Consolidation rates for two interacting systems in the plane

Summary This paper is a sequel of a paper of Cox and Griffeath “diffusive clustering in the two dimensional voter model”. We continue our study of the voter model and coalescing random walks on the two dimensional integer lattice. Some exact asymptotics concerning the rate of clustering in the former process and the coalescence rate of the latter are derived. We use these results to prove a limit law, announced in that earlier paper, concerning the size of the largest square centered at the origin which is of solid color at a large time t. Partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DMS-831080 Partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DMS-841317 Partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DMS-830549     

A nonconforming finite element method for a two-dimensional curl–curl and grad-div problem

A numerical method for a two-dimensional curl–curl and grad-div problem is studied in this paper. It is based on a discretization using weakly continuous P ₁ vector fields and includes two consistency terms involving the jumps of the vector fields across element boundaries. Optimal convergence rates (up to an arbitrary positive ) in both the energy norm and the L ₂ norm are established on graded meshes. The theoretical results are confirmed by numerical experiments. The work of the first author was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-03-11790 and by the Humboldt Foundation through her Humboldt Research Award. The work of the third author was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-06-52481.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">C</Emphasis><Superscript>α</Superscript> regularity of a class of non-homogeneous ultraparabolic equations

We obtain the C ^α regularity for weak solutions of a class of non-homogeneous ultraparabolic equation, with measurable coefficients. The result generalizes our recent C ^α regularity results of homogeneous ultraparabolic equations. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10325104)     

Approximation of analytic functions with prescribed boundary conditions by circle-packing maps

We use recent advances in circle-packing theory to develop a constructive method for the approximation of an analytic functionF: Ω →C by circle packing maps providing we have only been given ΩF’_dΩ, and the set of critical points ofF. This extends the earlier results of Carter and Rodin and of Colin de Verdière and Mathéus, for functionsF with no critical points. The author gratefully acknowledges support of the Tennessee Science Alliance and the National Science Foundation. Research at MSRI is supported in part by Grant No. DMS-9022140.     

Properties of compact complex manifolds carrying closed positive currents

We show that a compact complex manifold is Moishezon if and only if it carries a strictly positive, integral (1, 1)-current. We then study holomorphic line bundles carrying singular hermitian metrics with semi-positive curvature currents, and we give some cases in which these line bundles are big. We use these cases to provide sufficient conditions for a compact complex manifold to be Moishezon in terms of the existence of certain semi-positive, integral (1,1)-currents. We also show that the intersection number of two closed semi-positive currents of complementary degrees on a compact complex manifold is positive when the intersection of their singular supports is contained in a Stein domain. The first author was partially supported by National Science Foundation Grant Nos. DMS-8922760 and DMS-9204273. The second author was partially supported by National Science Foundation Grant Nos. DMS-9001365 and DMS-9204037.     

Consistency of change point estimators for symmetrical stable distribution with parameters shift

Assume that the characteristic indexαof stable distribution satisfies 1<α<2,and that the distribution is symmetrical about its mean.We consider the change point estimators for stable distribution withαor scale parameterβshift.For the one case that mean is a known constant,ifαorβchanges,then density function will change too.To this end,we suppose the kernel estimation for a change point.For the other case that mean is an unknown constant,we suppose to apply empirical characteristic function to estimate the change-point location.In the two cases,we consider the consistency and strong convergence rate of estimators.Furthermore,we consider the mean shift case.If mean changes,then corresponding characteristic function will change too.To this end,we also apply empirical characteristic function to estimate change point.We obtain the similar convergence rate.Finally,we consider its application on the detection of mean shift in financial market.     

Nonparametric tests for bounds on the derivative of a regression function

We consider two tests of the null hypothesis that the k-th derivative of a regression function is uniformly bounded by a specified constant. These tests can be used to study the shape of the regression function. For instance, we can test for convexity of the regression function by setting k=2 and the constant equal to zero. Our tests are based on k-th order divided difference of the observations. The asymptotic distribution and efficacies of these tests are computed and simulation results presented.Research supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Grant OGP0007969.Research supported by National Science Foundation Grant DMS-9306738.     

Co-volume methods for degenerate parabolic problems

Summary A complementary volume (co-volume) technique is used to develop a physically appealing algorithm for the solution of degenerate parabolic problems, such as the Stefan problem. It is shown that, these algorithms give rise to a discrete semigroup theory that parallels the continuous problem. In particular, the discrete Stefan problem gives rise to nonlinear semigroups in both the discreteL ¹ andH ^–1 spaces.The first author was supported by a grant from the Hughes foundation, and the second author was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. DMS-9002768 while this work was undertaken. This work was supported by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis.     

Computing the geodesic center of a simple polygon

The geodesic center of a simple polygon is a point inside the polygon which minimizes the maximum internal distance to any point in the polygon. We present an algorithm which calculates the geodesic center of a simple polygon withn vertices in timeO(n logn).Work on this paper by the first author has been supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. DMS-8501947. Work on this paper by the second author has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant No. N00014-82-K-0381, National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-DCR-83-20085, and by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation, and the IBM Corporation. Part of the work on this paper by the first two authors has been carried out at the Workshop on Movable Separability of Sets at the Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University, Barbados, February 1986. Work on this paper by the third author has been supported by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF), Project S32/01.     

On arrangements of Jordan arcs with three intersections per pair

Motivated by a number of motion-planning questions, we investigate in this paper some general topological and combinatorial properties of the boundary of the union ofn regions bounded by Jordan curves in the plane. We show that, under some fairly weak conditions, a simply connected surface can be constructed that exactly covers this union and whose boundary has combinatorial complexity that is nearly linear, even though the covered region can have quadratic complexity. In the case where our regions are delimited by Jordan acrs in the upper halfplane starting and ending on thex-axis such that any pair of arcs intersect in at most three points, we prove that the total number of subarcs that appear on the boundary of the union is only (n(n)), where(n) is the extremely slowly growing functional inverse of Ackermann's function.The first author is pleased to acknowledge the support of Amoco Fnd. Fac. Dev. Comput. Sci. 1-6-44862 and National Science Foundation Grant CCR-8714565. Work on this paper by the fourth and seventh authors has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-87-K-0129, by National Science Foundation Grant NSF-DCR-83-20085, and by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation and the IBM Corporation. The seventh author in addition wishes to acknowledge support by a research grant from the NCRD—the Israeli National Council for Research and Development. The fifth author would like to acknowledge support in part by NSF grant DMS-8501947. Finally, the eighth author was supported in part by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.     

Solvability for differential equations on fractals

We show that nonlinear differential equations based on the Laplacian have local solutions on pcf self-similar fractals. However, even linear equations may fail to have global solutions. The equation Δu =f may be solved on an arbitrary proper open set for any functionf continuous there. Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation, Grant DMS-0140194.     

Spectral conditioning and pseudospectral growth

Using the language of pseudospectra, we study the behavior of matrix eigenvalues under two scales of matrix perturbation. First, we relate Lidskii’s analysis of small perturbations to a recent result of Karow on the growth rate of pseudospectra. Then, considering larger perturbations, we follow recent work of Alam and Bora in characterizing the distance from a given matrix to the set of matrices with multiple eigenvalues in terms of the number of connected components of pseudospectra. J. V. Burke’s research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant DMS-0505712. A. S. Lewis’s research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant DMS-0504032. M. L. Overton’s research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant DMS-0412049.     

A new class of Zienkiewicz-type non-conforming element in any dimensions

In this paper, a new class of Zienkiewicz-type non-conforming finite element, in n spatial dimensions with n ≥ 2, is proposed. The new finite element is proved to be convergent for the biharmonic equation. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10571006). This work was supported in part by NSF DMS-0209497 and NSF DMS-0215392 and the Changjiang Professorship through Peking University.     

Computing the link center of a simple polygon

The link center of a simple polygonP is the set of pointsx insideP at which the maximal link-distance fromx to any other point inP is minimized. Here the link distance between two pointsx, y insideP is defined to be the smallest number of straight edges in a polygonal path insideP connectingx toy. We prove several geometric properties of the link center and present an algorithm that calculates this set in timeO(n ²), wheren is the number of sides ofP. We also give anO(n logn) algorithm for finding an approximate link center, that is, a pointx such that the maximal link distance fromx to any point inP is at most one more than the value attained from the true link center.Work on this paper by the second author has been supported by National Science Foundation Grant DMS-8501947. Work by the third author has been supported by the Canadian National Science and Engineering Research Council, Grant A0332. Work by the fifth author has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-82-K-0381, National Science Foundation Grant DCR-83-20085, and by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation, and the IBM Corporation. Work by the seventh author has been supported by a Killam Senior Research Fellowship from the Canada Council, and work by the ninth author has been supported by the National Science Foundation Grants DCR-84-01898 and DCR-84-01633. Part of the work on this paper has been carried out at the Workshop on Movable Separability of Sets at the Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University, Barbados, February 1986. Further acknowledgments can be obtained from the tenth author upon request.     

Index theory on locally homogeneous spaces

We describe how the equivariant K homology class of an invariant elliptic operator on a homogeneous space of a linear semisimple Lie group determines the L ²-index of the associated operator on a finite volume locally homogeneous space. The machinery of equivariant K homology and of KK theory can be used to prove theorems about L ²-indices. We give an application motivated by the problem of calculating multiplicities of subrepresentations of quasi-regular representations.Supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-8903472.Supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-8901436.     

Composition Operators on α-Bloch Spaces of the Unit Ball

The authors characterize the boundedness and compactness of composition operators between α-Bloch spaces of the unit ball.     

Closures of singly generated subsemigroups of βS

It is shown that if (S, +) is a semigroup andp∈βS/S is in the closure of a sufficiently thin sequence inS, thencl{p,p+p,p+p+p,…} is not a subsemigroup of (βS, +). This author gratefully acknowledges support received from the National Science Foundation via Grant DMS-8901058     

Quasiequational Theories of Flat Algebras

We prove that finite flat digraph algebras and, more generally, finite compatible flat algebras satisfying a certain condition are finitely q-based (possess a finite basis for their quasiequations). We also exhibit an example of a twelve-element compatible flat algebra that is not finitely q-based. The first author was partially supported by the grant # 201/02/0594 of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, and by the Institutional grant MSM0021620839; the second author was partially supported by the grant No. Tn37877 of the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research (OTHA); the third author was supported by the NSF grant # DMS-9971352.     

Generalized Polar Decompositions for Closed Operators in Hilbert Spaces and Some Applications

We study generalized polar decompositions of densely defined closed linear operators in Hilbert spaces and provide some applications to relatively (form) bounded and relatively (form) compact perturbations of self-adjoint, normal, and m-sectorial operators. Based upon work partially supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. DMS-0400639 and FRG-0456306, and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under Grant No. Y330.     

On the rate of convergence of the maximum likelihood estimator of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-monotone density

Bounds for the bracketing entropy of the classes of bounded k-monotone functions on [0, A] are obtained under both the Hellinger distance and the L ^p (Q) distance, where 1 ⩽ p < ∞ and Q is a probability measure on [0,A]. The result is then applied to obtain the rate of convergence of the maximum likelihood estimator of a k-monotone density. This work was supported by National Science Foundation of USA (Grant No. DMS-0405855, DMS-0804587)