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For normal play, impartial games, we define penults as those positions in which every option results in an immediate win for the other player. We explore the number of tokens in penults of two positional games, Impartial Tic and Impartial Tak. We obtain a complete classification in the former case. We then explore winning strategies and further directions., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures

The traditional mathematical model for an impartial combinatorial game is defined recursively as a set of the options of the game, where the options are games themselves. We propose a model called gamegraph, together with its generalization rulegraph, based on the natural description of a game as a digraph where the vertices are positions and the arrows represent possible moves. Such digraphs form a category where the morphisms are option preserving maps. We study several versions of this category. Our development includes congruence relations, quotients, and isomorphism theorems and is analogous to the corresponding notions in universal algebra. The quotient by the maximum congruence relation produces an object that is essentially equivalent to the traditional model. After the development of the general theory, we count the number of non-isomorphic gamegraphs and rulegraphs by formal birthday and the number of positions., Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures

We investigate the Sprague-Grundy sequences for two normal-play impartial games based on arithmetic functions, first described by Iannucci and Larsson in \cite{sum}. In each game, the set of positions is N (natural numbers). In saliquant, the options are to subtract a non-divisor. Here we obtain several nice number theoretic lemmas, a fundamental theorem, and two conjectures about the eventual density of Sprague-Grundy values. In nontotient, the only option is to subtract the number of relatively prime residues. Here are able to calculate certain Sprague-Grundy values, and start to understand an appropriate class function., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure

We investigate Tukey morphisms between binary relations, establishing several fundamental lemmas. We then specialize to finite binary relations, using computational methods to classify all binary relations with at most $6$ points in the domain and codomain up to bimorphism. Finally we give a construction of finite binary relations with arbitrary dominating number and dual dominating number.

\textsc{cut} is a class of partition games played on a finite number of finite piles of tokens. Each version of \textsc{cut} is specified by a cut-set $\mathcal{C}\subseteq\mathbb{N}$. A legal move consists of selecting one of the piles and partitioning it into $d+1$ nonempty piles, where $d\in\mathcal{C}$. No tokens are removed from the game. It turns out that the nim-set for any $\mathcal{C}=\{1,2c\}$ with $c\geq 2$ is arithmetic-periodic, which answers an open question of \cite{par}. The key step is to show that there is a correspondence between the nim-sets of \textsc{cut} for $\mathcal{C}=\{1,6\}$ and the nim-sets of \textsc{cut} for $\mathcal{C}=\{1,2c\}, c\geq 4$. The result easily extends to the case of $\mathcal{C} = \{1, 2c_1, 2c_2, 2c_3, ...\}$, where $c_1,c_2, ... \geq 2$., Comment: 19 pages

We prove the following conjecture of S. Thomass\'e: for every (potentially infinite) digraph $ D $ it is possible to iteratively reverse directed cycles in such a way that the dichromatic number of the final reorientation $ D^{*} $ of $ D $ is at most two and each edge is flipped only finitely many times. In addition, we guarantee that in every strong component of $ D^{*} $ all the local edge-connectivities are finite and any edge is reversed at most twice., Comment: 19 pages

We show that for any countable homogeneous ordered graph $G$, the conjugacy problem for automorphisms of $G$ is Borel complete. In fact we establish that each such $G$ satisfies a strong extension property called ABAP, which implies that the isomorphism relation on substructures of $G$ is Borel reducible to the conjugacy relation on automorphisms of $G$.

The Borel complexity of the isomorphism problem for finite-rank unital simple dimension groups increases with rank. This implies that the isomorphism problems for the corresponding classes of Bratteli diagrams and LDA-groups also increase with rank., Comment: 32 pages. To be published in Israel Journal of Mathematics

We show that if $D$ is a tournament of arbitrary size then $D$ has finite strong components after reversing a locally finite sequence of cycles. In turn, we prove that any tournament can be covered by two acyclic sets after reversing a locally finite sequence of cycles. This provides a partial solution to a conjecture of S. Thomass\'e., Comment: 23 pages, first public version. Comments are very welcome

We decide the Borel complexity of the conjugacy problem for automorphism groups of countable homogeneous digraphs. Many of the homogeneous digraphs, as well as several other homogeneous structures, have already been addressed in previous articles. In this article we complete the program, and establish a dichotomy theorem that this complexity is either the minimum or the maximum among relations which are classifiable by countable structures. We also discuss the possibility of extending our results beyond graphs to more general classes of countable homogeneous structures.

We consider the conjugacy problem for the automorphism groups of a number of countable homogeneous structures. In each case we find the precise complexity of the conjugacy relation in the sense of Borel reducibility.

We prove that the conjugacy problem for the automorphism group of the random graph is Borel complete, and discuss the analogous problem for some other countably categorical structures., Comment: 7 pages

The roles of isospin asymmetry in nuclei and neutron stars are investigated using a range of potential and field-theoretical models of nucleonic matter. The parameters of these models are fixed by fitting the properties of homogeneous bulk matter and closed-shell nuclei. We discuss and unravel the causes of correlations among the neutron skin thickness in heavy nuclei, the pressure of beta-equilibrated matter at a density of 0.1 fm$^{-3}$, and the radii of moderate mass neutron stars. The influence of symmetry energy on observables in heavy-ion collisions is summarized., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; Proceedings for the 21st Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Breckenridge, Colorado, February 5-12, 2005; To appear in Heavy Ion Physics

The roles of isospin asymmetry in nuclei and neutron stars are investigated using a range of potential and field-theoretical models of nucleonic matter. The parameters of these models are fixed by fitting the properties of homogeneous bulk matter and closed-shell nuclei. We discuss and unravel the causes of correlations among the neutron skin thickness in heavy nuclei, the pressure of beta-equilibrated matter at a density of 0.1 fm$^{-3}$, the derivative of the nuclear symmetry energy at the same density and the radii of moderate mass neutron stars. Constraints on the symmetry properties of nuclear matter from the binding energies of nuclei are examined. The extent to which forthcoming neutron skin measurements will further delimit the symmetry properties is investigated. The impact of symmetry energy constraints for the mass and moment of inertia contained within neutron star crusts and the threshold density for the nucleon direct Urca process, all of which are potentially measurable, is explored. We also comment on the minimum neutron star radius, assuming that only nucleonic matter exists within the star., Comment: 49 pages, 17 figures, Phys. Rep. (in press); made improvements to "RAPR" and corrected transition densities

The cooling mechanism of compact stars with quark cores in the color-flavor locked phase is discussed. It is argued that the high thermal conductivity of the quark core plays a key role in the stellar cooling. It implies that the cooling time of compact stars with color-flavor locked quark cores is similar to that of ordinary neutron stars, unless the star is almost completely made of color-flavor locked quark matter., Comment: 7 pages. Talk presented at 2002 International Workshop "On Strong Coupling Gauge Theories And Effective Field Theories" (SCGT 02), 10-13 December 2002, Nagoya, Japan

The contribution of thermally excited electron-positron pairs to the bulk properties of the color-flavor locked quark phase inside compact stars is examined. The presence of these pairs causes the photon mean free path to be much smaller than a typical core radius ($R_0 \simeq 1$ km) for all temperatures above 25 keV so that the photon contribution to the thermal conductivity is much smaller than that of the Nambu-Goldstone bosons. We also find that the electrons and positrons dominate the electrical conductivity, while their contributions to the total thermal energy is negligible., Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. Published version

We study pion--nucleon scattering with a chiral lagrangian of pions, nucleons, and $\Delta$-isobars to order $Q^3$, where $Q$ is a generic small momentum. We compare the results from heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory with those from the infrared regularization scheme. While the former provides a reasonable fit to the data out to a pion c.m. kinetic energy of 100 MeV, the latter is only able to fit up to 40 MeV and even then the parameters obtained are unreasonable. Difficulties with the infrared scheme in the $u$-channel are discussed., Comment: 20 pages revtex, minor revisions, to be published in Phys. Rev. C

The thermal conductivity of the color-flavor locked phase of dense quark matter is calculated. The dominant contribution to the conductivity comes from photons and Nambu-Goldstone bosons associated with breaking of baryon number which are trapped in the quark core. Because of their very large mean free path the conductivity is also very large. The cooling of the quark core arises mostly from the heat flux across the surface of direct contact with the nuclear matter. As the thermal conductivity of the neighboring layer is also high, the whole interior of the star should be nearly isothermal. Our results imply that the cooling time of compact stars with color-flavor locked quark cores is similar to that of ordinary neutron stars., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, REVTeX. Minor corrections. One new reference added. To appear in Phys. Rev. C

We derive the effective coarse-grained field equation for the scalar condensate of the linear sigma model in a simple and straightforward manner using linear response theory. The dissipative coefficient is calculated at tree level on the basis of the physical processes of sigma-meson decay and of thermal sigma-mesons and pions knocking sigma-mesons out of the condensate. The field equation is solved for hot matter undergoing either one or three dimensional expansion and cooling in the aftermath of a high energy nuclear collision. The results show that the time constant for returning the scalar condensate to thermal equilibrium is of order 2 fm/c., Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures are embedded at the end. The effect of the time dependence of the condensate v is included in this revised version. Numerical work is redone accordingly