We prove results on the relaxation and weak* lower semicontinuity of integral functionals of the form

$${\cal F}[u]: = \int_\Omegaf \left( {\displaystyle{1 \over 2}\left( {\nabla u(x) + \nabla u{(x)}^T} \right)} \right) \,{\rm d}x,\quad u:\Omega \subset {\mathbb R}^d\to {\mathbb R}^d,$$

$${\rm U}(\Omega ): = \left\{ {u\in {\rm BD}(\Omega ):\;\,{\rm div}\,u\in {\rm L}^2(\Omega )} \right\},$$

We prove that Cuntz semigroups of C*-algebras satisfy Edwards' condition with respect to every quasitrace. This condition is a key ingredient in the study of the realization problem of functions on the cone of quasitraces as ranks of positive elements. In the course of our investigation, we identify additional structure of the Cuntz semigroup of an arbitrary C*-algebra and of the cone of quasitraces.

Conjugation spaces are topological spaces equipped with an involution such that their fixed points have the same mod 2 cohomology (as a graded vector space, a ring and even an unstable algebra) but with all degrees divided by two, generalizing the classical examples of complex projective spaces under complex conjugation. Spaces which are constructed from unit balls in complex Euclidean spaces are called spherical and are very well understood. Our aim is twofold. We construct ‘exotic’ conjugation spaces and study the realization question: which spaces can be realized as real loci, i.e., fixed points of conjugation spaces. We identify obstructions and provide examples of spaces and manifolds which cannot be realized as such.

There is an enormous literature on the so-called Grenander estimator, which is merely the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator of a nonincreasing probability density on [0, 1] (see, for instance, Grenander (1981)), but unfortunately, there is no nonasymptotic (i.e. for arbitrary finite sample size n) explicit upper bound for the quadratic risk of the Grenander estimator readily applicable in practice by statisticians. In this paper, we establish, for the first time, a simple explicit upper bound 2n−1/2 for the latter quadratic risk. It turns out to be a straightforward consequence of an inequality valid with probability one and bounding from above the integrated squared error of the Grenander estimator by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic.

An element a in a ring R is left annihilator-stable (or left AS) if, whenever $Ra+{\rm l}(b)=R$ with $b\in R$, $a-u\in {\rm l}(b)$ for a unit u in R, and the ring R is a left AS ring if each of its elements is left AS. In this paper, we show that the left AS elements in a ring form a multiplicatively closed set, giving an affirmative answer to a question of Nicholson [J. Pure Appl. Alg. 221 (2017), 2557–2572.]. This result is used to obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for a formal triangular matrix ring to be left AS. As an application, we provide examples of left AS rings R over which the triangular matrix rings ${\mathbb T}_n(R)$ are not left AS for all $n\ge 2$. These examples give a negative answer to another question of Nicholson [J. Pure Appl. Alg. 221 (2017), 2557–2572.] whether R/J(R) being left AS implies that R is left AS.

Consider the following two eigenvalue problems: (0.1)

\begin{cases}\label{eqn:1abs}y"(x)+[\lambda^2-q(x)]y(x)=0, 0 \leq x \leq \pi,\\[3pt] y(0)=0, ay'(\pi)+\lambda y(\pi)=0, \end{cases}

(0.2)

\begin{cases} z"(x)+[\mu^2-q(x)]z(x)=0, 0 \leq x \leq \pi,\\[3pt] z'(0)=0, az'(\pi)+\mu z(\pi)=0, \end{cases}

where $q(x)$ is real-valued and integrable on [0, $\pi$]. Let $\{\lambda_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{Z}\setminus \{0\}}$ and $\{\mu_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{Z}\setminus \{0\}}$ denote the eigenvalues of equations (0.1) and (0.2), respectively. Then

\[\cdots\lt\mu_{-3}\lt\lambda_{-2}\lt\mu_{-2}\lt\lambda_{-1}\lt\mu_{-1}\lt\mu_1\lt\lambda_1\lt\mu_2\lt\lambda_2\lt\mu_3\lt\cdots.\]

$\lambda_n$

$\mu_n$

$\pi$

$|n|-1$

In this note, we prove that a four-dimensional compact oriented half-conformally flat Riemannian manifold M4 is topologically $\mathbb{S}^{4}$ or $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^{2}$, provided that the sectional curvatures all lie in the interval $\left[ {{{3\sqrt {3 - 5} } \over 4}, 1} \right]$ In addition, we use the notion of biorthogonal (sectional) curvature to obtain a pinching condition which guarantees that a four-dimensional compact manifold is homeomorphic to a connected sum of copies of the complex projective plane or the 4-sphere.

The Kudryashov–Sinelshchikov–Olver equation describes pressure waves in liquids with gas bubbles taking into account heat transfer and viscosity. In this paper, we prove the existence of solutions of the Cauchy problem associated with this equation.

We show that the spectrum of the relativistic mean curvature operator on a bounded domain Ω ⊂ ℝN (N ⩾ 1) having smooth boundary, subject to the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition, is exactly the interval (λ1(2), ∞), where λ1(2) stands for the principal frequency of the Laplace operator in Ω.

A simple Steinberg algebra associated to an ample Hausdorff groupoid G is algebraically purely infinite if and only if the characteristic functions of compact open subsets of the unit space are infinite idempotents. If a simple Steinberg algebra is algebraically purely infinite, then the reduced groupoid $C^*$-algebra $C^*_r(G)$ is simple and purely infinite. But the Steinberg algebra seems too small for the converse to hold. For this purpose we introduce an intermediate *-algebra B(G) constructed using corners $1_U C^*_r(G) 1_U$ for all compact open subsets U of the unit space of the groupoid. We then show that if G is minimal and effective, then B(G) is algebraically properly infinite if and only if $C^*_r(G)$ is purely infinite simple. We apply our results to the algebras of higher-rank graphs.

We establish two results on three-dimensional del Pezzo fibrations in positive characteristic. First, we give an explicit bound for torsion index of relatively torsion line bundles. Second, we show the existence of purely inseparable sections with explicit bounded degree. To prove these results, we study log del Pezzo surfaces defined over imperfect fields.

In this paper we show that every non-cycle finite transitive directed graph has a Cuntz–Krieger family whose WOT-closed algebra is $B(\mathcal {H})$. This is accomplished through a new construction that reduces this problem to in-degree 2-regular graphs, which is then treated by applying the periodic Road Colouring Theorem of Béal and Perrin. As a consequence we show that finite disjoint unions of finite transitive directed graphs are exactly those finite graphs which admit self-adjoint free semigroupoid algebras.

In this paper we present a classification of a class of globally subanalytic CMC surfaces in ℝ3 that generalizes the recent classification made by Barbosa and do Carmo in 2016. We show that a globally subanalytic CMC surface in ℝ3 with isolated singularities and a suitable condition of local connectedness is a plane or a finite union of round spheres and right circular cylinders touching at the singularities. As a consequence, we obtain that a globally subanalytic CMC surface in ℝ3 that is a topological manifold does not have isolated singularities. It is also proved that a connected closed globally subanalytic CMC surface in ℝ3 with isolated singularities which is locally Lipschitz normally embedded needs to be a plane or a round sphere or a right circular cylinder. A result in the case of non-isolated singularities is also presented. It also presented some results on regularity of semialgebraic sets and, in particular, it proved a real version of Mumford's Theorem on regularity of normal complex analytic surfaces and a result about C1 regularity of minimal varieties.