ¶where G is a group and K a field with char K 1 2 {\rm char}\, K\ne 2 .¶Aczél, Chung and Ng in 1989 have solved Wilson's equation, assuming that the function g satisfies Kannappan's condition g(xyz) = g(xzy) and f(xy) = f(yx) for all x,y,z ? G x,y,z\in G .¶In the present paper we obtain the general solution of Wilson's equation when G is a P₃-group and we show that there exist solutions different of those obtained by Aczél, Chung and Ng.¶A group G is said to be a P₃-group if the commutator subgroup G' of G, generated by all commutators [x,y] := x^-1y^-1xy, has the order one or two.     

Behaviour of doubly connected minimal surfaces at the edges of the support surface

This paper is the second part of our investigations on doubly connected minimal surfaces which are stationary in a boundary configuration (G, S) (\Gamma, S) in \Bbb R ³ \Bbb R ^3 . The support surface S is a vertical cylinder above a simple closed polygon P(S) P(S) in the x,y-plane. The surrounding Jordan curve G \Gamma is chosen as a generalized graph above its convex projection curve P(G) P(\Gamma) . In [23] we have proved the existence of nonparametric minimal surfaces X of annulus type spanning such boundary configurations. We study the behaviour of these minimal surfaces at the edges of the support surface S. In particular we discuss the phenomenon of edge-creeping, i. e. the fact that the free trace of X may attach to an edge of S in a full interval. We prove that a solution X cuts any intruding edge of S perpendicularly. On the other hand, we derive a condition which forces X to exhibit the edge-creeping behaviour. Depending on the symmetries of (G, S) (\Gamma, S) we give bounds on the number of edges where edge-creeping occurs. Let (x,y,Z (x,y)) (x,y,\hbox {Z} (x,y)) for (x,y) ? G (x,y)\in G be the nonparametric representation of X. Then at every vertex Q of P(S) P(S) the radial limits of Z from all directions in G exist.     

A wavelike functional equation of Pexider type

Summary. Let (G, +) and (H, +) be abelian groups such that the equation 2u = v 2u = v is solvable in both G and H. It is shown that if f₁, f₂, f₃, f₄, : G ×G ? H f_1, f_2, f_3, f_4, : G \times G \longrightarrow H satisfy the functional equation f₁(x + t, y + s) + f₂(x - t, y - s) = f₃(x + s, y - t) + f₄(x - s, y + t) for all x, y, s, t ? G x, y, s, t \in G , then f₁, f₂, f₃, and f₄ are given by f₁ = w + h, f₂ = w - h, f₃ = w + k, f₄ = w - k where w : G ×G ? H w : G \times G \longrightarrow H is an arbitrary solution of f (x + t, y + s) + f (x - t, y - s) = f (x + s, y - t) + f (x - s, y + t) for all x, y, s, t ? G x, y, s, t \in G , and h, k : G ×G ? H h, k : G \times G \longrightarrow H are arbitrary solutions of D_y,t³g(x,y) = 0 \Delta_{y,t}^{3}g(x,y) = 0 and D_x,t³g(x,y) = 0 \Delta_{x,t}^{3}g(x,y) = 0 for all x, y, s, t ? G x, y, s, t \in G .     

Equality of two variable weighted means: reduction to differential equations

Summary. Let F, Y \Phi, \Psi be strictly monotonic continuous functions, F,G be positive functions on an interval I and let n ? \Bbb N \{1} n \in {\Bbb N} \setminus \{1\} . The functional equation¶¶F^-1 ([(?_i=1ⁿF(x_i)F(x_i))/(?_i=1ⁿ F(x_i)]) Y^-1 ([(?_i=1ⁿY(x_i)G(x_i))/(?_i=1ⁿ G(x_i))])  (x₁,?,x_n ? I) \Phi^{-1}\,\left({\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n}\Phi(x_{i})F(x_{i})\over\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} F(x_{i}}\right) \Psi^{-1}\,\left({\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n}\Psi(x_{i})G(x_{i})\over\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} G(x_{i})}\right)\,\,(x_{1},\ldots,x_{n} \in I) ¶was solved by Bajraktarevi' [3] for a fixed n 3 3 n\ge 3 . Assuming that the functions involved are twice differentiable he proved that the above functional equation holds if and only if¶¶Y(x) = [(aF(x) + b)/(cF(x) + d)],       G(x) = kF(x)(cF(x) + d) \Psi(x) = {a\Phi(x)\,+\,b\over c\Phi(x)\,+\,d},\qquad G(x) = kF(x)(c\Phi(x) + d) ¶where a,b,c,d,k are arbitrary constants with k(c²+d²)(ad-bc) 1 0 k(c^2+d^2)(ad-bc)\ne 0 . Supposing the functional equation for all n = 2,3,... n = 2,3,\dots Aczél and Daróczy [2] obtained the same result without differentiability conditions.¶The case of fixed n = 2 is, as in many similar problems, much more difficult and allows considerably more solutions. Here we assume only that the same functional equation is satisfied for n = 2 and solve it under the supposition that the functions involved are six times differentiable. Our main tool is the deduction of a sixth order differential equation for the function j = F°Y^-1 \varphi = \Phi\circ\Psi^{-1} . We get 32 new families of solutions.     

On Lipschitz selections of affine-set valued mappings

We prove a Helly-type theorem for the family of all k-dimensional affine subsets of a Hilbert space H. The result is formulated in terms of Lipschitz selections of set-valued mappings from a metric space (M,r) ({\cal M},\rho) into this family.¶Let F be such a mapping satisfying the following condition: for every subset M￠ ì M {\cal M'} \subset {\cal M} consisting of at most 2^k+1 points, the restriction F|_M￠ F|_{\cal M'} of F to M￠ {\cal M'} has a selection f_M￠ (i.e. f_M￠(x) ? F(x) for all x  ? M￠) f_{\cal M'}\,({\rm i.e.}\,f_{\cal M'}(x) \in F(x)\,{\rm for\,all}\,x\,\in {\cal M'}) satisfying the Lipschitz condition ||f_M￠(x) - f_M￠(y)||  ￡ r(x,y ), x,y ? M￠ \parallel f_{\cal M'}(x) - f_{\cal M'}(y)\parallel\,\le \rho(x,y ),\,x,y \in {\cal M'} . Then F has a Lipschitz selection f : M ? H f : {\cal M} \to H such that ||f(x) - f(y) ||  ￡ gr(x,y ), x,y ? M \parallel f(x) - f(y) \parallel\,\le \gamma \rho (x,y ),\,x,y \in {\cal M} where g = g(k) \gamma = \gamma(k) is a constant depending only on k. (The upper bound of the number of points in M￠ {\cal M'} , 2^k+1, is sharp.)¶The proof is based on a geometrical construction which allows us to reduce the problem to an extension property of Lipschitz mappings defined on subsets of metric trees.     

On quasimonotone increasing homeomorphisms

Let f ? C(\Bbb Rⁿ,\Bbb Rⁿ) f\in C(\Bbb R^n,\Bbb R^n) be quasimonotone increasing such that Y(f(y)-f(x)) ￡ -c Y(y-x) (x << y) \Psi (f(y)-f(x)) \!\le -c \Psi (y-x) (x\ll y) for a linear and strictly positive functional Y \Psi and c > 0. We prove that f is a homeomorphism with decreasing and Lipschitz continuous inverse and we prove the global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium solution of x￠=f(x) x'=f(x) .     

On the existence of certain measures appearing in distance geometry

Abstract. We prove the following result: Let X be a compact connected Hausdorff space and f be a continuous function on X x X. There exists some regular Borel probability measure m\mu on X such that the value of¶¶ ò\limit _X f(x,y)dm(y)\int\limit _X f(x,y)d\mu (y) is independent of the choice of x in X if and only if the following assertion holds: For each positive integer n and for all (not necessarily distinct) x₁,x₂,...,x_n,y₁,y₂,...,y_n in X, there exists an x in X such that¶¶ ?_i=1ⁿ f(x_i,x)=?_i=1ⁿ f(y_i,x).\sum\limits _{i=1}^n f(x_i,x)=\sum\limits _{i=1}^n f(y_i,x).     

Linear Maps Preserving Operators of Local Spectral Radius Zero

Let X be a complex Banach space and let B(X){\mathcal{B}(X)} be the space of all bounded linear operators on X. For x ? X{x \in X} and T ? B(X){T \in \mathcal{B}(X)}, let r_T(x) = limsup_{n ? ￥} || Tⁿx|| ^1/n{r_{T}(x) =\limsup_{n \rightarrow \infty} \| T^{n}x\| ^{1/n}} denote the local spectral radius of T at x. We prove that if j: B(X) ? B(X){\varphi : \mathcal{B}(X) \rightarrow \mathcal{B}(X)} is linear and surjective such that for every x ? X{x \in X} we have r _T (x) = 0 if and only if r_j(T)(x) = 0{r_{\varphi(T)}(x) = 0}, there exists then a nonzero complex number c such that j(T) = cT{\varphi(T) = cT} for all T ? B(X){T \in \mathcal{B}(X) }. We also prove that if Y is a complex Banach space and j:B(X) ? B(Y){\varphi :\mathcal{B}(X) \rightarrow \mathcal{B}(Y)} is linear and invertible for which there exists B ? B(Y, X){B \in \mathcal{B}(Y, X)} such that for y ? Y{y \in Y} we have r _T (By) = 0 if and only if r_{j( T)} (y)=0{ r_{\varphi ( T) }(y)=0}, then B is invertible and there exists a nonzero complex number c such that j(T) = cB^-1TB{\varphi(T) =cB^{-1}TB} for all T ? B(X){T \in \mathcal{B}(X)}.     

Orthogonalities in linear spaces and difference operators

Summary. Quite recently C. Alsina, P. Cruells and M. S. Tomás [2], motivated by F. Suzuki's property of isosceles trapezoids, have proposed the following orthogonality relation in a real normed linear space (X, ||·||) (X, \Vert \cdot \Vert) : two vectors x,y ? X x,y \in X are T-orthogonal whenever¶||z-x ||² + ||z-y ||² = ||z ||² + ||z-(x+y) ||² \Vert z-x \Vert^2 + \Vert z-y \Vert^2 = \Vert z \Vert^2 + \Vert z-(x+y) \Vert^2 ¶for every z ? X z \in X . A natural question arises whether an analogue of T-orthogonality may be defined in any real linear space (without a norm structure). Our proposal reads as follows. Given a functional j \varphi on a real linear space X we say that two vectors x,y ? X x,y \in X are j \varphi -orthogonal (and write x^_jy x\perp_{\varphi}y ) provided that D_x,yj = 0 \Delta_{x,y}\varphi = 0 (D_h1,h2 \Delta_{h_1,h_2} stands here and in the sequel for the superposition D_h1 °D_h2 \Delta_{h_1} \circ \Delta_{h_2} of the usual difference operators).¶We are looking for necessary and/or sufficient conditions upon the functional j \varphi to generate a j \varphi -orthogonality such that the pair X,^_j X,\perp_{\varphi} forms an orthogonality space in the sense of J. Rätz (cf. [6]). Two new characterizations of inner product spaces as well as a generalization of some results obtained in [2] are presented.     

Diameter preserving linear maps and isometries

We study linear bijections of C(X) which preserve the diameter of the range, that is, the seminorm r(f)=sup{|f(x)-f(y)| : x, y ? X}\varrho (f)={\rm sup}\{|f(x)-f(y)| : x, y\in X\}.     

Odd order groups with the rewriting property Q3

Let n be an integer greater than 1, and let G be a group. A subset {x₁, x₂, ..., x_n} of n elements of G is said to be rewritable if there are distinct permutations p \pi and s \sigma of {1, 2, ..., n} such that¶¶x_p(1)x_p(2) ?x_p(n) = x_s(1)x_s(2) ?x_s(n). x_{\pi(1)}x_{\pi(2)} \ldots x_{\pi(n)} = x_{\sigma(1)}x_{\sigma(2)} \ldots x_{\sigma(n)}. ¶¶A group is said to have the rewriting property Q_n if every subset of n elements of the group is rewritable. In this paper we prove that a finite group of odd order has the property Q₃ if and only if its derived subgroup has order not exceeding 5.     

On groups acting freely on a tree

Suppose we are given a group G\mit\Gamma and a tree X on which G\mit\Gamma acts. Let d be the distance in the tree. Then we are interested in the asymptotic behavior of the numbers a_d: = # {w ? vertX : w=gv, g ? G , d(v₀,w)=d }a_d:= \# \{w\in {\rm {vert}}X : w=\gamma {v}, \gamma \in {\mit\Gamma} , d({v}_0,w)=d \} if d? ￥d\rightarrow \infty , where v, v_o are some fixed vertices in X.¶ In this paper we consider the case where G\mit\Gamma is a finitely generated group acting freely on a tree X. The growth function ?a_d x^d\textstyle\sum\limits a_d x^d is a rational function [3], which we describe explicitely. From this we get estimates for the radius of convergence of the series. For the cases where G\mit\Gamma is generated by one or two elements, we look a little bit closer at the denominator of this rational function. At the end we give one concrete example.     

Functional equations on semigroups

Summary. We determine the general solution g:S? F g:S\to F of the d'Alembert equation¶¶g(x+y)+g(x+sy)=2g(x)g(y)       (x,y ? S) g(x+y)+g(x+\sigma y)=2g(x)g(y)\qquad (x,y\in S) ,¶the general solution g:S? G g:S\to G of the Jensen equation¶¶g(x+y)+g(x+sy)=2g(x)       (x,y ? S) g(x+y)+g(x+\sigma y)=2g(x)\qquad (x,y\in S) ,¶and the general solution g:S? H g:S\to H of the quadratic equation¶¶g(x+y)+g(x+sy)=2g(x)+2g(y)       (x,y ? S) g(x+y)+g(x+\sigma y)=2g(x)+2g(y)\qquad (x,y\in S) ,¶ where S is a commutative semigroup, F is a quadratically closed commutative field of characteristic different from 2, G is a 2-cancellative abelian group, H is an abelian group uniquely divisible by 2, and s \sigma is an endomorphism of S with s(s(x)) = x \sigma(\sigma(x)) = x .     

Second Neighborhood via First Neighborhood in Digraphs

Let D be a simple digraph without loops or digons. For any v ? V(D) v\in V(D) , the first out-neighborhood N⁺(v) is the set of all vertices with out-distance 1 from v and the second neighborhood N⁺⁺(v) of v is the set of all vertices with out-distance 2 from v. We show that every simple digraph without loops or digons contains a vertex v such that |N⁺⁺(v)| 3 g|N⁺(v)| |N^{++}(v)|\geq\gamma|N^+(v)| , where % = 0.657298... is the unique real root of the equation 2x³ + x² -1 = 0.     

Linear independence of time-frequency shifts under a generalized Schrödinger representation

Let r_\mathbbR \rho_{\mathbb{R}} be the classical Schrödinger representation of the Heisenberg group and let L \Lambda be a finite subset of \mathbbR ×\mathbbR \mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R} . The question of when the set of functions {t ? e^{2 pi y t} f(t + x) = (r_\mathbbR(x, y, 1) f)(t) : (x, y) ? L} \{t \mapsto e^{2 \pi i y t} f(t + x) = (\rho_{\mathbb{R}}(x, y, 1) f)(t) : (x, y) \in \Lambda\} is linearly independent for all f ? L²(\mathbbR), f 1 0 f \in L^2(\mathbb{R}), f \neq 0 , arises from Gabor analysis. We investigate an analogous problem for locally compact abelian groups G. For a finite subset L \Lambda of G ×[^(G)] G \times \widehat{G} and r_G \rho_G the Schrödinger representation of the Heisenberg group associated with G, we give a necessary and in many situations also sufficient condition for the set {r_G (x, w, 1)f : (x, w) ? L} \{\rho_G (x, w, 1)f : (x, w) \in \Lambda\} to be linearly independent for all f ? L²(G), f 1 0 f \in L^2(G), f \neq 0 .