Smart Geodesic Tracing in GRworkbench

We have developed a new tool for numerical work in General Relativity: GRworkbench. We discuss how GRworkbench's implementation of a numerically-amenable analogue to Differential Geometry facilitates the development of robust and chart-independent numerical algorithms. We consider, as an example, geodesic tracing on two charts covering the exterior Schwarzschild space-time.     

To-and-fro motion of W5Si3 on a beta-Si3N4 substrate at elevated temperatures.

Behavior of fine crystalline particles of W5Si3 on a beta-Si3N4 substrate at high temperatures was observed by an in situ heating experiment in a transmission electron microscope. Some of the fine particles of W5Si3 moved in a to-and-fro manner.     

On the Reality of the Eigenvalues for a Class of -Symmetric Oscillators

 We study the eigenvalue problem with the boundary conditions that decays to zero as z tends to infinity along the rays , where is a real polynomial and . We prove that if for some we have for all , then the eigenvalues are all positive real. We then sharpen this to a larger class of polynomial potentials. In particular, this implies that the eigenvalues are all positive real for the potentials when with , and with the boundary conditions that decays to zero as z tends to infinity along the positive and negative real axes. This verifies a conjecture of Bessis and Zinn-Justin. Received: 16 January 2002 / Accepted: 1 May 2002 Published online: 6 August 2002     

Splittings of finitely generated groups over two-ended subgroups

We describe a means of constructing splittings of a one-ended finitely generated group over two-ended subgroups, starting with a finite collection of codimension-one two-ended subgroups. In the case where all the two-ended subgroups have two-ended commensurators, we obtain an annulus theorem, and a form of the JSJ splitting of Rips and Sela. The construction uses ideas from the work of Dunwoody, Sageev and Swenson. We use a particular kind of order structure which combines cyclic orders and treelike structures. In the special case of hyperbolic groups, this provides a link between combinarorial constructions, and constructions arising from the topological structure of the boundary. In this context, we recover the annulus theorem of Scott and Swarup. We also show that a one-ended finitely generated group which contains an infinite-order element, and such that every infinite cyclic subgroup is (virtually) codimension-one is a virtual surface group.

     

A note on minimum degree conditions for supereulerian graphs

A graph is called supereulerian if it has a spanning closed trail. Let G be a 2-edge-connected graph of order n such that each minimal edge cut SE(G) with |S|3 satisfies the property that each component of G−S has order at least (n−2)/5. We prove that either G is supereulerian or G belongs to one of two classes of exceptional graphs. Our results slightly improve earlier results of Catlin and Li. Furthermore, our main result implies the following strengthening of a theorem of Lai within the class of graphs with minimum degree δ4: If G is a 2-edge-connected graph of order n with δ(G)4 such that for every edge xyE(G) , we have max{d(x),d(y)}(n−2)/5−1, then either G is supereulerian or G belongs to one of two classes of exceptional graphs. We show that the condition δ(G)4 cannot be relaxed.     

Structural evolution in amorphous silicon and germanium thin films.

The structural evolution in amorphous silicon and germanium thin films has been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in conjunction with autocorrelation function (ACF) analysis. The results established that the structure of as-deposited semiconductor films is of a high density of nanocrystallites embedded in the amorphous matrix. In addition, from ACF analysis, the structure of a-Ge is more ordered than that of a-Si. The density of embedded nanocrystallites in amorphous films was found to diminish with annealing temperature first, then to increase. The conclusions also corroborate well with the results of diminished medium-range order in annealed amorphous films determined previously by a variable coherence microscopy method.     

Economic Equilibrium: Optimality and Price Decentralization

Mathematical economics has a long history and covers many interdisciplinary areas between mathematics and economics. At its center lies the theory of market equilibrium. The purpose of this expository article is to introduce mathematicians to price decentralization in general equilibrium theory. In particular, it concentrates on the role of positivity in the theory of convex economic analysis and the role of normal cones in the theory of non-convex economies.     

Possible Loss and Recovery of Gibbsianness¶During the Stochastic Evolution of Gibbs Measures

We consider Ising-spin systems starting from an initial Gibbs measure ν and evolving under a spin-flip dynamics towards a reversible Gibbs measure μ≠ν. Both ν and μ are assumed to have a translation-invariant finite-range interaction. We study the Gibbsian character of the measure νS(t) at time t and show the following: (1) For all ν and μ, νS(t) is Gibbs for small t. (2) If both ν and μ have a high or infinite temperature, then νS(t) is Gibbs for all t > 0. (3) If ν has a low non-zero temperature and a zero magnetic field and μ has a high or infinite temperature, then νS(t) is Gibbs for small t and non-Gibbs for large t. (4) If ν has a low non-zero temperature and a non-zero magnetic field and μ has a high or infinite temperature, then νS(t) is Gibbs for small t, non-Gibbs for intermediate t, and Gibbs for large t. The regime where μ has a low or zero temperature and t is not small remains open. This regime presumably allows for many different scenarios. Received: 26 April 2001 / Accepted: 10 October 2001     

Stable multi-sets

In this paper we introduce a generalization of stable sets: stable multi-sets. A stable multi-set is an assignment of integers to the vertices of a graph, such that specified bounds on vertices and edges are not exceeded. In case all vertex and edge bounds equal one, stable multi-sets are equivalent to stable sets.  For the stable multi-set problem, we derive reduction rules and study the associated polytope. We state necessary and sufficient conditions for the extreme points of the linear relaxation to be integer. These conditions generalize the conditions for the stable set polytope. Moreover, the classes of odd cycle and clique inequalities for stable sets are generalized to stable multi-sets and conditions for them to be facet defining are determined.  The study of stable multi-sets is initiated by optimization problems in the field of telecommunication networks. Stable multi-sets emerge as an important substructure in the design of optical networks. Received: February 14, 2001/Revised version: September 7, 2001