We present a Borel reduction from a subset shift equivalence relation of a countable group to a subgroup conjugacy relation of a free product. The technique gives a much shorter proof of an earlier result of Thomas and Velickovic.

Let $J$ be a Jacobi real symmetric matrix on $l_{2}$ with zero diagonal and non-diagonal entries of the form $\{1+p_{n}\}$. If $p_{n-1}\pm p_{n}=O(n^{-\alpha})$ with some $\alpha>2/3$, then the existence of bounded solutions of $Ju=\lambda u$ is proved for almost every $\lambda\in(-2,2)$ with the WKB-type asymptotic behavior.

Regular homotopy classes of immersions of homotopy $n$-spheres into $(n+q)$-space form an Abelian group under connected summation. The subgroup of immersions of those homotopy spheres which bound parallelizable manifolds is computed for $n=4k-1$ and arbitrary codimension $q$. A consequence of this computation is that in codimensions $q<2k+1$, the group of immersed homotopy $(4k-1)$-spheres is not the direct sum of the group of immersed standard spheres and the group of homotopy spheres. Also, our results shed light on Brieskorn's famous equations: for any exotic sphere (bounding a parallelizable manifold), a countable number of distinct equations give rise to codimension-two embeddings of this exotic sphere. It follows from our results that these embeddings lie in pairwise distinct regular homotopy classes, and that any regular homotopy class containing embeddings is representable by a map arising from such an equation.

In this paper the authors develop a new approach to the problem of ‘propagation of smallness’ for harmonic functions in arbitrary domains, in ℝn (n[ges ]2). The main result of this paper is a certain logarithmic-convexity relation for the L2-norms of harmonic functions. As a consequence, new kinds of uniqueness results for harmonic functions are obtained. The method works also for analytic functions in [Copf ], with Lp-norms (p>0).

In this paper we characterise the kernel of a little Hankel operator on the Bergman space L2a(D) in terms of the inner divisors, and obtain a characterisation for finite rank little Hankel operators using the invariant subspace theory technique.

It is well known that no non-trivial Killing vector field exists on a compact Riemannian manifold of negative Ricci curvature; analogously, no non-trivial harmonic one-form exists on a compact manifold of positive Ricci curvature. One can consider the following, more general, problem. By reducing the assumption on the Ricci curvature to one on the scalar curvature, such vanishing theorems cannot hold in general. This raises the question: “What information can we obtain from the existence of non-trivial Killing vector fields (or, respectively, harmonic one-forms)?” This paper gives answers to this problem; the results obtained are optimal.

A relatively long-standing problem concerning the best constants of approximation by entire functions of exponential type on the class $W^rH_{\omega}$ is solved. The central tool is a limit relation between the best constants of approximation by trigonometric polynomials and entire functions of exponential type on $W^rH_{\omega}$ and its periodic analogue.

We give a theoretical lower bound for the slope of a Siegel modular cusp form that is as least as good as Eichler's lower bound. In degrees $n=5,6$ and 7 we show that our new bound is strictly better. In the process we find the forms of smallest dyadic trace on the perfect core for ranks $n \le 8$. In degrees $n=5,6$ and 7 we settle the value of the generalized Hermite constant $\gamma_n'$ introduced by Bergé and Martinet and find all dual-critical pairs.

A complete characterization of the categorical quotients of $({\mathbb P}^1)^n$ by the diagonal action of $\SL(2, {\mathbb C})$ with respect to any polarization is given by M. Polito, in ‘$\SL(2, {\mathbb C})$-quotients de $({\mathbb P}^1)^n$’, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. I 321 (1995) 1577–1582. In this paper, these categorical quotients are obtained by certain linear systems on ${\mathbb P}^{n-3}$?>, depending on the given polarization.

We establish the existence of self-homeomorphisms of Rn, n [ges ] 2, which are chaotic in the sense of Devaney, preserve volume and are spatially periodic. Moreover, we show that in the space of volume-preserving homeomorphisms of the n-torus with mean rotation zero, those with chaotic lifts to Rn are dense, with respect to the uniform topology. An application is given for fixed points of 2-dimensional torus homeomorphisms (Conley–Zehnder–Franks Theorem).

The distribution on the torus ℝ/ℤ of a set of fractions of the form

(formula here)

is investigated, where q is a large integer, m is the inverse of m modulo q, R(x) is a rational function defined modulo q, and [Uscr ], [Mscr ], [Nscr ] are subsets of {1,…,q}. Under some natural assumptions, it is shown that the set [Rscr ] is uniformly distributed on ℝ/ℤ.

It is known [10, 11] that if T is an integral operator with an extended totally positive kernel, then T has a countably infinite family of simple, positive eigenvalues. We prove a similar result for a rather larger class of kernels and, writing the eigenvalues of T in decreasing order as (λn)n∈IN, we use results obtained in [4] and [5] to give a formula for the ratio λn+1/ lambda;n analogous to that given in [3] for the case of a strictly totally positive matrix, and to the spectral radius formula

formula here

This may be regarded as a generalisation of inequalities due to Hopf [8, 9].

Sufficient conditions are given for the global existence of solutions to the Rayleigh equation.

It is shown that the mod $3$ cohomology of a $1$-connected, homotopy associative mod $3$$H$-space that is rationally equivalent to the Lie group $E_6$ is isomorphic to that of $E_6$ as an algebra. Moreover, it is shown that the mod $3$ cohomology of a nilpotent, homotopy-associative mod $3$$H$-space that is rationally equivalent to $E_6$, and whose fundamental group localized at $3$ is non-trivial, is isomorphic to that of the Lie group $\Ad E_6$ as a Hopf algebra over the mod $3$ Steenrod algebra. It is also shown that the mod $3$ cohomology of the universal cover of such an $H$-space is isomorphic to that of $E_6$ as a Hopf algebra over the mod $3$ Steenrod algebra.

It is proved that each mod 2 homology class of a compact Nash manifold can be represented by a semialgebraic arc-symmetric subset.

A criterion of isomorphism for symmetry groups of set ideals is provided in terms of ideal quotients and cardinal invariants. Furthermore, set ideals with complete symmetry group are characterized. They form a wide class, comprising, for example, all uniform dense ideals and the ideals of ‘thin’ sets in separable metric spaces. If the symmetry group of a set ideal is not complete, then its outer automorphism group is shown to be cyclic of order 2.

Holomorphic almost modular forms are holomorphic functions of the complex upper half plane that can be approximated arbitrarily well (in a suitable sense) by modular forms of congruence subgroups of large index in ${\rm SL}(2,{\mathbb Z})$. It is proved that such functions have a rotation-invariant limit distribution when the argument approaches the real axis. An example of a holomorphic almost modular form is the logarithm of $\prod_{n=1}^\infty (1-\exp(2\pi\i n^2 z))$. The paper is motivated by the author's previous studies [Int. Math. Res. Not. 39 (2003) 2131–2151] on the connection between almost modular functions and the distribution of the sequence $n^2x$ modulo one.

We study the behaviour of non-negative solutions to the equation

formula here

This equation is an ‘explicitly’ soluble special case of a class of non-local evolution equations, of which the behaviour of solutions has been studied by Uchiyama [9]. In this paper, certain fine properties of solutions such as a local relaxation within their supports are obtained for the present special case. The asymptotic forms (for large time) of the solutions whose initial measures have compact supports are identified within the error of the order O(t−3/2). It is also shown that the comparison principle does not hold. With a simple change of variables, the equation ([midast ]) is transformed to the equation arising in Dyson's approach to the Wigner semi-circle law of eigenvalues of random matrices, and the present results have immediate consequences on the latter.