Search

In this paper, we show how to use the framework of mod-Gaussian convergence in order to study the fluctuations of certain models of random graphs, of random permutations and of random integer partitions. We prove that, in these three frameworks, a generic homogeneous observable of a generic random model is mod-Gaussian under an appropriate renormalisation. This implies a central limit theorem with an extended zone of normality, a moderate deviation principle, an estimate of the speed of convergence, a local limit theorem and a concentration inequality. The universal asymptotic behavior of the observables of these models gives rise to a notion of mod-Gaussian moduli space., Comment: New version: the paper has been slightly shortened, and a few references were added. 52 pages, 13 figures

The purpose of this document is to connect two maps related to certain graphs embedded in the disc. The first is Postnikov's boundary measurement map, which combines partition functions of matchings in the graph into a map from an algebraic torus to an open positroid variety in a Grassmannian. The second is a rational map from the open positroid variety to an algebraic torus, given by certain Plucker coordinates which are expected to be a cluster in a cluster structure. This paper clarifies the relationship between these two maps, which has been ambiguous since they were introduced by Postnikov in 2001. The missing ingredient supplied by this paper is a twist automorphism of the open positroid variety, which takes the target of the boundary measurement map to the domain of the (conjectural) cluster. Among other applications, this provides an inverse to the boundary measurement map, as well as Laurent formulas for twists of Plucker coordinates.

In this paper, we examine embeddings of alternating and symmetric groups into almost simple groups of exceptional type. In particular, we prove that if the alternating or symmetric group has degree equal to 5, or 8 or more, then it cannot appear as the maximal subgroup of any almost simple exceptional group of Lie type. Furthermore, in the remaining open cases of degrees 6 and 7 we give considerable information about the possible embeddings. Note that no maximal alternating or symmetric subgroups are known in the remaining cases. This is the first in a sequence of papers aiming to substantially improve the state of knowledge about the maximal subgroups of exceptional groups of Lie type.

In a landmark paper, D.Y. Kleinbock and G.A. Margulis established the fundamental Baker-Sprindzuk conjecture on homogeneous Diophantine approximation on manifolds. Subsequently, there has been dramatic progress in this area of research. However, the techniques developed to date do not seem to be applicable to inhomogeneous approximation. Consequently, the theory of inhomogeneous Diophantine approximation on manifolds remains essentially non-existent. In this paper we develop an approach that enables us to transfer homogeneous statements to inhomogeneous ones. This is rather surprising as the inhomogeneous theory contains the homogeneous theory and so is more general. As a consequence, we establish the inhomogeneous analogue of the Baker-Sprindzuk conjecture. Furthermore, we prove a complete inhomogeneous version of the profound theorem of Kleinbock, Lindenstrauss & Weiss on the extremality of friendly measures. The results obtained in this paper constitute the first step towards developing a coherent inhomogeneous theory for manifolds in line with the homogeneous theory., 37 pages: a final section on further developments has been added

The statement (and the proof) of Theorem 4.1.1 of the paper ‘Mackey formula in type A’ [Proc. London. Math. Soc. (3) 80 (2000) 545–574] is false. In this corrigendum we provide a correct statement (and a correct proof). As a consequence, we see that Corollary 4.1.2 of the paper holds. So all the other statements in the paper are correct (up to minor misprints…).2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: 20G05, 20G40.

In the present paper, we construct a cusped hyperbolic $4$-manifold with all cusp sections homeomorphic to the Hantzsche-Wendt manifold, which is a rational homology sphere. By a result of Gol\'enia and Moroianu, the Laplacian on $2$-forms on such a manifold has purely discrete spectrum. This shows that one of the main results of Mazzeo and Phillips from 1990 cannot hold without additional assumptions on the homology of the cusps. This also answers a question by Gol\'enia and Moroianu from 2012. We also correct and refine the incomplete classification of compact orientable flat $3$-manifolds arising from cube colourings provided earlier by the last two authors., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; SageMath worksheets available at https://github.com/sashakolpakov/24-cell-colouring

Consider the Coulomb potential $-\mu\ast|x|^{-1}$ generated by a non-negative finite measure $\mu$. It is well known that the lowest eigenvalue of the corresponding Schr\"odinger operator $-\Delta/2-\mu\ast|x|^{-1}$ is minimized, at fixed mass $\mu(\mathbb{R}^3)=\nu$, when $\mu$ is proportional to a delta. In this paper we investigate the conjecture that the same holds for the Dirac operator $-i\alpha\cdot\nabla+\beta-\mu\ast|x|^{-1}$. In a previous work on the subject we proved that this operator is self-adjoint when $\mu$ has no atom of mass larger than or equal to 1, and that its eigenvalues are given by min-max formulas. Here we consider the critical mass $\nu_1$, below which the lowest eigenvalue does not dive into the lower continuum spectrum for all $\mu\geq0$ with $\mu(\mathbb{R}^3), Comment: Final version to appear in Proc. London Math. Soc

In this paper we investigate the question of the existence of strong solution in finite time for the Korteweg system for small initial data provided that the initial momentum ρ 0 u 0 belongs to bmo −1 T (R N) for T > 0 and the initial density ρ 0 is in L ∞ (R N) with N ≥ 1 and far away from the vacuum. This result extends the so called Koch-Tataru theorem for the Korteweg system. It is also interesting to observe that any initial shock on the density is instantaneously regularized inasmuch as the density becomes Lipschitz for any ρ(t, ·) with t > 0. We also prove the existence of global strong solution for initial data (ρ 0 − 1, ρ 0 u 0) ∈ (B N 2 −1 2,∞ (R N) ∩ B N 2 2,∞ (R N)∩L ∞ (R N))×(B N 2 −1 2,∞ (R N)) N. This result allows in particular to extend the notion of Oseen solution (corresponding to particular solution of the incompressible Navier Stokes system in dimension N = 2) to the Korteweg system provided that the vorticity of the momentum ρ 0 u 0 is a Dirac mass αδ 0 with α sufficiently small. IHowever unlike the Navier Stokes equations the property of self similarity is not conserved for the Korteweg system since there is no invariance by scaling because the term of pressure.

In this paper, we study properties of the algebras of planar quasi-invariants. These algebras are Cohen-Macaulay and Gorenstein in codimension one. Using the technique of matrix problems, we classify all Cohen-Macaulay modules of rank one over them and determine their Picard groups. In terms of this classification, we describe the spectral modules of the planar rational Calogero-Moser systems. Finally, we elaborate the theory of the algebraic inverse scattering method, computing a new unexpected explicit example of a deformed Calogero-Moser system., Comment: 50 pages, some misprints corrected

In this paper we study the relationship between two fundamental regularity properties of an $s$-dimensional Calder\'{o}n-Zygmund operator (CZO) acting on a Borel measure $\mu$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$, with $s\in (0,d)$. In the classical case when $s=d$ and $\mu$ is equal to the Lebesgue measure, Calder\'on and Zygmund showed that if a CZO is bounded in $L^2$ then the principal value integral exists almost everywhere. However, there are by now several examples showing that this implication may fail for lower-dimensional kernels and measures, even when the CZO has a homogeneous kernel consisting of spherical harmonics. We introduce sharp geometric conditions on $\mu$, in terms of certain scaled transportation distances, which ensure that an extension of the Calder\'{o}n-Zygmund theorem holds. These conditions are necessary and sufficient in the cases of the Riesz transform and the Huovinen transform. Our techniques build upon prior work by Mattila and Verdera, and incorporate the machinery of symmetric measures, introduced to the area by Mattila., Comment: 32 pages

In last passage percolation models lying in the KPZ universality class, long maximizing paths have a typical deviation from the linear interpolation of their endpoints governed by the two-thirds power of the interpolating distance. This two-thirds power dictates a choice of scaled coordinates, in which these maximizers, now called polymers, cross unit distances with unit-order fluctuations. In this article, we consider Brownian last passage percolation in these scaled coordinates, and prove that the probability of the presence of $k$ disjoint polymers crossing a unit-order region while beginning and ending within a short distance $\epsilon$ of each other is bounded above by $\epsilon^{(k^2 - 1)/2 \, + \, o(1)}$. This result, which we conjecture to be sharp, yields understanding of the uniform nature of the coalescence structure of polymers, and plays a foundational role in [Ham17c] in proving comparison on unit-order scales to Brownian motion for polymer weight profiles from general initial data. The present paper also contains an on-scale articulation of the two-thirds power law for polymer geometry: polymers fluctuate by $\epsilon^{2/3}$ on short scales $\epsilon$., Comment: 67 pages with eight figures. An ancillary file contains the latex source code for a version, available on the author's webpage, that contains an appendix in which explicit bounds on certain constants are derived. Some typographical errors corrected in this version

In this paper, we propose a new approach to Cwikel estimates both for the Euclidean space and for the noncommutative Euclidean space.

In this paper we establish square-function estimates on the double and single layer potentials with rough inputs for divergence form elliptic operators, of arbitrary even order 2m, with variable t-independent coefficients in the upper half-space., 44 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society

The mutually enriching relationship between graphs and matroids has motivated discoveries in both fields. In this paper, we exploit the similar relationship between embedded graphs and delta-matroids. There are well-known connections between geometric duals of plane graphs and duals of matroids. We obtain analogous connections for various types of duality in the literature for graphs in surfaces of higher genus and delta-matroids. Using this interplay, we establish a rough structure theorem for delta-matroids that are twists of matroids, we translate Petrie duality on ribbon graphs to loop complementation on delta-matroids, and we prove that ribbon graph polynomials, such as the Penrose polynomial, the characteristic polynomial, and the transition polynomial, are in fact delta-matroidal. We also express the Penrose polynomial as a sum of characteristic polynomials.

A powerful method pioneered by Swinnerton-Dyer allows one to study rational points on pencils of curves of genus 1 by combining the fibration method with a sophisticated form of descent. A variant of this method, first used by Skorobogatov and Swinnerton-Dyer in 2005, can be applied to study rational points on Kummer varieties. In this paper we extend the method to include an additional step of second descent. Assuming finiteness of the relevant Tate-Shafarevich groups, we use the extended method to show that the Brauer-Manin obstruction is the only obstruction to the Hasse principle on Kummer varieties associated to abelian varieties with all rational 2-torsion, under mild additional hypotheses.

Positivstellensatz is a fundamental result in real algebraic geometry providing algebraic certificates for positivity of polynomials on semialgebraic sets. In this article Positivstellensatze for trace polynomials positive on semialgebraic sets of $n\times n$ matrices are provided. A Krivine-Stengle-type Positivstellensatz is proved characterizing trace polynomials nonnegative on a general semialgebraic set $K$ using weighted sums of hermitian squares with denominators. The weights in these certificates are obtained from generators of $K$ and traces of hermitian squares. For compact semialgebraic sets $K$ Schmudgen- and Putinar-type Positivstellensatze are obtained: every trace polynomial positive on $K$ has a sum of hermitian squares decomposition with weights and without denominators. The methods employed are inspired by invariant theory, classical real algebraic geometry and functional analysis. Procesi and Schacher in 1976 developed a theory of orderings and positivity on central simple algebras with involution and posed a Hilbert's 17th problem for a universal central simple algebra of degree $n$: is every totally positive element a sum of hermitian squares? They gave an affirmative answer for $n=2$. In this paper a negative answer for $n=3$ is presented. Consequently, including traces of hermitian squares as weights in the Positivstellensatze is indispensable.

The first part of the paper studies the expression for, and the properties of, the logarithm map on an orthant space, which is a simple stratified space, with the aim of analysing Frechet means of probability measures on such a space. In the second part, we use these results to characterise Frechet means and to derive various of their properties, including the limiting distribution of sample Frechet means.

A conjecture of Manin predicts the asymptotic distribution of rational points of bounded height on Fano varieties. In this paper we use conic bundles to obtain correct lower bounds for a wide class of surfaces over number fields for which the conjecture is still far from being proved. For example, we obtain the conjectured lower bound of Manin's conjecture for any del Pezzo surface whose Picard rank is sufficiently large, or for arbitrary del Pezzo surfaces after possibly an extension of the ground field of small degree.

Let Gr(d; n) be the Grassmannian of d-dimensional linear subspaces of an n-dimensional vector space V n. A submanifold X Gr(d; n) gives rise to a differential system ⊂(X) that governs d-dimensional submanifolds of V n whose Gaussian image is contained in X. Systems of the form Σ(X) appear in numerous applications in continuum mechanics, theory of integrable systems, general relativity and differential geometry. They include such wellknown examples as the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation, the Boyer-Finley equation, Plebansky's heavenly equations, and so on. In this paper we concentrate on the particularly interesting case of this construction where X is a fourfold in Gr(3; 5). Our main goal is to investigate differential-geometric and integrability aspects of the corresponding systems Σ(X). We demonstrate the equivalence of several approaches to dispersionless integrability such as • the method of hydrodynamic reductions, • the method of dispersionless Lax pairs, • integrability on solutions, based on the requirement that the characteristic variety of system Σ(X) defines an Einstein-Weyl geometry on every solution, • integrability on equation, meaning integrability (in twistor-theoretic sense) of the canonical GL(2;R) structure induced on a fourfold X ⊂ Gr(3; 5). All these seemingly different approaches lead to one and the same class of integrable systems Σ(X). We prove that the moduli space of such systems is 6-dimensional. We give a complete description of linearisable systems (the corresponding fourfold X is a linear section of Gr(3; 5)) and linearly degenerate systems (the corresponding fourfold X is the image of a quadratic map P4 99K Gr(3; 5)). The fourfolds corresponding to `generic' integrable systems are not algebraic, and can be parametrised by generalised hypergeometric functions.

This paper is intended as the first step of a programme aiming to prove in the long run the long-conjectured closedness under holomorphic deformations of compact complex manifolds that are bimeromorphically equivalent to compact Kahler manifolds, known as Fujiki {\it class} ${\cal C}$ manifolds. Our main idea is to explore the link between the {\it class} ${\cal C}$ property and the closed positive currents of bidegree $(1,\,1)$ that the manifold supports, a fact leading to the study of semi-continuity properties under deformations of the complex structure of the dual cones of cohomology classes of such currents and of Gauduchon metrics. Our main finding is a new class of compact complex, possibly non-Kahler, manifolds defined by the condition that every Gauduchon metric be strongly Gauduchon (sG), or equivalently that the Gauduchon cone be small in a certain sense. We term them sGG manifolds and find numerical characterisations of them in terms of certain relations between various cohomology theories (De Rham, Dolbeault, Bott-Chern, Aeppli). We also produce several concrete examples of nilmanifolds demonstrating the differences between the sGG class and well-established classes of complex manifolds. We conclude that sGG manifolds enjoy good stability properties under deformations and modifications.

In this paper we study conjugacy separability of subdirect products of two free (or hyperbolic) groups. We establish necessary and sufficient criteria and apply them to fibre products to produce a finitely presented group G1 in which all finite index subgroups are conjugacy separable, but which has an index 2 overgroup that is not conjugacy separable. Conversely, we construct a finitely presented group G2 which has a non-conjugacy separable subgroup of index 2 such that every finite index normal overgroup of G2 is conjugacy separable. The normality of the overgroup is essential in the last example, as such a group G2 will always possess an index 3 overgroup that is not conjugacy separable. Finally, we characterize p-conjugacy separable subdirect products of two free groups, where p is a prime. We show that fibre products provide a natural correspondence between residually finite p-groups and p-conjugacy separable subdirect products of two non-abelian free groups. As a consequence, we deduce that the open question about the existence of an infinite finitely presented residually finite p-group is equivalent to the question about the existence of a finitely generated p-conjugacy separable full subdirect product of infinite index in the direct product of two free groups.

We construct embedded Willmore tori with small area constraint in Riemannian three-manifolds under some curvature condition used to prevent Mobius degeneration. The construction relies on a Lyapunov–Schmidt reduction; to this aim we establish new geometric expansions of exponentiated small symmetric Clifford tori and analyze the sharp asymptotic behaviour of degenerating tori under the action of the Mobius group. In this first work we prove two existence results by minimizing or maximizing a suitable reduced functional, in particular we obtain embedded area-constrained Willmore tori (or, equivalently, toroidal critical points of the Hawking mass under area-constraint) in compact 3-manifolds with constant scalar curvature and in the double Schwarzschild space. In a forthcoming paper new existence theorems will be achieved via Morse theory.

The category of all idempotent generated semigroups with a prescribed structure E of their idempotents E (called the biordered set) has an initial object called the free idempotent generated semigroup over E, defined by a presentation over alphabet E, and denoted by IG(E). Recently, much effort has been put into investigating the structure of semigroups of the form IG(E), especially regarding their maximal subgroups. In this paper we take these investigations in a new direction by considering the word problem for IG(E). We prove two principal results, one positive and one negative. We show that, for a finite biordered set E, it is decidable whether a given word w ∈ E∗represents a regular element; if in addition one assumes that all maximal subgroups of IG(E) have decidable word problems, then the word problem in IG(E) restricted to regular words is decidable. On the other hand, we exhibit a biorder E arising from a finite idempotent semigroup S, such that the word problem for IG(E) is undecidable, even though all the maximal subgroups have decidable word problems. This is achieved by relating the word problem of IG(E) to the subgroup membership problem in finitely presented groups.

Recently, it was proved that the group of rough paths modulo tree-like equivalence is isomorphic to the corresponding signature group through the signature map S (a generalized notion of taking iterated path integrals). However, the proof of this uniqueness result does not contain any information on how to ‘see’ the trajectory of a (tree-reduced) rough path from its signature, and a constructive understanding on the uniqueness result (in particular, on the inverse of S) has become an interesting and important question. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct a rough path from its signature in an explicit and universal way.

We introduce symplectic Calabi-Yau caps to obtain new obstructions to exact fillings. In particular, it implies that any exact filling of the standard unit cotangent bundle of a hyperbolic surface has vanishing first Chern class and has the same integral homology and intersection form as its disk cotangent bundle. This gives evidence to a conjecture that all of its exact fillings are diffeomorphic to the disk cotangent bundle. As a result, we also obtain the first infinitely family of Stein fillable contact 3-manifolds with uniform bounds on the Betti numbers of its exact fillings but admitting minimal strong fillings of arbitrarily large $b_2$. Moreover, we introduce the notion of symplectic uniruled/adjunction caps and uniruled/adjunction contact structures to present a unified picture to the existing finiteness results on the topological invariants of exact/strong fillings of a contact 3-manifold. As a byproduct, we find new classes of contact 3-manifolds with the finiteness property and extend Wand's obstruction of planar contact 3-manifolds to uniruled/adjunction contact structures with complexity zero. structures with complexity zero., Comment: 44 pages. This is an updated version of the papers with title 'Calabi-Yau caps and Uniruled caps' and 'Uniruled caps and Calabi-Yau caps'. To appear in Proceedings of London Mathematical Society

In this paper we determine which blow-ups $X$ of $\mathbb{P}^n$ at general points are log Fano, that is, when there exists an effective $\mathbb{Q}$-divisor $\Delta$ such that $-(K_X+\Delta)$ is ample and the pair $(X,\Delta)$ is klt. For these blow-ups, we produce explicit boundary divisors $\Delta$ making $X$ log Fano., Comment: 30 pages

In this paper we prove that a dynamically convex starshaped hypersurface in $\mathbb{C}^2$ which is invariant under complex conjugation admits a global surface of section which is invariant under conjugation as well. We obtain this invariant global surface by embedding $\mathbb{C}^2$ into $\mathbb{CP}^2$ and applying a stretching argument to real holomorphic curves in $\mathbb{CP}^2$. The motivation for this result arises from recent progress in applying holomorphic curve techniques to gain a deeper understanding on the dynamics of the restricted three body problem., 36 pages

The graded Specht module Sfor a cyclotomic Hecke al- gebra comes with a distinguished generating vector z � 2 S � , which can be thought of as a "highest weight vector of weight �". This paper describes the defining relations for the Specht module Sas a graded module generated by z � . The first three relations say precisely what it means for zto be a highest weight vector of weight �. The remaining relations are homogeneous analogues of the classical Garnir relations. The homogeneous Garnir relations, which are simpler than the classical ones, are associated with a remarkable family of homogeneous operators on the Specht module which satisfy the braid relations.

Let (R; m; k) be a local noetherian domain with field of fractions K and R_v a valuation ring, dominating R (not necessarily birationally). Let v|K be the restriction of v to K; by definition, v|K is centered at R. Let \hat{R} denote the m-adic completion of R. In the applications of valuation theory to commutative algebra and the study of singularities, one is often induced to replace R by its m-adic completion \hat{R} and v by a suitable extension \hat{v} to \hat{R}/P for a suitably chosen prime ideal P, such that P \cap R = (0). The purpose of this paper is to give, assuming that R is excellent, a systematic description of all such extensions \hat{v} and to identify certain classes of extensions which are of particular interest for applications., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. 54 pages

This paper studies integer solutions to the Diophantine equation A+B=C in which none of A, B, C have a large prime factor. We set H(A, B,C) = max(|A|, |B|, |C|), and consider primitive solutions (gcd}(A, B, C)=1) having no prime factor p larger than (log H(A, B,C))^K, for a given finite K. On the assumption that the Generalized Riemann hypothesis (GRH) holds, we show that for any K > 8 there are infinitely many such primitive solutions having no prime factor larger than (log H(A, B, C))^K. We obtain in this range an asymptotic formula for the number of such suitably weighted primitive solutions., 35 pages latex; v2 corrected misprints

A relative Schottky set in a planar domain D is a subset of D obtained by removing from D open geometric discs whose closures are in D and are pairwise disjoint. In this paper we study quasisymmetric and related maps between relative Schottky sets of measure zero. We prove, in particular, that quasisymmetric maps between such sets in Jordan domains are conformal, locally bi-Lipschitz, and that their first derivatives are locally Lipschitz. We also provide a locally bi-Lipschitz uniformization result for relative Schottky sets in Jordan domains and establish rigidity with respect to local quasisymmetric maps for relative Schottky sets in the unit disc., Comment: 43 pages

This paper studies the problems of embedding and isomorphism for countably generated Hilbert C*-modules over commutative C*-algebras. When the fibre dimensions differ sufficiently, relative to the dimension of the spectrum, we show that there is an embedding between the modules. This result continues to hold over recursive subhomogeneous C*-algebras. For certain modules, including all modules over $C_0(X)$ when $dim X \leq 3$, isomorphism and embedding are determined by the restrictions to the sets where the fibre dimensions are constant. These considerations yield results for the Cuntz semigroup, including a computation of the Cuntz semigroup for $C_0(X)$ when $dim X \leq 3$, in terms of cohomological data about $X$., To appear in Proc. London Math. Soc. The published version differs

This paper, devoted to the study of spectral pollution, contains both abstract results and applications to some self-adjoint operators with a gap in their essential spectrum occuring in Quantum Mechanics. First we consider Galerkin basis which respect the decomposition of the ambient Hilbert space into a direct sum $H=PH\oplus(1-P)H$, given by a fixed orthogonal projector $P$, and we localize the polluted spectrum exactly. This is followed by applications to periodic Schrodinger operators (pollution is absent in a Wannier-type basis), and to Dirac operator (several natural decompositions are considered). In the second part, we add the constraint that within the Galerkin basis there is a certain relation between vectors in $PH$ and vectors in $(1-P)H$. Abstract results are proved and applied to several practical methods like the famous "kinetic balance" of relativistic Quantum Mechanics.

This paper describes a way to subdivide a 3-manifold into angled blocks, namely polyhedral pieces that need not be simply connected. When the individual blocks carry dihedral angles that fit together in a consistent fashion, we prove that a manifold constructed from these blocks must be hyperbolic. The main application is a new proof of a classical, unpublished theorem of Bonahon and Siebenmann: that all arborescent links, except for three simple families of exceptions, have hyperbolic complements., Comment: 42 pages, 23 figures. Slightly expanded exposition and references

This paper is a comprehensive study of the nest representations for the free semigroupoid algebra ${\mathfrak{L}}_G$ of a countable directed graph $G$ as well as its norm-closed counterpart, the tensor algebra ${\mathcal{T}}^{+}(G)$.We prove that the finite-dimensional nest representations separate the points in ${\mathfrak{L}}_G$, and a fortiori, in ${\mathcal{T}}^{+}(G)$. The irreducible finite-dimensional representations separate the points in ${\mathfrak{L}}_G$ if and only if $G$ is transitive in components (which is equivalent to being semisimple). Also the upper triangular nest representations separate points if and only if for every vertex $x \in {\mathcal{T}}(G)$ supporting a cycle, $x$ also supports at least one loop edge.We also study faithful nest representations. We prove that ${\mathfrak{L}}_G$ (or ${\mathcal{T}}^{+}(G)$) admits a faithful irreducible representation if and only if $G$ is strongly transitive as a directed graph. More generally, we obtain a condition on $G$ which is equivalent to the existence of a faithful nest representation. We also give a condition that determines the existence of a faithful nest representation for a maximal type ${\mathbb{N}}$ nest.

The theory of mappings of finite distortion has arisen out of a need to extend the ideas and applications of the classical theory of quasiconformal mappings to the degenerate elliptic setting where one finds concrete applications in non-linear elasticity and the calculus of variations. In this paper we initiate the study of extremal problems for mappings with finite distortion and extend the theory of extremal quasiconformal mappings by considering integral averages of the distortion function instead of its supremum norm. For instance, we show the following. Suppose that $f_o$ is a homeomorphism of the circle with $f_{o}^{-1} \in {\cal W}^{1/2, 2}$. Then there is a unique extremal extension to the disk which is a real analytic diffeomorphism with non-vanishing Jacobian determinant. The condition on $f_o$ is sharp. Classically the mapping $f_o$ is assumed to be quasisymmetric. Then there is an extremal quasiconformal mapping with boundary values $f_o$, but it is not always unique and it is seldom smooth. Indeed, even when $f_o$ is quasisymmetric, the ${\cal L}^1$-minimiser for the distortion function will almost never be quasiconformal. We further find that there are many new and unexpected phenomena concerning existence, uniqueness and regularity for these extremal problems where the functionals are polyconvex but typically not convex. These seem to differ markedly from phenomena observed when studying multi-well type functionals.

A p-local finite group consists of a finite p-group S, together with a pair of categories which encode ``conjugacy'' relations among subgroups of S, and which are modelled on the fusion in a Sylow p-subgroup of a finite group. It contains enough information to define a classifying space which has many of the same properties as p-completed classifying spaces of finite groups. In this paper, we examine which subgroups control this structure. More precisely, we prove that the question of whether an abstract fusion system F over a finite p-group S is saturated can be determined by just looking at smaller classes of subgroups of S. We also prove that the homotopy type of the classifying space of a given p-local finite group is independent of the family of subgroups used to define it, in the sense that it remains unchanged when that family ranges from the set of F-centric F-radical subgroups (at a minimum) to the set of F-quasicentric subgroups (at a maximum). Finally, we look at constrained fusion systems, analogous to p-constrained finite groups, and prove that they in fact all arise from groups., 32 pages. To appear in Proc. London Math Soc

Hurwitz numbers, which count certain covers of the projective line (or, equivalently, factorizations of permutations into transpositions), have been extensively studied for over a century. The Gromov-Witten potential F of a point, the generating series for descendent integrals on the moduli space of curves, is a central object of study in Gromov-Witten theory. We define a slightly enriched Gromov-Witten potential G (including integrals involving one ‘$\lambda$-class’), and show that, after a non-trivial change of variables, G = H in positive genus, where H is a generating series for Hurwitz numbers. We prove a conjecture of Goulden and Jackson on higher genus Hurwitz numbers, which turns out to be an analogue of a genus expansion ansatz of Itzykson and Zuber. As consequences, we have new combinatorial constraints on F, and a much more direct proof of the ansatz of Itzykson and Zuber. We can produce recursions and explicit formulas for Hurwitz numbers; the algorithm presented proves all such recursions. As examples we present surprisingly simple new recursions in genus 0 to 3. Similar recursions should exist for all genera. As we expect this paper also to be of interest to combinatorialists, we have tried to make it as self-contained as possible, including reviewing some results and definitions well known in algebraic and symplectic geometry, and mathematical physics. 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: primary 14H10, 81T40; secondary 05C30, 58D29.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a geometric approach to Wall's finiteness obstruction. We will do this for equivariant CW-complexes. The main advantage will be that we can derive all the formal properties of the equivariant finiteness obstruction easily from this geometric description. Namely, the obstruction property, homotopy invariance, the sum and product formulas, and the restriction formula can be stated and proved in a simple manner. Also a characterization of the finiteness obstruction by a universal property is quickly available. This geometric approach is similar to the treatment of Whitehead torsion by Cohen in [3]. In the first section we define a functor Wa from the category of G-spaces to the category of abelian groups. We assign to a finitely dominated G-CW-complex X an element w(X) e Wa(X) called its finiteness obstruction. The finiteness obstruction vanishes if and only if X is G-homotopic to a finite G-CW-complex and satisfies a sum formula and is homotopy invariant. The notion of a universal functorial additive invariant is introduced in the second section where its existence and uniqueness are proved. Product and restriction formulas for the universal additive invariant are obtained by abstract nonsense. We define equivariant Euler characteristics in the third section generalizing the notion of the Euler characteristic of a finite CW-complex. The goal of the fourth section is to prove that the equivariant Euler characteristic and finiteness obstruction determine the universal functorial additive invariant for finite, respectively finitely dominated, G-CW-complexes. The fifth section contains some algebraic computations of Wa in terms of reduced projective class groups of certain integral group rings. In the nonequivariant case Wall's algebraic approach and our geometric one agree. Finally, in the sixth section, the results of the second and fourth sections are used to state an abstract product formula, a restriction formula, and a diagonal product formula. We make some remarks about the simple-homotopy approach to the finiteness obstruction due to Ferry. The treatment by Ferry in [7] is extended by Kwasik in [14] to the equivariant case. In § 6 we construct geometrically an injection I(Y): W(Y)^>Wh(YxS) into the equivariant Whitehead group of Y x S sending our geometric finiteness obstruction to that of Kwasik. A compact Lie group is denoted by G.