Let G be a finite transitive permutation group on $\Omega $. The G-invariant partitions form a sublattice of the lattice of all partitions of $\Omega $, having the further property that all its elements are uniform (that is, have all parts of the same size). If, in addition, all the equivalence relations defining the partitions commute, then the relations form an orthogonal block structure, a concept from statistics; in this case the lattice is modular. If it is distributive, then we have a poset block structure, whose automorphism group is a generalised wreath product. We examine permutation groups with these properties, which we call the OB property and PB property respectively, and in particular investigate when direct and wreath products of groups with these properties also have these properties.

A famous theorem on permutation groups asserts that a transitive imprimitive group G is embeddable in the wreath product of two factors obtained from the group (the group induced on a block by its setwise stabiliser, and the group induced on the set of blocks by G). We extend this theorem to groups with the PB property, embedding them into generalised wreath products. We show that the map from posets to generalised wreath products preserves intersections and inclusions.

We have included background and historical material on these concepts.

We study the hypersimplex under the action of the symmetric group $S_n$ by coordinate permutation. We prove that its equivariant volume, given by the evaluation of its equivariant $H^*$-series at $1$, is the permutation character of decorated ordered set partitions under the natural action of $S_n$. This verifies a conjecture of Stapledon for the hypersimplex. To prove this result, we give a formula for the coefficients of the $H^*$-polynomial. Additionally, for the $(2,n)$-hypersimplex, we use this formula to show that trivial character need not appear as a direct summand of a coefficient of the $H^*$-polynomial, which gives a family of counterexamples to a different conjecture of Stapledon.

A system of linear equations in $\mathbb {F}_p^n$ is Sidorenko if any subset of $\mathbb {F}_p^n$ contains at least as many solutions to the system as a random set of the same density, asymptotically as $n\to \infty $. A system of linear equations is common if any two-colouring of $\mathbb {F}_p^n$ yields at least as many monochromatic solutions to the system of equations as a random 2-colouring, asymptotically as $n\to \infty $. Both classification problems remain wide open despite recent attention.

We show that a certain generic family of systems of two linear equations is not Sidorenko. In fact, we show that systems in this family are not locally Sidorenko, and that systems in this family which do not contain additive tuples are not weakly locally Sidorenko. This endeavour answers a conjecture and question of Kamčev–Liebenau–Morrison. Insofar as methods, we observe that the true complexity of a linear system is not maintained under Fourier inversion; our main novelty is the use of higher-order methods in the frequency space of systems which have complexity one. We also give a shorter proof of the recent result of Kamčev–Liebenau–Morrison and independently Versteegen that any linear system containing a four-term arithmetic progression is uncommon.

We study an abstract group of reversible Turing machines. In our model, each machine is interpreted as a homeomorphism over a space which represents a tape filled with symbols and a head carrying a state. These homeomorphisms can only modify the tape at a bounded distance around the head, change the state, and move the head in a bounded way. We study three natural subgroups arising in this model: the group of finite-state automata, which generalizes the topological full groups studied in topological dynamics and the theory of orbit-equivalence; the group of oblivious Turing machines whose movement is independent of tape contents, which generalizes lamplighter groups and has connections to the study of universal reversible logical gates, and the group of elementary Turing machines, which are the machines which are obtained by composing finite-state automata and oblivious Turing machines.

We show that both the group of oblivious Turing machines and that of elementary Turing machines are finitely generated, while the group of finite-state automata and the group of reversible Turing machines are not. We show that the group of elementary Turing machines has undecidable torsion problem. From this, we also obtain that the group of cellular automata (more generally, the automorphism group of any uncountable one-dimensional sofic subshift) contains a finitely generated subgroup with undecidable torsion problem. We also show that the torsion problem is undecidable for the topological full group of a full $\mathbb {Z}^d$-shift on a nontrivial alphabet if and only if $d \geq 2$.

Using the $\infty $-categorical enhancement of mixed Hodge modules constructed by the author in a previous paper, we explain how mixed Hodge modules canonically extend to algebraic stacks, together with all the six operations and weights. We also prove that Drew’s approach to motivic Hodge modules gives an $\infty $-category that embeds fully faithfully in mixed Hodge modules, and we identify the image as mixed Hodge modules of geometric origin.

We study the local theta correspondence for dual pairs of the form $\mathrm {Aut}(C)\times F_{4}$ over a p-adic field, where C is a composition algebra of dimension $2$ or $4$, by restricting the minimal representation of a group of type E. We investigate this restriction through the computation of maximal parabolic Jacquet modules and the Fourier–Jacobi functor.

As a consequence of our results, we prove a multiplicity one result for the $\mathrm {Spin}(9)$-invariant linear functionals of irreducible representations of $F_{4}$ and classify the $\mathrm {Spin}(9)$-distinguished representations.

In p-adic Hodge theory and the p-adic Langlands program, Banach spaces with $\mathbf {Q}_p$-coefficients and p-adic Lie group actions are central. Studying the subrepresentation of G-locally analytic vectors, $W^{\mathrm {la}}$, is useful because $W^{\mathrm {la}}$ can be studied via the Lie algebra $\mathrm {Lie}(G)$, which simplifies the action of G. Additionally, $W^{\mathrm {la}}$ often behaves as a decompletion of W, making it closer to an algebraic or geometric object.

This article introduces a notion of locally analytic vectors for W in a mixed characteristic setting, specifically for $\mathbf {Z}_p$-Tate algebras. This generalization encompasses the classical definition and also specializes to super-Hölder vectors in characteristic p. Using binomial expansions instead of Taylor series, this new definition bridges locally analytic vectors in characteristic $0$ and characteristic p.

Our main theorem shows that under certain conditions, the map $W \mapsto W^{\mathrm {la}}$ acts as a descent, and the derived locally analytic vectors $\mathrm {R}_{\mathrm {la}}^i(W)$ vanish for $i \geq 1$. This result extends Theorem C of [Por24], providing new tools for propagating information about locally analytic vectors from characteristic $0$ to characteristic p.

We provide three applications: a new proof of Berger-Rozensztajn’s main result using characteristic $0$ methods, the introduction of an integral multivariable ring $\widetilde {\mathbf {A}}_{\mathrm {LT}}^{\dagger ,\mathrm {la}}$ in the Lubin-Tate setting, and a novel interpretation of the classical Cohen ring $\mathbf {{A}}_{\mathbf {Q}_p}$ from the theory of $(\varphi ,\Gamma )$-modules in terms of locally analytic vectors.

We study new properties of generalised Harish-Chandra theory aiming at explaining the inductive local-global conditions for finite groups of Lie type in nondefining characteristic. In particular, we consider a parametrisation of generalised Harish-Chandra series that is compatible with Clifford theory and with the action of automorphisms on irreducible characters and we reduce it to the verification of certain requirements on stabilisers and extendibility of characters. This parametrisation is used by the author in a separate paper to obtain new conjectures for finite reductive groups that can be seen as geometric realisations of the local-global counting conjectures and their inductive conditions. As a by-product, we extend the parametrisation of generalised Harish-Chandra series given by Broué–Malle–Michel to the nonunipotent case by assuming maximal extendibility.

We define a new class of plane billiards – the “pensive billiard” – in which the billiard ball travels along the boundary for some distance depending on the incidence angle before reflecting, while preserving the billiard rule of equality of the angles of incidence and reflection. This generalizes so-called “puck billiards” proposed by M. Bialy, as well as a “vortex billiard,” that is, the motion of a point vortex dipole in two-dimensional hydrodynamics on domains with boundary. We prove the variational origin and invariance of a symplectic structure for pensive billiards, as well as study their properties including conditions for a twist map, the existence of periodic orbits, etc. We also demonstrate the appearance of both the golden and silver ratios in the corresponding hydrodynamical vortex setting. Finally, we introduce and describe basic properties of pensive outer billiards.

We build on a 1990 paper of Bukovský and Copláková-Hartová. First, we remove the hypothesis of ${\mathsf {CH}}$ from one of their minimality results. Then, using a measurable cardinal, we show that there is a $|\aleph _2^V|=\aleph _1$-minimal extension that is not a $|\aleph _3^V|=\aleph _1$-extension, answering the first of their questions.

In 1967, Klarner proposed a problem concerning the existence of reflecting n-queens configurations. The problem considers the feasibility of placing n mutually nonattacking queens on the reflecting chessboard, an $n\times n$ chessboard with a $1\times n$ “reflecting strip” of squares added along one side of the board. A queen placed on the reflecting chessboard can attack the squares in the same row, column, and diagonal, with the additional feature that its diagonal path can be reflected via the reflecting strip. Klarner noted the equivalence of this problem to a number theory problem proposed by Slater, which asks: for which n is it possible to pair up the integers 1 through n with the integers $n+1$ through $2n$ such that no two of the sums or differences of the n pairs of integers are the same. We prove the existence of reflecting n-queens configurations for all sufficiently large n, thereby resolving both Slater’s and Klarner’s questions for all but a finite number of integers.

Vertically symmetric alternating sign matrices (VSASMs) of order $2n+1$ are known to be equinumerous with lozenge tilings of a hexagon with side lengths $2n+2,2n,2n+2,2n,2n+2,2n$ and a central triangular hole of size $2$ that exhibit a cyclical as well as a vertical symmetry, but finding an explicit bijection proving this belongs to the most difficult problems in bijective combinatorics. Towards constructing such a bijection, we generalize the result by introducing certain natural extensions for both objects along with $n+3$ parameters and show that the multivariate generating functions with respect to these parameters coincide. This is a significant step from a constant number of equidistributed statistics to a linear number of statistics in n. The equinumeracy of VSASMs and the lozenge tilings is then an easy consequence of this result, which is obtained by specializing the generating functions to signed enumerations for both types of objects and then applying certain sign-reversing involutions. Another main result concerns the expansion of the multivariate generating function into symplectic characters as a sum over totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions, which is in perfect analogy to the situation for ordinary ASMs where the Schur expansion can be written as a sum over totally symmetric plane partitions. This is exciting as it is reminiscent of the well-known Cauchy identity, and the Cauchy identity does have a bijective proof using the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence, and thus the result raises the question of whether there is a variation of the Robinson–Schensted–Knuth correspondence that does eventually lead to a bijective proof.

We prove new weighted decoupling estimates. As an application, we give an improved sufficient condition for almost everywhere convergence of the Bochner-Riesz means of arbitrary $L^p$ functions for $1<p<2$ in dimensions 2 and 3.

Connections between heaps of modules and (affine) modules over rings are explored. This leads to explicit, often constructive, descriptions of some categorical constructions and properties that are implicit in universal algebra and algebraic theories. In particular, it is shown that the category of groups with a compatible action of a truss T (also called pointed T-modules) is isomorphic to the category of modules over the ring $\mathrm {R}(T)$ universally associated to the truss. This is widely used in the explicit description of free objects. Next, it is proven that the category of heaps of modules over T is isomorphic to the category of affine modules over $\mathrm {R}(T)$ and, in order to make the picture complete, that (in the unital case) these are in turn equivalent to a specific subcategory of the slice category of pointed T-modules over $\mathrm {R}(T)$. These correspondences and properties are then used to describe explicitly various (co)limits and to compare short exact sequences in the Barr-exact category of heaps of T-modules with short exact sequences as defined previously.

We provide a second-order energy expansion for a gas of N bosonic particles with three-body interactions in the Gross-Pitaevskii regime. We especially confirm a conjecture by Nam, Ricaud, and Triay in [25], where they predict the subleading term in the asymptotic expansion of the ground state energy to be of the order $\sqrt {N}$. In addition, we show that low-energy states satisfy Bose-Einstein condensation with a rate of the order $N^{-\frac {3}{4}}$.

Tao (2018) showed that in order to prove the Lonely Runner Conjecture (LRC) up to $n+1$ runners it suffices to consider positive integer velocities in the order of $n^{O(n^2)}$. Using the zonotopal reinterpretation of the conjecture due to the first and third authors (2017) we here drastically improve this result, showing that velocities up to $\binom {n+1}{2}^{n-1} \le n^{2n}$ are enough.

We prove the same finite-checking result, with the same bound, for the more general shifted Lonely Runner Conjecture (sLRC), except in this case our result depends on the solution of a question, that we dub the Lonely Vector Problem (LVP), about sumsets of n rational vectors in dimension two. We also prove the same finite-checking bound for a further generalization of sLRC that concerns cosimple zonotopes with n generators, a class of lattice zonotopes that we introduce.

In the last sections we look at dimensions two and three. In dimension two we prove our generalized version of sLRC (hence we reprove the sLRC for four runners), and in dimension three we show that to prove sLRC for five runners it suffices to look at velocities adding up to $195$.

The smallest eigenvalue of a graph is the smallest eigenvalue of its adjacency matrix. We show that the family of graphs with smallest eigenvalue at least $-\lambda $ can be defined by a finite set of forbidden induced subgraphs if and only if $\lambda < \lambda ^*$, where $\lambda ^* = \rho ^{1/2} + \rho ^{-1/2} \approx 2.01980$, and $\rho $ is the unique real root of $x^3 = x + 1$. This resolves a question raised by Bussemaker and Neumaier. As a byproduct, we find all the limit points of smallest eigenvalues of graphs, supplementing Hoffman’s work on those limit points in $[-2, \infty )$.

We also prove that the same conclusion about forbidden subgraph characterization holds for signed graphs. Our impetus for the study of signed graphs is to determine the maximum cardinality of a spherical two-distance set with two fixed angles (one acute and one obtuse) in high dimensions. Denote by $N_{\alpha , \beta }(d)$ the maximum number of unit vectors in $\mathbb {R}^d$ where all pairwise inner products lie in $\{\alpha , \beta \}$ with $-1 \le \beta < 0 \le \alpha < 1$. Very recently Jiang, Tidor, Yao, Zhang, and Zhao determined the limit of $N_{\alpha , \beta }(d)/d$ as $d\to \infty $ when $\alpha + 2\beta < 0$ or $(1-\alpha )/(\alpha -\beta ) \in \{1,\sqrt 2,\sqrt 3\}$, and they proposed a conjecture on the limit in terms of eigenvalue multiplicities of signed graphs. We establish their conjecture whenever $(1-\alpha )/(\alpha - \beta ) < \lambda ^*$.

Schubert Vanishing is a problem of deciding whether Schubert coefficients are zero. Until this work it was open whether this problem is in the polynomial hierarchy ${{\mathsf {PH}}}$. We prove this problem is in ${{\mathsf {AM}}} \cap {{\mathsf {coAM}}}$ assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis ($\mathrm{GRH}$), that is, relatively low in ${{\mathsf {PH}}}$. Our approach uses Purbhoo’s criterion [57] to construct explicit polynomial systems for the problem. The result follows from a reduction to Parametric Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz, recently analyzed in [2]. We extend our results to all classical types.

We gather evidence on a new local-global conjecture of Moretó and Rizo on values of irreducible characters of finite groups. For this we study subnormalisers and picky elements in finite groups of Lie type and determine them in many cases, for unipotent elements as well as for semisimple elements of prime power order. We also discuss subnormalisers of unipotent and semisimple elements in connected as well as in disconnected reductive linear algebraic groups.

Rigid meromorphic cocycles are defined in the setting of orthogonal groups of arbitrary real signature and constructed in some instances via a p-adic analogue of Borcherds’ singular theta lift. The values of rigid meromorphic cocycles at special points of an associated p-adic symmetric space are then conjectured to belong to class fields of suitable global reflex fields, suggesting an eventual framework for explicit class field theory beyond the setting of CM fields explored in the treatise of Shimura and Taniyama.