Directional Lipschitzness of Minimal Time Functions in Hausdorff Topological Vector Spaces

In a general Hausdorff topological vector space E, we associate to a given nonempty closed set S???E and a bounded closed set Ω???E, the minimal time function T _S,Ω defined by $T_{S,\Omega}(x):= \inf \{ t> 0: S\cap (x+t\Omega)\not = \emptyset\}$ . The study of this function has been the subject of various recent works (see Bounkhel (2012, submitted, 2013, accepted); Colombo and Wolenski (J Global Optim 28:269–282, 2004, J Convex Anal 11:335–361, 2004); He and Ng (J Math Anal Appl 321:896–910, 2006); Jiang and He (J Math Anal Appl 358:410–418, 2009); Mordukhovich and Nam (J Global Optim 46(4):615–633, 2010) and the references therein). The main objective of this work is in this vein. We characterize, for a given Ω, the class of all closed sets S in E for which T _S,Ω is directionally Lipschitz in the sense of Rockafellar (Proc Lond Math Soc 39:331–355, 1979). Those sets S are called Ω-epi-Lipschitz. This class of sets covers three important classes of sets: epi-Lipschitz sets introduced in Rockafellar (Proc Lond Math Soc 39:331–355, 1979), compactly epi-Lipschitz sets introduced in Borwein and Strojwas (Part I: Theory, Canad J Math No. 2:431–452, 1986), and K-directional Lipschitz sets introduced recently in Correa et al. (SIAM J Optim 20(4):1766–1785, 2010). Various characterizations of this class have been established. In particular, we characterize the Ω-epi-Lipschitz sets by the nonemptiness of a new tangent cone, called Ω-hypertangent cone. As for epi-Lipschitz sets in Rockafellar (Canad J Math 39:257–280, 1980) we characterize the new class of Ω-epi-Lipschitz sets with the help of other cones. The spacial case of closed convex sets is also studied. Our main results extend various existing results proved in Borwein et al. (J Convex Anal 7:375–393, 2000), Correa et al. (SIAM J Optim 20(4):1766–1785, 2010) from Banach spaces and normed spaces to Hausdorff topological vector spaces.     

A general theorem on generation of moments-preserving cosine families by Laplace operators in C[0,1]

We use Kelvin’s method of images (Bobrowski in J. Evol. Equ. 10(3):663–675, 2010; Semigroup Forum 81(3):435–445, 2010) to show that given two non-negative integers \(i\not= j\) there exists a unique cosine family generated by a restriction of the Laplace operator in C[0,1], that preserves the moments of order i and j about 0, if and only if precisely one of these integers is zero.     

The strong convergence of a three-step algorithm for the split feasibility problem

Based on the very recent work by Dang and Gao (Invers Probl 27:1–9, 2011) and Wang and Xu (J Inequal Appl, doi:10.1155/2010/102085, 2010), and inspired by Yao (Appl Math Comput 186:1551–1558, 2007), Noor (J Math Anal Appl 251:217–229, 2000), and Xu (Invers Probl 22:2021–2034, 2006), we suggest a three-step KM-CQ-like method for solving the split common fixed-point problems in Hilbert spaces. Our results improve and develop previously discussed feasibility problem and related algorithms.     

Continuity of the solution mapping to parametric generalized vector equilibrium problems

In this paper, two kinds of parametric generalized vector equilibrium problems in normed spaces are studied. The sufficient conditions for the continuity of the solution mappings to the two kinds of parametric generalized vector equilibrium problems are established under suitable conditions. The results presented in this paper extend and improve some main results in Chen and Gong (Pac J Optim 3:511–520, 2010), Chen and Li (Pac J Optim 6:141–152, 2010), Chen et al. (J Glob Optim 45:309–318, 2009), Cheng and Zhu (J Glob Optim 32:543–550, 2005), Gong (J Optim Theory Appl 139:35–46, 2008), Li and Fang (J Optim Theory Appl 147:507–515, 2010), Li et al. (Bull Aust Math Soc 81:85–95, 2010) and Peng et al. (J Optim Theory Appl 152(1):256–264, 2011).     

An augmented Lagrangian approach for sparse principal component analysis

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a widely used technique for data analysis and dimension reduction with numerous applications in science and engineering. However, the standard PCA suffers from the fact that the principal components (PCs) are usually linear combinations of all the original variables, and it is thus often difficult to interpret the PCs. To alleviate this drawback, various sparse PCA approaches were proposed in the literature (Cadima and Jolliffe in J Appl Stat 22:203–214, 1995; d’Aspremont et?al. in J Mach Learn Res 9:1269–1294, 2008; d’Aspremont et?al. SIAM Rev 49:434–448, 2007; Jolliffe in J Appl Stat 22:29–35, 1995; Journée et?al. in J Mach Learn Res 11:517–553, 2010; Jolliffe et?al. in J Comput Graph Stat 12:531–547, 2003; Moghaddam et?al. in Advances in neural information processing systems 18:915–922, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2006; Shen and Huang in J Multivar Anal 99(6):1015–1034, 2008; Zou et?al. in J Comput Graph Stat 15(2):265–286, 2006). Despite success in achieving sparsity, some important properties enjoyed by the standard PCA are lost in these methods such as uncorrelation of PCs and orthogonality of loading vectors. Also, the total explained variance that they attempt to maximize can be too optimistic. In this paper we propose a new formulation for sparse PCA, aiming at finding sparse and nearly uncorrelated PCs with orthogonal loading vectors while explaining as much of the total variance as possible. We also develop a novel augmented Lagrangian method for solving a class of nonsmooth constrained optimization problems, which is well suited for our formulation of sparse PCA. We show that it converges to a feasible point, and moreover under some regularity assumptions, it converges to a stationary point. Additionally, we propose two nonmonotone gradient methods for solving the augmented Lagrangian subproblems, and establish their global and local convergence. Finally, we compare our sparse PCA approach with several existing methods on synthetic (Zou et?al. in J Comput Graph Stat 15(2):265–286, 2006), Pitprops (Jeffers in Appl Stat 16:225–236, 1967), and gene expression data (Chin et?al in Cancer Cell 10:529C–541C, 2006), respectively. The computational results demonstrate that the sparse PCs produced by our approach substantially outperform those by other methods in terms of total explained variance, correlation of PCs, and orthogonality of loading vectors. Moreover, the experiments on random data show that our method is capable of solving large-scale problems within a reasonable amount of time.     

Semiclassics for Particles with Spin via a Wigner–Weyl-Type Calculus

We show how to relate the full quantum dynamics of a spin-½ particle on \({\mathbb{R}^d}\) to a classical Hamiltonian dynamics on the enlarged phase space \({\mathbb{R}^{2d} \times \mathbb{S}^{2}}\) up to errors of second order in the semiclassical parameter. This is done via an Egorov-type theorem for normal Wigner–Weyl calculus for \({\mathbb{R}^d}\) (Folland, Harmonic Analysis on Phase Space, 1989; Lein, Weyl Quantization and Semiclassics, 2010) combined with the Stratonovich–Weyl calculus for SU(2) (Varilly and Gracia-Bondia, Ann Phys 190:107–148, 1989). For a specific class of Hamiltonians, including the Rabi- and Jaynes–Cummings model, we prove an Egorov theorem for times much longer than the semiclassical time scale. We illustrate the approach for a simple model of the Stern–Gerlach experiment.     

3-Nets realizing a group in a projective plane

In a projective plane $\mathit{PG}(2,\mathbb{K})$ defined over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of characteristic 0, we give a complete classification of 3-nets realizing a finite group. An infinite family, due to Yuzvinsky (Compos. Math. 140:1614–1624, 2004), arises from plane cubics and comprises 3-nets realizing cyclic and direct products of two cyclic groups. Another known infinite family, due to Pereira and Yuzvinsky (Adv. Math. 219:672–688, 2008), comprises 3-nets realizing dihedral groups. We prove that there is no further infinite family. Urzúa’s 3-nets (Adv. Geom. 10:287–310, 2010) realizing the quaternion group of order 8 are the unique sporadic examples. If p is larger than the order of the group, the above classification holds in characteristic p>0 apart from three possible exceptions $\rm{Alt}_{4}$ , $\rm{Sym}_{4}$ , and $\rm{Alt}_{5}$ . Motivation for the study of finite 3-nets in the complex plane comes from the study of complex line arrangements and from resonance theory; see (Falk and Yuzvinsky in Compos. Math. 143:1069–1088, 2007; Miguel and Buzunáriz in Graphs Comb. 25:469–488, 2009; Pereira and Yuzvinsky in Adv. Math. 219:672–688, 2008; Yuzvinsky in Compos. Math. 140:1614–1624, 2004; Yuzvinsky in Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 137:1641–1648, 2009).     

The Surface Group Conjecture: Cyclically Pinched and Conjugacy Pinched One-Relator Groups

The general surface group conjecture asks whether a one-relator group where every subgroup of finite index is again one-relator and every subgroup of infinite index is free (property IF) is a surface group. We resolve several related conjectures given in Fine et al. (Sci Math A 1:1–15, 2008). First we obtain the Surface Group Conjecture B for cyclically pinched and conjugacy pinched one-relator groups. That is: if G is a cyclically pinched one-relator group or conjugacy pinched one-relator group satisfying property IF then G is free, a surface group or a solvable Baumslag–Solitar Group. Further combining results in Fine et al. (Sci Math A 1:1–15, 2008) on Property IF with a theorem of Wilton (Geom Topol, 2012) and results of Stallings (Ann Math 2(88):312–334, 1968) and Kharlampovich and Myasnikov (Trans Am Math Soc 350(2):571–613, 1998) we show that Surface Group Conjecture C proposed in Fine et al. (Sci Math A 1:1–15, 2008) is true, namely: If G is a finitely generated nonfree freely indecomposable fully residually free group with property IF, then G is a surface group.     

Speeding up branch and bound algorithms for solving the maximum clique problem

In this paper we consider two branch and bound algorithms for the maximum clique problem which demonstrate the best performance on DIMACS instances among the existing methods. These algorithms are MCS algorithm by Tomita et al. (2010) and MAXSAT algorithm by Li and Quan (2010a, b). We suggest a general approach which allows us to speed up considerably these branch and bound algorithms on hard instances. The idea is to apply a powerful heuristic for obtaining an initial solution of high quality. This solution is then used to prune branches in the main branch and bound algorithm. For this purpose we apply ILS heuristic by Andrade et al. (J Heuristics 18(4):525–547, 2012). The best results are obtained for p_hat1000-3 instance and gen instances with up to 11,000 times speedup.     

More about λ-support iterations of (<λ)-complete forcing notions

This article continues Ros?anowski and Shelah (Int J Math Math Sci 28:63–82, 2001; Quaderni di Matematica 17:195–239, 2006; Israel J Math 159:109–174, 2007; 2011; Notre Dame J Formal Logic 52:113–147, 2011) and we introduce here a new property of (<λ)-strategically complete forcing notions which implies that their λ-support iterations do not collapse λ ⁺ (for a strongly inaccessible cardinal λ).     

L p -theory for second-order elliptic operators with unbounded coefficients

Second-order elliptic operators with unbounded coefficients of the form ${Au := -{\rm div}(a\nabla u) + F . \nabla u + Vu}$ in ${L^{p}(\mathbb{R}^{N}) (N \in \mathbb{N}, 1 < p < \infty)}$ are considered, which are the same as in recent papers Metafune et?al. (Z Anal Anwendungen 24:497–521, 2005), Arendt et?al. (J Operator Theory 55:185–211, 2006; J Math Anal Appl 338: 505–517, 2008) and Metafune et?al. (Forum Math 22:583–601, 2010). A new criterion for the m-accretivity and m-sectoriality of A in ${L^{p}(\mathbb{R}^{N})}$ is presented via a certain identity that behaves like a sesquilinear form over L ^p ×?L ^p'. It partially improves the results in (Metafune et?al. in Z Anal Anwendungen 24:497–521, 2005) and (Metafune et?al. in Forum Math 22:583–601, 2010) with a different approach. The result naturally extends Kato’s criterion in (Kato in Math Stud 55:253–266, 1981) for the nonnegative selfadjointness to the case of p ≠?2. The simplicity is illustrated with the typical example ${Au = -u\hspace{1pt}'' + x^{3}u\hspace{1pt}' + c |x|^{\gamma}u}$ in ${L^p(\mathbb{R})}$ which is dealt with in (Arendt et?al. in J Operator Theory 55:185–211, 2006; Arendt et?al. in J Math Anal Appl 338: 505–517, 2008).     

Improved sparse fourier approximation results: faster implementations and stronger guarantees

We study the problem of quickly estimating the best k-term Fourier representation for a given periodic function f: [0, 2π] → ?. Solving this problem requires the identification of k of the largest magnitude Fourier series coefficients of f in worst case k ² · log ^O(1) N time. Randomized sublinear-time Monte Carlo algorithms, which have a small probability of failing to output accurate answers for each input signal, have been developed for solving this problem (Gilbert et al. 2002, 2005). These methods were implemented as the Ann Arbor Fast Fourier Transform (AAFFT) and empirically evaluated in Iwen et al. (Commun Math Sci 5(4):981–998, 2007). In this paper we present a new implementation, called the Gopher Fast Fourier Transform (GFFT), of more recently developed sparse Fourier transform techniques (Iwen, Found Comput Math 10(3):303–338, 2010, Appl Comput Harmon Anal, 2012). Experiments indicate that GFFT is faster than AAFFT. In addition to our empirical evaluation, we also consider the existence of sublinear-time Fourier approximation methods with deterministic approximation guarantees for functions whose sequences of Fourier series coefficents are compressible. In particular, we prove the existence of sublinear-time Las Vegas Fourier Transforms which improve on the recent deterministic Fourier approximation results of Iwen (Found Comput Math 10(3):303–338, 2010, Appl Comput Harmon Anal, 2012) for Fourier compressible functions by guaranteeing accurate answers while using an asymptotically near-optimal number of function evaluations.     

Strong NP-hardness of scheduling problems with learning or aging effect

Proofs of strong NP-hardness of single machine and two-machine flowshop scheduling problems with learning or aging effect given in Rudek (Computers & Industrial Engineering 61:20–31, 2011; Annals of Operations Research 196(1):491–516, 2012a; International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 59:299–309, 2012b; Applied Mathematics and Computations 218:6498–6510, 2012c; Applied Mathematical Modelling 37:1523–1536, 2013) contain a common mistake that make them incomplete. We reveal the mistake and provide necessary corrections for the problems in Rudek (Computers & Industrial Engineering 61:20–31, 2011; Annals of Operations Research 196(1):491–516, 2012a; Applied Mathematical Modelling 37:1523–1536, 2013). NP-hardness of problems in Rudek (International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 59:299–309, 2012b; Applied Mathematics and Computations 218:6498–6510, 2012c) remains unknown because of another mistake which we are unable to correct.     

Algebraic Hecke characters and strictly compatible systems of abelian mod p Galois representations over global fields

In [10] (C R Acad Sci Paris Ser I Math 323(2) 117–120, 1996), [11] (Math Res Lett 10(1):71–83 2003), [12] (Can J Math 57(6):1215–1223 2005), Khare showed that any strictly compatible systems of semisimple abelian mod p Galois representations of a number field arises from a unique finite set of algebraic Hecke characters. In this article, we consider a similar problem for arbitrary global fields. We give a definition of Hecke character which in the function field setting is more general than previous definitions by Goss and Gross and define a corresponding notion of compatible system of mod p Galois representations. In this context we present a unified proof of the analog of Khare’s result for arbitrary global fields. In a sequel we shall apply this result to strictly compatible systems arising from Drinfeld modular forms, and thereby attach Hecke characters to cuspidal Drinfeld Hecke eigenforms.     

A remark on Feuerbach hyperbolas

Recently many authors have studied properties of triangles and the theory of perspective triangles in the Euclidean plane (see Kimberling et al. J Geom Graph 14:1–14, 2010; Kimberling et al. http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/encyclopedia/ETC.html, 2012; Moses and Kimberling J Geom Graph 13:15–24, 2009; Moses and Kimberling Forum Geom 11:83–93, 2011; Odehnal Elem Math 61:74–80, 2006; Odehnal Forum Geom 10:35–40, 2010; Odehnal J Geom Graph 15: 45–67, 2011). The aim of this paper is to present a new approach to the construction of points on the Feuerbach hyperbola. Surprisingly, these points can be obtained as centers of perspectivity of a triangle ABC and a certain one-parametric set of triangles A′B′C′. The presented construction is based on partitions of the triangle’s sides and—in a way—dual to the construction of points on the Kiepert hyperbola. It can also be generalized to spherical triangles. The proofs are based on an affine property of triangles, which amazingly can also be used for the proof of the spherical theorem.     

On Ulm’s method for Fréchet differentiable operators

We provide new sufficient convergence conditions for the semilocal convergence of Ulm’s method (Izv. Akad. Nauk Est. SSR 16:403–411, 1967) in order to approximate a locally unique solution of an equation in a Banach space setting. We show that in some cases, our hypotheses hold true but the corresponding ones (Burmeister in Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 52:101–110, 1972; Kornstaedt in Aequ. Math. 13:21–45, 1975; Petzeltova in Comment. Math. Univ. Carol. 21:719–725, 1980; Potra and Ptǎk in Cas. Pest. Mat. 108:333–341, 1983; Ulm in Izv. Akad. Nauk Est. SSR 16:403–411, 1967) do not. We also show that under the same hypotheses and computational cost as (Burmeister in Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 52:101–110, 1972; Kornstaedt in Aequ. Math. 13:21–45, 1975; Petzeltova in Comment. Math. Univ. Carol. 21:719–725, 1980; Potra and Ptǎk in Cas. Pest. Mat. 108:333–341, 1983; Ulm in Izv. Akad. Nauk Est. SSR 16:403–411, 1967) finer error sequences can be obtained. Numerical examples are also provided further validating the results.     

General convergence conditions of Newton’s method for m-Fréchet differentiable operators

We present a local as well as a semilocal convergence analysis for Newton’s method for approximating a locally unique solution of a nonlinear equation in a Banach space setting. Our hypotheses involve m-Fréchet-differentiable operators and general Lipschitz-type hypotheses, where m≥2 is a positive integer. The new convergence analysis unifies earlier results; it is more flexible and provides a finer convergence analysis than in earlier studies such as Argyros in J. Comput. Appl. Math. 131:149–159, 2001, Argyros and Hilout in J. Appl. Math. Comput. 29:391–400, 2009, Argyros and Hilout in J. Complex. 28:364–387, 2012, Argyros et al. Numerical Methods for Equations and Its Applications, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York, 2012, Gutiérrez in J. Comput. Appl. Math. 79:131–145, 1997, Ren and Argyros in Appl. Math. Comput. 217:612–621, 2010, Traub and Wozniakowski in J. Assoc. Comput. Mech. 26:250–258, 1979. Numerical examples are presented further validating the theoretical results.     

An improved local convergence analysis for a two-step Steffensen-type method

We study a class of Steffensen-type algorithm for solving nonsmooth variational inclusions in Banach spaces. We provide a local convergence analysis under ω-conditioned divided difference, and the Aubin continuity property. This work on the one hand extends the results on local convergence of Steffensen’s method related to the resolution of nonlinear equations (see Amat and Busquier in Comput. Math. Appl. 49:13–22, 2005; J. Math. Anal. Appl. 324:1084–1092, 2006; Argyros in Southwest J. Pure Appl. Math. 1:23–29, 1997; Nonlinear Anal. 62:179–194, 2005; J. Math. Anal. Appl. 322:146–157, 2006; Rev. Colomb. Math. 40:65–73, 2006; Computational Theory of Iterative Methods, 2007). On the other hand our approach improves the ratio of convergence and enlarges the convergence ball under weaker hypotheses than one given in Hilout (Commun. Appl. Nonlinear Anal. 14:27–34, 2007).     

Right-convergence of sparse random graphs

The paper is devoted to the problem of establishing right-convergence of sparse random graphs. This concerns the convergence of the logarithm of number of homomorphisms from graphs or hyper-graphs \(\mathbb{G }_N, N\ge 1\) to some target graph \(W\) . The theory of dense graph convergence, including random dense graphs, is now well understood (Borgs et al. in Ann Math 176:151–219, 2012; Borgs et al. in Adv Math 219:1801–1851, 2008; Chatterjee and Varadhan in Eur J Comb 32:1000–1017, 2011; Lovász and Szegedy in J Comb Theory Ser B 96:933–957, 2006), but its counterpart for sparse random graphs presents some fundamental difficulties. Phrased in the statistical physics terminology, the issue is the existence of the limits of appropriately normalized log-partition functions, also known as free energy limits, for the Gibbs distribution associated with \(W\) . In this paper we prove that the sequence of sparse Erdös-Rényi graphs is right-converging when the tensor product associated with the target graph \(W\) satisfies a certain convexity property. We treat the case of discrete and continuous target graphs \(W\) . The latter case allows us to prove a special case of Talagrand’s recent conjecture [more accurately stated as level III Research Problem 6.7.2 in his recent book (Talagrand in Mean Field Models for Spin Glasses: Volume I: Basic examples. Springer, Berlin, 2010)], concerning the existence of the limit of the measure of a set obtained from \(\mathbb{R }^N\) by intersecting it with linearly in \(N\) many subsets, generated according to some common probability law. Our proof is based on the interpolation technique, introduced first by Guerra and Toninelli (Commun Math Phys 230:71–79, 2002) and developed further in (Abbe and Montanari in On the concentration of the number of solutions of random satisfiability formulas, 2013; Bayati et al. in Ann Probab Conference version in Proceedings of 42nd Ann. Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), 2010; Contucci et al. in Antiferromagnetic Potts model on the Erdös-Rényi random graph, 2011; Franz and Leone in J Stat Phys 111(3/4):535–564, 2003; Franz et al. in J Phys A Math Gen 36:10967–10985, 2003; Montanari in IEEE Trans Inf Theory 51(9):3221–3246, 2005; Panchenko and Talagrand in Probab Theory Relat Fields 130:312–336, 2004). Specifically, Bayati et al. (Ann Probab Conference version in Proceedings of 42nd Ann. Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), 2010) establishes the right-convergence property for Erdös-Rényi graphs for some special cases of \(W\) . In this paper most of the results in Bayati et al. (Ann Probab Conference version in Proceedings of 42nd Ann. Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), 2010) follow as a special case of our main theorem.     

On the Gauss–Newton method

We provide a new semilocal convergence analysis of the Gauss–Newton method (GNM) for solving nonlinear equation in the Euclidean space. Using a combination of center-Lipschitz, Lipschitz conditions, and our new idea of recurrent functions, we provide under the same or weaker hypotheses than before (Ben-Israel, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 15:243–252, 1966; Chen and Nashed, Numer. Math. 66:235–257, 1993; Deuflhard and Heindl, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 16:1–10, 1979; Guo, J. Comput. Math. 25:231–242, 2007; Häußler, Numer. Math. 48:119–125, 1986; Hu et al., J. Comput. Appl. Math. 219:110–122, 2008; Kantorovich and Akilov, Functional Analysis in Normed Spaces, Pergamon, Oxford, 1982), a finer convergence analysis. The results can be extended in case outer or generalized inverses are used. Numerical examples are also provided to show that our results apply, where others fail (Ben-Israel, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 15:243–252, 1966; Chen and Nashed, Numer. Math. 66:235–257, 1993; Deuflhard and Heindl, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 16:1–10, 1979; Guo, J. Comput. Math. 25:231–242, 2007; Häußler, Numer. Math. 48:119–125, 1986; Hu et al., J. Comput. Appl. Math. 219:110–122, 2008; Kantorovich and Akilov, Functional Analysis in Normed Spaces, Pergamon, Oxford, 1982).