Stable Skyrmions in spinor condensates

Globally symmetric spinor condensates in free space are argued not to support stable topological defects in either two or three dimensions. In the latter case, however, we show that a topological Skyrmion can be stabilized by forcing it to adopt certain density profiles. A sufficient condition for the existence of Skyrmion solutions in three dimensions is formulated and illustrated in simple examples. Our results pertain to Bose-Einstein condensation in 87Rb.     

Special conformal groups of a Riemannian manifold and Lie point symmetries of the nonlinear Poisson equation

We obtain a complete group classification of the Lie point symmetries of nonlinear Poisson equations on generic (pseudo) Riemannian manifolds M. Using this result we study their Noether symmetries and establish the respective conservation laws. It is shown that the projection of the Lie point symmetries on M are special subgroups of the conformal group of M. In particular, if the scalar curvature of M vanishes, the projection on M of the Lie point symmetry group of the Poisson equation with critical nonlinearity is the conformal group of the manifold. We illustrate our results by applying them to the Thurston geometries.     

On squares in polynomial products

Let ${f(X) \in \mathbb {Z}[X]}$ be an irreducible polynomial of degree D ≥ 2 and let N be a sufficiently large positive integer. We estimate the number of positive integers n ≤ N such that the product $$F(n) = \prod\limits_{k =1}^n f(k)$$ is a perfect square. We also consider more general questions and give a lower bound on the number of distinct quadratic fields of the form ${\mathbb {Q}(\sqrt{F(n)})}$ , n  = M + 1, ... , M + N.     

Stochastic nonlinear Perron–Frobenius theorem

We establish a stochastic nonlinear analogue of the Perron–Frobenius theorem on eigenvalues and eigenvectors of positive matrices. The result is formulated in terms of an automorphism T of a probability space and a random transformation D of the non-negative cone of an n-dimensional Euclidean space. Under assumptions of monotonicity and homogeneity of D, we prove the existence of scalar and vector measurable functions α > 0 and x > 0 satisfying the equation αTx = D(x) almost surely. We apply the result obtained to the analysis of a class of random dynamical systems arising in mathematical economics and finance (von Neumann–Gale dynamical systems).     

Turbulent Poiseuille flow with near-critical wall transpiration

An incompressible, pressure-driven, fully developed turbulent flow between two parallel walls, with an extra constant transverse velocity component, is considered. A closure condition is formulated, which relates the shear stress with the first and the second derivatives of the longitudinal mean velocity. The closure condition is derived without invoking any special hypotheses on the nature of turbulent motion, only taking advantage of the fact that the flow depends on a finite number of governing parameters. By virtue of the closure condition, the momentum equation is reduced to the boundary-value problem for a second-order differential equation, which is solved by the method of matched asymptotic expansions at high values of the logarithm of the Reynolds number based on the friction velocity. The case of near-critical transpiration, when the shear stress at the injection wall vanishes, is considered. It is shown that the maximum point on the mean velocity profile lies in a thin sublayer near the suction wall in this case. A formula for the position of the maximum point as a function of the transpiration factor is obtained. The mean velocity profiles near the suction wall are calculated. A friction law for Poiseuille flow with near-critical transpiration is found, which makes it possible to describe the relation between the shear stress at the wall, the Reynolds number, and the transpiration velocity by a single function of one variable. Direct numerical simulation of the flow for some transpiration factors is performed. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Trace-positive polynomials and the quartic tracial moment problem

The tracial analog of Hilbert's classical result on positive binary quartics is presented: a trace-positive bivariate noncommutative polynomial of degree at most four is a sum of hermitian squares and commutators. This is applied via duality to investigate the truncated tracial moment problem: a sequence of real numbers indexed by words of degree four in two noncommuting variables with values invariant under cyclic permutations of the indexes, can be represented with tracial moments of matrices if the corresponding moment matrix is positive definite. Understanding trace-positive polynomials and the tracial moment problem is one of the approaches to Connes' embedding conjecture.     

Simplices and Spectra of Graphs

In this note we show that the (n−2)-dimensional volumes of codimension 2 faces of an n-dimensional simplex are algebraically independent quantities of the volumes of its edge-lengths. The proof involves computation of the eigenvalues of Kneser graphs. We also show examples of families of simplices (of dimension 4 or greater) which show that the set of (n−2)-dimensional volumes of (n−2)-dimensional faces of a simplex do not determine its volume.     

Nash equilibria in competitive project scheduling

We consider the problem of scheduling activities of a project by a firm that competes with another firm that has to perform the same project. The profit that a firm gets from each activity depends on whether the firm finishes the activity before or after its competitor. It is required to find a Nash equilibrium solution or show that no such solutions exist. We present a structural characterization of Nash equilibrium solutions, and a low order polynomial algorithm for the problem.     

Short cycles in repeated exponentiation modulo a prime

Given a prime p, we consider the dynamical system generated by repeated exponentiations modulo p, that is, by the map \({u \mapsto f_g(u)}\), where f _g (u) ≡ g ^u (mod p) and 0 ≤ f _g (u) ≤ p ? 1. This map is in particular used in a number of constructions of cryptographically secure pseudorandom generators. We obtain nontrivial upper bounds on the number of fixed points and short cycles in the above dynamical system.     

Fast oxy-cope rearrangements of bis-alkynes: competition with central C-C bond fragmentation and incorporation in tunable cascades diverging from a common bis-allenic intermediate

Fast anionic oxy-Cope rearrangements of 1,5-hexadiyn-3,4-olates can be incorporated into cascade transformations which rapidly assemble densely functionalized cyclobutenes or cyclopentenones via a common bis-allenic intermediate. The competition between fragmentation, 4π-electrocyclic closure, and aldol condensation can be efficiently controlled by the nature of the acetylenic substituents. The rearrangement of bis-alkynes with two hydroxyl substituents opens a conceptually interesting entry in the chemistry of ε-dicarbonyl compounds and suggests a new approach to analogues of rocaglamide/aglafolin.