The Ubiquity of Thompson's Group F in Groups of Piecewise Linear Homeomorphisms of the Unit Interval

In the 1960s, Richard J. Thompson introduced a triple of groupsF T G which, among them, supplied the first examples of infinite,finitely presented, simple groups [14] (see [6] for publisheddetails), a technique for constructing an elementary exampleof a finitely presented group with an unsolvable word problem[12], the universal obstruction to a problem in homotopy theory[8], and the first examples of torsion free groups of type FPand not of type FP [5]. In abstract measure theory, it has beensuggested by Geoghegan (see [3] or [9, Question 13]) that Fmight be a counterexample to the conjecture that any finitelypresented group with no non-cyclic free subgroup is amenable(admits a bounded, non-trivial, finitely additive measure onall subsets that is invariant under left multiplication). Recently,F has arisen in the theory of groups of diagrams over semigrouppresentations [10], and as the object of questions in the algebraof string rewriting systems [7]. For more extensive bibliographiesand more results on Thompson's groups and their generalizationssee [1, 4, 6]. A persistent peculiarity of Thompson's groups is their abilityto pop up in diverse areas of mathematics. This suggests thatthere might be something very natural about Thompson's groups.We support this idea by showing (Theorem 1.1 below) that PL_o(I),the group of piecewise linear (finitely many changes of slope),orientation-preserving, self-homeomorphisms of the unit interval,is riddled with copies of F: a very weak criterion implies thata subgroup of PL_o(I) must contain an isomorphic copy of F.     

Modular Form Congruences and Selmer Groups

Motivated by Cremona and Mazur's notion of visibility of elementsin Shafarevich–Tate groups [6, 27], there have been anumber of recent works which test its compatibility with theBirch and Swinnerton–Dyer conjecture and the Bloch–Katoconjecture. These conjectures provide formulas for the ordersof Shafarevich–Tate groups in terms of values of L-functions.For example, one may see recent work of Agashe, Dummigan, Steinand Watkins [1, 2, 10, 11]. In their examples, they find thatthe presence of visible elements agrees with the expected divisibilityproperties of the relevant L-values.     

Splendid Derived Equivalences for Blocks of Finite Groups

A central issue in finite group modular representation theoryis the relationship between the p-local structure and the p-modularrepresentation theory of a given finite group. In [5], Brouéposes some startling conjectures. For example, he conjecturesthat if e is a p-block of a finite group G with abelian defectgroup D and if f is the Brauer correspondent block of e of thenormalizer, N_G(D), of D then e and f have equivalent derivedcategories over a complete discrete valuation ring with residuefield of characteristic p. Some evidence for this conjecturehas been obtained using an important Morita analog for derivedcategories of Rickard [11]. This result states that the existenceof a tilting complex is a necessary and sufficient conditionfor the equivalence of two derived categories. In [5], Brouéalso defines an equivalence on the character level between p-blockse and f of finite groups G and H that he calls a ‘perfectisometry’ and he demonstrates that it is a consequenceof a derived category equivalence between e and f. In [5], Brouéalso poses a corresponding perfect isometry conjecture betweena p-block e of a finite group G with an abelian defect groupD and its Brauer correspondent p-block f of N_G(D) and presentsseveral examples of this phenomena. Subsequent research hasprovided much more evidence for this character-level conjecture. In many known examples of a perfect isometry between p-blockse, f of finite groups G, H there are also perfect isometriesbetween p-blocks of p-local subgroups corresponding to e andf and these isometries are compatible in a precise sense. In[5], Broué calls such a family of compatible perfectisometries an ‘isotypy’. In [11], Rickard addresses the analogous question of defininga p-locally compatible family of derived equivalences. In thisimportant paper, he defines a ‘splendid tilting complex’for p-blocks e and f of finite groups G and H with a commonp-subgroup P. Then he demonstrates that if X is such a splendidtilting complex, if P is a Sylow p-subgroup of G and H and ifG and H have the same ‘p-local structure’, thenp-local splendid tilting complexes are obtained from X via theBrauer functor and ‘lifting’. Consequently, in thissituation, we obtain an isotypy when e and f are the principalblocks of G and H. Linckelmann [9] and Puig [10] have also obtained important resultsin this area. In this paper, we refine the methods and program of [11] toobtain variants of some of the results of [11] that have widerapplicability. Indeed, suppose that the blocks e and f of Gand H have a common defect group D. Suppose also that X is asplendid tilting complex for e and f and that the p-local structureof (say) H with respect to D is contained in that of G, thenthe Brauer functor, lifting and ‘cutting’ by blockindempotents applied to X yield local block tilting complexesand consequently an isotypy on the character level. Since thep-local structure containment hypothesis is satisfied, for example,when H is a subgroup of G (as is the case in Broué'sconjectures) our results extend the applicability of these ideasand methods.     

Cohen-Macaulay Complexes and Koszul Rings

Throughout this paper k denotes a fixed commutative ground ring.A Cohen–Macaulay complex is a finite simplicial complexsatisfying a certain homological vanishing condition. Thesecomplexes have been the subject of much research; introductionscan be found in, for example, Björner, Garsia and Stanley[6] or Budach, Graw, Meinel and Waack [7]. It is known (see,for example, Cibils [8], Gerstenhaber and Schack [10]) thatthere is a strong connection between the (co)homology of anarbitrary simplicial complex and that of its incidence algebra.We show how the Cohen–Macaulay property fits into thispicture, establishing the following characterization. A pure finite simplicial complex is Cohen–Macaulay overk if and only if the incidence algebra over k of its augmentedface poset, graded in the obvious way by chain lengths, is aKoszul ring.     

Intertwining Maps from Certain Group Algebras

In [17, 18, 19], we began to investigate the continuity propertiesof homomorphisms from (non-abelian) group algebras. Alreadyin [19], we worked with general intertwining maps [3, 12]. Thesemaps not only provide a unified approach to both homomorphismsand derivations, but also have some significance in their ownright in connection with the cohomology comparison problem [4]. The present paper is a continuation of [17, 18, 19]; this timewe focus on groups which are connected or factorizable in thesense of [26]. In [26], G. A. Willis showed that if G is a connectedor factorizable, locally compact group, then every derivationfrom L¹(G) into a Banach L¹(G)-module is automatically continuous.For general intertwining maps from L¹(G), this conclusion isfalse: if G is connected and, for some nN, has an infinite numberof inequivalent, n-dimensional, irreducible unitary representations,then there is a discontinuous homomorphism from L¹(G into aBanach algebra by [18, Theorem 2.2] (provided that the continuumhypothesis is assumed). Hence, for an arbitrary intertwiningmap from L¹(G), the best we can reasonably hope for is a resultasserting the continuity of on a ‘large’, preferablydense subspace of L¹(G). Even if the target space of is a Banachmodule (which implies that the continuity ideal I() of is closed),it is not a priori evident that is automatically continuous:the proofs of the automatic continuity theorems in [26] relyon the fact that we can always confine ourselves to restrictionsto L¹(G) of derivations from M(G) [25, Lemmas 3.1 and 3.4].It is not clear if this strategy still works for an arbitraryintertwining map from L¹(G) into a Banach L¹(G)-module.     

Hammocks and the Nazarova-Roiter Algorithm

Hammocks have been considered by Brenner [1], who gave a numericalcriterion for a finite translation quiver to be the Auslander–Reitenquiver of some representation-finite algebra. Ringel and Vossieck[11] gave a combinatorial definition of left hammocks whichgeneralised the concept of hammocks in the sense of Brenner,as a translation quiver H and an additive function h on H (calledthe hammock function) satisfying some conditions. They showedthat a thin left hammock with finitely many projective verticesis just the preprojective component of the Auslander–Reitenquiver of the category of S-spaces, where S is a finite partiallyordered set (abbreviated as ‘poset’). An importantrole in the representation theory of posets is played by twodifferentiation algorithms. One of the algorithms was developedby Nazarova and Roiter [8], and it reduces a poset S with amaximal element a to a new poset S'=_aS. The second algorithmwas developed by Zavadskij [13], and it reduces a poset S witha suitable pair (a, b) of elements a, b to a new poset S'=_(a,b)S.The main purpose of this paper is to construct new left hammocksfrom a given one, and to show the relationship between thesenew left hammocks and the Nazarova–Roiter algorithm. Ina later paper [5], we discuss the relationship between hammocksand the Zavadskij algorithm.     

Weakly Almost Periodic Functions on N with a Negative Base

Weakly almost periodic compactifications have been seriouslystudied for over 30 years. In the pioneering papers of de Leeuwand Glicksberg [4] and [5], the approach adopted was operator-theoretic.The current definition is more likely to be created from theperspective of universal algebra (see [1, Chapter 3]). For adiscrete group or semigroup S, the weakly almost periodic compactificationwS is the largest compact semigroup which (i) contains S asa dense subsemigroup, and (ii) has multiplication continuousin each variable separately (where largest means that any othercompact semigroup with the properties (i) and (ii) is a quotientof wS). A third viewpoint is to envisage wS as the Gelfand spaceof the C*-algebra of bounded weakly almost periodic functionson S (for the definition of such functions, see below). In this paper, we are concerned only with the simplest semigroup(N, +). The three approaches described above give three methodsof obtaining information about wN. An early striking resultabout wN, that it contains more than one idempotent, was obtainedby T. T. West using operator theory [13]. He considered theweak operator closure of the semigroup {T, T², T³, ...} of iteratesof a single operator T on the Hilbert space L²(µ) fora particular measure µ on [0, 1]. Brown and Moran, ina series of papers culminating in [2], used sophisticated techniquesfrom harmonic analysis to produce measures µ that permittedthe detection of further structure in wN; in particular, theyfound 2^cdistinct idempotents. However, for many years, no otherway of showing the existence of more than one idempotent inwN was found. The breakthrough came in 1991, and it was made by Ruppert [11].In his paper, he created a direct construction of a family ofweakly almost periodic functions which could detect 2^c differentidempotents in wN. His method was very ingenious (he used aunique variant of the p-adic expansion of integers) and rathercomplicated. Our main aim in this paper is to construct weaklyalmost periodic functions which are easy to describe and soappear more ‘natural’ than Ruppert's. We also showthat there are enough functions of our type to distinguish 2^cidempotentsin wN.     

Euler Characteristics in Relative K-Groups

Suppose that M is a finite module under the Galois group ofa local or global field. Ever since Tate's papers [17, 18],we have had a simple and explicit formula for the Euler–Poincarécharacteristic of the cohomology of M. In this note we are interestedin a refinement of this formula when M also carries an actionof some algebra A, commuting with the Galois action (see Proposition5.2 and Theorem 5.1 below). This refinement naturally takesthe shape of an identity in a relative K-group attached to A(see Section 2). We shall deduce such an identity whenever wehave a formula for the ordinary Euler characteristic, the keystep in the proof being the representability of certain functorsby perfect complexes (see Section 3). This representabilitymay be of independent interest in other contexts. Our formula for the equivariant Euler characteristic over Aimplies the ‘isogeny invariance’ of the equivariantconjectures on special values of the L-function put forwardin [3], and this was our motivation to write this note. Incidentally,isogeny invariance (of the conjectures of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer)was also a motivation for Tate's original paper [18]. I am verygrateful to J-P. Serre for illuminating discussions on the subjectof this note, in particular for suggesting that I consider representability.I should also like to thank D. Burns for insisting on a mostgeneral version of the results in this paper. 2000 MathematicsSubject Classification 19A99, 18G99, 11R34.     

Semisimple Modules for Finite Groups of Lie Type

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic p >0, and let G be a connected, reductive algebraic group overk. In [8] and [11], conditions on the dimension of rationalG modules were seen to imply semisimplicity of these modules.In [8], certain of these conditions were extended to cover thefinite groups of Lie type. In this paper, we extend some ofthe results of [11] to cover these finite Lie type groups. Themain such extension is the following result.     

Spectra of Analytic Toeplitz Tuples on Hardy Spaces

Let A be a complex algebra (with unit e), X a left A moduleand a = (a₁, ..., a_m) a commuting tuple of elements in A. FollowingTaylor [8], we have to consider the Koszul complex K_•(a,X) in order to define the joint spectrum of the tuple a. 1991Mathematics Subject Classification 47A13.     

Derivations on Real and Complex JB*-Triples

At the regional conference held at the University of California,Irvine, in 1985 [24], Harald Upmeier posed three basic questionsregarding derivations on JB*-triples: (1) Are derivations automatically bounded? (2) When are all bounded derivations inner? (3) Can bounded derivations be approximated by inner derivations? These three questions had all been answered in the binary cases.Question 1 was answered affirmatively by Sakai [17] for C*-algebrasand by Upmeier [23] for JB-algebras. Question 2 was answeredby Sakai [18] and Kadison [12] for von Neumann algebras andby Upmeier [23] for JW-algebras. Question 3 was answered byUpmeier [23] for JB-algebras, and it follows trivially fromthe Kadison–Sakai answer to question 2 in the case ofC*-algebras. In the ternary case, both question 1 and question 3 were answeredby Barton and Friedman in [3] for complex JB*-triples. In thispaper, we consider question 2 for real and complex JBW*-triplesand question 1 and question 3 for real JB*-triples. A real orcomplex JB*-triple is said to have the inner derivation propertyif every derivation on it is inner. By pure algebra, every finite-dimensionalJB*-triple has the inner derivation property. Our main results,Theorems 2, 3 and 4 and Corollaries 2 and 3 determine whichof the infinite-dimensional real or complex Cartan factors havethe inner derivation property.     

On Sets Where Iterates of a Meromorphic Function Zip Towards Infinity

For a transcendental meromorphic function f, various propertiesof the set [formula] were obtained in [8] and [9]. Here we establish analogous propertiesfor the smaller sets [formula] introduced in [5], and [formula] We deduce a symmetry result for Julia sets J(f), and also indicatesome techniques for showing that certain invariant curves liein I'(f), Z(f) and J(f). 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification30D05, 37F10, 37F50.     

Gromov-Witten Invariants of Flag Manifolds, VIA D-Modules

We present a method for computing the 3-point genus zero Gromov–Witteninvariants of the complex flag manifold G/B from the relationsof the small quantum cohomology algebra QH^*G/B (G is a complexsemisimple Lie group and B is a Borel subgroup). In [3] and[9], at least in the case G = GL_nC, two algebraic/combinatoricmethods have been proposed, based on suitably designed axioms.Our method is quite different, being differential geometricin nature; it is based on the approach to quantum cohomologydescribed in [7], which is in turn based on the integrable systemspoint of view of Dubrovin and Givental.     

Confined Subgroups of Simple Locally Finite Groups and Ideals of their Group Rings

We are concerned in this paper with the ideal structure of grouprings of infinite simple locally finite groups over fields ofcharacteristic zero, and its relation with certain subgroupsof the groups, called confined subgroups. The systematic studyof the ideals in these group rings was initiated by the secondauthor in[15], although some results had been obtained previously(see [3, 1]). Let G be an infinite simple locally finite groupand K a field of characteristic zero. It is expected that inmost cases, the group ring KG will have the smallest possiblenumber of ideals, namely three, (KG itself, {0} and the augmentationideal), and this has been verified in some cases. In some interestingcases, however, the situation is different, and there are moreideals. We mention in particular the infinite alternating groups[3] and the stable special linear groups [9], in which the ideallattice has been completely determined. The second author hasconjectured that the presence of ideals in KG, other than thethree unavoidable ones, is synonymous with the presence in thegroup of proper confined subgroups. Here a subgroup H of a locallyfinite group G is called confined, if there exists a finitesubgroup F of G such that H^gF1 for all gG. This amounts to sayingthat F has no regular orbit in the permutation representationof G on the cosets of H.     

Hypersurface Singularities with 2-Dimensional Critical Locus

Consider an analytic germ f:(C^m, 0)(C, 0) (m3) whose criticallocus is a 2-dimensional complete intersection with an isolatedsingularity (icis). We prove that the homotopy type of the Milnorfiber of f is a bouquet of spheres, provided that the extendedcodimension of the germ f is finite. This result generalizesthe cases when the dimension of the critical locus is zero [8],respectively one [12]. Notice that if the critical locus isnot an icis, then the Milnor fiber, in general, is not homotopicallyequivalent to a wedge of spheres. For example, the Milnor fiberof the germ f:(C⁴, 0)(C, 0), defined by f(x₁, x₂, x₃, x₄) =x₁x₂x₃x₄ has the homotopy type of S¹xS¹xS¹. On the other hand,the finiteness of the extended codimension seems to be the rightgeneralization of the isolated singularity condition; see forexample [9–12, 17, 18]. In the last few years different types of ‘bouquet theorems’have appeared. Some of them deal with germs f:(X, x)(C, 0) wheref defines an isolated singularity. In some cases, similarlyto the Milnor case [8], F has the homotopy type of a bouquetof (dim X–1)-spheres, for example when X is an icis [2],or X is a complete intersection [5]. Moreover, in [13] Siersmaproved that F has a bouquet decomposition FF₀Sⁿ...Sⁿ (whereF₀ is the complex link of (X, x)), provided that both (X, x)and f have an isolated singularity. Actually, Siersma conjecturedand Tibr proved [16] a more general bouquet theorem for thecase when (X, x) is a stratified space and f defines an isolatedsingularity (in the sense of the stratified spaces). In thiscase F_iF_i, where the F_i are repeated suspensions of complexlinks of strata of X. (If (X, x) has the ‘Milnor property’,then the result has been proved by Lê; for details see[6].) In our situation, the space-germ (X, x) is smooth, but f hasbig singular locus. Surprisingly, for dim Sing f^–1(0)2,the Milnor fiber is again a bouquet (actually, a bouquet ofspheres, maybe of different dimensions). This result is in thespirit of Siersma's paper [12], where dim Sing f^–1(0)= 1. In that case, there is only a rather small topologicalobstruction for the Milnor fiber to be homotopically equivalentto a bouquet of spheres (as explained in Corollary 2.4). Inthe present paper, we attack the dim Sing f^–1(0) = 2 case.In our investigation some results of Zaharia are crucial [17,18].     

Limits Along Parallel Lines and the Classical Fine Topology

The fine topology on Rⁿ (n2) is the coarsest topology for whichall superharmonic functions on Rⁿ are continuous. We refer toDoob [11, 1.XI] for its basic properties and its relationshipto the notion of thinness. This paper presents several theoremsrelating the fine topology to limits of functions along parallellines. (Results of this nature for the minimal fine topologyhave been given by Doob – see [10, Theorem 3.1] or [11,1.XII.23] – and the second author [15].) In particular,we will establish improvements and generalizations of resultsof Lusin and Privalov [18], Evans [12], Rudin [20], Bagemihland Seidel [6], Schneider [21], Berman [7], and Armitage andNelson [4], and will also solve a problem posed by the latterauthors. An early version of our first result is due to Evans [12, p.234], who proved that, if u is a superharmonic function on R³,then there is a set ER²x{0}, of two-dimensional measure 0, suchthat u(x, y,·) is continuous on R whenever (x, y, 0)E.We denote a typical point of Rⁿ by X=(X' x), where X'R^n–1and xR. Let :RⁿR^n–1x{0} denote the projection map givenby (X', x) = (X', 0). For any function f:Rⁿ[–, +] andpoint X we define the vertical and fine cluster sets of f atX respectively by C_V(f;X)={l[–, +]: there is a sequence (t_m) of numbersin R\{x} such that t_mx and f(X', t_m)l}| and C_F(f;X)={l[–, +]: for each neighbourhood N of l in [–,+], the set f^–1(N) is non-thin at X}. Sets which are open in the fine topology will be called finelyopen, and functions which are continuous with respect to thefine topology will be called finely continuous. Corollary 1(ii)below is an improvement of Evans' result.     

A Solution to the Invariant Subspace Problem on the Space l1

In this paper, which is a sequel to our earlier paper [1], weslightly modify the methods used in [1] to produce a continuouslinear operator on l₁ with no nontrivial closed invariant subspace.     

On Irregularities of Distribution II

Let a=(a₁, a₂, a₃, ...) be an arbitrary infinite sequence inU=[0, 1). Let Van der Corput [5] conjectured that d(a, n) (n=1, 2, ...) isunbounded, and this was proved in 1945 by van Aardenne-Ehrenfest[1]. Later she refined this [2], obtaining for infinitely many n. Here and later c₁, c₂, ... denote positiveabsolute constants. In 1954, Roth [8] showed that the quantity is closely related to the discrepancy of a suitable point setin U².     

Locally Nilpotent p-Groups whose Proper Subgroups are Hypercentral or Nilpotent-by-Chernikov

Let G be a group and P be a property of groups. If every propersubgroup of G satisfies P but G itself does not satisfy it,then G is called a minimal non-P group. In this work we studylocally nilpotent minimal non-P groups, where P stands for ‘hypercentral’or ‘nilpotent-by-Chernikov’. In the first case weshow that if G is a minimal non-hypercentral Fitting group inwhich every proper subgroup is solvable, then G is solvable(see Theorem 1.1 below). This result generalizes [3, Theorem1]. In the second case we show that if every proper subgroupof G is nilpotent-by-Chernikov, then G is nilpotent-by-Chernikov(see Theorem 1.3 below). This settles a question which was consideredin [1–3, 10]. Recently in [9], the non-periodic case ofthe above question has been settled but the same work containsan assertion without proof about the periodic case. The main results of this paper are given below (see also [13]).     

The Baire Category Property and Some Notions of Compactness

We work in set theory without the axiom of choice: ZF. We showthat the axiom BC: Compact Hausdorff spaces are Baire, is equivalentto the following axiom: Every tree has a subtree whose levelsare finite, which was introduced by Blass (cf. [4]). This settlesa question raised by Brunner (cf. [9, p. 438]). We also showthat the axiom of Dependent Choices is equivalent to the axiom:In a Hausdorff locally convex topological vector space, convex-compactconvex sets are Baire. Here convex-compact is the notion whichwas introduced by Luxemburg (cf. [16]).