On the monodromy fibration of polynomial functions with singularities at infinity

Let ƒ : ℂⁿ → ℂ be a polynomial function. We introduce two regularity conditions: the t-regularity and the θ-regularity, which insure topological triviality of ƒ at infinity and we use them to prove a Lê-Ramanujam type result for the global monodromy fibration within certain families of polynomial functions with singularities at infinity.     

Sequences of composition operators in spaces of functions of bounded Φ-variation

The main results of the paper are contained in Theorems 1 and 2. Theorem 1 presents necessary and sufficient conditions for a sequence of functions h _n : 〈c, d〉 → 〈a, b〉, n = 1, 2, ..., to have bounded sequences of Ψ-variations {V _Ψ (〈c, d〉; f ? h _n )} _n=1 ^∞ evaluated for the compositions of an arbitrary function f: 〈a, b〉 → ? with finite Φ-variation and the functions h _n . In Theorem 2, the same is done for a sequence of functions h _n : ? → ?, n = 1, 2, ..., and the sequence of Ψ-variations {V _Ψ(〈a, b〉; h _n ? f)} _n=1 ^∞ .     

Tranchage et cône tangent des courants localement normaux

Let T be a locally normal current on an open set Ω of ℝ″ = ℝ x ℝ″⁻¹ and let π: ℝⁿ → ℝ denote the projection π(x₁, x″) = x₁. We define the current 〈T, π, 0〉 (called slice of T at 0 by π) as the limit, as ɛ → 0, of the family ɛ⁻¹TΛπ ^* (ψ(x¹ /ɛ)dx¹), where ψ is a C^∞ function on ℝ with compact support such that ∝ψ(x¹)dx¹ = 1, provided the limit exists and doesn't depend on the choice of ψ. We first prove that the limit lim_R→+∞(h_R)_#T exists, where h_R(x₁,x″) = (Rx¹,x″). We apply this result to the study of the existence of the tangent cone at 0 associated to a locally normal current, and especially associated to a subanalytic chain. We finally give a necessary and sufficient condition relative to T for the existence of the slice 〈T, π, 0〉.     

Simulation de lois conjuguées et application à l'estimation de la transformée de Cramer dans ℝd

Let X, X₁, X₂,… be a sequence of i.i.d. ℝ^d-valued random variables with distribution F. An algorithm for the simulation of random vectors with distribution dF_t (x):= e〈t,x〉dF(x)/(t), where (t):= Ee^ť,X〉 (cf. [2]) is used for the estimation of the Cramer transform H (x):= sup_t (〈t, X〉 − log(t)). This method, which belongs to the class of “acceptance-rejection” techniques, is fast and uses a random sieve on the sequence (X_i)_{i ≥ 1}; it does not assume any prior knowledge on F or . We state the asymptotic properties of this estimator calculated on a n-sample of simulated r.v. 's with distribution F_t. We also present some numerical simulations.     

Number of Zeros of Diagonal Polynomials over Finite Fields

Let F be a finite field with q=pf elements, where p is a prime. Let N be the number of solutions (x1,…,xn) of the equation c1xd11+···+cnxdnn=c over the finite fields, where d1∣q−1, ciϵF*(i=1, 2,…,n), and cϵF. In this paper, we prove that if b1 is the least integer such that b1≥∑ni=1 (f/ri) (Di, p−1)/(p−1), then q[b1/f]−1∣N, where ri is the least integer such that di∣pri−1, Didi=pri−1, the (Di, p−1) denotes the greatest common divisor of Di and p−1, [b1/f] denotes the integer part of b1/f. If di=d, then this result is an improvement of the theorem that pb∣N, where b is an integer less than n/d, obtained by J. Ax (1969, Amer. J. Math.86, 255–261) and D. Wan (1988, Proc. AMS103, 1049–1052), under a certain natural restriction on d and n.     

Vertical versus horizontal Poincaré inequalities on the Heisenberg group

Let ? = 〈a, b|a[a, b] = [a, b]a ∧ b[a, b] = [a, b]b〉 be the discrete Heisenberg group, equipped with the left-invariant word metric d _W (·, ·) associated to the generating set {a, b, a ^?1, b ^?1}. Letting B _n = {x ∈ ?: d _W (x, e _?) ? n} denote the corresponding closed ball of radius n ∈ ?, and writing c = [a, b] = aba ^?1 b ^?1, we prove that if (X, ‖ · ‖X) is a Banach space whose modulus of uniform convexity has power type q ∈ [2,∞), then there exists K ∈ (0, ∞) such that every f: ? → X satisfies $$\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{{n^2}} {\sum\limits_{x \in {B_n}} {\frac{{\left\| {f(x{c^k}) - f(x)} \right\|_X^q}}{{{k^{1 + q/2}}}}} } \leqslant K\sum\limits_{x \in {B_{21n}}} {(\left\| {f(xa) - f(x)} \right\|_X^q + \left\| {f(xb) - f(x)} \right\|_X^q)} $$ . It follows that for every n ∈ ? the bi-Lipschitz distortion of every f: B _n → X is at least a constant multiple of (log n)^1/q , an asymptotically optimal estimate as n → ∞.     

On monotone functions of tree structures

Let T be a rooted tree structure with n nodes a₁,…,a_n. A function f: {a₁,…,a_n} into {1 < ? < k} is called monotone if whenever a_i is a son of a_j, then f(a_i) ≥ f(a_j). The average number of monotone bijections is determined for several classes of tree structures. If k is fixed, for the average number of monotone functions asymptotic equivalents of the form c · ?^?nn^{?$\text{3}\text{2}$} (n → ∞) are obtained for several classes of tree structures.     

Embedding Steiner triple systems in hexagon triple systems

A hexagon triple is the graph consisting of the three triangles (triples) {a,b,c},{c,d,e}, and {e,f,a}, where a,b,c,d,e, and f are distinct. The triple {a,c,e} is called an inside triple. A hexagon triple system of order n is a pair (X,H) where H is a collection of edge disjoint hexagon triples which partitions the edge set of K_n with vertex set X. The inside triples form a partial Steiner triple system. We show that any Steiner triple system of order n can be embedded in the inside triples of a hexagon triple system of order approximately 3n.     

On boundary value problems for systems of nonlinear generalized ordinary differential equations

A general theorem (principle of a priori boundedness) on solvability of the boundary value problem dx = dA(t) · f(t, x), h(x) = 0 is established, where f: [a, b]×R ⁿ → R ⁿ is a vector-function belonging to the Carathéodory class corresponding to the matrix-function A: [a, b] → R ^n×n with bounded total variation components, and h: BV_s([a, b],R ⁿ ) → R ⁿ is a continuous operator. Basing on the mentioned principle of a priori boundedness, effective criteria are obtained for the solvability of the system under the condition x(t₁(x)) = B(x) · x(t ₂(x))+c ₀, where t _i: BV_s([a, b],R ⁿ ) → [a, b] (i = 1, 2) and B: BV_s([a, b], R ⁿ ) → R ⁿ are continuous operators, and c ₀ ∈ R ⁿ .     

Probabilities of dominant candidates based on first-place votes

Suppose each of an odd number n of voters has a strict preference order on the three ‘candidates’ in {1,2,3} and votes for his most preferred candidate on a plurality ballot. Assume that a voter who votes for i is equally likely to have ijk and ikj as his preference order when {i,j,k} = {1,2,3}.Fix an integer m between $\text{1}\text{2}$(n + 1) and n inclusive. Then, given that n_i of the n voters vote for i, let f_m(n₁,n₂,n₃) be the probability that one of the three candidates is preferred by m or more voters to each of the other two.This paper examines the behavior of f_m over the lattice points in L_n, the set of triples of non-negative integers that sum to n. It identifies the regions in L_n where f_m is 1 and where f_m is 0, then shows that f_m(a,b + 1, c)>f_m(a + 1,b,c) whenever a + b + c + 1 = n, a≤c≤b, a<c<m and c≤n ? m. These results are used to partially identify the points in L_n where f_m is minimized subject to f_m>0. It is shown that at least two of the n_i are equal at minimizing points.     

Accuracy of several multidimensional refinable distributions

Compactly supported distributions f₁,..., f_r on ℝ^d are fefinable if each f_i is a finite linear combination of the rescaled and translated distributions f_j(Ax−k), where the translates k are taken along a lattice Γ ⊂ ∝^d and A is a dilation matrix that expansively maps Γ into itself. Refinable distributions satisfy a refinement equation f(x)=Σ_k∈Λ c_k f(Ax−k), where Λ is a finite subset of Γ, the c_k are r×r matrices, and f=(f₁,...,f_r)^T. The accuracy of f is the highest degree p such that all multivariate polynomials q with degree(q)<p are exactly reproduced from linear combinations of translates of f₁,...,f_r along the lattice Γ. We determine the accuracy p from the matrices c_k. Moreover, we determine explicitly the coefficients y_α,i(k) such that x^α=Σ _i=1 ^r Σ_k∈Γy_α,i(k) fi(x+k). These coefficients are multivariate polynomials y_α,i(x) of degree |α| evaluated at lattice points k∈Γ.     

Orthogonal exponentials on the ball

We show that there does not exist an infinite sequence of vectors λ_n in ℝ^d, d > 1, such that the corresponding exponentials eⁱ〈λ_n,x〉, x ∈ ℝ^d, when considered on the unit ball B in ℝ^d, are pairwise orthogonal in L²(B) (B being endowed with Lebesgue measure). The weaker result that L²(B) does not have an infinite orthogonal base of exponentials has recently been established by A. Iosevich, N. Katz, and S. Pedersen in [2]. For d = 2 the present result was announced in the author's 1974 paper [1].     

Two-point Taylor expansions in the asymptotic approximation of double integrals. Application to the second and fourth Appell functions

The main difficulty in Laplace's method of asymptotic expansions of double integrals is originated by a change of variables. We consider a double integral representation of the second Appell function F₂(a,b,b^′,c,c^′;x,y) and illustrate, over this example, a variant of Laplace's method which avoids that change of variables and simplifies the computations. Essentially, the method only requires a Taylor expansion of the integrand at the critical point of the phase function. We obtain in this way an asymptotic expansion of F₂(a,b,b^′,c,c^′;x,y) for large b, b^′, c and c^′. We also consider a double integral representation of the fourth Appell function F₄(a,b,c,d;x,y). We show, in this example, that this variant of Laplace's method is uniform when two or more critical points coalesce or a critical point approaches the boundary of the integration domain. We obtain in this way an asymptotic approximation of F₄(a,b,c,d;x,y) for large values of a,b,c and d. In this second example, the method requires a Taylor expansion of the integrand at two points simultaneously. For this purpose, we also investigate in this paper Taylor expansions of two-variable analytic functions with respect to two points, giving Cauchy-type formulas for the coefficients of the expansion and details about the regions of convergence.     

Optimal maps for the multidimensional Monge-Kantorovich problem

Let μ₁,…, μ_N be Borel probability measures on ℝ^d. Denote by Γ(μ₁,…, μ_N) the set of all N-tuples T=(T₁,…, T_N) such that T_i:ℝ^d ↔ ℝ^d (i = 1,…, N) are Borel-measurable and satisfy μ₁ = μ_i[V] for all Borel V ⊂ ℝ^d. The multidimensional Monge-Kantorovich problem investigated in this paper consists of finding S=(S₁,…, S_N) ∈ Γ(μ₁,…, μ_N) minimizing over the set Γ(μ₁, ···, μ_N). We study the case where the μ_i's have finite second moments and vanish on (d - 1)-rectifiable sets. We prove existence and uniqueness of optimal maps S when we impose that S₁( x ) ≡ x and give an explicit form of the maps S_i. The result is obtained by variational methods and to the best of our knowledge is the first available in the literature in this generality. As a consequence, we obtain uniqueness and characterization of an optimal measure for the multidimensional Kantorovich problem. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Representations by quaternary quadratic forms whose coefficients are 1, 4, 9 and 36

Explicit formulae are determined for the number of representations of a positive integer by the quadratic forms ax²+by²+cz²+dt² with a,b,c,d∈{1,4,9,36}, gcd(a,b,c,d)=1 and a?b?c?d.     

Pairwise intersections and forbidden configurations

Let f_m(a,b,c,d) denote the maximum size of a family of subsets of an m-element set for which there is no pair of subsets with

By symmetry we can assume a≥d and b≥c. We show that f_m(a,b,c,d) is Θ(m^a+b−1) if either b>c or a,b≥1. We also show that f_m(0,b,b,0) is Θ(m^b) and f_m(a,0,0,d) is Θ(m^a). The asymptotic results are as m→∞ for fixed non-negative integers a,b,c,d. This can be viewed as a result concerning forbidden configurations and is further evidence for a conjecture of Anstee and Sali. Our key tool is a strong stability version of the Complete Intersection Theorem of Ahlswede and Khachatrian, which is of independent interest.     

A remark on the intersection arrays of distance regular graphs and the distance regular graphs of diameter d = 3i − 1 with b i = 1 and k > 2

Let be a distance regular graph with intersection array b ₀, b ₁,..., b _d–1; c ₁,..., c _d. It is shown that in some cases (c _i–1, a _i–1, b _i–1) = (c ₁, a ₁, b ₁)and (c _2i–1, a _2i–1, b _2i–1) imply k 2b _i + 1. As a corollary all distance regular graphs of diameter d = 3i – 1 with b _i = 1 and k > 2 are determined.     

Groups with a positive law on commutators

Let p be a prime number and let G be a finitely generated group that is residually a finite p-group. We prove that if G satisfies a positive law on all elements of the form [a,b][c,d]ⁱ, a,b,c,d∈G and i?0, then the entire derived subgroup G^′ satisfies a positive law. In fact, G^′ is an extension of a nilpotent group by a locally finite group of finite exponent.     

Best methods of interpolation for certain classes of differentiable functions

For the class W^(r)L_q (M;a, b), 1≤q≤∞, we construct the best method of approximation of the functionalf (x), x∈ [a, b], among all the methods using only information about the values off (^k)(x_i) (k=0, 1, ..., r?1; i=1, 2, ..., N).