The Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of

We show that the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of the symplectic group is . This L-S category coincides with the cone length and the stable weak category.

     

Square -lattice paths and

The combinatorial -Catalan numbers are weighted sums of Dyck paths introduced by J. Haglund and studied extensively by Haglund, Haiman, Garsia, Loehr, and others. The -Catalan numbers, besides having many subtle combinatorial properties, are intimately connected to symmetric functions, algebraic geometry, and Macdonald polynomials. In particular, the 'th -Catalan number is the Hilbert series for the module of diagonal harmonic alternants in variables; it is also the coefficient of in the Schur expansion of . Using -analogues of labelled Dyck paths, Haglund et al. have proposed combinatorial conjectures for the monomial expansion of and the Hilbert series of the diagonal harmonics modules.

This article extends the combinatorial constructions of Haglund et al. to the case of lattice paths contained in squares. We define and study several -analogues of these lattice paths, proving combinatorial facts that closely parallel corresponding results for the -Catalan polynomials. We also conjecture an interpretation of our combinatorial polynomials in terms of the nabla operator. In particular, we conjecture combinatorial formulas for the monomial expansion of , the ``Hilbert series' , and the sign character .

     

All -local finite groups of rank two for odd prime

In this paper we give a classification of the rank two -local finite groups for odd . This study requires the analysis of the possible saturated fusion systems in terms of the outer automorphism group of the possible -radical subgroups. Also, for each case in the classification, either we give a finite group with the corresponding fusion system or we check that it corresponds to an exotic -local finite group, getting some new examples of these for .

     

-continuity properties of the symmetric -stable process

Let be a domain of finite Lebesgue measure in and let be the symmetric -stable process killed upon exiting . Each element of the set of eigenvalues associated to , regarded as a function of , is right continuous. In addition, if is Lipschitz and bounded, then each is continuous in and the set of associated eigenfunctions is precompact.

     

Postnikov pieces and -homotopy theory

We present a constructive method to compute the cellularization with respect to for any integer of a large class of -spaces, namely all those which have a finite number of non-trivial -homotopy groups (the pointed mapping space is a Postnikov piece). We prove in particular that the -cellularization of an -space having a finite number of -homotopy groups is a -torsion Postnikov piece. Along the way, we characterize the -cellular classifying spaces of nilpotent groups.

     

Extensions of -local finite groups

A -local finite group consists of a finite -group , together with a pair of categories which encode ``conjugacy' relations among subgroups of , and which are modelled on the fusion in a Sylow -subgroup of a finite group. It contains enough information to define a classifying space which has many of the same properties as -completed classifying spaces of finite groups. In this paper, we study and classify extensions of -local finite groups, and also compute the fundamental group of the classifying space of a -local finite group.

     

A generalization of half-plane mappings to the ball in

Let be a normalized (, ) biholomorphic mapping of the unit ball onto a convex domain that is the union of lines parallel to some unit vector . We consider the situation in which there is one infinite singularity of on . In one case with a simple change-of-variables, we classify all convex mappings of that are half-plane mappings in the first coordinate. In the more complicated case, when is not in the span of the infinite singularity, we derive a form of the mappings in dimension .

     

Curves of genus 2 with group of automorphisms isomorphic to or

The classification of curves of genus 2 over an algebraically closed field was studied by Clebsch and Bolza using invariants of binary sextic forms, and completed by Igusa with the computation of the corresponding three-dimensional moduli variety . The locus of curves with group of automorphisms isomorphic to one of the dihedral groups or is a one-dimensional subvariety.

In this paper we classify these curves over an arbitrary perfect field of characteristic in the case and in the case. We first parameterize the -isomorphism classes of curves defined over by the -rational points of a quasi-affine one-dimensional subvariety of ; then, for every curve representing a point in that variety we compute all of its -twists, which is equivalent to the computation of the cohomology set .

The classification is always performed by explicitly describing the objects involved: the curves are given by hyperelliptic models and their groups of automorphisms represented as subgroups of . In particular, we give two generic hyperelliptic equations, depending on several parameters of , that by specialization produce all curves in every -isomorphism class.

     

Surface symmetries and

We classify, up to conjugacy, all orientation-preserving actions of on closed connected orientable surfaces with spherical quotients. This classification is valid in the topological, PL, smooth, conformal, geometric and algebraic categories and is related to the Inverse Galois Problem.

     

On algebraic -groups

We introduce the categories of algebraic -varieties and -groups over a difference field . Under a ``linearly -closed" assumption on we prove an isotriviality theorem for -groups. This theorem immediately yields the key lemma in a proof of the Manin-Mumford conjecture. The present paper crucially uses ideas of Pilay and Ziegler (2003) but in a model theory free manner. The applications to Manin-Mumford are inspired by Hrushovski's work (2001) and are also closely related to papers of Pink and Roessler (2002 and 2004).

     

estimates for overdetermined Radon transforms

We prove several variations on the results of F. Ricci and G. Travaglini (2001), concerning bounds for convolution with all rotations of arc length measure on a fixed convex curve in . Estimates are obtained for averages over higher-dimensional convex (nonsmooth) hypersurfaces, smooth -dimensional surfaces, and nontranslation-invariant families of surfaces. We compare Ricci and Travaglini's approach, based on average decay of the Fourier transform, with an approach based on boundedness of Fourier integral operators, and show that essentially the same geometric condition arises in proofs using the two techniques.

     

Surjectivity for Hamiltonian -spaces in -theory

Let be a compact connected Lie group, and a Hamiltonian -space with proper moment map . We give a surjectivity result which expresses the -theory of the symplectic quotient in terms of the equivariant -theory of the original manifold , under certain technical conditions on . This result is a natural -theoretic analogue of the Kirwan surjectivity theorem in symplectic geometry. The main technical tool is the -theoretic Atiyah-Bott lemma, which plays a fundamental role in the symplectic geometry of Hamiltonian -spaces. We discuss this lemma in detail and highlight the differences between the -theory and rational cohomology versions of this lemma.

We also introduce a -theoretic version of equivariant formality and prove that when the fundamental group of is torsion-free, every compact Hamiltonian -space is equivariantly formal. Under these conditions, the forgetful map is surjective, and thus every complex vector bundle admits a stable equivariant structure. Furthermore, by considering complex line bundles, we show that every integral cohomology class in admits an equivariant extension in .

     

-kernels of Lie groups

We study a filtration on the group of homotopy classes of self maps of a compact Lie group associated with homotopy groups. We determine these filtrations of and completely. We introduce two natural invariants and defined by the filtration, where is a prime number, and compute the invariants for simple Lie groups in the cases where Lie groups are -regular or quasi -regular. We apply our results to the groups of self homotopy equivalences.

     

Invariance in and

We define , a substructure of (the lattice of classes), and show that a quotient structure of , , is isomorphic to . The result builds on the isomorphism machinery, and allows us to transfer invariant classes from to , though not, in general, orbits. Further properties of and ramifications of the isomorphism are explored, including degrees of equivalence classes and degree invariance.

     

Legendrian contact homology in

A rigorous foundation for the contact homology of Legendrian submanifolds in a contact manifold of the form , where is an exact symplectic manifold, is established. The class of such contact manifolds includes 1-jet spaces of smooth manifolds. As an application, contact homology is used to provide (smooth) isotopy invariants of submanifolds of and, more generally, invariants of self transverse immersions into up to restricted regular homotopies. When , this application is the first step in extending and providing a contact geometric underpinning for the new knot invariants of Ng.

     

Subgroups of acting transitively on -tuples

We consider subgroups of -diffeomorphisms of the circle which act transitively on -tuples of points. We show, in particular, that these subgroups are dense in the group of homeomorphisms of . A stronger result concerning -approximations is obtained as well. The techniques employed in this paper rely on Lie algebra ideas and they also provide partial generalizations to the differentiable case of some results previously established in the analytic category.

     

Scrollar syzygies of general canonical curves with genus

We prove that for a general canonical curve of genus , the space of th (last) scrollar syzygies is isomorphic to the Brill-Noether locus . Schreyer has conjectured that these scrollar syzygies span the space of all th (last) syzygies of . Using Mukai varieties we prove this conjecture for genus , and .

     

Completeness of systems of complex exponentials and the Lambert functions

We study some of the properties of the solution system of the delay-differential equation . We first establish some general results on the stability of the completeness of exponential systems in and then show that the solution system above is always complete, but is not an unconditional basis in .

     

Strongly self-absorbing -algebras

Say that a separable, unital -algebra is strongly self-absorbing if there exists an isomorphism such that and are approximately unitarily equivalent -homomorphisms. We study this class of algebras, which includes the Cuntz algebras , , the UHF algebras of infinite type, the Jiang-Su algebra and tensor products of with UHF algebras of infinite type. Given a strongly self-absorbing -algebra we characterise when a separable -algebra absorbs tensorially (i.e., is -stable), and prove closure properties for the class of separable -stable -algebras. Finally, we compute the possible -groups and prove a number of classification results which suggest that the examples listed above are the only strongly self-absorbing -algebras.