Let $G = K \rtimes \langle t \rangle $ be a finitely generated group where K is abelian and $\langle t\rangle$ is the infinite cyclic group. Let R be a finite symmetric subset of K such that $S = \{ (r,1),(0,t^{\pm 1}) \mid r \in R \}$ is a generating set of G. We prove that the spherical conjugacy ratio, and hence the conjugacy ratio, of G with respect to S is 0 unless G is virtually abelian, confirming a conjecture of Ciobanu, Cox and Martino in this case. We also show that the Baumslag–Solitar group $\mathrm{BS}(1,k)$, $k\geq 2$, has a one-sided Følner sequence F such that the conjugacy ratio with respect to F is non-zero, even though $\mathrm{BS}(1,k)$ is not virtually abelian. This is in contrast to two-sided Følner sequences, where Tointon showed that the conjugacy ratio with respect to a two-sided Følner sequence is positive if and only if the group is virtually abelian.

Let $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N$, $N\geq 1$, be an open bounded connected set. We consider the indefinite weighted eigenvalue problem $-\Delta u =\lambda m u$ in Ω with $\lambda \in \mathbb{R}$, $m\in L^\infty(\Omega)$ and with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We study weak* continuity, convexity and Gâteaux differentiability of the map $m\mapsto1/\lambda_1(m)$, where $\lambda_1(m)$ is the principal eigenvalue. Then, denoting by $\mathcal{G}(m_0)$ the class of rearrangements of a fixed weight m0, under the assumptions that m0 is positive on a set of positive Lebesgue measure and $\int_\Omega m_0\,dx \lt 0$, we prove the existence and a characterization of minimizers of $\lambda_1(m)$ and the non-existence of maximizers. Finally, we show that, if Ω is a cylinder, then every minimizer is monotone with respect to the direction of the generatrix. In the context of the population dynamics, this kind of problems arise from the question of determining the optimal spatial location of favourable and unfavourable habitats for a population to survive.

We define two types of the α-Farey maps Fα and $F_{\alpha, \flat}$ for $0 \lt \alpha \lt \tfrac{1}{2}$, which were previously defined only for $\tfrac{1}{2} \le \alpha \le 1$ by Natsui (2004). Then, for each $0 \lt \alpha \lt \tfrac{1}{2}$, we construct the natural extension maps on the plane and show that the natural extension of $F_{\alpha, \flat}$ is metrically isomorphic to the natural extension of the original Farey map. As an application, we show that the set of normal numbers associated with α-continued fractions does not vary by the choice of α, $0 \lt \alpha \lt 1$. This extends the result by Kraaikamp and Nakada (2000).

For each set X, an X-split is a partition of X into two parts. For each X-split S and each subset $Y\subseteq X$, the restriction of S on Y is the Y-split whose parts are obtained by intersecting the parts of S with Y. For a graph G with vertex set V, the G-coboundary size of a V-split S is the number of edges in G having non-empty intersections with both parts of S. Let T be a tree without degree-two vertices, and let V and L denote its vertex set and leaf set, respectively. For each positive integer k, a k-split on T is an L-split that is the restriction of a V-split with T-coboundary size k, while a score-k split on T is a k-split on T that is not any k′-split for any integer $k' \lt k$. Buneman’s split equivalence theorem states that the tree T is entirely encoded by its system of score-1 splits. We identify the unique exceptional case in which the tree T is not determined by its score-2 split system. To explore how our work can be extended to more general tree isomorphism problems, we propose several conjectures and open problems related to set systems and generalized Buneman graphs.

We prove the formula

\begin{equation*} \text{cat}_G(X\vee Y)=\max \{\text{cat}_G(X),\text{cat}_G(Y)\} \end{equation*}

$X\vee Y$

$\bigvee _{i=1}^m X_i$

$G$

$X_i$

$G$

$i=1,\ldots ,m$

$X/A$

$G$

$X$

$A$

$A\hookrightarrow X$

$G$

$\overline {x_0}\,:\,A\to X$

$x_0\in X^G$

\begin{align*} \text{TC}_G(X\vee Y)&=\max \{\text{TC}_G(X),\text{TC}_G(Y),\text{cat}_G(X\times Y)\},\\ \text{TC}^G(X\vee Y)&=\max \{\text{TC}^G(X),\text{TC}^G(Y),_{X\vee Y}\text{cat}_{G\times G}(X\times Y)\}, \end{align*}

$G$

$G$

$X$

$Y$

We present an explicit subset $A\subseteq \mathbb{N} = \{0,1,\ldots \}$ such that $A + A = \mathbb{N}$ and for all $\varepsilon \gt 0$,

\begin{equation*}\lim _{N\to \infty }\frac {\big |\big \{(n_1,n_2): n_1 + n_2 = N, (n_1,n_2)\in A^2\big \}\big |}{N^{\varepsilon }} = 0.\end{equation*}

This answers a question of Erdős.

A popular method to perform adversarial attacks on neural networks is the so-called fast gradient sign method and its iterative variant. In this paper, we interpret this method as an explicit Euler discretization of a differential inclusion, where we also show convergence of the discretization to the associated gradient flow. To do so, we consider the concept of $p$-curves of maximal slope in the case $p=\infty$. We prove existence of $\infty$-curves of maximum slope and derive an alternative characterization via differential inclusions. Furthermore, we also consider Wasserstein gradient flows for potential energies, where we show that curves in the Wasserstein space can be characterized by a representing measure on the space of curves in the underlying Banach space, which fulfil the differential inclusion. The application of our theory to the finite-dimensional setting is twofold: On the one hand, we show that a whole class of normalized gradient descent methods (in particular, signed gradient descent) converge, up to subsequences, to the flow when sending the step size to zero. On the other hand, in the distributional setting, we show that the inner optimization task of adversarial training objective can be characterized via $\infty$-curves of maximum slope on an appropriate optimal transport space.

We provide a presymplectic characterization of Liouville sectors introduced by Ganatra–Pardon–Shende in [10, 12] in terms of the characteristic foliation of the boundary, which we call Liouville σ-sectors. We extend this definition to the case with corners using the presymplectic geometry of null foliations of the coisotropic intersections of transverse coisotropic collection of hypersurfaces, which appear in the definition of Liouville sectors with corners. We show that the set of Liouville σ-sectors with corners canonically forms a monoid that provides a natural framework for considering the Künneth-type functors in the wrapped Fukaya category. We identify its automorphism group that enables one to give a natural definition of bundles of Liouville sectors. As a byproduct, we affirmatively answer a question raised in [10, Question 2.6], which asks about the optimality of their definition of Liouville sectors in [10].

In the second half of the 19th century, Darboux obtained determinant formulae that provide the general solution for a linear hyperbolic second-order PDE with the finite Laplace series. These formulae played an important role in his study of the theory of surfaces and, in particular, in the theory of conjugate nets. During the last three decades, discrete analogues of conjugate nets (Q-nets) were actively studied. Laplace series can be defined also for hyperbolic difference operators. We prove discrete analogues of Darboux formulae for discrete and semi-discrete hyperbolic operators with finite Laplace series.

Jespers and Sun conjectured in [27] that if a finite group G has the property ND, i.e. for every nilpotent element n in the integral group ring $\mathbb{Z}G$ and every primitive central idempotent $e \in \mathbb{Q}G$ one still has $ne \in \mathbb{Z}G$, then at most one of the simple components of the group algebra $\mathbb{Q} G$ has reduced degree bigger than 1. With the exception of one very special series of groups we are able to answer their conjecture, showing that it is true—up to exactly one exception. To do so, we first classify groups with the so-called SN property which was introduced by Liu and Passman in their investigation of the Multiplicative Jordan Decomposition for integral group rings.

The conjecture of Jespers and Sun can also be formulated in terms of a group q(G) made from the group generated by the unipotent units, which is trivial if and only if the ND property holds for the group ring. We answer two more open questions about q(G) and notice that this notion allows to interpret the studied properties in the general context of linear semisimple algebraic groups. Here we show that q(G) is finite for lattices of big rank but can contain elements of infinite order in small rank cases.

We then study further two properties which appeared naturally in these investigations. A first which shows that property ND has a representation theoretical interpretation, while the other can be regarded as indicating that it might be hard to decide ND. Among others we show these two notions are equivalent for groups with SN.

Negami found an elegant splitting formula for the Tutte polynomial. We present an analogue of this for Bollobás and Riordan’s ribbon graph polynomial, and for the transition polynomial. From this we deduce a splitting formula for the Jones polynomial.

The evolution of a rotationally symmetric surface by a linear combination of its radii of curvature is considered. It is known that if the coefficients form certain integer ratios the flow is smooth and can be integrated explicitly. In this paper the non-integer case is considered for certain values of the coefficients and with mild analytic restrictions on the initial surface.

We prove that if the focal points at the north and south poles on the initial surface coincide, the flow converges to a round sphere. Otherwise the flow converges to a non-round Hopf sphere. Conditions on the fall-off of the astigmatism at the poles of the initial surface are also given that ensure the convergence of the flow.

The proof uses the spectral theory of singular Sturm-Liouville operators to construct an eigenbasis for an appropriate space in which the evolution is shown to converge.

We determine the locally flat cobordism distance between torus knots with small and large braid index, up to high precision. Here small means 2, 3, 4, or 6. As an application, we derive a surprising fact about torus knots that appear as cross-sections of almost minimal cobordisms between two-stranded torus knots and the trivial knot.

We adapt the abstract concepts of abelianness and centrality of universal algebra to the context of inverse semigroups. We characterize abelian and central congruences in terms of the corresponding congruence pairs. We relate centrality to conjugation in inverse semigroups. Subsequently, we prove that solvable and nilpotent inverse semigroups are groups.

We establish the pointwise equidistribution of self-similar measures in the complex plane. Let $\beta \in \mathbb Z[\mathrm{i}]$, whose complex conjugate $\overline{\beta}$ is not a divisor of β, and $T \subset \mathbb Z[\mathrm{i}]$ a finite subset. Let µ be a non-atomic self-similar measure with respect to the IFS $\big\{f_{t}(z)=\frac{z+t}{\beta}\colon t\in T\big\}$. For $\alpha \in \mathbb Z[\mathrm{i}]$, if α and β are relatively prime, then we show that the sequence $(\alpha^n z)_{n\ge 1}$ is equidistributed modulo one for µ-almost everywhere $z \in \mathbb{C}$. We also discuss normality of radix expansions in Gaussian integer base, and obtain pointwise normality. Our results generalize partially the classical results in the real line to the complex plane.

We consider the nonlocal differential equation

\begin{equation*}-A\left(\int_0^1b(1-s)\big(u(s)\big)^{p(s)}\ ds\right)u''(t)=\lambda f\big(t,u(t)\big)\text{, }t\in(0,1),\end{equation*}

which is a one-dimensional Kirchhoff-like equation with a nonlocal convolution coefficient. The novelty of our work involves allowing a variable growth term in the nonlocal coefficient. By relating the variable growth problem to a constant growth problem, we are able to deduce the existence of at least one positive solution to the differential equation when equipped with boundary data. Our methodology relies on topological fixed point theory. Because our results treat both the convex and concave regimes, together with both the variable growth and constant growth regimes, our results provide a unified framework for one-dimensional Kirchhoff-type problems.

The sharpness of various Hardy-type inequalities is well-understood in the reversible Finsler setting; while infinite reversibility implies the failure of these functional inequalities, cf. Kristály et al. [Trans. Am. Math. Soc., 2020]. However, in the remaining case of irreversible manifolds with finite reversibility, there is no evidence on the sharpness of Hardy-type inequalities. In fact, we are not aware of any particular examples where the sharpness persists. In this paper, we present two such examples involving two celebrated inequalities: the classical/weighted Hardy inequality (assuming non-positive flag curvature) and the McKean-type spectral gap estimate (assuming strong negative flag curvature). In both cases, we provide a family of Finsler metric measure manifolds on which these inequalities are sharp. We also establish some sufficient conditions, which guarantee the sharpness of more involved Hardy-type inequalities on these spaces. Our relevant technical tool is a Finslerian extension of the method of Riccati pairs (for proving Hardy inequalities), which also inspires the main ideas of our constructions.

Asymptotic dimension and Assouad–Nagata dimension are measures of the large-scale shape of a class of graphs. Bonamy, Bousquet, Esperet, Groenland, Liu, Pirot, and Scott [J. Eur. Math. Society] showed that any proper minor-closed class has asymptotic dimension 2, dropping to 1 only if the treewidth is bounded. We improve this result by showing it also holds for the stricter Assouad–Nagata dimension. We also characterise when subdivision-closed classes of graphs have bounded Assouad–Nagata dimension.

In this paper, we prove the existence of minimizers for the sharp stability constant of Caffarelli–Kohn–Nirenberg inequality near the new curve $b^*_{\mathrm{FS}}(a)$ (which lies above the well-known Felli–Schneider curve $b_{\mathrm{FS}}(a)$), extending the work of Wei and Wu [Math. Z., 2024] to a slightly larger region. Moreover, we provide an upper bound for the Caffarelli–Kohn–Nirenberg inequality with an explicit sharp constant, which may have its own interest.