Galois Theory for the Selmer Group of an Abelian Variety

This paper concerns the Galois theoretic behavior of the p-primary subgroup Sel _A (F) _p of the Selmer group for an Abelian variety A defined over a number field F in an extension K/F such that the Galois group G(K/F) is a p-adic Lie group. Here p is any prime such that A has potentially good, ordinary reduction at all primes of F lying above p. The principal results concern the kernel and the cokernel of the natural map s _K/F Sel _A (F) _p Sel _A (K) _p ^G(K/F) where F is any finite extension of F contained in K. Under various hypotheses on the extension K/F, it is proved that the kernel and cokernel are finite. More precise results about their structure are also obtained. The results are generalizations of theorems of B.Mazurand M. Harris.     

On the Coates–Sinnott Conjecture

Let E signify a totally real Abelian number field with a prime power conductor and ring of pintegers R _E for a prime p. Let G denote the Galois group of E over the rationals, and let be a padic character of G of order prime to p. Theorem A calculates, under a minor restriction on , the Fitting ideals of H ² _ét(R _E;Z _p (n/2+1))() over Z _p [G](). Here we require that n2 mod 4. These Fitting ideals are principal and generated by a Stickelberger element. This gives a partial verification and also a strong indication of the Coates–Sinnott conjecture.     

An intersection property of the simple random walks inZ d

Let {S _d (n)} _n0 be the simple random walk inZ ^d , and ^(d)(a,b)={S _d (n)Z ^d :anb}. Supposef(n) is an integer-valued function and increases to infinity asn tends to infinity, andE _n ^(d) ={^(d)(0,n)^(d)(n+f(n),)}. In this paper, a necessary and sufficient condition to ensureP(E _n ^d) ,i.o.)=0, or 1 is derived ford=3, 4. This problem was first studied by P. Erdös and S.J. Taylor.This work is partly supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China.     

A Second Descent Problem for Quadratic Forms

Let F be a field of characteristic different from 2. We discuss a new descent problem for quadratic forms, complementing the one studied by Kahn and Laghribi. More precisely, we conjecture that for any quadratic form q over F and any Im(W(F) W(F(q))), there exists a quadratic form W(F) such that dim 2 dim and _F(q), where F(q) is the function field of the projective quadric defined by q = 0. We prove this conjecture for dim 3 and any q, and get partial results for dim {4, 5,6}. We also give other related results.     

Surfaces and the second homology of a group

LetG be a group andK(G, 1) an Eilenberg—MacLane space, i.e. ₁(K(G,1))G, _i (K(G,1))=0,i1. We give a purely algebraic proof that the second homology groupH ₂(G)=H ₂(G,)H ₂(K(G,1)) is isomorphic to the group of stable equivalence classes of continuous mapsFK(G,1) inducing surjections on fundamental groups (resp. surjections, whereF{F _g=closed orientable surface of genusg,g}. As a corollary we obtain an algebraic proof of the well-known isomorphismH ₂(G)₂(K(G,1)) (2-dimensional bordism group).     

Isoperimetric inequalities in potential theory

Given a non-empty bounded domainG in ⁿ ,n2, letr ₀(G) denote the radius of the ballG ₀ having center 0 and the same volume asG. The exterior deficiencyd _e (G) is defined byd _e (G)=r _e (G)/r ₀(G)–1 wherer _e (G) denotes the circumradius ofG. Similarlyd _i (G)=1–r _i (G)/r ₀(G) wherer _i (G) is the inradius ofG. Various isoperimetric inequalities for the capacity and the first eigenvalue ofG are shown. The main results are of the form CapG(1+cf(d _e (G)))CapG ₀ and ₁(G)(1+cf(d _i (G)))₁(G ₀),f(t)=t ³ ifn=2,f(t)=t ³/(ln 1/t) ifn=3,f(t)=t ^(n+3)/2 ifn4 (for convex G and small deficiencies ifn3).     

Donsker's Delta Function of Lévy Process

Let X={X(t):tR} be a Lévy process and a non-decreasing, right continuous, bounded function with (–)=0 (((1+u ²)/u ²)d(u) is the Lévy measure). In this paper we define the Donsker delta function (X(t)–a), t>0 and aR, as a generalized Lévy functional under the condition that (0)–(0–)>0. This leads us to define F(X(t)) for any tempered distribution F, and as an application, we derive an Itô formula for F(X(t)) when has jumps at 0 and 1.     

Embeddings of graphs in euclidean spaces

The dimension of a graphG=(V, E) is the minimum numberd such that there exists a representation and a thresholdt such thatxy E iff . We prove that d(G)n–x(G) and wheren=|V| andx(G) is the chromatic number ofG; we present upper bounds for the dimension of graphs with a large girth and we show that the complement of a forest can be represented by unit vectors inR ⁶. We prove that d(G)1/15n for most graphs and that there are 3-regular graphs with d(G)c logn/log logn.     

The empirical process of a short-range dependent stationary sequence under Gaussian subordination

Summary Consider the stationary sequenceX ₁=G(Z ₁),X ₂=G(Z ₂),..., whereG(·) is an arbitrary Borel function andZ ₁,Z ₂,... is a mean-zero stationary Gaussian sequence with covariance functionr(k)=E(Z ₁ Z _k+1) satisfyingr(0)=1 and _k=1 |r(k)| ^m < , where, withI{·} denoting the indicator function andF(·) the continuous marginal distribution function of the sequence {X _n }, the integerm is the Hermite rank of the family {I{G(·) x} –F(x):xR}. LetF _n (·) be the empirical distribution function ofX ₁,...,X _n . We prove that, asn, the empirical processn ^1/2{F _n (·)-F(·)} converges in distribution to a Gaussian process in the spaceD[–,].Partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-9208067     

On empty convex polytopes

Letn andd be integers,n>d 2. We examine the smallest integerg(n,d) such that any setS of at leastg(n,d) points, in general position in E^d, containsn points which are the vertices of an empty convexd-polytopeP, that is, SintP = 0. In particular we show thatg(d+k, d) = d+2k–1 for 1 k iLd/2rL+1.     

A phase transition for the coupled branching process

Summary We consider a particular Markov process _t ^u on ^S ,S= ⁿ . The random variable _t ^u (x) is interpreted as the number of particles atx at timet. The initial distribution of this process is a translation invariant measure withf(x)d<. The evolution is as follows: At rateb(x) a particle is born atx but moves instantaneously toy chosen with probabilityq(x, y). All particles at a site die at ratepd withp[0, 1],d, ⁺ and individual particles die independently from each other at rate (1–p)d. Every particle moves independently of everything else according to a continuous time random walk.We are mainly interested in the caseb=d andn3. The process exhibits a phase transition with respect to the parameterp: Forp<p ^* all weak limit points of ( _t ^µ ) ast still have particle density (x)d. Forp>p ^*, _t ^µ ) converges ast to the measure concentrated on the configuration identically 0. We calculatep ^* as well asp ⁽ⁿ⁾ , the points with the property that the extremal invariant measures have forp>p ⁽ⁿ⁾ infiniten-th moment of (x) and forp<p ⁽ⁿ⁾ finiten-th moment. We show the case 1>p ^*>p⁽²⁾>p⁽³⁾...p ⁽ⁿ⁾ >0, p⁽ⁿ⁾0 occurs for suitable values of the other parameters. Forp<p ⁽²⁾ we prove the system has a one parameter set of extremal invariant measures and we determine their domain of attraction. Part I contains statements of all results but only the proofs of the results about the process for values ofp withp<p ⁽²⁾ and the behaviour of then-th moments andp ⁽ⁿ⁾ .     

On lower bounds in radial basis approximation

We investigate the approximation by manifolds _n() generated by linear combinations of n radial basis functions on R^d of the form (|–a|), where is the thin-plate spline type function. We obtain exact asymptotic estimates for the approximation of Sobolev classes W^r(B^d) in the space L(B^d) on the unit ball B^d. AMS subject classification 41A25, 41A63, 65D07, 41A15     

Indices of Maximal Subgroups of Finite Soluble Groups

We look at the structure of a soluble group G depending on the value of a function m(G)= max m _p G), where m _p(G)=max{log_p|G:M| | M< G, |G:M|=p ^a}, p (G). Theorem 1 states that for a soluble group G, (1) r(G/ (G))= m(G); (2) d(G/ (G)) 1+ (m(G)) 3+m(G); (3) l _p(G) 1+t, where 2^t-1<m _p(G) 2^t. Here, (G) is the Frattini subgroup of G, and r(G), d(G), and l _p(G) are, respectively, the principal rank, the derived length, and the p-length of G. The maximum of derived lengths of completely reducible soluble subgroups of a general linear group GL(n,F) of degree n, where F is a field, is denoted by (n). The function m(G) allows us to establish the existence of a new class of conjugate subgroups in soluble groups. Namely, Theorem 2 maintains that for any natural k, every soluble group G contains a subgroup K possessing the following properties: (1) m(K); k; (2) if T and H are subgroups of G such that K T <_max <_max H G then |H:T|=p ^t for some prime p and for t>k. Moreover, every two subgroups of G enjoying (1) and (2) are mutually conjugate.     

On the connectivity of unit distance graphs

For a number fieldK , consider the graphG(K^d), whose vertices are elements ofK ^d, with an edge between any two points at (Euclidean) distance 1. We show thatG(K²) is not connected whileG(K^d) is connected ford 5. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for the connectedness ofG(K³) andG(K⁴).     

Weak convergence using higher-order cumulants

Denote byc _j (F) thejth cumulant (or semi-invariant) of the distribution functionF. We say thatF is specified by its higher-order cumulants if it is the unique distribution functionG having the following property: there exists a positive integerJ such thatc _j (G)=c _j (F) forj=1,2 andjJ. Let (F _n n1) be a sequence of distribution functions, and suppose that there existsJ such thatc _j (F _n )c _j (F) asn, forj=1,2 andjJ. It is proved thatF _n F so long asF is specified by its higher-order cumulants. It is an open problem to characterize the family of distributions which are specified by their higher-order cumulants.     

Une variante à la Coxeter du groupe de Steinberg

LetG _n ()be the semi-direct product of the symmetric groupS _n by the Steinberg groupSt _n ()of a ringWe first prove thatG _n ()has a Coxeter-type presentation. The canonical morphism St _n () GL _n ()extends to a group homo G_n() GL _n ()We next determine the kernel of for n = We also give an expression for the generator of the algebraic K group K ₂(Z)of the integers in terms of permutation matrices.     

An Investigation of the Fields of Bounded Formal Power Series by Means of Theory of Cuts

We consider a class K of real closed fields F, |F|=|G|=₁, where G is a group of Archimedean classes of F, and cofinality of each symmetric gap of F is ₁. We will show that this class is exactly a class of all bounded formal power series RG,₁, where G is a divisible Abelian group, card(G)=₁, under CH. A nonstandard real line ^*R, which is ₁-set belongs to this class; we will also consider a construction RG(L,P),₁ of fields from this class, where L is a totally ordered set, P is a totally ordered field, G(L,P) is a group of finite words. It will be describes symmetric gaps of such two fields in K, which are not ₁-set. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 03E04, 12J15, 12J25.The work was supported by grant of Ministry of Education PD02-1.1-386.     

On reflecting diffusion processes and Skorokhod decompositions

Summary LetG be ad-dimensional bounded Euclidean domain, H¹ (G) the set off in L²(G) such that f (defined in the distribution sense) is in L²(G). Reflecting diffusion processes associated with the Dirichlet spaces (H¹(G), ) on L²(G, dx) are considered in this paper, where A=(a^ij is a symmetric, bounded, uniformly ellipticd×d matrix-valued function such thata ^ij H¹(G) for eachi,j, and H¹(G) is a positive bounded function onG which is bounded away from zero. A Skorokhod decomposition is derived for the continuous reflecting Markov processes associated with (H¹(G), ) having starting points inG under a mild condition which is satisfied when G has finite (d–1)-dimensional lower Minkowski content.     

Random polytopes in thed-dimensional cube

LetC ^d be the set of vertices of ad-dimensional cube,C ^d ={(x ₁, ...,x _d ):x _i =±1}. Let us choose a randomn-element subsetA(n) ofC ^d . Here we prove that Prob (the origin belongs to the convA(2d+x2d))=(x)+o(1) ifx is fixed andd . That is, for an arbitrary>0 the convex hull of more than (2+)d vertices almost always contains 0 while the convex hull of less than (2-)d points almost always avoids it.