Chern–Simons,Wess–Zumino and other cocycles from Kashiwara–Vergne and associators

Descent equations play an important role in the theory of characteristic classes and find applications in theoretical physics, e.g., in the Chern–Simons field theory and in the theory of anomalies. The second Chern class (the first Pontrjagin class) is defined as \(p= \langle F, F\rangle \) where F is the curvature 2-form and \(\langle \cdot , \cdot \rangle \) is an invariant scalar product on the corresponding Lie algebra \(\mathfrak g\). The descent for p gives rise to an element \(\omega =\omega _3+\omega _2+\omega _1+\omega _0\) of mixed degree. The 3-form part \(\omega _3\) is the Chern–Simons form. The 2-form part \(\omega _2\) is known as the Wess–Zumino action in physics. The 1-form component \(\omega _1\) is related to the canonical central extension of the loop group LG. In this paper, we give a new interpretation of the low degree components \(\omega _1\) and \(\omega _0\). Our main tool is the universal differential calculus on free Lie algebras due to Kontsevich. We establish a correspondence between solutions of the first Kashiwara–Vergne equation in Lie theory and universal solutions of the descent equation for the second Chern class p. In more detail, we define a 1-cocycle C which maps automorphisms of the free Lie algebra to one forms. A solution of the Kashiwara–Vergne equation F is mapped to \(\omega _1=C(F)\). Furthermore, the component \(\omega _0\) is related to the associator \(\Phi \) corresponding to F. It is surprising that while F and \(\Phi \) satisfy the highly nonlinear twist and pentagon equations, the elements \(\omega _1\) and \(\omega _0\) solve the linear descent equation.     

Predictor-corrector algorithm for solvingP *(κ)-matrix LCP from arbitrary positive starting points

A new predictor-corrector algorithm is proposed for solvingP _*(κ)-matrix linear complementarity problems. If the problem is solvable, then the algorithm converges from an arbitrary positive starting point (x ⁰,s ⁰). The computational complexity of the algorithm depends on the quality of the starting point. If the starting point is feasible or close to being feasible, it has -iteration complexity, whereρ ₀ is the ratio of the smallest and average coordinate ofX ⁰ s ⁰. With appropriate initialization, a modified version of the algorithm terminates in O((1+κ)²(n/ρ ₀)L) steps either by finding a solution or by determining that the problem has no solution in a predetermined, arbitrarily large, region. The algorithm is quadratically convergent for problems having a strictly complementary solution. We also propose an extension of a recent algorithm of Mizuno toP _*(κ)-matrix linear complementarity problems such that it can start from arbitrary positive points and has superlinear convergence without a strictly complementary condition. The work of this author was supported in part by NSF, Grant DMS 9305760 and by an Oberman fellowship from the University of Iowa Center for Advanced Studies.     

Lower critical solution temperature sensitivity to structural changes in poly(N‐isopropyl acrylamide) homopolymers

The effect of the molecular weight on the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) has been discussed extensively, where LCST increased with molar mass, decreased or kept constant, which leads to confusion. This work is focused on the preparation of poly(N‐isopropyl acrylamide) homopolymers, obtained in a wide molecular weights range. The LCST behavior is analyzed by calorimetry and rheology, and a deep study of molecular features is carried out for a better knowledge of the influence of various parameters involved on LCST. Finally, the molecular weight trend is observed, and its influence on LCST is compared with the effect of other parameters as polymer concentration in water, end‐group effect, and tacticity. It is observed that other parameters such tacticity and end‐group effect will affect the LCST behavior over molecular weight, if this one is not high enough. Furthermore, the study of the LCST ranges will be a useful tool for analyzing the molecular weight trends. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 1386–1393     

Short interval asymptotics for a class of arithmetic functions

Summary We provide a general asymptotic formula which permits applications to sums like <InlineEquation ID=IE"1"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"2"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"3"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"4"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"5"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"6"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"7"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"8"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[<InlineEquation ID=IE"9"><EquationSource Format="TEX"><![CDATA[$]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>$]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation>]]></EquationSource></InlineEquation> \sum_{x< n\le x+y} \big(d(n)\big)^2, \quad \sum_{x< n\le x+y} d(n^3),\quad \sum_{x< n\le x+y}\big(r(n)\big)^2, \quad \sum_{x< n\le x+y}r(n^3), $$ where $d(n)$ and $r(n)$ are the usual arithmetic functions (number of divisors, sums of two squares), and $y$ is small compared to~$x$.     

Load balancing via random local search in closed and open systems

In this paper, we analyze the performance of random load resampling and migration strategies in parallel server systems. Clients initially attach themselves to an arbitrary server, but may switch servers independently at random instants of time in an attempt to improve their service rate. This approach to load balancing contrasts with traditional approaches where clients make smart server selections upon arrival (e.g., Join-the-Shortest-Queue policy and variants thereof). Load resampling is particularly relevant in scenarios where clients cannot predict the load of a server before being actually attached to it. An important example is in wireless spectrum sharing where clients try to share a set of frequency bands in a distributed manner. We first analyze the natural Random Local Search (RLS) strategy. Under this strategy, after sampling a new server randomly, clients only switch to it if their service rate is improved. In closed systems, where the client population is fixed, we derive tight estimates of the time it takes under RLS strategy to balance the load across servers. We then study open systems where clients arrive according to a random process and leave the system upon service completion. In this scenario, we analyze how client migrations within the system interact with the system dynamics induced by client arrivals and departures. We compare the load-aware RLS strategy to a load-oblivious strategy in which clients just randomly switch server without accounting for the server loads. Surprisingly, we show that both load-oblivious and load-aware strategies stabilize the system whenever this is at all possible. We use large-system asymptotics to characterize system performance, and augment this with simulations, which suggest that the average client sojourn time under the load-oblivious strategy is not considerably reduced when clients apply smarter load-aware strategies.     

Q-superlinear convergence of the iterates in primal-dual interior-point methods

Sufficient conditions are given for the Q-superlinear convergence of the iterates produced by primal-dual interior-point methods for linear complementarity problems. It is shown that those conditions are satisfied by several well known interior-point methods. In particular it is shown that the iteration sequences produced by the simplified predictor–corrector method of Gonzaga and Tapia, the simplified largest step method of Gonzaga and Bonnans, the LPF+ algorithm of Wright, the higher order methods of Wright and Zhang, Potra and Sheng, and Stoer, Wechs and Mizuno are Q-superlinearly convergent. Received: February 9, 2000 / Accepted: February 20, 2001?Published online May 3, 2001     

Diophantine equations with products of consecutive members of binary recurrences

We prove a finiteness result for the number of solutions of a Diophantine equation of the form \(u_n u_{n+1}\cdots u_{n+k}\pm 1 =\pm u_m^2\), where \(\{ u_n\}_{n\ge 1}\) is a binary recurrent sequence whose characteristic equation has roots which are real quadratic units.