Discrete monodromy, pentagrams, and the method of condensation

This paper studies the pentagram map, a projectively natural iteration on the space of polygons. Inspired by a method from the theory of ordinary differential equations, the paper constructs roughly n algebraically independent invariants for the map, when it is defined on the space of n-gons. These invariants strongly suggest that the pentagram map is a discrete completely integrable system. The paper also relates the pentagram map to Dodgson’s method of condensation for computing determinants, also known as the octahedral recurrence. I dedicate this paper to Professor V. I. Arnold on the occasion of his 70th birthday     

On singularity confinement for the pentagram map

The pentagram map, introduced by R. Schwartz, is a birational map on the configuration space of polygons in the projective plane. We study the singularities of the iterates of the pentagram map. We show that a “typical” singularity disappears after a finite number of iterations, a confinement phenomenon first discovered by Schwartz. We provide a method to bypass such a singular patch by directly constructing the first subsequent iterate that is well-defined on the singular locus under consideration. The key ingredient of this construction is the notion of a decorated (twisted) polygon, and the extension of the pentagram map to the corresponding decorated configuration space.     

Skew quasisymmetric Schur functions and noncommutative Schur functions

Recently a new basis for the Hopf algebra of quasisymmetric functions QSym, called quasisymmetric Schur functions, has been introduced by Haglund, Luoto, Mason, van Willigenburg. In this paper we extend the definition of quasisymmetric Schur functions to introduce skew quasisymmetric Schur functions. These functions include both classical skew Schur functions and quasisymmetric Schur functions as examples, and give rise to a new poset LC that is analogous to Young's lattice. We also introduce a new basis for the Hopf algebra of noncommutative symmetric functions NSym. This basis of NSym is dual to the basis of quasisymmetric Schur functions and its elements are the pre-image of the Schur functions under the forgetful map χ:NSym→Sym. We prove that the multiplicative structure constants of the noncommutative Schur functions, equivalently the coefficients of the skew quasisymmetric Schur functions when expanded in the quasisymmetric Schur basis, are nonnegative integers, satisfying a Littlewood–Richardson rule analogue that reduces to the classical Littlewood–Richardson rule under χ.As an application we show that the morphism of algebras from the algebra of Poirier–Reutenauer to Sym factors through NSym. We also extend the definition of Schur functions in noncommuting variables of Rosas–Sagan in the algebra NCSym to define quasisymmetric Schur functions in the algebra NCQSym. We prove these latter functions refine the former and their properties, and project onto quasisymmetric Schur functions under the forgetful map. Lastly, we show that by suitably labeling LC, skew quasisymmetric Schur functions arise in the theory of Pieri operators on posets.     

On affine images of regular pentagons and pentagrams

In this paper we explore pentagons that are affine images of the regular pentagon and the regular pentagram. We obtain their characterizations in terms of two mild forms of regularity that deal with the notions of medians for a pentagon and the natural requirement that they are concurrent. Using these characterizations we show that there are various values involving the number 5 (thus related to the golden section) for which a careful selection of division points on appropriate segments determined by any pentagon will result in a pentagon that is the affine image of either a regular pentagon or a regular pentagram.     

Permutation polynomials over finite fields from a powerful lemma

Using a lemma proved by Akbary, Ghioca, and Wang, we derive several theorems on permutation polynomials over finite fields. These theorems give not only a unified treatment of some earlier constructions of permutation polynomials, but also new specific permutation polynomials over Fq. A number of earlier theorems and constructions of permutation polynomials are generalized. The results presented in this paper demonstrate the power of this lemma when it is employed together with other techniques.     

On Generalizations of the Pentagram Map: Discretizations of AGD Flows

In this paper we investigate discretizations of AGD flows whose projective realizations are defined by intersecting different types of subspace in $\mathbb{RP}^{m}$ . These maps are natural candidates to generalize the pentagram map, itself defined as the intersection of consecutive shortest diagonals of a convex polygon, and a completely integrable discretization of the Boussinesq equation. We conjecture that the r-AGD flow in m dimensions can be discretized using one (r?1)-dimensional subspace and r?1 different (m?1)-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{RP}^{m}$ .     

A semi-recursion for the number of involutions in special orthogonal groups over finite fields

Let I(n) be the number of involutions in a special orthogonal group SO(n,Fq) defined over a finite field with q elements, where q is the power of an odd prime. Then the numbers I(n) form a semi-recursion, in that for m>1 we haveI(2m+3)=(q2m+2+1)I(2m+1)+q2m(q2m−1)I(2m−2). We give a purely combinatorial proof of this result, and we apply it to give a universal bound for the character degree sum for finite classical groups defined over Fq.     

Integrability of higher pentagram maps

We define higher pentagram maps on polygons in $\mathbb{P }^d$ for any dimension $d$ , which extend R. Schwartz’s definition of the 2D pentagram map. We prove their integrability by presenting Lax representations with a spectral parameter for scale invariant maps. The corresponding continuous limit of the pentagram map in dimension $d$ is shown to be the $(2,d+1)$ -equation of the KdV hierarchy, generalizing the Boussinesq equation in 2D. We also study in detail the 3D case, where we prove integrability for both closed and twisted polygons and describe the spectral curve, first integrals, the corresponding tori and the motion along them, as well as an invariant symplectic structure.     

Sharp Concentration of the Number of Submaps in Random Planar Triangulations

We show that the maximum vertex degree in a random 3-connected planar triangulation is concentrated in an interval of almost constant width. This is a slightly weaker type of result than our earlier determination of the limiting distribution of the maximum vertex degree in random planar maps and in random triangulations of a (convex) polygon. We also derive sharp concentration results on the number of vertices of given degree in random planar maps of all three types. Some sharp concentration results about general submaps in 3-connected triangulations are also given.* Research supported by NSERC and Australian Research Council Research supported by the Australian Research Council     

Algorithms for minimum length partitions of polygons

We show that it is possible to find a diagonal partition of anyn-vertex simple polygon into smaller polygons, each of at mostm edges, minimizing the total length of the partitioning diagonals, in timeO(n ³ m ²). We derive the same asymptotic upper time-bound for minimum length diagonal partitions of simple polygons into exactlym-gons provided that the input polygon can be partitioned intom-gons. Also, in the latter case, if the input polygon is convex, we can reduce the upper time-bound toO(n ³ logm).     

The classification of self-dual modular codes

A classification method of self-dual codes over Zm is given. If m=rs with relatively prime integers r and s, then the classification can be accomplished by double coset decompositions of Sn by automorphism groups of self-dual codes over Zr and Zs. We classify self-dual codes of length 4 over Zp for all primes p in terms of their automorphism groups and then apply our method to classify self-dual codes over Zm for arbitrary integer m. Self-dual codes of length 8 are also classified over Zpq for p,q=2,3,5,7.     

Integrability of a nuclear spin generator

In this work we consider a nuclear spin generator given by where α, β, κ are nonnegative parameters. It models the two temperature feedback nuclear reactor problem as model by Vreeke and Sandquist (1970) [4]. We contribute to the understanding of its global dynamics, or more precisely, to the topological structure of its orbits by studying the integrability problem. We prove that β=0 or β≠0 and κ=0 are the only values of the parameters for which the system is integrable, and in this case we provide an explicit expression for its first integrals.     

On special types of nonholonomic contact elements

Our starting point has been a recent clarification of the role of semiholonomic contact elements in the theory of submanifolds of Cartan geometries, Kolá? and Vitolo (2010) [5]. We deduce some further properties of the iterated contact elements by using the general concept of contact (n,F)-element for a regular subcategory F of the category of nonholonomic r-jets. Special attention is paid to the incidence relation of contact F-elements of different dimensions.     

Reverse inequalities for zonoids and their application

We prove inequalities for mixed volumes of zonoids with isotropic generating measures. A special case is an inequality for zonoids that is reverse to the generalized Urysohn inequality, between mean width and another intrinsic volume; here the equality case characterizes parallelepipeds. We apply this to a question from stochastic geometry. It is known that among the stationary Poisson hyperplane processes of given positive intensity in n-dimensional Euclidean space, the ones with rotation invariant distribution are characterized by the fact that they yield, for k∈{2,…,n}, the maximal intensity of the intersection process of order k. We show that, if the kth intersection density is measured in an affine-invariant way, the processes of hyperplanes with only n fixed directions are characterized by a corresponding minimum property.     

Stability results for approximation by positive definite functions on SO(3)

We consider interpolation methods defined by positive definite functions on a locally compact group G. Estimates for the smallest and largest eigenvalue of the interpolation matrix in terms of the localization of the positive definite function on G are presented, and we provide a method to get positive definite functions explicitly on compact semisimple Lie groups. Finally, we apply our results to construct well-localized positive definite basis functions having nice stability properties on the rotation group SO(3).     

Efficient numerical solution of the generalized Dirichlet-Neumann map for linear elliptic PDEs in regular polygon domains

A new and novel approach for analyzing boundary value problems for linear and for integrable nonlinear PDEs was recently introduced. For linear elliptic PDEs, an important aspect of this approach is the characterization of a generalized Dirichlet-Neumann map: given the derivative of the solution along a direction of an arbitrary angle to the boundary, the derivative of the solution perpendicularly to this direction is computed without solving on the interior of the domain. For this computation, a collocation-type numerical method has been recently developed. Here, we study the collocation’s coefficient matrix properties. We prove that, for the Laplace’s equation on regular polygon domains with the same type of boundary conditions on each side, the collocation matrix is block circulant, independently of the choice of basis functions. This leads to the deployment of the FFT for the solution of the associated collocation linear system, yielding significant computational savings. Numerical experiments are included to demonstrate the efficiency of the whole computation.     

Equivariant closure operators and trisp closure maps

A trisp closure map ? is a special map on the vertices of a trisp (triangulated space) T with the property that T collapses onto the subtrisp induced by the image of ?. We study the interaction between trisp closure maps and group operations on the trisp, and give conditions such that the quotient map is again a trisp closure map. Special attention is on the case that the trisp is the nerve of an acyclic category, and the relationship between trisp closure maps and closure operators on posets is studied.     

Set maps, umbral calculus, and the chromatic polynomial

Some important properties of the chromatic polynomial also hold for any polynomial set map satisfying

     

Orthogonal exponentials on the generalized plane Sierpinski gasket

The self-affine measure μ_Mp,D corresponding tois supported on the the generalized plane Sierpinski gasket T(M_p,D). In the present paper we show that there exist at most 3 mutually orthogonal exponential functions in L²(μ_Mp,D), and the number 3 is the best. This generalizes several known results on the non-spectral self-affine measure problem.