The game colouring number gcol(G) of a graph G is the least k such that, if two players take turns choosing the vertices of a graph, then either of them can ensure that every vertex has fewer than k neighbours chosen before it, regardless of what choices the other player makes. Clearly gcol(G) ≤ Δ(G)+1. Sauer and Spencer [20] proved that if two graphs G1 and G2 on n vertices satisfy 2Δ(G1)Δ(G2) < n then they pack, i.e., there is an embedding of G1 into the complement of G2. We improve this by showing that if (gcol(G1)−1)Δ(G2)+(gcol(G2)−1)Δ(G1) < n then G1 and G2 pack. To our knowledge this is the first application of colouring games to a non-game problem.

By applying Wei, Li and Wu's notion (given in ‘Generalizations of the uniformization theorem and Bochner's method in p-harmonic geometry’, Comm. Math. Anal. Conf., vol. 01, 2008, pp. 46–68) and method (given in ‘Sharp estimates on -harmonic functions with applications in biharmonic maps, preprint) and by modifying the proof of a general inequality given by Chen in ‘On isometric minimal immersion from warped products into space forms’ (Proc. Edinb. Math. Soc., vol. 45, 2002, pp. 579–587), we establish some simple relations between geometric estimates (the mean curvature of an isometric immersion of a warped product and sectional curvatures of an ambient m-manifold bounded from above by a non-positive number c) and analytic estimates (the growth of the warping function). We find a dichotomy between constancy and ‘infinity’ of the warping functions on complete non-compact Riemannian manifolds for an appropriate isometric immersion. Several applications of our growth estimates are also presented. In particular, we prove that if f is an Lq function on a complete non-compact Riemannian manifold N1 for some q > 1, then for any Riemannian manifold N2 the warped product N1 ×fN2 does not admit a minimal immersion into any non-positively curved Riemannian manifold. We also show that both the geometric curvature estimates and the analytic function growth estimates in this paper are sharp.

In present paper we define a new kind of quantized enveloping algebra of (2). We denote this algebra by Ur,t, where r, t are two non-negative integers. It is a non-commutative and non-cocommutative Hopf algebra. If r = 0, then the algebra Ur,t is isomorphic to a tensor product of the algebra of infinite cyclic group and the usual quantum enveloping algebra of (2) as Hopf algebras. The representation of this algebra is studied.

A polynomial P ∈ (kE, F) is left ℓ1-factorable if there are a polynomial Q ∈ (kE, ℓ1) and an operator L ∈ (ℓ1, F) such that P = L ○ Q. We characterise the Radon–Nikodým property by the left ℓ1-factorisation of polynomials on L1(μ). We study the left ℓ1-factorisation of nuclear, compact and Pietsch integral polynomials. For Pietsch integral polynomials, we introduce the left integral ℓ1-factorisation property, obtaining a second polynomial characterisation of the Radon–Nikodým property and showing that it plays a role somehow comparable, in this setting, to nuclearity of operators. A characterisation of 1-spaces is also given in terms of the left compact ℓ1-factorisation of polynomials.

A sequence X = {xi}ni=1 over an alphabet containing t symbols is t-universal if every permutation of those symbols is contained as a subsequence. Kleitman and Kwiatkowski showed that the minimum length of a t-universal sequence is (1 − o(1))t2. In this note we address a related Ramsey-type problem. We say that an r-colouring χ of the sequence X is canonical if χ(xi) = χ(xj) whenever xi = xj. We prove that for any fixedt the length of the shortest sequence over an alphabet of size t, which has the property that every r-colouring of its entries contains a t-universal and canonically coloured subsequence, is at most . This is best possible up to a multiplicative constant c independent of r.

Let n be a positive integer. In this paper, we consider the diophantine equationWe prove that this equation has only the positive integer solutions (n, x, y, z) = (1, t, 1, 1), (1, t, 3, 2), (3, 2, 2, 2). Therefore we extend the work done by Leszczyński (Wiadom. Mat., vol. 3, 1959, pp. 37–39) and Makowski (Wiadom. Mat., vol. 9, 1967, pp. 221–224).

A colouring of the vertices of a hypergraph H is called conflict-free if each hyperedge E of H contains a vertex of ‘unique’ colour that does not get repeated in E. The smallest number of colours required for such a colouring is called the conflict-free chromatic number of H, and is denoted by χCF(H). This parameter was first introduced by Even, Lotker, Ron and Smorodinsky (FOCS 2002) in a geometric setting, in connection with frequency assignment problems for cellular networks. Here we analyse this notion for general hypergraphs. It is shown that , for every hypergraph with m edges, and that this bound is tight. Better bounds of the order of m1/t log m are proved under the assumption that the size of every edge of H is at least 2t − 1, for some t ≥ 3. Using Lovász's Local Lemma, the same result holds for hypergraphs in which the size of every edge is at least 2t − 1 and every edge intersects at most m others. We give efficient polynomial-time algorithms to obtain such colourings.

Our machinery can also be applied to the hypergraphs induced by the neighbourhoods of the vertices of a graph. It turns out that in this case we need far fewer colours. For example, it is shown that the vertices of any graph G with maximum degree Δ can be coloured with log2+ε Δ colours, so that the neighbourhood of every vertex contains a point of ‘unique’ colour. We give an efficient deterministic algorithm to find such a colouring, based on a randomized algorithmic version of the Lovász Local Lemma, suggested by Beck, Molloy and Reed. To achieve this, we need to (1) correct a small error in the Molloy–Reed approach, (2) restate and re-prove their result in a deterministic form.

The non-linear Schrödinger systems arise from many important physical branches. In this paper, employing the ‘I-method’, we prove the global-in-time well-posedness for a coupled non-linear Schrödinger system in Hs(n) when n = 2, s > 4/7 and n = 3, s > 5/6, respectively, which extends the results of J. Colliander, M. Keel, G. Staffilani, H. Takaoka and T. Tao (Almost conservation laws and global rough solutions to a nonlinear Schrödinger equation, Math Res. Lett. 9, 2002, 659–682) to the system.

We give two types of generalisation of the well-known Fuglede–Putnam theorem. The paper is ‘spiced up’ with some examples and applications.

This paper studies the Ratliff–Rush closure of ideals in integral domains. By definition, the Ratliff–Rush closure of an ideal I of a domain R is the ideal given by Ĩ := ∪(In+1 :R In), and an ideal I is said to be a Ratliff–Rush ideal if Ĩ = I. We completely characterise integrally closed domains in which every ideal is a Ratliff–Rush ideal, and we give a complete description of the Ratliff–Rush closure of an ideal in a valuation domain.

Let ⊂ 2[n] be a family of subsets of {1, 2,. . ., n}. For any poset H, we say is H-free if does not contain any subposet isomorphic to H. Katona and others have investigated the behaviour of La(n, H), which denotes the maximum size of H-free families ⊂ 2[n]. Here we use a new approach, which is to apply methods from extremal graph theory and probability theory to identify new classes of posets H, for which La(n, H) can be determined asymptotically as n → ∞ for various posets H, including two-end-forks, up-down trees, and cycles C4k on two levels.

Jacobson said a a right ideal would be called bounded if it contained a non-zero ideal, and Faith said a ring would be called strongly right bounded if every non-zero right ideal were bounded. In this paper we introduce a condition that is a generalisation of strongly bounded rings and insertion-of-factors-property (IFP) rings, calling a ring strongly right AB if every non-zero right annihilator is bounded. We first observe the structure of strongly right AB rings by analysing minimal non-commutative strongly right AB rings up to isomorphism. We study properties of strongly right AB rings, finding conditions for strongly right AB rings to be reduced or strongly right bounded. Relating to Ramamurthi's question (i.e. Are right and left SF rings von Neumann regular?), we show that a ring is strongly regular if and only if it is strongly right AB and right SF, from which we may generalise several known results. We also construct more examples of strongly right AB rings and counterexamples to several naturally raised situations in the process.

The sub-Gaussian constant of a graph arises naturally in bounding the moment-generating function of Lipschitz functions on the graph, with a given probability measure on the set of vertices. The closely related spread constant of a graph measures the maximal variance over all Lipschitz functions on the graph. As such they are both useful (as demonstrated in the works of Bobkov, Houdré and Tetali and Alon, Boppana and Spencer) for describing the concentration of measure phenomenon in product graphs. An equivalent formulation of the sub-Gaussian constant using a transportation inequality, introduced by Bobkov and Götze, is investigated here in depth, leading to a new way of bounding the sub-Gaussian constant. A tight concentration result for the discrete torus is given as a concrete application. An infinite family of graphs is also provided here to demonstrate that, typically, the spread and the sub-Gaussian constants differ by an order of magnitude.

Using variational arguments we study the non-existence and multiplicity of non-negative solutions for a class equations of the formwhere Ω is a bounded domain in N, N ≧ 3, f is a sign-changing Carathéodory function on Ω × [0, +∞) and λ is a positive parameter.

We give a very general sufficient condition for a one-parameter family of curves not to have n members with ‘too many’ (i.e., a near-quadratic number of) triple points of intersections. As a special case, a combinatorial distinction between straight lines and unit circles will be shown. (Actually, this is more than just a simple application; originally this motivated our results.)

In this work we determine the expected number of vertices of degree k = k(n) in a graph with n vertices that is drawn uniformly at random from a subcritical graph class. Examples of such classes are outerplanar, series-parallel, cactus and clique graphs. Moreover, we provide exponentially small bounds for the probability that the quantities in question deviate from their expected values.

Let 3 ≤ k < n/2. We prove the analogue of the Erdős–Ko–Rado theorem for the random k-uniform hypergraph Gk(n, p) when k < (n/2)1/3; that is, we show that with probability tending to 1 as n → ∞, the maximum size of an intersecting subfamily of Gk(n, p) is the size of a maximum trivial family. The analogue of the Erdős–Ko–Rado theorem does not hold for all p when k ≫ n1/3.

We give quite precise results for k < n1/2−ϵ. For larger k we show that the random Erdős–Ko–Rado theorem holds as long as p is not too small, and fails to hold for a wide range of smaller values of p. Along the way, we prove that every non-trivial intersecting k-uniform hypergraph can be covered by k2 − k + 1 pairs, which is sharp as evidenced by projective planes. This improves upon a result of Sanders [7]. Several open questions remain.

Let G be a finite Steinberg–Tits triality group 3D4(q), and let H be a maximal unipotent subgroup of G. In this paper we classify irreducible characters χ of G such that χH has a linear constituent with multiplicity one.

We prove that every infinite subset of the dual of a compact, connected group contains an infinite, central, weighted I0 set. This yields a new proof of the fact that the duals of such groups admit infinite central p-Sidon sets for each p > 1. We also establish the existence of infinite, weighted I0 sets in the duals of many compact, abelian hypergroups.