Difference sets with few character values

The known families of difference sets can be subdivided into three classes: difference sets with Singer parameters, cyclotomic difference sets, and difference sets with gcd \((v,n)>1\) . It is remarkable that all the known difference sets with gcd \((v,n)>1\) have the so-called character divisibility property. Jungnickel and Schmidt (Difference sets: an update. London Math. Soc. Lecture Note Ser., vol. 245, pp. 89–112, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997) posed the problem of constructing difference sets with gcd \((v,n)>1\) that do not satisfy this property. In an attempt to attack this problem, we use difference sets with three nontrivial character values as candidates, and get some necessary conditions.     

Ultraproducts of continuous posets

We consider local partial clones defined on an uncountable set E having the form Polp(\({\mathfrak{R}}\)), where \({\mathfrak{R}}\) is a set of relations on E. We investigate the notion of weak extendability of partial clones of the type Polp(\({\mathfrak{R}}\)) (in the case of E countable, this coincides with the notion of extendability previously introduced by the author in 1987) which allows us to expand to uncountable sets results on the characterization of Galois-closed sets of relations as well as model-theoretical properties of a relational structure \({\mathfrak{R}}\). We establish criteria for positive primitive elimination sets (sets of positive primitive formulas over \({\mathfrak{R}}\) through which any positive primitive definable relation over \({\mathfrak{R}}\) can be expressed without existential quantifiers) for finite \({\mathfrak{R}}\) as well as for \({\mathfrak{R}}\) having only finite number of positive primitive definable relations of any arity. Emphasizing the difference between countable and uncountable sets, we show that, unlike in the countable case, the characterization of Galois-closed sets InvPol(\({\mathfrak{R}}\)) (that is, all relations which are invariant under all operations from the clone Pol(\({\mathfrak{R}}\)) defined on an uncountable set) cannot be obtained via the application of finite positive primitive formulas together with infinite intersections and unions of updirected sets of relations from \({\mathfrak{R}}\).     

Critical Sets of 2-Balanced Latin Rectangles

An (m, n, 2)-balanced Latin rectangle is an \({m \times n}\) array on symbols 0 and 1 such that each symbol occurs n times in each row and m times in each column, with each cell containing either two 0’s, two 1’s or both 0 and 1. We completely determine the structure of all critical sets of the full (m, n, 2)-balanced Latin rectangle (which contains 0 and 1 in each cell). If m, \({n \geq 2}\), the minimum size for such a structure is shown to be \({(m-1)(n-1)+1}\). Such critical sets in turn determine defining sets for (0, 1)-matrices.     

O n ( m n,n, m n,m) relative differe nce sets with $$\text {gcd}( m,n)=1$$gcd( m,n)=1

There has been much research on \((p^{a},p^{b},p^{a},p^{a-b})\) relative difference sets with p a prime, while there are only a few results on (mn, n, mn, m) relative difference sets with \(\text {gcd}(m,n)=1\). The non-existence results on (mn, n, mn, m) relative difference sets with \(\text {gcd}(m,n)=1\) have only been obtained for the following five cases: (1) \(m=p,\ n=q,\ p>q\); (2) \(m=pq,\ n=3,\ p,q>3\); (3) \(m=4,\ n=p\); (4) \(m=2\) and (5) \(n=p\), where p, q are distinct odd primes. For the existence results, there are only four constructions of semi-regular relative difference sets in groups of size not a prime power with the forbidden subgroup having size larger than 2. In this paper, we present some more non-existence results on (mn, n, mn, m) relative difference sets with \(\text {gcd}(m,n)=1\). In particular, our result is a generalization of the main result of Hiramine’s work (J Comb Theory Ser A 117(7):996–1003, 2010). Meanwhile, we give a construction of non-abelian (16q, q, 16q, 16) relative difference sets, where q is a prime power with \(q\equiv 1\pmod {4}\) and \(q>4.2\times 10^{8}\). This is the third known infinite classes of non-abelian semi-regular relative difference sets.     

Downward Sets and their separation and approximation properties

We develop a theory of downward subsets of the space ^I, where I is a finite index set. Downward sets arise as the set of all solutions of a system of inequalities x^I,f_t(x)0 (tT), where T is an arbitrary index set and each f _t (tT) is an increasing function defined on ^I. These sets play an important role in some parts of mathematical economics and game theory. We examine some functions related to a downward set (the distance to this set and the plus-Minkowski gauge of this set, which we introduce here) and study lattices of closed downward sets and of corresponding distance functions. We discuss two kinds of duality for downward sets, based on multiplicative and additive min-type functions, respectively, and corresponding separation properties, and we give some characterizations of best approximations by downward sets. Some links between the multiplicative and additive cases are established.     

An Analog of Titchmarsh’s Theorem for the Fourier–Walsh Transform

The space clos(X) of all nonempty closed subsets of an unbounded metric space X is considered. The space clos(X) is endowed with a metric in which a sequence of closed sets converges if and only if the distances from these sets to a fixed point θ are bounded and, for any r, the sequence of the unions of the given sets with the exterior balls of radius r centered at θ converges in the Hausdorff metric. The metric on clos(X) thus defined is not equivalent to the Hausdorff metric, whatever the initial metric space X. Conditions for a set to be closed, totally bounded, or compact in clos(X) are obtained; criteria for the bounded compactness and separability of clos(X) are given. The space of continuous maps from a compact space to clos(X) is considered; conditions for a set to be totally bounded in this space are found.     

Compatible additive permutations of finite integral bases

Let be an additive permutation of a finite integral base. It is shown that ifB is symmetric, then there is a unique additive permutation ofB which is compatible with in the sense that ^–1 is also an additive permutation; and that, further, ifB is asymmetric, then there is no additive permutation ofB which is compatible with. Thus, in the symmetric case, there are no additively compatible sets (of permutations) forB of size greater than 3. This contrasts with the situation for completely compatible sets (equivalently, additive sequences of permutations) where for certainB compatible sets of size (resp. length) 4 or less are known, but where nothing is known of sets of greater size (resp. length). It is also noted how this result restricts the possibility of a useful multiplication theorem for the additive analogue of perfect systems of difference sets and graceful graphs.     

Volume of Tubes,Non Polynomial Behavior

The behavior of the volume of the tube around a given compact subset in finite dimension, depending on the radius r, is an old and important question. It is related to many fields, like differential geometry, geometric measure theory, integral geometry, and also probability and statistics. Federer (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 93, 418–491, 1959), introduces the class of sets with positive reach, for which the volume is given by a polynomial in the radius r. For applications, in numerical analysis and statistics for example, an “almost” polynomial behavior is of equal interest. We exhibit an example showing how far to a polynomial can be the volume of the tube, when the radius r tends to 0, for the simplest extension of the class of sets with positive reach, namely the class of (locally finite) union of sets with positive reach -satisfying a tangency condition- as introduced by Zähle (I. Math. Nachr. 119, 327–339, 1984).     

The Kakeya problem: a gap in the spectrum and classification of the smallest examples

Kakeya sets in the affine plane $\mathrm AG (2,q)$ are point sets that are the union of lines, one through every point on the line at infinity. The finite field Kakeya problem asks for the size of the smallest Kakeya sets and the classification of these Kakeya sets. In this article we present a new example of a small Kakeya set and we give the classification of the smallest Kakeya sets up to weight $\frac{q(q+2)}{2}+\frac{q}{4}$ , both in case $q$ even.     

Computable Ramsey’s theorem for pairs needs infinitely many $$\Pi ^0_2$$ sets

In Ramsey’s Theorem and Recursion Theory, Theorem 4.2, Jockusch proved that for any computable k-coloring of pairs of integers, there is an infinite \(\Pi ^0_2\) homogeneous set. The proof used a countable collection of \(\Pi ^0_2\) sets as potential infinite homogeneous sets. In a remark preceding the proof, Jockusch stated without proof that it can be shown that there is no computable way to prove this result with a finite number of \(\Pi ^0_2\) sets. We provide a proof of this claim, showing that there is no computable way to take an index for an arbitrary computable coloring and produce a finite number of indices of \(\Pi ^0_2\) sets with the property that one of those sets will be homogeneous for that coloring. While proving this result, we introduce n-trains as objects with useful combinatorial properties which can be used as approximations to infinite \(\Pi ^0_2\) sets.     

Some non-existence results on divisible difference sets

In this paper, we shall prove several non-existence results for divisible difference sets, using three approaches:

1. character sum arguments similar to the work of Turyn [25] for ordinary difference sets,
2. involution arguments and
3. multipliers in conjunction with results on ordinary difference sets.

Among other results, we show that an abelian affine difference set of odd orders (s not a perfect square) inG can exist only if the Sylow 2-subgroup ofG is cyclic. We also obtain a non-existence result for non-cyclic (n, n, n, 1) relative difference sets of odd ordern.     

On the approximation of dynamical indicators in systems with nonuniformly hyperbolic behavior

Let f be a \(C^{1+\alpha }\) diffeomorphism of a compact Riemannian manifold and \(\mu \) an ergodic hyperbolic measure with positive entropy. We prove that for every continuous potential \(\phi \) there exists a sequence of basic sets \(\Omega _n\) such that the topological pressure \(P(f|\Omega _n,\phi )\) converges to the free energy \(P_{\mu }(\phi ) = h(\mu ) + \int \phi {d\mu }\). We also prove that for a suitable class of potentials \(\phi \) there exists a sequence of basic sets \(\Omega _n\) such that \(P(f|\Omega _n,\phi ) \rightarrow P(\phi )\).     

Maximum union-free subfamilies

An old problem of Moser asks: what is the size of the largest union-free subfamily that one can guarantee in every family of m sets? A family of sets is called union-free if there are no three distinct sets in the family such that the union of two of the sets is equal to the third set. We show that every family of m sets contains a union-free subfamily of size at least \(\left\lfloor {\sqrt {4m + 1} } \right\rfloor - 1\) and that this bound is tight. This solves Moser’s problem and proves a conjecture of Erd?s and Shelah from 1972.More generally, a family of sets is a-union-free if there are no a + 1 distinct sets in the family such that one of them is equal to the union of a others. We determine up to an absolute multiplicative constant factor the size of the largest guaranteed a-union-free subfamily of a family of m sets. Our result verifies in a strong form a conjecture of Barat, Füredi, Kantor, Kim and Patkos.     

Kirchberger-type theorems for separation by convex domains

We say that a convex set K in ? ^d strictly separates the set A from the set B if A ? int(K) and B ? cl K = ø. The well-known Theorem of Kirchberger states the following. If A and B are finite sets in ? ^d with the property that for every T ? A?B of cardinality at most d + 2, there is a half space strictly separating T ? A and T ? B, then there is a half space strictly separating A and B. In short, we say that the strict separation number of the family of half spaces in ? ^d is d + 2.In this note we investigate the problem of strict separation of two finite sets by the family of positive homothetic (resp., similar) copies of a closed, convex set. We prove Kirchberger-type theorems for the family of positive homothets of planar convex sets and for the family of homothets of certain polyhedral sets. Moreover, we provide examples that show that, for certain convex sets, the family of positive homothets (resp., the family of similar copies) has a large strict separation number, in some cases, infinity. Finally, we examine how our results translate to the setting of non-strict separation.     

Invariant <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-minimal Sets in the Discrete and Continuous Settings

A sufficient condition for a set \(\Omega \subset L^{1}\left( \left[ 0,1\right] ^{m}\right) \) to be invariant K-minimal with respect to the couple \(\left( L^{1}\left( \left[ 0,1\right] ^{m}\right) ,L^{\infty }\left( \left[ 0,1\right] ^{m}\right) \right) \) is established. Through this condition, different examples of invariant K-minimal sets are constructed. In particular, it is shown that the \(L^{1}\)-closure of the image of the \(L^{\infty }\)-ball of smooth vector fields with support in \(\left( 0,1\right) ^{m}\) under the divergence operator is an invariant K-minimal set. The constructed examples have finite-dimensional analogues in terms of invariant K-minimal sets with respect to the couple \(\left( \ell ^{1},\ell ^{\infty }\right) \) on \(\mathbb {R}^{n}\). These finite-dimensional analogues are interesting in themselves and connected to applications where the element with minimal K-functional is important. We provide a convergent algorithm for computing the element with minimal K-functional in these and other finite-dimensional invariant K-minimal sets.     

On the irreducible components of globally defined semianalytic sets

In this work we present the concept of amenable C-semianalytic subset of a real analytic manifold M and study the main properties of this type of sets. Amenable C-semianalytic sets can be understood as globally defined semianalytic sets with a neat behavior with respect to Zariski closure. This fact allows us to develop a natural definition of irreducibility and the corresponding theory of irreducible components for amenable C-semianalytic sets. These concepts generalize the parallel ones for: complex algebraic and analytic sets, C-analytic sets, Nash sets and semialgebraic sets.