The drift of a one-dimensional self-repellent random walk with bounded increments

Summary Consider a one-dimensional walk (S _k ) _k having steps of bounded size, and weight the probability of the path with some factor 1–(0,1) for every single self-intersection up to timen. We prove thatS _n /S S converges towards some deterministic number called the effective drift of the self-repellent walk. Furthermore, this drift is shown to tend to the basic drift as tends to 0 and, as tends to 1, to the self-avoiding walk's drift which is introduced in [10]. The main tool of the present paper is a representation of the sequence of the local times as a functional of a certain Markov process.Partially supported by Swiss National Sciences Foundation Grant 20-36305.92     

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.     

Join-continuous frames,Priestley's duality and biframes

The primary purpose of this paper is to study join-continuous frames. We present two representation theorems for them: one in terms of -subframes of complete Boolean algebras and the other in terms of certain Priestley spaces. This second representation is used to prove that the topological spaces whose frame of open sets is join-continuous are characterized by a condition which says that certain intersections of open sets are open. Finally, we show that Priestley's duality can be viewed as a partialization of the dual adjunction between the categories of, respectively, bitopological spaces and biframes, stated by B. Banaschewski, G. C. L. Brümmer and K. A. Hardie in [5].This work was partially supported by Centro de Matemáíica da Universidade de Coimbra.     

The non-existence of symplectic multi-derivative Runge-Kutta methods

A sufficient condition for the symplecticness ofq-derivative Runge-Kutta methods has been derived by F. M. Lasagni. In the present note we prove that this condition can only be satisfied for methods withq1, i.e., for standard Runge-Kutta methods. We further show that the conditions of Lasagni are also necessary for symplecticness so that no symplectic multi-derivative Runge-Kutta method can exist.This research has been supported by project PB89-0351 (Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica) and by project No. 20-32354.91 of Swiss National Science Foundation.     

Infinite horizon disturbance attenuation for discrete-time systems. A Popov-Yakubovich approach

It is proved that for the discrete-time linear systems with time-varying coefficients the existence of a controller which simultaneously stabilizes and provides prescribed disturbance attenuation for the resultant closed-loop system, implies the existence of global solutions to several Kalman-Szegö-Popov-Yakubovich systems. It is also proved that this fact is equivalent to the existence of the positive semidefinite stabilizing solutions to corresponding game-theoretic Riccati equations. The family of all controllers with the above mentioned properties is constructed in terms of the solutions to the cited Kalman-Szegö-Popov-Yakubovich systems. The main tool is the generalized Popov-Yakubovich theory which is essentially developed in an operator-theoretic framework.     

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.     

Coniveau of classes of flat bundles trivialized on a finite smooth covering of a complex manifold

On a smooth algebraic complex varietyX, we show that the classes of a flat bundle, which is trivialized on a finite cover ofX, with values in the odd-dimensional cohomology of the underlying complex manifold with / (i), are living in the bottom part of Grothendieck's coniveau filtration. This answers positively when the basis is smooth complex a question of Bruno Kahn [K-Theory (1992), conjecture 2].     

Properties of holomorphic Wiener functions —skeleton,contraction, and local Taylor expansion

Summary We show that each holomorphic Wiener function has a skeleton which is intrinsic from several viewpoints. In particular, we study the topological aspects of the skeletons by using the local Taylor expansion for holomorphic Wiener functions.Supported in part by the Grant-in-Aid for Science Research 03740120 Min. Education     

Coupling and Poisson approximation

We give an overview of the Stein-Chen method for establishing Poisson approximations of various random variables. Couplings of certain variables are used to gives explicit bounds for the total variation distance between the distribution of a random variable and a Poisson variable. Some applications are given. In some cases, explicit couplings may be used to obtain good estimates; in other applications it suffices to show the existence of couplings with certain monotonicity properties.Supported by the Göran Gustafsson Foundation for Research in Natural Sciences and Medicine.     

Finite distance-transitive generalized polygons

Using the classification of the finite simple groups, we classify all finite generalized polygons having an automorphism group acting distance-transitively on the set of points. This proves an old conjecture of J. Tits saying that every group with an irreducible rank 2 BN-pair arises from a group of Lie type.Research Associate of the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium).