In Cartan’s PhD thesis, there is a formula defining a certain rank 8 vector distribution in dimension 15, whose algebra of authomorphism is the split real form of the simple exceptional complex Lie algebra $\mathfrak {f}_4$. Cartan’s formula is written in the standard Cartesian coordinates in $\mathbb {R}^{15}$. In the present paper, we explain how to find analogous formulae for the flat models of any bracket generating distribution $\mathcal D$ whose symbol algebra $\mathfrak {n}({\mathcal D})$ is constant and 2-step graded, $\mathfrak {n}({\mathcal D})=\mathfrak {n}_{-2}\oplus \mathfrak {n}_{-1}$.

The formula is given in terms of a solution to a certain system of linear algebraic equations determined by two representations $(\rho ,\mathfrak {n}_{-1})$ and $(\tau ,\mathfrak {n}_{-2})$ of a Lie algebra $\mathfrak {n}_{00}$ contained in the $0$th order Tanaka prolongation $\mathfrak {n}_0$ of $\mathfrak {n}({\mathcal D})$.

Numerous examples are provided, with particular emphasis put on the distributions with symmetries being real forms of simple exceptional Lie algebras $\mathfrak {f}_4$ and $\mathfrak {e}_6$.

We study pencils of curves on a germ of complex reduced surface $(S,0)$. These are families of curves parametrized by $ \mathbb{P}^1 $ having 0 as the unique common point. We prove that for $w\in \mathbb{P}^1$, the corresponding curve of the pencil does not have the generic topology if and only if either the corresponding curve of the pulled-back pencil to the normalized surface has a non generic topology or w is a limit value for the function $ f/g $ along the singular locus of $(S,0)$, where f and g are generators of the pencil.

In this paper, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the rigidity of the perimeter inequality under Schwarz symmetrization. The term rigidity refers to the situation in which the equality cases are only obtained by translations of the symmetric set. In particular, we prove that the sufficient conditions for rigidity provided in M. Barchiesi, F. Cagnetti and N. Fusco [Stability of the Steiner symmetrization of convex sets. J. Eur. Math. Soc. 15 (2013), 1245-1278.] are also necessary.

We give a simple method to estimate the number of distinct copies of some classes of spanning subgraphs in hypergraphs with a high minimum degree. In particular, for each $k\geq 2$ and $1\leq \ell \leq k-1$, we show that every $k$-graph on $n$ vertices with minimum codegree at least

\begin{equation*} \left \{\begin {array}{l@{\quad}l} \left (\dfrac {1}{2}+o(1)\right )n & \text { if }(k-\ell )\mid k,\\[5pt] \left (\dfrac {1}{\lceil \frac {k}{k-\ell }\rceil (k-\ell )}+o(1)\right )n & \text { if }(k-\ell )\nmid k, \end {array} \right . \end{equation*}

$\exp\!(n\log n-\Theta (n))$

$\ell$

$(k-\ell )\mid n$

$(k-\ell )\mid k$

$(k-\ell )\nmid k$

$\ell \lt k/2$

For $\lambda \in (0,\,1/2]$ let $K_\lambda \subset \mathbb {R}$ be a self-similar set generated by the iterated function system $\{\lambda x,\, \lambda x+1-\lambda \}$. Given $x\in (0,\,1/2)$, let $\Lambda (x)$ be the set of $\lambda \in (0,\,1/2]$ such that $x\in K_\lambda$. In this paper we show that $\Lambda (x)$ is a topological Cantor set having zero Lebesgue measure and full Hausdorff dimension. Furthermore, we show that for any $y_1,\,\ldots,\, y_p\in (0,\,1/2)$ there exists a full Hausdorff dimensional set of $\lambda \in (0,\,1/2]$ such that $y_1,\,\ldots,\, y_p \in K_\lambda$.

All vital functions of living cells rely on the production of various functional molecules through gene expression. The production periods are burst-like and stochastic due to the discrete nature of biochemical reactions. In certain contexts, the concentrations of RNA or protein require regulation to maintain a fine internal balance within the cell. Here we consider a motif of two types of RNA molecules – mRNA and an antagonistic microRNA – which are encoded by a shared coding sequence and form a feed forward loop (FFL). This control mechanism is shown to be perfectly adapting in the deterministic context. We demonstrate that the adaptation (of the mean value) becomes imperfect if production occurs in random bursts. The FFL nevertheless outperforms the benchmark feedback loop in terms of counterbalancing variations in the signal. Methodologically, we adapt a hybrid stochastic model, which has widely been used to model a single regulatory molecule, to the current case of a motif involving two species; the use of the Laplace transform thereby circumvents the problem of moment closure that arises owing to the mRNA–microRNA interaction. We expect that the approach can be applicable to other systems with nonlinear kinetics.

A linear equation $E$ is said to be sparse if there is $c\gt 0$ so that every subset of $[n]$ of size $n^{1-c}$ contains a solution of $E$ in distinct integers. The problem of characterising the sparse equations, first raised by Ruzsa in the 90s, is one of the most important open problems in additive combinatorics. We say that $E$ in $k$ variables is abundant if every subset of $[n]$ of size $\varepsilon n$ contains at least $\text{poly}(\varepsilon )\cdot n^{k-1}$ solutions of $E$. It is clear that every abundant $E$ is sparse, and Girão, Hurley, Illingworth, and Michel asked if the converse implication also holds. In this note, we show that this is the case for every $E$ in four variables. We further discuss a generalisation of this problem which applies to all linear equations.