On a Conjectured Formula for Quiver Varieties

In A.S. Buch and W. Fulton [Invent. Math. 135 (1999), 665–687] a formula for the cohomology class of a quiver variety is proved. This formula writes the cohomology class of a quiver variety as a linear combination of products of Schur polynomials. In the same paper it is conjectured that all of the coefficients in this linear combination are non-negative, and given by a generalized Littlewood-Richardson rule, which states that the coefficients count certain sequences of tableaux called factor sequences. In this paper I prove some special cases of this conjecture. I also prove that the general conjecture follows from a stronger but simpler statement, for which substantial computer evidence has been obtained. Finally I will prove a useful criterion for recognizing factor sequences.     

The Rademacher conjecture and <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-partial fractions

In his classic book, Topics in Analytic Number Theory, H. Rademacher posed a natural conjecture concerning the generating function for p(n), the number of partitions of n. In this paper we undertake a systematic study of an expansion technique that has its genesis in the work of Cayley. We apply this to the Rademacher conjecture, and obtain the first positive result providing theoretical evidence for the conjecture.      

Partitions: At the Interface of q-Series and Modular Forms

In this paper we explore five topics from the theory of partitions: (1) the Rademacher conjecture, (2) the Herschel-Cayley-Sylvester formulas, (3) the asymptotic expansions of E.M. Wright, (4) the asymptotics of mock theta function coefficients, (5) modular transformations of q-series.     

Spanning trees and a conjecture of Kontsevich

Kontsevich conjectured that the number of zeros over the fieldF _q of a certain polynomialQ _G associated with the spanning trees of a graphG is a polynomial function ofq. We show the connection between this conjecture, the Matrix-Tree Theorem, and orthogonal geometry. We verify the conjecture in certain cases, such as the complete graph, and discuss some modifications and extensions.Partially supported by NSF grant #DMS-9743966.     

Application of a Tauberian theorem to finite model theory

An extension of a Tauberian theorem of Hardy and Littlewood is proved. It is used to show that, for classes of finite models satisfying certain combinatorial and growth properties, Cesàro probabilities (limits of average probabilities over second order sentences) exist. Examples of such classes include the class of unary functions and the class of partial unary functions. It is conjectured that the result holds for the usual notion of asymptotic probability as well as Cesàro probability. Evidence in support of the conjecture is presented.     

Long-wave instabilities and saturation in thin film equations

Hocherman and Rosenau conjectured that long-wave unstable Cahn-Hilliard-type interface models develop finite-time singularities when the nonlinearity in the destabilizing term grows faster at large amplitudes than the nonlinearity in the stabilizing term (Phys.˜ D 67, 1993, pp. 113–125). We consider this conjecture for a class of equations, often used to model thin films in a lubrication context, by showing that if the solutions are uniformly bounded above or below (e.g., are nonnegative), then the destabilizing term can be stronger than previously conjectured yet the solution still remains globally bounded. For example, they conjecture that for the long-wave unstable equation m > n leads to blowup. Using a conservation-of-volume constraint for the case m > n > 0, we conjecture a different critical exponent for possible singularities of nonnegative solutions. We prove that nonlinearities with exponents below the conjectured critical exponent yield globally bounded solutions. Specifically, for the above equation, solutions are bounded if m < n + 2. The bound is proved using energy methods and is then used to prove the existence of nonnegative weak solutions in the sense of distributions. We present preliminary numerical evidence suggesting that m ≥ n + 2 can allow blowup. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Regular 4‐critical graphs of even degree

In 1960, Dirac posed the conjecture that r‐connected 4‐critical graphs exist for every r ≥ 3. In 1989, Erd?s conjectured that for every r ≥ 3 there exist r‐regular 4‐critical graphs. In this paper, a technique of constructing r‐regular r‐connected vertex‐transitive 4‐critical graphs for even r ≥ 4 is presented. Such graphs are found for r = 6, 8, 10. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 46: 103–130, 2004     

Universal cycles of -partitions of an -set

In 1992 Chung, Diaconis and Graham generalized de Bruijn cycles to other combinatorial families with universal cycles. Universal cycles have been investigated for permutations, partitions, k-partitions and k-subsets. In 1990 Hurlbert proved that there exists at least one Ucycle of n−1-partitions of an n-set when n is odd and conjectured that when n is even, they do not exist. Herein we prove Hurlbert’s conjecture by establishing algebraic necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of these Ucycles. We enumerate all such Ucycles for n≤13 and give a lower bound on the total number for all n. Additionally we give ranking and unranking formulae. Finally we discuss the structures of the various solutions.     

Arrangements of lines with a minimum number of triangles are simple

Levi has shown that for every arrangement ofn lines in the real projective plane, there exist at leastn triangular faces, and Grünbaum has conjectured that equality can occur only for simple arrangements. In this note we prove this conjecture. The result does not hold for arrangements of pseudolines.     

The DJL Conjecture for CP Matrices over Special Inclines

Drew, Johnson, and Loewy conjectured that for n ≥ 4, the CP-rank of every n × n completely positive real matrix is at most [n²/4]. While this conjecture has recently been disproved for completely positive real matrices, we show that this conjecture is true for n × n completely positive matrices over certain special types of inclines. In addition, we prove an incline version of Markham's theorems which gives sufficient conditions for completely positive matrices over special inclines to have triangular factorizations.     

On a conjecture of Hayman

Letf(z) be a transcendental meromorphic function in the plane. Hayman conjectured thatf f′ assumes all finite values except possibly zero infinitely many times. In this paper, we solve this conjecture partly. The Project Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Note onA-stability of multistep multiderivative methods

Daniel and Moore [4] conjectured that anA-stable multistep method using higher derivatives cannot have an error order exceeding 2l. We confirm partly this conjecture by showing that for a large class ofA-stable methods the error order can not be 2l+1 mod 4. This extends results found in Jeltsch [13].     

Wild automorphisms of varieties with Kodaira dimension 0

An automorphism σ of a projective variety X is said to be wild if σ(Y) ≠ Y for every non-empty subvariety Y \subsetneq X{Y \subsetneq X} . In [1] Z. Reichstein, D. Rogalski, and J.J. Zhang conjectured that if X is an irreducible projective variety admitting a wild automorphism then X is an abelian variety, and proved this conjecture for dim(X) ≤ 2. As a step toward answering this conjecture in higher dimensions we prove a structure theorem for projective varieties of Kodaira dimension 0 admitting wild automorphisms. This essentially reduces the Kodaira dimension 0 case to a study of Calabi-Yau varieties, which we also investigate. In support of this conjecture, we show that there are no wild automorphisms of certain Calabi-Yau varieties.     

Scaling limits of loop-erased random walks and uniform spanning trees

The uniform spanning tree (UST) and the loop-erased random walk (LERW) are strongly related probabilistic processes. We consider the limits of these models on a fine grid in the plane, as the mesh goes to zero. Although the existence of scaling limits is still unproven, subsequential scaling limits can be defined in various ways, and do exist. We establish some basic a.s. properties of these subsequential scaling limits in the plane. It is proved that any LERW subsequential scaling limit is a simple path, and that the trunk of any UST subsequential scaling limit is a topological tree, which is dense in the plane. The scaling limits of these processes are conjectured to be conformally invariant in dimension 2. We make a precise statement of the conformal invariance conjecture for the LERW, and show that this conjecture implies an explicit construction of the scaling limit, as follows. Consider the Löwner differential equation 1 $\frac{{\partial f}}{{\partial t}} = z\frac{{\zeta (t) + z}}{{\zeta (t) - z}}\frac{{\partial f}}{{\partial z}}$ , with boundary valuesf(z,0)=z, in the rangez ∈U= {w ∈ ? : ?w? < 1},t≤0. We choose ζ(t):=B(?2t), where B(t) is Brownian motion on ? $ \mathbb{U} The uniform spanning tree (UST) and the loop-erased random walk (LERW) are strongly related probabilistic processes. We consider the limits of these models on a fine grid in the plane, as the mesh goes to zero. Although the existence of scaling limits is still unproven, subsequential scaling limits can be defined in various ways, and do exist. We establish some basic a.s. properties of these subsequential scaling limits in the plane. It is proved that any LERW subsequential scaling limit is a simple path, and that the trunk of any UST subsequential scaling limit is a topological tree, which is dense in the plane. The scaling limits of these processes are conjectured to be conformally invariant in dimension 2. We make a precise statement of the conformal invariance conjecture for the LERW, and show that this conjecture implies an explicit construction of the scaling limit, as follows. Consider the L?wner differential equation

(1)

, with boundary valuesf(z,0)=z, in the rangez ∈U= {w ∈ ℂ : •w• < 1},t≤0. We choose ζ(t):=B(−2t), where B(t) is Brownian motion on ∂ starting at a random-uniform point in ∂ . Assuming the conformal invariance of the LERW scaling limit in the plane, we prove that the scaling limit of LERW from 0 to ∂ has the same law as that of the pathf(ζ(t),t) (wheref(z,t) is extended continuously to ∂ ) ×(−∞,0]). We believe that a variation of this process gives the scaling limit of the boundary of macroscopic critical percolation clusters. Research supported by the Sam and Ayala Zacks Professorial Chair.     

Chordal Bipartite Graphs with High Boxicity

The boxicity of a graph G is defined as the minimum integer k such that G is an intersection graph of axis-parallel k-dimensional boxes. Chordal bipartite graphs are bipartite graphs that do not contain an induced cycle of length greater than 4. It was conjectured by Otachi, Okamoto and Yamazaki that chordal bipartite graphs have boxicity at most 2. We disprove this conjecture by exhibiting an infinite family of chordal bipartite graphs that have unbounded boxicity.     

Graphic Sequences Have Realizations Containing Bisections of Large Degree

A bisection of a graph is a balanced bipartite spanning sub‐graph. Bollobás and Scott conjectured that every graph G has a bisection H such that deg_H(v) ≥ ?deg_G(v)/2? for all vertices v. We prove a degree sequence version of this conjecture: given a graphic sequence π, we show that π has a realization G containing a bisection H where deg_H(v) ≥ ?(deg_G(v) ? 1)/2? for all vertices v. This bound is very close to best possible. We use this result to provide evidence for a conjecture of Brualdi (Colloq. Int. CNRS, vol. 260, CNRS, Paris) and Busch et al. (2011), that if π and π ? k are graphic sequences, then π has a realization containing k edge‐disjoint 1‐factors. We show that if the minimum entry δ in π is at least n/2 + 2, then π has a realization containing edge‐disjoint 1‐factors. We also give a construction showing the limits of our approach in proving this conjecture. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Global Smoothing of Calabi–Yau Threefolds II

The moduli spaces of Calabi–Yau threefolds are conjectured to be connected by the combination of birational contraction maps and flat deformations. In this context, it is important to calculate dim Def(X) from dim Def(~X) in terms of certain geometric information of f, when we are given a birational morphism f:~XX from a smooth Calabi–Yau threefold ~X to a singular Calabi–Yau threefold X. A typical case of this problem is a conjecture of Morrison-Seiberg which originally came from physics. In this paper we give a mathematical proof to this conjecture. Moreover, by using output of this conjecture, we prove that certain Calabi–Yau threefolds with nonisolated singularities have flat deformations to smooth Calabi–Yau threefolds. We shall use invariants of singularities closely related to Du Bois's work to calculate dim Def(X) from dim Def(~X).     

Integrality of L2L^2-Betti numbers

The Atiyah conjecture predicts that the -Betti numbers of a finite CW-complex with torsion-free fundamental group are integers. We establish the Atiyah conjecture, under the condition that it holds for G and that is a normal subgroup, for amalgamated free products . Here F is a free group and is an arbitrary semi-direct product. This includes free products G*F and semi-direct products . We also show that the Atiyah conjecture holds (with an additional technical condition) for direct and inverse limits of groups for which it is true. As a corollary it holds for positive 1-relator groups with torsion free abelianization. Putting everything together we establish a new (bigger) class of groups for which the Atiyah conjecture holds, which contains all free groups and in particular is closed under taking subgroups, direct sums, free products, extensions with torsion-free elementary amenable quotient or with free quotient, and under certain direct and inverse limits. Received: 22 August 1998/ Revised: 10 Jannary 2000 / Published online: 28 June 2000     

A topological approach to evasiveness

The complexity of a digraph property is the number of entries of the vertex adjacency matrix of a digraph which must be examined in worst case to determine whether the graph has the property. Rivest and Vuillemin proved the result (conjectured by Aanderaa and Rosenberg) that every graph property that is monotone (preserved by addition of edges) and nontrivial (holds for some but not all graphs) has complexity Ω(v ²) wherev is the number of vertices. Karp conjectured that every such property is evasive, i.e., requires that every entry of the incidence matrix be examined. In this paper the truth of Karp’s conjecture is shown to follow from another conjecture concerning group actions on topological spaces. A special case of the conjecture is proved which is applied to prove Karp’s conjecture for the case of properties of graphs on a prime power number of vertices. Supported in part by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship Supported in part by NSF under grant No. MCS-8102248     

On the torsion units of the integral group ring of finite projective special linear groups

H. J. Zassenhaus conjectured that any unit of finite-order and augmentation one in the integral group ring of a finite group G is conjugate in the rational group algebra to an element of G. One way to verify this is showing that such unit has the same distribution of partial augmentations as an element of G and the HeLP Method provides a tool to do that in some cases. In this paper, we use the HeLP Method to describe the partial augmentations of a hypothetical counterexample to the conjecture for the projective special linear groups.