Ordering connected graphs having small degree distances

The concept of degree distance of a connected graph G is a variation of the well-known Wiener index, in which the degrees of vertices are also involved. It is defined by D^′(G)=∑_x∈V(G)d(x)∑_y∈V(G)d(x,y), where d(x) and d(x,y) are the degree of x and the distance between x and y, respectively. In this paper it is proved that connected graphs of order n≥4 having the smallest degree distances are K_1,n−1,BS(n−3,1) and K_1,n−1+e (in this order), where BS(n−3,1) denotes the bistar consisting of vertex disjoint stars K_1,n−3 and K_1,1 with central vertices joined by an edge.     

On products of two involutions in the orthogonal group of a vector space

Let V be a finite-dimentional vector space over a commutative field of characteristic distinct from 2. Let V carry a symmetric nondegenerate bilinear form. Results: (A) Let π = ρσ, where π, ρ, σ ∈ O(V) and ρ, σ are involutions. There exists an orthogonal decomposition of V into orthogonally indecomposable π-modules which are simultaneously invariant under ρ and σ. (B) Let π ∈ O(V).One can find involutions ρ, σ ∈ O(V) such that π = ρσ and B(π) = B(ρ) + B(σ) holds if and only if an orthogonal decomposition of V into orthogonally indecomposable π-modules does not contain a term whose minimum polynomial is (x−1)^α where α is even.     

Near automorphisms of cycles

Let f be a permutation of V(G). Define δ_f(x,y)=|d_G(x,y)-d_G(f(x),f(y))| and δ_f(G)=∑δ_f(x,y) over all the unordered pairs {x,y} of distinct vertices of G. Let π(G) denote the smallest positive value of δ_f(G) among all the permutations f of V(G). The permutation f with δ_f(G)=π(G) is called a near automorphism of G. In this paper, we study the near automorphisms of cycles C_n and we prove that π(C_n)=4⌊n/2⌋-4, moreover, we obtain the set of near automorphisms of C_n.     

The special orthogonal group is trireflectional

Let K be a field of even characteristic, V a finite-dimensional vector space over K, and SO(V) the special orthogonal group. Then SO(V) is trireflectional, provided dim V > 2 and SO(V) O⁺ (4, 2). Received: 4 February 2003     

Surjections on Grassmannians preserving pairs of elements with bounded distance

Let m and k be two fixed positive integers such that m>k?2. Let V be a left vector space over a division ring with dimension at least m+k+1. Let G_m(V) be the Grassmannian consisting of all m-dimensional subspaces of V. We characterize surjective mappings T from G_m(V) onto itself such that for any A,B in G_m(V), the distance between A and B is not greater than k if and only if the distance between T(A) and T(B) is not greater than k.     

Zero product preserving maps on Banach algebras of Lipschitz functions

Let (K,d) be a non-empty, compact metric space and α∈]0,1[. Let A be either lipα(K) or Lipα(K) and let B be a commutative unital Banach algebra. We show that every continuous linear map T:A→B with the property that T(f)T(g)=0 whenever f,g∈A are such that fg=0 is of the form T=wΦ for some invertible element w in B and some continuous epimorphism Φ:A→B.     

Regular graphs are not universal fixers

For any permutation π of the vertex set of a graph G, the graph πG is obtained from two copies G^′ and G^″ of G by joining u∈V(G^′) and v∈V(G^″) if and only if v=π(u). Denote the domination number of G by γ(G). For all permutations π of V(G), γ(G)≤γ(πG)≤2γ(G). If γ(πG)=γ(G) for all π, then G is called a universal fixer. We prove that regular graphs and graphs with γ=4 are not universal fixers.     

Bipartite graphs are not universal fixers

For any permutation π of the vertex set of a graph G, the graph πG is obtained from two copies G^′ and G^″ of G by joining u∈V(G^′) and v∈V(G^″) if and only if v=π(u). Denote the domination number of G by γ(G). For all permutations π of V(G), γ(G)≤γ(πG)≤2γ(G). If γ(πG)=γ(G) for all π, then G is called a universal fixer. We prove that graphs without 5-cycles are not universal fixers, from which it follows that bipartite graphs are not universal fixers.     

Primitives and central detection numbers in group cohomology

Fix a prime p. Given a finite group G, let H^∗(G) denote its mod p cohomology. In the early 1990s, Henn, Lannes, and Schwartz introduced two invariants d₀(G) and d₁(G) of H^∗(G) viewed as a module over the mod p Steenrod algebra. They showed that, in a precise sense, H^∗(G) is respectively detected and determined by Hd(CG(V)) for d?d₀(G) and d?d₁(G), with V running through the elementary abelian p-subgroups of G.The main goal of this paper is to study how to calculate these invariants. We find that a critical role is played by the image of the restriction of H^∗(G) to H^∗(C), where C is the maximal central elementary abelian p-subgroup of G. A measure of this is the top degree e(G) of the finite dimensional Hopf algebra H^∗(C)_⊗H^∗(G)Fp, a number that tends to be quite easy to calculate.Our results are complete when G has a p-Sylow subgroup P in which every element of order p is central. Using the Benson-Carlson duality, we show that in this case, d₀(G)=d₀(P)=e(P), and a similar exact formula holds for d₁. As a bonus, we learn that He(G)(P) contains nontrivial essential cohomology, reproving and sharpening a theorem of Adem and Karagueuzian.In general, we are able to show that d₀(G)?max{e(CG(V))|V<G} if certain cases of Benson's Regularity Conjecture hold. In particular, this inequality holds for all groups such that the difference between the p-rank of G and the depth of H^∗(G) is at most 2. When we look at examples with p=2, we learn that d₀(G)?14 for all groups with 2-Sylow subgroup of order up to 64, with equality realized when G=SU(3,4).En route we study two objects of independent interest. If C is any central elementary abelian p-subgroup of G, then H^∗(G) is an H^∗(C)-comodule, and we prove that the subalgebra of H^∗(C)-primitives is always Noetherian of Krull dimension equal to the p-rank of G minus the p-rank of C. If the depth of H^∗(G) equals the rank of Z(G), we show that the depth essential cohomology of G is nonzero (reproving and extending a theorem of Green), and Cohen-Macauley in a certain sense, and prove related structural results.     

Nonintegral criterion for oscillations of linear Hamiltonian matrix systems

In this paper we present nonintegral criteria for oscillation of linear Hamiltonian matrix system U^′=A(x)U+B(x)V, V^′=C(x)U−A^*(x)V under the hypothesis (H): A(x), B(x)=B^*(x)>0, and C(x)=C^*(x) are 2×2 matrices of real valued continuous functions on the interval I=[a,∞),(−∞<a). These criteria are conditions of algebraic type only. Our results are also useful for the detection of the oscillation of particular matrix differential systems.     

Disjoint Kr-minors in large graphs with given average degree

It is proved that there are functions f(r) and N(r,s) such that for every positive integer r, s, each graph G with average degree d(G)=2|E(G)|/|V(G)|≥f(r), and with at least N(r,s) vertices has a minor isomorphic to K_r,s or to the union of s disjoint copies of K_r.     

On polyvectors of vector spaces and hyperplanes of projective Grassmannians

We investigate relationships between polyvectors of a vector space V, alternating multilinear forms on V, hyperplanes of projective Grassmannians and regular spreads of projective spaces. Suppose V is an n-dimensional vector space over a field F and that A_n-1,k(F) is the Grassmannian of the (k − 1)-dimensional subspaces of PG(V) (1  ? k ? n − 1). With each hyperplane H of A_n-1,k(F), we associate an (n − k)-vector of V (i.e., a vector of ∧^n−kV) which we will call a representative vector of H. One of the problems which we consider is the isomorphism problem of hyperplanes of A_n-1,k(F), i.e., how isomorphism of hyperplanes can be recognized in terms of their representative vectors. Special attention is paid here to the case n = 2k and to those isomorphisms which arise from dualities of PG(V). We also prove that with each regular spread of the projective space PG(2k-1,F), there is associated some class of isomorphic hyperplanes of the Grassmannian A_2k-1,k(F), and we study some properties of these hyperplanes. The above investigations allow us to obtain a new proof for the classification, up to equivalence, of the trivectors of a 6-dimensional vector space over an arbitrary field F, and to obtain a classification, up to isomorphism, of all hyperplanes of A_5,3(F).     

To what extent is a large space of matrices not closed under product?

Let (K) be a field. Given an arbitrary linear subspace V of M_n(K) of codimension less than n-1, a classical result states that V generates the (K)-algebra M_n(K). Here, we strengthen this statement in three ways: we show that M_n(K) is spanned by the products of the form AB with (A,B)∈V²; we prove that every matrix in M_n(K) can be decomposed into a product of matrices of V; finally, when V is a linear perplane of M_n(K) and n>2, we show that every matrix in M_n(K) is a product of two elements of V.     

Periodic orbits in complex Abel equations

This paper is devoted to prove two unexpected properties of the Abel equation dz/dt=z³+B(t)z²+C(t)z, where B and C are smooth, 2π-periodic complex valuated functions, t∈R and z∈C. The first one is that there is no upper bound for its number of isolated 2π-periodic solutions. In contrast, recall that if the functions B and C are real valuated then the number of complex 2π-periodic solutions is at most three. The second property is that there are examples of the above equation with B and C being low degree trigonometric polynomials such that the center variety is formed by infinitely many connected components in the space of coefficients of B and C. This result is also in contrast with the characterization of the center variety for the examples of Abel equations dz/dt=A(t)z³+B(t)z² studied in the literature, where the center variety is located in a finite number of connected components.     

On the semiring of cone preserving maps

If K is a proper cone in Rⁿ, then the cone of all linear operators that preserve K, denoted by π(K), forms a semiring under usual operator addition and multiplication. Recently J.G. Horne examined the ideals of this semiring. He proved that if K₁, K₂ are polyhedral cones such that π(K₁) and π(K₂) are isomorphic as semirings, then K₁ and K₂ are linearly isomorphic. The study of this semiring is continued in this paper. In Sec. 3 ideals of π(K) which are also faces are characterized. In Sec. 4 it is shown that π(K) has a unique minimal two-sided ideal, namely, the dual cone of π(K¹), where K¹ is the dual cone of K. Extending Horne's result, it is also proved that the cone K is characterized by this unique minimal two-sided ideal of π(K). The set of all faces of π(K) inherits a quotient semiring structure from π(K). Properties of this face-semiring are given in Sec. 5. In particular, it is proved that this face-semiring admits no nontrivial congruence relation iff the duality operator of π(K) is injective. In Sec. 6 the maximal one-sided and two-sided ideals of π(K) are identified. In Sec. 8 it is shown that π(K) never satisfies the ascending-chain condition on principal one-sided ideals. Some partial results on the question of topological closedness of principal one-sided ideals of π(K) are also given.     

On the existence of an invariant non-degenerate bilinear form under a linear map

Let V be a vector space over a field F. Assume that the characteristic of F is large, i.e. char(F)>dimV. Let T:V→V be an invertible linear map. We answer the following question in this paper. When doesVadmit a T-invariant non-degenerate symmetric (resp. skew-symmetric) bilinear form? We also answer the infinitesimal version of this question.Following Feit and Zuckerman 2, an element g in a group G is called real if it is conjugate in G to its own inverse. So it is important to characterize real elements in GL(V,F). As a consequence of the answers to the above question, we offer a characterization of the real elements in GL(V,F).Suppose V is equipped with a non-degenerate symmetric (resp. skew-symmetric) bilinear form B. Let S be an element in the isometry group I(V,B). A non-degenerate S-invariant subspace W of (V,B) is called orthogonally indecomposable with respect to S if it is not an orthogonal sum of proper S-invariant subspaces. We classify the orthogonally indecomposable subspaces. This problem is non-trivial for the unipotent elements in I(V,B). The level of a unipotent T is the least integer k such that (T-I)^k=0. We also classify the levels of unipotents in I(V,B).     

On the eccentric distance sum of trees and unicyclic graphs

Let G be a simple connected graph with the vertex set V(G). The eccentric distance sum of G is defined as ξd(G)=_∑v∈V(G)ε(v)DG(v), where ε(v) is the eccentricity of the vertex v and DG(v)=_∑u∈V(G)d(u,v) is the sum of all distances from the vertex v. In this paper we characterize the extremal unicyclic graphs among n-vertex unicyclic graphs with given girth having the minimal and second minimal eccentric distance sum. In addition, we characterize the extremal trees with given diameter and minimal eccentric distance sum.     

A note on Gaussian correlation inequalities for nonsymmetric sets

We consider the Gaussian correlation inequality for nonsymmetric convex sets. More precisely, if A⊂R^d is convex and the origin 0∈A, then for any ball B centered at the origin, it holds γ_d(A∩B)≥γ_d(A)γ_d(B), where γ_d is the standard Gaussian measure on R^d. This generalizes Proposition 1 in [Cordero-Erausquin, Dario, 2002. Some applications of mass transport to Gaussian-type inequalities. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 161, 257-269].     

On Lie algebras associated with representation-directed algebras

Let B be a representation-finite C-algebra. The Z-Lie algebra L(B) associated with B has been defined by Riedtmann in [Ch. Riedtmann, Lie algebras generated by indecomposables, J. Algebra 170 (1994) 526-546]. If B is representation-directed, there is another Z-Lie algebra associated with B defined by Ringel in [C.M. Ringel, Hall Algebras, vol. 26, Banach Center Publications, Warsaw, 1990, pp. 433-447] and denoted by K(B).We prove that the Lie algebras L(B) and K(B) are isomorphic for any representation-directed C-algebra B.