A smooth algebraic curve is birationally equivalent to a nodal plane curve. One of the main problems in the theory of plane curves is to describe the situation of nodes of an irreducible nodal plane curve (see [16, Art. 45], [10], [7, Book IV, Chapter I, §5], [12, p. 584], and [3]).

Let n denote the degree of a nodal curve and d the number of nodes. The case (AZ, d) — (6,9) has been analyzed by Halphen [10]. It follows from Lemma 3.5 and Proposition 3.6 that this is an exceptional case. The case d ≦n(n + 3)/6, d ≦(n — 1)(n — 2)/2, and (n, d) ≠ (6,9) was investigated by Arbarello and Cornalba [3]. We present a simpler proof (Corollary 3.8).

We consider the main case which is particularly important due to its applications to the moduli variety of curves, compare [19, Chapter VIII, Section 4]. Let Vn,d be the variety of irreducible curves of degree n with d nodes and no other singularities such that each curve of Vn,d can be degenerated into n lines in general position (see [17]).

In [16] Freese showed that the word problem for the free modular lattice on 5 generators is unsolvable. His proof makes essential use of Mclntyre's construction of a finitely presented field with unsolvable word problem [30]. (We follow Cohn [7] in calling what is commonly called a division ring a field, and what is commonly called a field a commutative field.) In this paper we will use similar ideas to obtain unsolvability results for varieties of modular ortholattices. The material in this paper is fairly wide ranging, the following are recommended as reference texts.

Let Bn denote the unit ball in Cn with boundary S. We will be concerned with spaces of holomorphic functions on Bn and will use much of the notation and terminology found in W. Rudin's book [16]. Thus, if f is holomorphic in Bn and has homogeneous polynomial expansion

the radial derivative of f is given by

A Lyndon word is a primitive word which is minimum in its conjugation class, for the lexicographical ordering. These words have been introduced by Lyndon in order to find bases of the quotients of the lower central series of a free group or, equivalently, bases of the free Lie algebra [2], [7]. They have also many combinatorial properties, with applications to semigroups, pi-rings and pattern-matching, see [1], [10].

We study here the Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt basis constructed on the Lyndon basis (PBWL basis). We give an algorithm to write each word in this basis: it reads the word from right to left, and the first encountered inversion is either bracketted, or straightened, and this process is iterated: the point is to show that each bracketting is a standard one: this we show by introducing a loop invariant (property (S)) of the algorithm. This algorithm has some analogy with the collecting process of P. Hall [5], but was never described for the Lyndon basis, as far we know.

On se propose d'étendre un résultat de Rorhlich [5] concernant les moyennes galoisiennes des valeurs en s = 1 des fonctions L associées à une forme modulaire de poids 2, tordue par certains caractères de Dirichlet. On considérera une représentation automorphe parabolique π de GL(n), n≦2, sur un corps de nombres K, et l'on s'intéressera aux valeurs des fonctions L(S,πχ) et de leurs dérivées L(m)(s, πχ), m ≧1, où χ parcourt certains caractères de Hecke de K, d'ordre fini, et où s appartient à la bande a < Re s < 1 — a, où a mesure la déviation de n par rapport à la conjecture de Petersson généralisée.

Let G be the group of R-rational points on a reductive, Zariskiconnected, algebraic group defined over R, let K be a maximal compact subgroup, and let g be the corresponding complexified Lie algebra of G. It is a curious fault of the current representation theory of G that for technical reasons one very rarely works with representations of G itself, but rather with a certain category of simultaneous representations of g and K. The reasons for this are, roughly speaking, that for a given (g,K)-module of finite length there are clearly any number of overlying rather distinct continuous G-representations, whose ‘essence’ is captured by the (g, K)-module alone. At any rate, this paper will propose a remedy for this inconvenience, and define a category of smooth representations of G of finite length which will, I hope, turn out to be as easy to work with as representations of (g, K) and occasionally much more convenient. It is to be considered a report on what has been to a great extent joint work with Nolan Wallach, and is essentially a sequel to [38].

There are two subjects in the literature on semigroups which have recently attracted great attention: the class of completely regular semigroups (that is semigroups which are unions of their subgroups) and congruences on regular semigroups. In completely regular semigroups, the most popular subject is that of varieties, even though other aspects of them, such as structure, congruences, amalgamation, received their due attention. On the other hand, the treatment of congruences on regular semigroups became especially interesting with the emergence of the kernel-trace approach. This method proved quite successful in the case of inverse semigroups, see [6], whereas the analysis for the general regular semigroups encounters considerable difficulties, see [4].

A real AF C*-algebra is the norm closure of a direct limit of finite dimensional real C*-algebras (with real *-algebra maps). When we use the unadorned “AF C*-algebra”, we mean the usual complex version.

Let R be a simple AF C*-algebra such that K0(R) is free of rank 2 or 3. The problem is to find (up to Morita equivalence) all real AF C*-algebras A such that AꕕC≅R. This is closely related to the problem of finding all involutions on R [3], [10].

For example, when the rank is 2, generically there are 8 such classes. The exceptional cases arise when the ratio of the two generators in K0(R) is a quadratic (algebraic) number, and here there are 4, 5, or 8 Morita equivalence classes, the number depending largely on the behaviour of the prime 2 in the relevant algebraic number field.

Let D stand for a division ring (or skewfield), let G stand for an ordered abelian group with positive infinity adjoined, and let ω: D → G. We call to a valuation of D with value group G, if ω is an onto mapping from D to G such that

(i) ω(x) = ∞ if and only if x = 0,

(ii) ω(x1 + x2) = min(ω (x1), ω (x2)), and

(iii) ω (x1 x2) = ω (x1) + ω (x2).

Associated to the valuation ω are its valuation ring

R = ﹛x ∈ Dω(x) ≧ 0﹜,

its maximal ideal

J = ﹛x ∈ |ω(x) > 0﹜, and its residue division ring D = R/J.The invertible elements of the ring R are called valuation units. Clearly R and, hence, J are preserved under conjugation so that 1 + J is also preserved under conjugation. The latter is thus a normal subgroup of the multiplicative group Dm of D and hence, the quotient group D˙/1 + J makes sense (the residue group of ω). It enlarges in a natural way the residue division ring D (0 excluded, and addition “forgotten“).

If VK is a finite dimensional vector space over a field K and L is a lattice of subspaces of V, then, following Halmos [11], alg L is defined to be (the K-algebra of) all K-endomorphisms of V which leave every subspace in L invariant. If R ⊆ end(VK) is any subalgebra we define lat R to be (the sublattice of) all subspaces of VK which are invariant under every transformation in R. Then R ⊆ alg [lat R] and R is called a reflexive algebra when this is equality. Every finite dimensional algebra is isomorphic to a reflexive one ([4]) and these reflexive algebras have been studied by Azoff [1], Barker and Conklin [3] and Habibi and Gustafson [9] among others.

Let L be a line bundle on a connected, smooth, algebraic, projective surface X. In this paper we have studied the following questions:

1) Under which conditions is L spanned by global sections? I.e., if ɸL : X →PN denotes the map associated to the space Г(L) of the sections of L, when is ɸL a morphism?

2) Under which conditions is L very ample? I.e., when does ɸL give an embedding?

These problems arise naturally in the study, and in particular in the classification, of algebraic surfaces (see [8], [3], [5]).

We begin by briefly summarizing the contents of this paper; details, and some definitions of terminology, appear in subsequent sections. All hypothesized topological spaces are assumed to be Hausdorff. The reader is referred to [13] for undefined notation and terminology.

A perfect irreducible continuous surjection is called a covering map. Let X be a space, let f and g be two such functions with domain X, and let Rf denote the range of (i.e., the set f [Z]). Then f and g are said to be equivalent (denoted f≈ g) if there is a homeomorphism h : Rf —” Rg such that h of = g. We identify equivalent covering maps with domain X, and then denote by IP(X) the set of such covering maps.

Let X’ → X be a finite morphism between two complex connected projective k-folds. Since Π is surjective, the Betti numbers of X and X’ are related as follows

(0.1) bi(X) ≦ bi(X’).

In particular, if Π is a cyclic covering and the branch locus A is an ample divisor, (0.1) is in fact an equality for i ≦ k — 1 (see 1.10 or, more generally, [5] ). It seems natural to look for such coverings satisfying

(0.2) bk(X)= bk(X’).

Let us see what happens for k = 2. In this case (0.2) can be rephrased as

(0.3) 2x(Ox) + h1,1 (X) + g(Δ) = 2,

The main result of this paper is the following:

Theorem A. Let H and N be finite groups with coprime orders andsuppose that H acts nontrivially on N via automorphisms. Assume that Hfixes every nonlinear irreducible character of N. Then the derived subgroup ofN is nilpotent and so N is solvable of nilpotent length≦ 2.

Why might one be interested in a situation like this? There has been considerable interest in the question of what one can deduce about a group Gfrom a knowledge of the set

cd(G) = ﹛x(l)lx ∈ Irr(G) ﹜

of irreducible character degrees of G.Recently, attention has been focused on the prime divisors of the elements of cd(G). For instance, in [9], O. Manz and R. Staszewski consider π-separable groups (for some set π of primes) with the property that every element of cd(G) is either a 77-number or a π'-number.

Classes of functions, meromorphic and univalent in

Δ = {z:|z|< 1}

with simple pole at z = p, 0 < p < 1, have been discussed in several places in the literature ([3], [6], [8], [10], [11], and [12]). The purpose of this paper is to discuss a class of Close-to-Convex functions with pole at p analogous to the class of Close-to-Convex functions with pole at zero studied by Libera and Robertson [9].

Let V(x) ≧ 0 be given on Rn and define

This constant has played a role in many investigation. For n — 3 it was shown in Courant-Hilbert [7] p. 446 that In [10], Kato estimates C2,2,2,ƛ(V) in terms of the L2 +L∞ norm of V in R3. Stummel [22] showed that C2,2,2,1(V) is bounded by in Rn, n > 2, provided α < 4. Browder [6] and Balslev [3] showed that Cs,q,q,ƛ(V) is bounded by

Marshall's Spaces of Orderings are an abstract setting for the reduced theory of quadratic forms and Witt rings. A Space of Orderings consists of an abelian group of exponent 2 and a subset of the character group which satisfies certain axioms. The axioms are modeled on the case where the group is an ordered field modulo the sums of squares of the field and the subset of the character group is the set of orders on the field. There are other examples, arising from ordered semi-local rings [4, p. 321], ordered skew fields [2, p. 92], and planar ternary rings [3]. In [4], Marshall showed that a Space of Orderings in which the group is finite arises from an ordered field. In further papers Marshall used these abstract techniques to provide new, more elegant proofs of results known for ordered fields, and to prove theorems previously unknown in the field setting.

In topology, the representable K-theory of a topological space X is defined by the formulas RK0(X) = [X,Z x BU] and RKl(X) = [X, U], where square brackets denote sets of homotopy classes of continuous maps, is the infinite unitary group, and BU is a classifying space for U. (Note that ZxBU is homotopy equivalent to the space of Fredholm operators on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space.) These sets of homotopy classes are made into abelian groups by using the H-group structures on Z x BU and U. In this paper, we give analogous formulas for the representable K-theory for α-C*-algebras defined in [20].

Dans une algèbre de Banach, le socle joue le même rôle que l'ensemble des opérateurs de rang fini dans le cas de l'algèbre des opérateurs linéaires continus sur un espace de Banach. Aussi est-il intéressant de savoir dans quels cas le socle n'est pas réduit à zéro.

En 1968, B. A. Barnes ([6], Théorème 2.1 et Théorème 2.2) a pu démontrer le théorème suivant:

Théorème 1. Soit A une algèbre de Banach complexe sans radical. Supposonsque le spectre de chaque élément de A est dénombrable. Alors le socle de A estnon nul.

There is the nice formula which links the Alexander polynomial of (m, k)-cable of a link with the Alexander polynomial of the link [5] [36] [38]. H. Morton and H. Short investigated whether a similar formula holds for the Jones-Conway (Homfly) polynomial and they found that it is very unlikely. Morton and Short made many calculations of the Jones-Conway polynomial of (2, q)-cables along knots (2 was chosen because of limited possibility of computers) and they get very interesting experimental material [24], [25]. In particular they found that using their method they were able to distinguish some Birman [4] and Lozano-Morton [22] examples (all which they tried) and the 942 knot (in the Rolfsen [37] notation) from its mirror image. On the other hand they were unable to distinguish the Conway knot and the Kinoshita-Terasaka knot.