Algorithms for some graph theoretical optimization problems

This is a summary of the main results presented in the author’s PhD thesis. This thesis, written in English, was supervised by Frits Spieksma and defended on September 23, 2005 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. A copy of the thesis is available from the authors website (http://www.econ. kuleuven.be/linda.moonen/public/). The thesis can be roughly split into two parts. The first part is dedicated to the problem of partitioning partially ordered sets into chains of limited size. The second part deals with the structure and the connectivity of the Internet.     

Minimal 1-saturating sets and complete caps in binary projective spaces

In binary projective spaces PG(v,2), minimal 1-saturating sets, including sets with inner lines and complete caps, are considered. A number of constructions of the minimal 1-saturating sets are described. They give infinite families of sets with inner lines and complete caps in spaces with increasing dimension. Some constructions produce sets with an interesting symmetrical structure connected with inner lines, polygons, and orbits of stabilizer groups. As an example we note an 11-set in PG(4,2) called “Pentagon with center”. The complete classification of minimal 1-saturating sets in small geometries is obtained by computer and is connected with the constructions described.     

Spectral properties of a class of reflectionless Schrödinger operators

We prove that one-dimensional reflectionless Schrödinger operators with spectrum a homogeneous set in the sense of Carleson, belonging to the class introduced by Sodin and Yuditskii, have purely absolutely continuous spectra. This class includes all earlier examples of reflectionless almost periodic Schrödinger operators. In addition, we construct examples of reflectionless Schrödinger operators with more general types of spectra, given by the complement of a Denjoy-Widom-type domain in C, which exhibit a singular component.     

New fixed point theorems for a family of mappings and applications to problems on sets with convex sections

Some new fixed point theorems for a family of mappings are obtained and applied to problems on sets with convex sections that were first studied by Ky Fan.

     

Preemptive scheduling and antichain polyhedra

We present a theoretical framework, which is based upon notions of ordered hypergraphs and antichain polyhedra, and which is dedicated to the combinatorial analysis of preemptive scheduling problems submitted to parallelization constraints.This framework allows us to characterize specific partially ordered structures which are such that induced preemptive scheduling problems may be solved through linear programming. To prove that, in the general case, optimal preemptive schedules may be searched inside some connected subset of the vertex set of an Antichain Polyhedron.     

M-sets for three classes of series in the Faber-Schauder system

Three classes of series in the Faber-Schauder system, differing in conditions on the character of vanishing of their coefficients, are considered; theM-sets for these classes of series are compared. The union of uniqueness sets for these classes is studied. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 64, No. 5, pp. 734–748, November, 1998. This research was supported by INTAS Foundation under grant No. 94-1044.     

The number of translates of a closed nowhere dense set required to cover a Polish group

For a Polish group let be the minimal number of translates of a fixed closed nowhere dense subset of required to cover . For many locally compact this cardinal is known to be consistently larger than which is the smallest cardinality of a covering of the real line by meagre sets. It is shown that for several non-locally compact groups . For example the equality holds for the group of permutations of the integers, the additive group of a separable Banach space with an unconditional basis and the group of homeomorphisms of various compact spaces.     

Lower Bounds for the Nodal Length of Eigenfunctions of the Laplacian

We prove lower bounds for the length of the zero set of aneigenfunction of the Laplace operator on a Riemann surface; inparticular, in non-negative curvature, or when the associated eigenvalueis large, we give a lower bound which involves only the square root ofthe eigenvalue and the area of the manifold (modulo a numericalconstant, this lower bound is sharp).