The dual complex of {\overline{M}_{0,n}} via phylogenetics

The moduli space \({\overline{M}_{0,n}}\) of stable rational n-pointed curves has divisorial boundary with simple normal crossings. In this brief note I observe that the dual complex is a flag complex; that is, a collection of boundary divisors has nonempty intersection if and only if the pairwise intersections are nonempty. Rather than proving this directly, I translate the statement to a setting in phylogenetics, where it is widely used and multiple explicit proofs have been written. It appears that this result is known by experts but lacks a detailed reference in the literature, except recently for n = 7.     

Scaling of conformal blocks and generalized theta functions over $$\overline{\mathcal {M}}_{g,n}$$

By way of intersection theory on \(\overline{\mathcal {M}}_{g,n}\), we show that geometric interpretations for conformal blocks, as sections of ample line bundles over projective varieties, do not have to hold at points on the boundary. We show such a translation would imply certain recursion relations for first Chern classes of these bundles. While recursions can fail, geometric interpretations are shown to hold under certain conditions.     

Moduli Spaces of Stable Polygons and Symplectic Structures on\overline {\mathcal{M}} _{0,n}

In this paper, certain natural and elementary polygonal objects in Euclidean space, the stable polygons, are introduced, and the novel moduli spaces of stable polygons are constructed as complex analytic spaces. Quite unexpectedly, these new moduli spaces are shown to be projective and isomorphic to the moduli space of the Deligne–Mumford stable curves of genus 0. Further, built into the structures of stable polygons are some natural data giving rise to a family of (classes of) symplectic (Kähler) forms. This, via the link to , brings up a new tool to study the Kähler topology of . A wild but precise conjecture on the shape of the Kähler cone of is given in the end.     

The rational cohomology of $${\overline{\mathcal{M}_4}}$$

We present two approaches to the study of the cohomology of moduli spaces of curves. Together, they allow us to compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of stable complex curves of genus 4, with its Hodge structure.     

Extremal effective divisors on \overline{\mathcal M}_{1,n}

For every \(n\ge 3\) , we exhibit infinitely many extremal effective divisors on \(\overline{\mathcal M}_{1,n}\) , the Deligne-Mumford moduli space parameterizing stable genus one curves with \(n\) ordered marked points.     

NONVANISHING OF CONFORMAL BLOCKS DIVISORS ON $$ {\overline{\mathrm{M}}}_{0,n} $$

We introduce and study the problem of finding necessary and sufficient conditions under which a conformal blocks divisor on \( {\overline{\mathrm{M}}}_{0,n} \) is nonzero, solving the problem completely for \( \mathfrak{s}{\mathfrak{l}}_2 \). We give necessary nonvanishing conditions in type A, which are sufficient when theta and critical levels coincide. We also show divisors are subject to additive identities, reflecting a decomposition of the weights and level.     

The Gorenstein conjecture fails for the tautological ring of \mathcal{\overline{M}}_{2,n}

We prove that for N equal to at least one of the integers 8, 12, 16, 20 the tautological ring $R^{\bullet}(\overline {\mathcal {M}}_{2,N})$ is not Gorenstein. In fact, our N equals the smallest integer such that there is a non-tautological cohomology class of even degree on $\overline {\mathcal {M}}_{2,N}$ . By work of Graber and Pandharipande, such a class exists on $\overline {\mathcal {M}}_{2,20}$ , and we present some evidence indicating that N is in fact 20.     

The action of S n on the cohomology of \overline{M}_{0,n}(\mathbb{R})

In recent work by Etingof, Henriques, Kamnitzer, and the author, a presentation and explicit basis was given for the rational cohomology of the real locus of the moduli space of stable genus 0 curves with n marked points. We determine the graded character of the action of S_n on this space (induced by permutations of the marked points), both in the form of a plethystic formula for the cycle index, and as an explicit product formula for the value of the character on a given cycle type.      

Linear Forms and Higher-Degree Uniformity for Functions On {\mathbb{F}^{n}_{p}}

In [GW1] we began an investigation of the following general question. Let L ₁, . . . , L _m be a system of linear forms in d variables on Fⁿ_p{F^n_p}, and let A be a subset of Fⁿ_p{F^n_p} of positive density. Under what circumstances can one prove that A contains roughly the same number of m-tuples L ₁(x ₁, . . . , x _d ), . . . , L _m (x ₁, . . . , x _d ) with x₁,?, x_d ? \mathbb Fⁿ_p{x_1,\ldots, x_d \in {\mathbb F}^n_p} as a typical random set of the same density? Experience with arithmetic progressions suggests that an appropriate assumption is that ||A - d1||_U^k{||A - \delta 1||_{U{^k}}} should be small, where we have written A for the characteristic function of the set A, δ is the density of A, k is some parameter that depends on the linear forms L ₁, . . . , L _m , and || ·||_U^k{|| \cdot ||_U{^k}} is the kth uniformity norm. The question we investigated was how k depends on L ₁, . . . , L _m . Our main result was that there were systems of forms where k could be taken to be 2 even though there was no simple proof of this fact using the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality. Based on this result and its proof, we conjectured that uniformity of degree k − 1 is a sufficient condition if and only if the kth powers of the linear forms are linearly independent. In this paper we prove this conjecture, provided only that p is sufficiently large. (It is easy to see that some such restriction is needed.) This result represents one of the first applications of the recent inverse theorem for the U ^k norm over Fⁿ_p{F^n_p} by Bergelson, Tao and Ziegler [TZ2], [BTZ]. We combine this result with some abstract arguments in order to prove that a bounded function can be expressed as a sum of polynomial phases and a part that is small in the appropriate uniformity norm. The precise form of this decomposition theorem is critical to our proof, and the theorem itself may be of independent interest.     

Finite rank operators in Jacobson radical \mathcal{R}_{\mathcal{N} \otimes \mathcal{M}}

In this paper we investigate finite rank operators in the Jacobson radical of Alg( ), where are nests. Based on the concrete characterizations of rank one operators in Alg( ) and , we obtain that each finite rank operator in can be written as a finite sum of rank one operators in and the weak closure of equals Alg( ) if and only if at least one of is continuous.     

Effective divisors on {\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g} associated to curves with exceptional secant planes

This article is a sequel to Cotterill (Math Zeit 267(3):549–582, 2011), in which the author studies secant planes to linear series on a curve that is general in moduli. In that paper, the author proves that a general curve has no linear series with exceptional secant planes, in a very precise sense. Consequently, it makes sense to study effective divisors on ${\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g}$ associated to curves equipped with secant-exceptional linear series. Here we describe a strategy for computing the classes of those divisors. We pay special attention to the extremal case of (2d ? 1)-dimensional series with d-secant (d ? 2)-planes, which appears in the study of Hilbert schemes of points on surfaces. In that case, modulo a combinatorial conjecture, we obtain hypergeometric expressions for tautological coefficients that enable us to deduce the asymptotics in d of our divisors’ virtual slopes.     

The exact order of\sum\nolimits_{k = 1}^{\text{n}} {|{\text{x - x}}_{\text{k}} } |^8 |{\text{l}}_{\text{k}} ({\text{x)|}}^{\text{t}}

In this paper we give the exact order of \(\sum\nolimits_{k = 1}^{\text{n}} {|{\text{x - x}}_{\text{k}} } |^5 .\) for any fixed nonnegative integers s and t, which is n^?s, n^?s lnn and n^1?t for s≤t?2, s=t?1 and s≥t, respectively.     

Polynomial Hurwitz Numbers and Intersections on \overline M _{0,k}

We express Hurwitz numbers of polynomials of arbitrary topological type in terms of intersection numbers on the moduli space of curves of genus zero with marked points.     

A Construction of Partial Difference Sets in {\mathbb{Z}}_{p^{2 \times } } {\mathbb{Z}}_{p^{2 \times \cdot \cdot \cdot \times } } {\mathbb{Z}}_{p^2 }

In this paper, we give a construction of partial difference sets in _p ² x _p ² x ... x _p ²using some finite local rings.Dedicated to Hanfried Lenz on the occasion of his 80th birthdayThe work of this paper was done when the authors visited the University of Hong Kong.     

Nef line bundles on flag bundles on a curve over {\overline{{\mathbb F}}_p}

Let E be a vector bundle of rank r over an irreducible smooth projective curve X defined over the field ${\overline{{\mathbb F}}_p}$ F ¯ p . For fixed integers ${r_1\, , \ldots\, , r_\nu}$ r 1 , ... , r ν with ${1\, \leq\, r_1\, <\, \cdots\, <\, r_\nu\, <\, r}$ 1 ≤ r 1 < ? < r ν < r , let ${\text{Fl}(E)}$ Fl ( E ) be the corresponding flag bundle over X associated to E. Let ${\xi\, \longrightarrow \, {\rm Fl}(E)}$ ξ ? Fl ( E ) be a line bundle such that for every pair of the form ${(C\, ,\phi)}$ ( C , ? ) , where C is an irreducible smooth projective curve defined over ${\overline{\mathbb F}_p}$ F ¯ p and ${\phi\, :\, C\, \longrightarrow\, {\rm Fl}(E)}$ ? : C ? Fl ( E ) is a nonconstant morphism, the inequality ${{\rm degree}(\phi^* \xi)\, > \, 0}$ degree ( ? ? ξ ) > 0 holds. We prove that the line bundle ${\xi}$ ξ is ample.     

The {\bar{\partial}} -Neumann problem on product domains in {\mathbb{C}^{n}}

Let ${\Omega=\Omega_{1}\times\cdots\times\Omega_{n}\subset\mathbb{C}^{n}}$ , where ${\Omega_{j}\subset\mathbb{C}}$ is a bounded domain with smooth boundary. We study the solution operator to the ${\overline\partial}$ -Neumann problem for (0,1)-forms on Ω. In particular, we construct singular functions which describe the singular behavior of the solution. As a corollary our results carry over to the ${\overline\partial}$ -Neumann problem for (0,q)-forms. Despite the singularities, we show that the canonical solution to the ${\overline\partial}$ -equation, obtained from the Neumann operator, does not exhibit singularities when given smooth data.     

Conservative fragments of {{S}^{1}_{2}} and {{R}^{1}_{2}}

Conservative subtheories of ${{R}^{1}_{2}}$ and ${{S}^{1}_{2}}$ are presented. For ${{S}^{1}_{2}}$ , a slight tightening of Je?ábek??s result (Math Logic Q 52(6):613?C624, 2006) that ${T^{0}_{2} \preceq_{\forall \Sigma^{b}_{1}}S^{1}_{2}}$ is presented: It is shown that ${T^{0}_{2}}$ can be axiomatised as BASIC together with induction on sharply bounded formulas of one alternation. Within this ${\forall\Sigma^{b}_{1}}$ -theory, we define a ${\forall\Sigma^{b}_{0}}$ -theory, ${T^{-1}_{2}}$ , for the ${\forall\Sigma^{b}_{0}}$ -consequences of ${S^{1}_{2}}$ . We show ${T^{-1}_{2}}$ is weak by showing it cannot ${\Sigma^{b}_{0}}$ -define division by 3. We then consider what would be the analogous ${\forall\hat\Sigma^{b}_{1}}$ -conservative subtheory of ${R^{1}_{2}}$ based on Pollett (Ann Pure Appl Logic 100:189?C245, 1999. It is shown that this theory, ${{T}^{0,\left\{2^{(||\dot{id}||)}\right\}}_{2}}$ , also cannot ${\Sigma^{b}_{0}}$ -define division by 3. On the other hand, we show that ${{S}^{0}_{2}+open_{\{||id||\}}}$ -COMP is a ${\forall\hat\Sigma^{b}_{1}}$ -conservative subtheory of ${R^{1}_{2}}$ . Finally, we give a refinement of Johannsen and Pollett (Logic Colloquium?? 98, 262?C279, 2000) and show that ${\hat{C}^{0}_{2}}$ is ${\forall\hat\Sigma^{b}_{1}}$ -conservative over a theory based on open _cl-comprehension.     

On lattices of convex sets in {\mathbb{R}}^{n}

Properties of several sorts of lattices of convex subsets of are examined. The lattice of convex sets containing the origin turns out, for n > 1, to satisfy a set of identities strictly between those of the lattice of all convex subsets of and the lattice of all convex subsets of The lattices of arbitrary, of open bounded, and of compact convex sets in all satisfy the same identities, but the last of these is join-semidistributive, while for n > 1 the first two are not. The lattice of relatively convex subsets of a fixed set satisfies some, but in general not all of the identities of the lattice of “genuine” convex subsets of To the memory of Ivan RivalReceived April 22, 2003; accepted in final form February 16, 2005.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Proving properties of matrices over {\mathbb{Z}_{2}}

We prove assorted properties of matrices over ${\mathbb{Z}_{2}}$ , and outline the complexity of the concepts required to prove these properties. The goal of this line of research is to establish the proof complexity of matrix algebra. It also presents a different approach to linear algebra: one that is formal, consisting in algebraic manipulations according to the axioms of a ring, rather than the traditional semantic approach via linear transformations.