On some constacyclic codes over $$\mathbb {Z}_{4}\left[ u\right] /\left\langle u^{2}-1\right\rangle $$, their $$\mathbb {Z}_4$$Z4 images,and new codes

In this paper, we study \(\lambda \)-constacyclic codes over the ring \(R=\mathbb {Z}_4+u\mathbb {Z}_4\) where \(u^{2}=1\), for \(\lambda =3+2u\) and \(2+3u\). Two new Gray maps from R to \(\mathbb {Z}_4^{3}\) are defined with the goal of obtaining new linear codes over \(\mathbb {Z}_4\). The Gray images of \(\lambda \)-constacyclic codes over R are determined. We then conducted a computer search and obtained many \(\lambda \)-constacyclic codes over R whose \(\mathbb {Z}_4\)-images have better parameters than currently best-known linear codes over \(\mathbb {Z}_4\).     

Lattices from codes over $$\mathbb {Z}_q$$: generalization of constructions D, $$ D'$$ D′ and $$\overline{ D}$$ D¯

In this paper, we extend the lattice Constructions D, \(D'\) and \(\overline{D}\) (this latter is also known as Forney’s code formula) from codes over \(\mathbb {F}_p\) to linear codes over \(\mathbb {Z}_q\), where \(q \in \mathbb {N}\). We define an operation in \(\mathbb {Z}_q^n\) called zero-one addition, which coincides with the Schur product when restricted to \(\mathbb {Z}_2^n\) and show that the extended Construction \(\overline{D}\) produces a lattice if and only if the nested codes are closed under this addition. A generalization to the real case of the recently developed Construction \(A'\) is also derived and we show that this construction produces a lattice if and only if the corresponding code over \(\mathbb {Z}_q[X]/X^a\) is closed under a shifted zero-one addition. One of the motivations for this work is the recent use of q-ary lattices in cryptography.     

Algebraic conditions for additive functions over the reals and over finite fields

Let C be an affine plane curve. We consider additive functions \(f{:}\; K\rightarrow K\) for which \(f(x)f(y)=0\), whenever \((x,y)\in C\). We show that if \(K=\mathbb {R}\) and C is the hyperbola with defining equation \(xy=1\), then there exist nonzero additive functions with this property. Moreover, we show that such a nonzero f exists for a field K if and only if K is transcendental over \(\mathbb Q\) or over \(\mathbb {F}_p\), the finite field with p elements. We also consider the general question when K is a finite field. We show that if the degree of the curve C is large enough compared to the characteristic of K, then f must be identically zero.     

An Erdös–Révész Type Law of the Iterated Logarithm for Order Statistics of a Stationary Gaussian Process

Let \(\{X(t):t\in \mathbb R_+\}\) be a stationary Gaussian process with almost surely (a.s.) continuous sample paths, \(\mathbb E X(t) = 0, \mathbb E X^2(t) = 1\) and correlation function satisfying (i) \(r(t) = 1 - C|t|^{\alpha } + o(|t|^{\alpha })\) as \(t\rightarrow 0\) for some \(0\le \alpha \le 2\) and \(C>0\); (ii) \(\sup _{t\ge s}|r(t)|<1\) for each \(s>0\) and (iii) \(r(t) = O(t^{-\lambda })\) as \(t\rightarrow \infty \) for some \(\lambda >0\). For any \(n\ge 1\), consider n mutually independent copies of X and denote by \(\{X_{r:n}(t):t\ge 0\}\) the rth smallest order statistics process, \(1\le r\le n\). We provide a tractable criterion for assessing whether, for any positive, non-decreasing function \(f, \mathbb P(\mathscr {E}_f)=\mathbb P(X_{r:n}(t) > f(t)\, \text { i.o.})\) equals 0 or 1. Using this criterion we find, for a family of functions \(f_p(t)\) such that \(z_p(t)=\mathbb P(\sup _{s\in [0,1]}X_{r:n}(s)>f_p(t))=O((t\log ^{1-p} t)^{-1})\), that \(\mathbb P(\mathscr {E}_{f_p})= 1_{\{p\ge 0\}}\). Consequently, with \(\xi _p (t) = \sup \{s:0\le s\le t, X_{r:n}(s)\ge f_p(s)\}\), for \(p\ge 0\) we have \(\lim _{t\rightarrow \infty }\xi _p(t)=\infty \) and \(\limsup _{t\rightarrow \infty }(\xi _p(t)-t)=0\) a.s. Complementarily, we prove an Erdös–Révész type law of the iterated logarithm lower bound on \(\xi _p(t)\), namely, that \(\liminf _{t\rightarrow \infty }(\xi _p(t)-t)/h_p(t) = -1\) a.s. for \(p>1\) and \(\liminf _{t\rightarrow \infty }\log (\xi _p(t)/t)/(h_p(t)/t) = -1\) a.s. for \(p\in (0,1]\), where \(h_p(t)=(1/z_p(t))p\log \log t\).     

Extension of the Set of Complex Hadamard Matrices of Size 8

A complex Hadamard matrix is defined as a matrix H which fulfills two conditions, \(|H_{j,k}|=1\) for all j and k and \(HH^{*}=N \mathbb {I}_N\) where \(\mathbb {I}_N\) is an identity matrix of size N. We explore the set of complex Hadamard matrices \(\mathcal {H}_N\) of size \(N=8\) and present two previously unknown structures: a one-parametric, non-affine family \(T_8^{(1)}\) of complex Hadamard matrices and a single symmetric and isolated matrix \(A_8^{(0)}\).     

$$L^{p}$$-Norms a nd Mahler’s Measure of Poly nomials o n the n-Dime nsio nal Torus

We prove Nikol’skii type inequalities that, for polynomials on the n-dimensional torus \(\mathbb {T}^n\), relate the \(L^p\)-norm with the \(L^q\)-norm (with respect to the normalized Lebesgue measure and \(0 <p <q < \infty \)). Among other things, we show that \(C=\sqrt{q/p}\) is the best constant such that \(\Vert P\Vert _{L^q}\le C^{\text {deg}(P)} \Vert P\Vert _{L^p}\) for all homogeneous polynomials P on \(\mathbb {T}^n\). We also prove an exact inequality between the \(L^p\)-norm of a polynomial P on \(\mathbb {T}^n\) and its Mahler measure M(P), which is the geometric mean of |P| with respect to the normalized Lebesgue measure on \(\mathbb {T}^n\). Using extrapolation, we transfer this estimate into a Khintchine–Kahane type inequality, which, for polynomials on \(\mathbb {T}^n\), relates a certain exponential Orlicz norm and Mahler’s measure. Applications are given, including some interpolation estimates.     

The finite basis problem for infinite involution semigroups of triangular 2 $$\times $$ 2 matrices

Let \(T_n(\mathbb {F})\) and \(UT_n(\mathbb {F})\) be the semigroups of all upper triangular \(n\times n\) matrices and all upper triangular \(n\times n\) matrices with 0s and/or 1s on the main diagonal over a field \(\mathbb {F}\) with \(\mathsf {char}(\mathbb {F})=0\), respectively. In this paper, we address the finite basis problem for \(T_2(\mathbb {F})\) and \(UT_2(\mathbb {F})\) as involution semigroups under the skew transposition. By giving a sufficient condition under which an involution semigroup is nonfinitely based, we show that both \(T_2(\mathbb {F})\) and \(UT_2(\mathbb {F})\) are nonfinitely based, and that there is a continuum of nonfinitely based involution monoid varieties between the involution monoid variety \(\mathsf {var} UT_2(\mathbb {F})\) generated by \(UT_2(\mathbb {F})\) and the involution monoid variety \(\mathsf {var} T_2(\mathbb {F})\) generated by \(T_2(\mathbb {F})\). Moreover, \(\mathsf {var} UT_2(\mathbb {F})\) cannot be defined within \(\mathsf {var} T_2(\mathbb {F})\) by any finite set of identities.     

Semigroups of rectangular matrices under a sandwich operation

Let \({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}={\mathcal {M}}_{mn}({\mathbb {F}})\) denote the set of all \(m\times n\) matrices over a field \({\mathbb {F}}\), and fix some \(n\times m\) matrix \(A\in {\mathcal {M}}_{nm}\). An associative operation \(\star \) may be defined on \({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}\) by \(X\star Y=XAY\) for all \(X,Y\in {\mathcal {M}}_{mn}\), and the resulting sandwich semigroup is denoted \({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}^A={\mathcal {M}}_{mn}^A({\mathbb {F}})\). These semigroups are closely related to Munn rings, which are fundamental tools in the representation theory of finite semigroups. We study \({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}^A\) as well as its subsemigroups \(\hbox {Reg}({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}^A)\) and \({\mathcal {E}}_{mn}^A\) (consisting of all regular elements and products of idempotents, respectively), and the ideals of \(\hbox {Reg}({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}^A)\). Among other results, we characterise the regular elements; determine Green’s relations and preorders; calculate the minimal number of matrices (or idempotent matrices, if applicable) required to generate each semigroup we consider; and classify the isomorphisms between finite sandwich semigroups \({\mathcal {M}}_{mn}^A({\mathbb {F}}_1)\) and \({\mathcal {M}}_{kl}^B({\mathbb {F}}_2)\). Along the way, we develop a general theory of sandwich semigroups in a suitably defined class of partial semigroups related to Ehresmann-style “arrows only” categories; we hope this framework will be useful in studies of sandwich semigroups in other categories. We note that all our results have applications to the variants \({\mathcal {M}}_n^A\) of the full linear monoid \({\mathcal {M}}_n\) (in the case \(m=n\)), and to certain semigroups of linear transformations of restricted range or kernel (in the case that \(\hbox {rank}(A)\) is equal to one of m, n).     

The cohomology of orbit spaces of certain free circle group actions

Suppose that \(G =\mathbb{S}^1\) acts freely on a finitistic space X whose (mod p) cohomology ring is isomorphic to that of a lens space \(L^{2m-1}(p;q_1,\ldots,q_m)\) or \(\mathbb{S}^1\times \mathbb{C}P^{m-1}\). The mod p index of the action is defined to be the largest integer n such that α ⁿ ?≠?0, where \(\alpha \,\epsilon\, H^2(X/G;\mathbb{Z}_p)\) is the nonzero characteristic class of the \(\mathbb{S}^1\)-bundle \(\mathbb{S}^1\hookrightarrow X\rightarrow X/G\). We show that the mod p index of a free action of G on \(\mathbb{S}^1\times \mathbb{C}P^{m-1}\) is p???1, when it is defined. Using this, we obtain a Borsuk–Ulam type theorem for a free G-action on \(\mathbb{S}^1\times \mathbb{C}P^{m-1}\). It is note worthy that the mod p index for free G-actions on the cohomology lens space is not defined.     

Complete mappings and Carlitz rank

The well-known Chowla and Zassenhaus conjecture, proven by Cohen in 1990, states that for any \(d\ge 2\) and any prime \(p>(d^2-3d+4)^2\) there is no complete mapping polynomial in \(\mathbb {F}_p[x]\) of degree d. For arbitrary finite fields \(\mathbb {F}_q\), we give a similar result in terms of the Carlitz rank of a permutation polynomial rather than its degree. We prove that if \(n<\lfloor q/2\rfloor \), then there is no complete mapping in \(\mathbb {F}_q[x]\) of Carlitz rank n of small linearity. We also determine how far permutation polynomials f of Carlitz rank \(n<\lfloor q/2\rfloor \) are from being complete, by studying value sets of \(f+x.\) We provide examples of complete mappings if \(n=\lfloor q/2\rfloor \), which shows that the above bound cannot be improved in general.     

An <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis>-invariant subspace for bipartite distance-regular graphs with exactly two irreducible <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis>-modules with endpoint 2, both thin

Let \(\Gamma \) denote a bipartite distance-regular graph with vertex set X, diameter \(D \ge 4\), and valency \(k \ge 3\). Let \({{\mathbb {C}}}^X\) denote the vector space over \({{\mathbb {C}}}\) consisting of column vectors with entries in \({{\mathbb {C}}}\) and rows indexed by X. For \(z \in X\), let \({{\widehat{z}}}\) denote the vector in \({{\mathbb {C}}}^X\) with a 1 in the z-coordinate, and 0 in all other coordinates. Fix a vertex x of \(\Gamma \) and let \(T = T(x)\) denote the corresponding Terwilliger algebra. Assume that up to isomorphism there exist exactly two irreducible T-modules with endpoint 2, and they both are thin. Fix \(y \in X\) such that \(\partial (x,y)=2\), where \(\partial \) denotes path-length distance. For \(0 \le i,j \le D\) define \(w_{ij}=\sum {{\widehat{z}}}\), where the sum is over all \(z \in X\) such that \(\partial (x,z)=i\) and \(\partial (y,z)=j\). We define \(W=\mathrm{span}\{w_{ij} \mid 0 \le i,j \le D\}\). In this paper we consider the space \(MW=\mathrm{span}\{mw \mid m \in M, w \in W\}\), where M is the Bose–Mesner algebra of \(\Gamma \). We observe that MW is the minimal A-invariant subspace of \({{\mathbb {C}}}^X\) which contains W, where A is the adjacency matrix of \(\Gamma \). We show that \(4D-6 \le \mathrm{dim}(MW) \le 4D-2\). We display a basis for MW for each of these five cases, and we give the action of A on these bases.     

Idempotent and <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-potent quadratic functions: distribution of nonlinearity and co-dimension

The Walsh transform \(\widehat{Q}\) of a quadratic function \(Q:{\mathbb F}_{p^n}\rightarrow {\mathbb F}_p\) satisfies \(|\widehat{Q}(b)| \in \{0,p^{\frac{n+s}{2}}\}\) for all \(b\in {\mathbb F}_{p^n}\), where \(0\le s\le n-1\) is an integer depending on Q. In this article, we study the following three classes of quadratic functions of wide interest. The class \(\mathcal {C}_1\) is defined for arbitrary n as \(\mathcal {C}_1 = \{Q(x) = \mathrm{Tr_n}(\sum _{i=1}^{\lfloor (n-1)/2\rfloor }a_ix^{2^i+1})\;:\; a_i \in {\mathbb F}_2\}\), and the larger class \(\mathcal {C}_2\) is defined for even n as \(\mathcal {C}_2 = \{Q(x) = \mathrm{Tr_n}(\sum _{i=1}^{(n/2)-1}a_ix^{2^i+1}) + \mathrm{Tr_{n/2}}(a_{n/2}x^{2^{n/2}+1}) \;:\; a_i \in {\mathbb F}_2\}\). For an odd prime p, the subclass \(\mathcal {D}\) of all p-ary quadratic functions is defined as \(\mathcal {D} = \{Q(x) = \mathrm{Tr_n}(\sum _{i=0}^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor }a_ix^{p^i+1})\;:\; a_i \in {\mathbb F}_p\}\). We determine the generating function for the distribution of the parameter s for \(\mathcal {C}_1, \mathcal {C}_2\) and \(\mathcal {D}\). As a consequence we completely describe the distribution of the nonlinearity for the rotation symmetric quadratic Boolean functions, and in the case \(p > 2\), the distribution of the co-dimension for the rotation symmetric quadratic p-ary functions, which have been attracting considerable attention recently. Our results also facilitate obtaining closed formulas for the number of such quadratic functions with prescribed s for small values of s, and hence extend earlier results on this topic. We also present the complete weight distribution of the subcodes of the second order Reed–Muller codes corresponding to \(\mathcal {C}_1\) and \(\mathcal {C}_2\) in terms of a generating function.     

Dispersion and Limit Theorems for Random Walks Associated with Hypergeometric Functions of Type <Emphasis Type="Italic">BC</Emphasis>

The spherical functions of the non-compact Grassmann manifolds \(G_{p,q}({\mathbb {F}})=G/K\) over the (skew-)fields \({\mathbb {F}}={\mathbb {R}}, {\mathbb {C}}, {\mathbb {H}}\) with rank \(q\ge 1\) and dimension parameter \(p>q\) can be described as Heckman–Opdam hypergeometric functions of type BC, where the double coset space G /  / K is identified with the Weyl chamber \( C_q^B\subset {\mathbb {R}}^q\) of type B. The corresponding product formulas and Harish-Chandra integral representations were recently written down by M. Rösler and the author in an explicit way such that both formulas can be extended analytically to all real parameters \(p\in [2q-1,\infty [\), and that associated commutative convolution structures \(*_p\) on \(C_q^B\) exist. In this paper, we study the associated moment functions and the dispersion of probability measures on \(C_q^B\) with the aid of this generalized integral representation. This leads to strong laws of large numbers and central limit theorems for associated time-homogeneous random walks on \((C_q^B, *_p)\) where the moment functions and the dispersion appear in order to determine drift vectors and covariance matrices of these limit laws explicitly. For integers p, all results have interpretations for G-invariant random walks on the Grassmannians G / K. Besides the BC-cases, we also study the spaces \(GL(q,{\mathbb {F}})/U(q,{\mathbb {F}})\), which are related to Weyl chambers of type A, and for which corresponding results hold. For the rank-one-case \(q=1\), the results of this paper are well known in the context of Jacobi-type hypergroups on \([0,\infty [\).     

Covering arrays of strength three from extended permutation vectors

A covering array \(\text{ CA }(N;t,k,v)\) is an \(N\times k\) array such that in every \(N\times t\) subarray each possible t-tuple over a v-set appears as a row of the subarray at least once. The integers t and v are respectively the strength and the order of the covering array. Let v be a prime power and let \({\mathbb {F}}_v\) denote the finite field with v elements. In this work the original concept of permutation vectors generated by a \((t-1)\)-tuple over \({\mathbb {F}}_v\) is extended to vectors generated by a t-tuple over \({\mathbb {F}}_v\). We call these last vectors extended permutation vectors (EPVs). For every prime power v, a covering perfect hash family \(\text{ CPHF }(2;v^2-v+3,v^3,3)\) is constructed from EPVs given by subintervals of a linear feedback shift register sequence over \({\mathbb {F}}_v\). When \(v\in \{7,9,11,13,16,17,19,23,25\}\) the covering array \(\text{ CA }(2v^3-v;3,v^2-v+3,v)\) generated by \(\text{ CPHF }(2;v^2-v+3,v^3,3)\) has less rows than the best-known covering array with strength three, \(v^2-v+3\) columns, and order v. CPHFs formed by EPVs are also constructed using simulated annealing; in this case the results improve the size of eighteen covering arrays of strength three.     

The primitive idempotents and weight distributions of irreducible constacyclic codes

Let \({\mathbb {F}}_q\) be a finite field with q elements such that \(l^v||(q^t-1)\) and \(\gcd (l,q(q-1))=1\), where l, t are primes and v is a positive integer. In this paper, we give all primitive idempotents in a ring \(\mathbb F_q[x]/\langle x^{l^m}-a\rangle \) for \(a\in {\mathbb {F}}_q^*\). Specially for \(t=2\), we give the weight distributions of all irreducible constacyclic codes and their dual codes of length \(l^m\) over \({\mathbb {F}}_q\).     

Random Walks in the Hyperbolic Plane and the Minkowski Question Mark Function

Consider \(G=SL_2(\mathbb {Z})/\{\pm I\}\) acting on the complex upper half plane H by \(h_M(z)=\frac{az\,+\,b}{cz\,+\,d}\) for \(M \in G\). Let \(D=\{z \in H: |z|\ge 1, |\mathfrak {R}(z)|\le 1/2\}\). We consider the set \({\mathcal {E}} \subset G\) with the nine elements M, different from the identity, such that \(\mathrm{tr\,}(MM^T)\le 3\). We equip the tiling of H defined by \(\mathbb {D}=\{h_M(D){:}\, M \in G\}\) with a graph structure where the neighbours are defined by \(h_M(D) \cap h_{M'}(D) \ne \emptyset \), equivalently \(M^{-1}M' \in {\mathcal {E}}\). The present paper studies several Markov chains related to the above structure. We show that the simple random walk on the above graph converges a.s. to a point X of the real line with the same distribution of \(S_2 W^{S_1}\), where \(S_1,S_2,W\) are independent with \(\Pr (S_i=\pm 1)=1/2\) and where W is valued in (0, 1) with distribution \(\Pr (W<w)=\mathbf ? (w)\). Here \(\mathbf ? \) is the Minkowski function. If \(K_1, K_2, \ldots \) are i.i.d with distribution \(\Pr (K_i=n)= 1/2^n\) for \(n=1,2,\ldots \), then \(W= \frac{1}{K_1+\frac{1}{K_2+\ldots }}\): this known result (Isola in Appl Math 5:1067–1090, 2014) is derived again here.     

A note on Wilson’s functional equation

Let S be a semigroup, and \(\mathbb {F}\) a field of characteristic \(\ne 2\). If the pair \(f,g:S \rightarrow \mathbb {F}\) is a solution of Wilson’s \(\mu \)-functional equation such that \(f \ne 0\), then g satisfies d’Alembert’s \(\mu \)-functional equation.     

Construction of sign-changing solutions for a harmonic equation with subcritical exponent

In this paper, we study the harmonic equation involving subcritical exponent \((P_{\varepsilon })\): \( \Delta u = 0 \), in \(\mathbb {B}^n\) and \(\displaystyle \frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu } + \displaystyle \frac{n-2}{2}u = \displaystyle \frac{n-2}{2} K u^{\frac{n}{n-2}-\varepsilon }\) on \( \mathbb {S}^{n-1}\) where \(\mathbb {B}^n \) is the unit ball in \(\mathbb {R}^n\), \(n\ge 5\) with Euclidean metric \(g_0\), \(\partial \mathbb {B}^n = \mathbb {S}^{n-1}\) is its boundary, K is a function on \(\mathbb {S}^{n-1}\) and \(\varepsilon \) is a small positive parameter. We construct solutions of the subcritical equation \((P_{\varepsilon })\) which blow up at two different critical points of K. Furthermore, we construct solutions of \((P_{\varepsilon })\) which have two bubbles and blow up at the same critical point of K.     

Sandwich semigroups in locally small categories I: foundations

Fix (not necessarily distinct) objects i and j of a locally small category S, and write \(S_{ij}\) for the set of all morphisms \(i\rightarrow j\). Fix a morphism \(a\in S_{ji}\), and define an operation \(\star _a\) on \(S_{ij}\) by \(x\star _ay=xay\) for all \(x,y\in S_{ij}\). Then \((S_{ij},\star _a)\) is a semigroup, known as a sandwich semigroup, and denoted by \(S_{ij}^a\). This article develops a general theory of sandwich semigroups in locally small categories. We begin with structural issues such as regularity, Green’s relations and stability, focusing on the relationships between these properties on \(S_{ij}^a\) and the whole category S. We then identify a natural condition on a, called sandwich regularity, under which the set \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\) of all regular elements of \(S_{ij}^a\) is a subsemigroup of \(S_{ij}^a\). Under this condition, we carefully analyse the structure of the semigroup \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\), relating it via pullback products to certain regular subsemigroups of \(S_{ii}\) and \(S_{jj}\), and to a certain regular sandwich monoid defined on a subset of \(S_{ji}\); among other things, this allows us to also describe the idempotent-generated subsemigroup \(\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)\) of \(S_{ij}^a\). We also study combinatorial invariants such as the rank (minimal size of a generating set) of the semigroups \(S_{ij}^a\), \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\) and \(\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)\); we give lower bounds for these ranks, and in the case of \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\) and \(\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)\) show that the bounds are sharp under a certain condition we call MI-domination. Applications to concrete categories of transformations and partial transformations are given in Part II.