An obstruction to the positivity of relative Yamabe invariants

For a supergroup , we describe an obstruction to the existence of positive scalar curvature metrics with minimal boundary condition on a compact n-dimensional -manifold W with nonempty boundary M, , in terms of the bordism class [M] in the Stolz obstruction group associated to [St2]. In par ticular, when W is a 5-dimensional spin manifold and the -invariant of a connected component of M is nonzero, we prove that W does not admit a positive scalar curvature metric with minimal boundary condition. Received: 4 July 2001; in final form: 5 February 2002 / Published online: 8 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*" Partially supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, No. 11640070.     

Lower Bounds for the Height and Size of the Ideal Class Group in CM-Fields

 We prove that, under the assumption of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, the exponent of the ideal class group of a CM-field goes to infinity with its absolute discriminant. This gives a positive answer to a question raised by Louboutin and Okazaki [4]. Received September 10, 2001; in revised form April 5, 2002     

Presentations of the first homotopy groups of the unitary groups

We describe explicit presentations of all stable and the first nonstable homotopy groups of the unitary groups. In particular, for each n 2 we supply n homotopic maps that each represent the (n - 1)!-th power of a suitable generator of _2n SU(n) _n!. The product of these n commuting maps is the constant map to the identity matrix.     

On linear congruence relations for Kubota-Leopoldt 2-adic L-functions

Our purpose in the paper is to find the most general linear congruence relation of the Hardy-Williams type for linear combinations of special values of Kubota-Leopoldt 2-adic L-functions L₂(k,χω^1−k) with k running over any finite subset of not necessarily consisting of consecutive integers (see Acta Arith. 47 (1986) 263; Publ. Math. Fac. Sci. Besançon, Théorie des Nombres, 1995/1996; Publ. Math. Debrecen 56 (2000) 677 and cf. Mathematics and Its Applications, Vol. 511, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London, 2000). If k runs over finite subsets of consisting of consecutive integers see Compositio Math. 111 (1998) 289; Publ. Math. Debrecen 56 (2000) 677; Hardy and Williams, 1986; Compositio Math. 75 (1990) 271; Acta Arith. 71 (1995) 273; 52 (1989) 147; J. Number Theory 34 (1990) 362. In order to obtain the most general congruences of this type we make use of divisibility properties of the generalized Vandermonde determinants obtained in Spie? et al. (Divisibility properties of generalized Vandermonde and Cauchy determinants, Preprint 627, Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 2002). This allows us to simplify our main Theorem 2 and obtain Theorem 3 where the most general form of the linear congruence relation is given.     

Energy functional depending on elastic strain and chemical composition

In this paper we deal with energy functionals depending on elastic strain and chemical composition and we obtain lower semicontinuity results, existence theorems and relaxation in the spacesH ^1,p(; ⁿ)×L ^q (; ^d) with respect to weak convergence. Our proofs use parametrized measures associated with weakly converging sequences.The research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. DMS-9000133 and DMS-9201215 and also by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis.The research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation uncer Grants No. DMs 911572, the AFOSR 91 0301, the ARO DAAL03 92 G 003 and also by the ARO and the NSF through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis.The research was supported by DGICYT (Spain) through Programa de Perfeccionamiento y Movilidad del Personal Investigador and through grant PB90-0245, by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and also by the project EurHomogenization SC1-CT91-0732 of the European Comunity.     

Homotopical algebra in homotopical categories

We develop here a version of abstract homotopical algebra based onhomotopy kernels andcokernels, which are particular homotopy limits and colimits. These notions are introduced in anh-category, a sort of two-dimensional context more general than a 2-category, abstracting thenearly 2-categorical properties of topological spaces, continuous maps and homotopies. A setting which applies also, at different extents, to cubical or simplicial sets, chain complexes, chain algebras, ... and in which homotopical algebra can be established as a two-dimensional enrichment of homological algebra.Actually, a hierarchy of notions ofh-,h1-, ...h4-categories is introduced, through progressive enrichment of thevertical structure of homotopies, so that the strongest notion,h4-category, is a sort of relaxed 2-category. After investigating homotopy pullbacks and homotopical diagrammatical lemmas in these settings, we introduceright semihomotopical categories, ash-categories provided with terminal object and homotopy cokernels (mapping cones), andright homotopical categories, provided also with anh4-structure and verifying second-order regularity properties forh-cokernels.In these frames we study the Puppe sequence of a map, its comparison with the sequence of iterated homotopy cokernels and theh-cogroup structure of the suspension endofunctor. Left (semi-) homotopical categories, based on homotopy kernels, give the fibration sequence of a map and theh-group of loops. Finally, the self-dual notion of homotopical categories is considered, together with their stability properties.Lavoro esequito nell'ambito dei progetti di ricerca del MURST.     

Facial reduction in partially finite convex programming

We consider the problem of minimizing an extended-valued convex function on a locally convex space subject to a finite number of linear (in)equalities. When the standard constraint qualification fails a reduction technique is needed to derive necessary optimality conditions. Facial reduction is usually applied in the range of the constraints. In this paper it is applied in the domain space, thus maintaining any structure (and in particular lattice properties) of the underlying domain. Applications include constrained approximation and best entropy estimation.Research partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Right distributive quasigroups on algebraic varieties

In this paper we develop a structure theory of algebraic right distributive quasigroups which correspond to closed and connected conjugacy classes generating algebraic Fischer groups (in the sense of [6]) such that the mappingx x ^–1 ax, fora , is an automorphism of (as variety). We also give examples of algebraic Fischer groups where this does not happen. It becomes clear that the class of algebraic right distributive quasigroups has nice properties concerning subquasigroups, normal subquasigroups and direct product.We give a complete classification of one- and two-dimensional as well as of minimal algebraic right distributive quasigroups.     

Measurement of frequency differences between visible laser lines up to 170GHz using metal-insulator-metal point contact diodes

Frequency differences of up to 170 GHz between a cw dye laser and a krypton laser at 568 nm were measured by mixing laser and microware radiation with a metalinsulator-metal point contact diode. Beat signals are well above noise and there is still great potential for improvement when better microwave oscillators are used. From the measurements reported it follows that the diode can be used for determining still higher frequency differences of visible laser radiation.     

A generalized,one-way,stackless quicksort

This note generalizes the one-way, stackless quicksort of Huang and Knuth to work for any type of sort key. It thus proves that quicksort can run with minimal space inO(N logN) average time.On leave from FH Fulda, D-6400 Fulda (Germany).