The main aim of this paper is to show that a cyclic cover of ℙn branched along a very general divisor of degree d is not stably rational, provided that n ≥ 3 and d ≥ n + 1. This generalizes the result of Colliot-Thélène and Pirutka. Generalizations for cyclic covers over complete intersections and applications to suitable Fano manifolds are also discussed.

We prove that if p > 1, $w\in A_p^ +$, b ∈ CMO and $C_b^ + $ is the commutator with symbol b of a Calderón–Zygmund convolution singular integral with kernel supported on (−∞, 0), then $C_b^ + $ is compact from Lp(w) into itself.

Excitation of surface-plasmon resonances of closely spaced nanometallic structures is a key technique used in nanoplasmonics to control light on subwavelength scales and generate highly confined electric-field hotspots. In this paper, we develop asymptotic approximations in the near-contact limit for the entire set of surface-plasmon modes associated with the prototypical sphere dimer geometry. Starting from the quasi-static plasmonic eigenvalue problem, we employ the method of matched asymptotic expansions between a gap region, where the boundaries are approximately paraboloidal, pole regions within the spheres and close to the gap, and a particle-scale region where the spheres appear to touch at leading order. For those modes that are strongly localised to the gap, relating the gap and pole regions gives a set of effective eigenvalue problems formulated over a half space representing one of the poles. We solve these problems using integral transforms, finding asymptotic approximations, singular in the dimensionless gap width, for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. In the special case of modes that are both axisymmetric and odd about the plane bisecting the gap, where matching with the outer region introduces a logarithmic dependence upon the dimensionless gap width, our analysis follows Schnitzer [Singular perturbations approach to localized surface-plasmon resonance: nearly touching metal nanospheres. Phys. Rev. B92(23), 235428 (2015)]. We also analyse the so-called anomalous family of even modes, characterised by field distributions excluded from the gap. We demonstrate excellent agreement between our asymptotic formulae and exact calculations.

We consider a problem introduced by Mossel and Ross (‘Shotgun assembly of labeled graphs’, arXiv:1504.07682). Suppose a random n × n jigsaw puzzle is constructed by independently and uniformly choosing the shape of each ‘jig’ from q possibilities. We are given the shuffled pieces. Then, depending on q, what is the probability that we can reassemble the puzzle uniquely? We say that two solutions of a puzzle are similar if they only differ by a global rotation of the puzzle, permutation of duplicate pieces, and rotation of rotationally symmetric pieces. In this paper, we show that, with high probability, such a puzzle has at least two non-similar solutions when 2 ⩽ q ⩽ 2e−1/2n, all solutions are similar when q ⩾ (2+ϵ)n, and the solution is unique when q = ω(n).

We study a rich family of robustly non-hyperbolic transitive diffeomorphisms and we show that each ergodic measure is approached by hyperbolic sets in weak$\ast$-topology and in entropy. For hyperbolic ergodic measures, it is a classical result of A. Katok. The novelty here is to deal with non-hyperbolic ergodic measures. As a consequence, we obtain the continuity of topological entropy.

In Albano, Bove and Mughetti [J. Funct. Anal. 274(10) (2018), 2725–2753]; Bove and Mughetti [Anal. PDE 10(7) (2017), 1613–1635] it was shown that Treves conjecture for the real analytic hypoellipticity of sums of squares operators does not hold. Models were proposed where the critical points causing a non-analytic regularity might be interpreted as strata. We stress that up to now there is no notion of stratum which could replace the original Treves stratum. In the proposed models such ‘strata’ were non-symplectic analytic submanifolds of the characteristic variety. In this note we modify one of those models in such a way that the critical points are a symplectic submanifold of the characteristic variety while still not being a Treves stratum. We show that the operator is analytic hypoelliptic.

The main purpose of this paper is to study the existence of travelling waves with a critical speed for an influenza model with treatment. By using some analysis techniques that involve super-critical speeds and an approximation method, the existence of travelling waves with the critical speed is proved.

We answer a challenge posed in Booker [$L$-functions as distributions. Math. Ann. 363(1–2) (2015), 423–454, §1.3] by proving a version of Weil’s converse theorem [Über die Bestimmung Dirichletscher Reihen durch Funktionalgleichungen, Math. Ann. 168 (1967), 149–156] that assumes a functional equation for character twists but allows their root numbers to vary arbitrarily.

We generalize a method of Conrey and Ghosh [Simple zeros of the Ramanujan $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}$-Dirichlet series. Invent. Math. 94(2) (1988), 403–419] to prove quantitative estimates for simple zeros of modular form $L$-functions of arbitrary conductor.

We aim to re-prove a theorem conjectured by Gauss, namely there are exactly nine imaginary quadratic fields $\mathbf{Q}(\sqrt{-q})$ with class number one: specifically the list is $q\in \{3,4,7,8,11,19,43,67,163\}$. Our method initially follows an idea of Goldfeld, but rather than using an elliptic curve of analytic rank three (provided by the Gross–Zagier theorem), we instead use an elliptic curve of analytic rank two, where this $L$-function vanishing can be proven by modular symbols rather than a difficult height formula. It is already clear that Goldfeld’s work yields a constant lower bound for the class number by such means, but unfortunately it seems that even for the best choice of elliptic curve this numerical constant is less than 1, unless one can show non-trivial cancellation in the $L$-function coefficients restricted to values taken by quadratic forms. To show the latter, we consider a specific analytic rank-two elliptic curve with complex multiplication by $\mathbf{Q}(\sqrt{-1})$, and then by adapting a result of Hooley’s regarding equi-distrbution of roots of a quadratic polynomial to varying moduli, are able to show that there is indeed sufficient coefficient cancellation, giving an effective resolution of class number one. As we use various aspects of the principal form, our proof seems inapplicable for larger class numbers. We also comment on the possibility of using spectral techniques (following Templier and Tsimerman) to show the desired coefficient cancellation, though postpone the details of this to elsewhere.

We investigate arithmetic, geometric and combinatorial properties of symmetric edge polytopes. We give a complete combinatorial description of their facets. By combining Gröbner basis techniques, half-open decompositions and methods for interlacing polynomials we provide an explicit formula for the $h^{\ast }$-polynomial in case of complete bipartite graphs. In particular, we show that the $h^{\ast }$-polynomial is $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$-positive and real-rooted. This proves Gal’s conjecture for arbitrary flag unimodular triangulations in this case, and, beyond that, we prove a strengthening due to Nevo and Petersen [On $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$-vectors satisfying the Kruskal–Katona inequalities. Discrete Comput. Geom.45(3) (2011), 503–521].

We establish Diophantine inequalities for the fractional parts of generalized polynomials, in particular for sequences $\unicode[STIX]{x1D708}(n)=\lfloor n^{c}\rfloor +n^{k}$ with $c>1$ a non-integral real number and $k\in \mathbb{N}$, as well as for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D708}(p)$ where $p$ runs through all prime numbers. This is related to classical work of Heilbronn and to recent results of Bergelson et al.

In this paper we study the number of rational points on curves in an ensemble of abelian covers of the projective line: let $\ell$ be a prime, $q$ a prime power and consider the ensemble ${\mathcal{H}}_{g,\ell }$ of $\ell$-cyclic covers of $\mathbb{P}_{\mathbb{F}_{q}}^{1}$ of genus $g$. We assume that $q\not \equiv 0,1~\text{mod}~\ell$. If $2g+2\ell -2\not \equiv 0~\text{mod}~(\ell -1)\operatorname{ord}_{\ell }(q)$, then ${\mathcal{H}}_{g,\ell }$ is empty. Otherwise, the number of rational points on a random curve in ${\mathcal{H}}_{g,\ell }$ distributes as $\sum _{i=1}^{q+1}X_{i}$ as $g\rightarrow \infty$, where $X_{1},\ldots ,X_{q+1}$ are independent and identically distributed random variables taking the values $0$ and $\ell$ with probabilities $(\ell -1)/\ell$ and $1/\ell$, respectively. The novelty of our result is that it works in the absence of a primitive $\ell$th root of unity, the presence of which was crucial in previous studies.

We generalize the work of Sarnak and Tsimerman to twisted sums of Kloosterman sums and thus give evidence towards the twisted Linnik–Selberg conjecture.

Motivated by the Erdős–Szekeres convex polytope conjecture in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$, we initiate the study of the following induced Ramsey problem for hypergraphs. Given integers $n>k\geqslant 5$, what is the minimum integer $g_{k}(n)$ such that any$k$-uniform hypergraph on $g_{k}(n)$ vertices with the property that any set of $k+1$ vertices induces 0, 2, or 4 edges, contains an independent set of size $n$. Our main result shows that $g_{k}(n)>2^{cn^{k-4}}$, where $c=c(k)$.

In this paper various analytic techniques are combined in order to study the average of a product of a Hecke $L$-function and a symmetric square $L$-function at the central point in the weight aspect. The evaluation of the second main term relies on the theory of Maaß forms of half-integral weight and the Rankin–Selberg method. The error terms are bounded using the Liouville–Green approximation.

We prove that for every sufficiently large integer $n$, the polynomial $1+x+x^{2}/11+x^{3}/111+\cdots +x^{n}/111\ldots 1$ is irreducible over the rationals, where the coefficient of $x^{k}$ for $1\leqslant k\leqslant n$ is the reciprocal of the decimal number consisting of $k$ digits which are each $1$. Similar results following from the same techniques are discussed.

We provide a unified approach that encompasses some integral formulas for functions of the visual angle of a compact convex set due to Crofton, Hurwitz and Masotti. The basic tool is an integral formula that also allows us to integrate new functions of the visual angle. Also, we establish some upper and lower bounds for the considered integrals, generalizing, in particular, those obtained by Santaló for Masotti’s integral.

We discuss 1-factorizations of complete graphs that “match” a given Hadamard matrix. We prove the existence of these factorizations for two families of Hadamard matrices: Walsh matrices and certain Paley matrices.

We consider sequences of the form $(a_{n}\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})_{n}$ mod 1, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\in [0,1]$ and where $(a_{n})_{n}$ is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. If the asymptotic distribution of the pair correlations of this sequence follows the Poissonian model for almost all $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ in the sense of Lebesgue measure, we say that $(a_{n})_{n}$ has the metric pair correlation property. Recent research has revealed a connection between the metric theory of pair correlations of such sequences, and the additive energy of truncations of $(a_{n})_{n}$. Bloom, Chow, Gafni and Walker speculated that there might be a convergence/divergence criterion which fully characterizes the metric pair correlation property in terms of the additive energy, similar to Khintchine’s criterion in the metric theory of Diophantine approximation. In the present paper we give a negative answer to such speculations, by showing that such a criterion does not exist. To this end, we construct a sequence $(a_{n})_{n}$ having large additive energy which, however, maintains the metric pair correlation property.