The Hilbert functions which force the Weak Lefschetz Property

The purpose of this note is to characterize the finite Hilbert functions which force all of their artinian algebras to enjoy the Weak Lefschetz Property (WLP). Curiously, they turn out to be exactly those (characterized by Wiebe in [A. Wiebe, The Lefschetz property for componentwise linear ideals and Gotzmann ideals, Comm. Algebra 32 (12) (2004) 4601-4611]) whose Gotzmann ideals have the WLP.This implies that, if a Gotzmann ideal has the WLP, then all algebras with the same Hilbert function (and hence lower Betti numbers) have the WLP as well. However, we will answer in the negative, even in the case of level algebras, the most natural question that one might ask after reading the previous sentence: If A is an artinian algebra enjoying the WLP, do all artinian algebras with the same Hilbert function as A and Betti numbers lower than those of A have the WLP as well?Also, as a consequence of our result, we have another (simpler) proof of the fact that all codimension 2 algebras enjoy the WLP (this fact was first proven in [T. Harima, J. Migliore, U. Nagel, J. Watanabe, The weak and strong Lefschetz properties for Artinian K-algebras, J. Algebra 262 (2003) 99-126], where it was shown that even the Strong Lefschetz Property holds).     

Detecting quantum signatures of optical fields by ultrasmall Josephson junctions

We prove that a mesoscopic Josephson junction, irradiated with a quantum superposition of two -out of phase optical coherent states, exhibits an experimentally observable sensitivity to the quantum coherences of the field state. Received 1 June 1999 and Received in final form 30 July 1999     

Green's theorem and Gorenstein sequences

We study consequences, for a standard graded algebra, of extremal behavior in Green's Hyperplane Restriction Theorem. First, we extend his Theorem 4 from the case of a plane curve to the case of a hypersurface in a linear space. Second, assuming a certain Lefschetz condition, we give a connection to extremal behavior in Macaulay's theorem. We apply these results to show that $(1,19,17,19,1)$ is not a Gorenstein sequence, and as a result we classify the sequences of the form $(1,a,a?2,a,1)$ that are Gorenstein sequences.     

Water effects on electron transfer in azurin dimers

Recent experimental and theoretical analyses indicate that water molecules between or near redox partners can significantly affect their electron-transfer (ET) properties. Here, we study the effects of intervening water molecules on the electron self-exchange reaction of azurin (Az) by using a newly developed ab-initio method to calculate transfer integrals between molecular sites. We show that the insertion of water molecules in the gap between the copper active sites of Az dimers slows down the exponential decay of the ET rates with the copper-to-copper distance. Depending on the distance between the redox sites, water can enhance or suppress the electron-transfer kinetics. We show that this behavior can be ascribed to the simultaneous action of two competing effects: the electrostatic interaction of water with the protein subsystem and its ability to mediate ET coupling pathways.     

Unimodal Gorenstein h-vectors without the Stanley–Iarrobino property

The study of the h-vectors of graded Gorenstein algebras is an important topic in combinatorial commutative algebra, which despite the large amount of literature produced during the last several years, still presents many interesting open questions. In this note, we commence a study of those unimodal Gorenstein h-vectors that do not satisfy the Stanley–Iarrobino property. Our main results, which are characteristic free, show that such h-vectors exist: 1) In socle degree e if and only if e≥6; and 2) in every codimension five or greater. The main case that remains open is that of codimension four, where no Gorenstein h-vector is known without the Stanley–Iarrobino property. We conclude by proposing the following very general conjecture: The existence of any arbitrary level h-vector is independent of the characteristic of the base field.     

Extensions of the Multiplicity conjecture

The Multiplicity conjecture of Herzog, Huneke, and Srinivasan states an upper bound for the multiplicity of any graded -algebra as well as a lower bound for Cohen-Macaulay algebras. In this note we extend this conjecture in several directions. We discuss when these bounds are sharp, find a sharp lower bound in the case of not necessarily arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay one-dimensional schemes of 3-space, and propose an upper bound for finitely generated graded torsion modules. We establish this bound for torsion modules whose codimension is at most two.