The conformal geometry of the Schwarzian Davey-Stewartson II hierarchy and its discrete analogue is investigated. Connections with discrete and continuous isothermic surfaces and generalised Clifford configurations are recorded. An interpretation of the Schwarzian Davey-Stewartson II flows as integrable deformations of conformally immersed surfaces is given.

A compact bordered Klein surface X of algebraic genus g ≥ 2 has maximal symmetry [6] if its automorphism group A(X) is of order 12(g — 1), the largest possible. The bordered surfaces with maximal symmetry are clearly of special interest and have been studied in several recent papers ([6] and [9] among others).

In the study of idealizer rings in [14], the global dimensions of certain subrings were calculated. This work was extended by Goodearl [9]. Here it is shown, in Section 1, that the techniques involved can be used rather more generally than was apparent there. The results concern a ring S with a right ideal A such that SA = S, and a subring R of S containing A. They describe gl dim R in terms of gl dim S and the projective dimensions of simple subfactors of S/R or R/A, provided that these R-modules are sufficiently well conditioned.

Let $K$ be a field of characteristic zero and $A_{2}:=A_{2}(K)$ the 2$nd$–Weyl algebra over $K$. We establish a close connection between the maximal left ideals of $A_{2}$ and the simple derivations of $K[X_{1},X_{2}]$.

MAIN THEOREM. Let$d = \partial_1 + \beta\partial_2$be a simple derivation of$K[X_1, X_2]$with$\beta\in K[X_1, X_2]$. Then, there exists$\gamma\in K[X_1, X_2]$such that$d + \gamma$generates a maximal left ideal of$A_2$. More precisely, the following is true:

1. $\deg_{X_2} (\beta) \geq 2$ or $\deg_{X_2} (\beta) = 1$ and $\deg_{X_1} (\partial_2(\beta)) \geq 1$;

2. $d + gX_2$generates a maximal left ideal of$A_2$if$g \in K[X_1]\\{0\}$is such that

1. (a) $g \in -(\partial^2_2(\beta)/2)\mathbb{N}$when$\deg_{X_2} (\beta) \geq 2$,

2. (b) $\deg_{X_1} (g) < \deg_{X_1} (\partial_2(\beta))$when$\deg_{X_2} (\beta) = 1$.

As applications, we obtain large families of concrete examples of cyclic maximal left ideals of $A_2$; such examples have been rather scarce so far.

The object of this paper is to redevelop the classical theory of multipliers of Fuchsian groups [16] and to attempt a classification. The language which appears most appropriate is that of group extensions and the cohomology of groups. This viewpoint is not entirely novel [12] but the entire theory has never been based on it before.

Serre [6] has recently created a theory of some generality in response to a query from Manin about the size of the number N(x) of (indefinite) ternary quadratic forms AX2 + BY2 + CZ2 that represent zero and have coefficients of magnitudes not exceeding x.

A number of classical theorems of ring theory deal with nilness and nilpotency of the Jacobson radical of various ring constructions (see [10], [18]). Several interesting results of this sort have appeared in the literature recently. In particular, it was proved in [1] that the Jacobson radical of every finitely generated PI-ring is nilpotent. For every commutative semigroup ring RS, it was shown in [11] that if J(R) is nil then J(RS) is nil. This result was generalized to all semigroup algebras satisfying polynomial identities in [15] (see [16, Chapter 21]). Further, it was proved in [12] that, for every normal band B, if J(R) is nilpotent, then J(RB) is nilpotent. A similar result for special band-graded rings was established in [13, Section 6]. Analogous theorems concerning nilpotency and local nilpotency were proved in [2] for rings graded by finite and locally finite semigroups.

We show how the solution to certain diophantine equations involving the discriminant of complex quadratic fields leads to the divisibility of the class numbers of the underlying fields. This not only generalizes certain results in the literature such as [2], [4]–[6] but also shows why certain hypotheses made in these results are actually unnecessary since, as our criteria demonstrate, these hypotheses are forced by the solution of the diophantine equations involved. Our methods are based only on the most elementary properties of a principal ideal in a complex quadratic field.

In the literature there are several generalisations to non-commutative rings of the notion of a unique factorisation domain from commutative algebra. This paper follows in the spirit of [1, 3] and is set in the context of Noetherian rings. In [3], A. W. Chatters and the author denned a Noetherian UFR (unique factorisation ring) to be a prime Noetherian ring R in which every non-zero prime ideal contains a prime ideal generated by a non-zero normal element p, that is, by an element p such that pR = Rp. The class of Noetherian UFRs includes the Noetherian UFDs studied by Chatters in [1], while a commutative Noetherian ring is a UFR if and only if it is a UFD in the usual sense. For a Noetherian UFR R, the following are simple consequences of the definition:

(i) every non-zero ideal of R contains a non-zero normal element;

(ii) the set N(R) of non-zero normal elements of R is a unique factorisation monoid in the sense of [4, Chapter 3].

In a series of papers [6], [7], [8], [10], Munn has considered the problem of constructing all irreducible representations of a semigroup by matrices over a field. In [10], he showed how to construct all the irreducible representations of an arbitrary inverse semigroup from those of associated Brandt semigroups. In this paper, we generalize the method of [10] to give a construction for the irreducible representations of an arbitrary semigroup from those of certain associated semigroups

Let d(n) denote the number of positive divisors of. A long time ago, Erdös and Mirsky [1] raised the question whether the equation d(n) = d(n+l) holds for infinitely many n. It does not seem easy to settle this problem, and in the present note we give a partial result.

Let X be a proper geodesic metric space which is \delta-hyperbolic in the sense of Gromov. We study a class of functions on X, called horofunctions, which generalize Busemann functions. To each horofunction is associated a point in the boundary at infinity of X. Horofunctions are used to give a description of the boundary. In the case where X is the Cayley graph of a hyperbolic group \Gamma, we show, following ideas of Gromov sketched in his paper Hyperbolic groups, that the space of cocycles associated to horofunctions which take integral values on the vertices is a one-sided subshift of finite type.

The Mathieu functions of integral order [1] are the solutions with period π or 2π of the equation

The eigenvalues associated with the functions ceN and seN, where N is a positive integer, denoted by aN and bN respectively, reduce to

aN = bN = N2

when q is zero. The quantities aN and bN can be expanded in powers of q, but the explicit construction of high order coefficients is very tedious. In some applications the quantity of most interest is aN – bN, which may be called the “width of the unstable zone“. It is the object of this note to derive a general formula for the leading term in the expansion of this quantity, namely

Suppose first that N is an odd integer. Then there is an expansion

where

These functions π satisfy

and

On Substituting (3) in (1), one obtains the algebraic equation

where

Explicitly,

{11} = q

{lm} = 0 otherwise.

Let X be a real Banach space, A: X → X a bounded linear operator, and B: X → X a (possibly nonlinear) continuous operator. Assume that λ = 0 is an eigenvalue of A and consider the family of perturbed operators A + ϵB, where ϵ is a real parameter. Denote by S the unit sphere of X and let SA = S ∩ Ker A be the set of unit 0-eigenvectors of A. We say that a vector x0 ∈ SA is a bifurcation point for the unit eigenvectors of A + ϵ B if any neighborhood of (0,0, x0) ∈ × × X contains a triple (ϵ, λ, x) with ϵ ≠ 0 and x a unit λ-eigenvector of A + ϵB, i.e. x ∈ S and (A + ϵ B)x = λx.

We give necessary as well as sufficient conditions for a unit 0-eigenvector of A to be a bifurcation point for the unit eigenvectors of A + ϵB. These conditions turn out to be particularly meaningful when the perturbing operator B is linear. Moreover, since our sufficient condition is trivially satisfied when Ker A is one-dimensional, we extend a result of the first author, under the additional assumption that B is of class C2.

For an element g of a group G, an Engel sink is a subset ${\mathscr E}$(g) such that for every x ∈ G all sufficiently long commutators [. . .[[x, g], g], . . ., g] belong to ${\mathscr E}$(g). A finite group is nilpotent if and only if every element has a trivial Engel sink. We prove that if in a finite group G every element has an Engel sink generating a subgroup of rank r, then G has a normal subgroup N of rank bounded in terms of r such that G/N is nilpotent.

An inverse semigroup whose idempotents form an ω-chain e0 > e1 > e2 > … is called briefly an ω-semigroup. A structure theorem for simple ω-semigroups was established by Kočin [7]; a related structure theorem for simple, and also general, ω-semigroups was proved by Munn [10]. These results represent an extension of the structure theorem for bisimple a ω-semigroups due to Reilly [14].

Let d be a positive integer, q=(qij)d×d be a d×d matrix, ℂq be the quantum torus algebra associated with q. We have the semidirect product Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$=Der(ℂq)⋉Z(ℂq), where Z(ℂq) is the centre of the rational quantum torus algebra ℂq. In this paper, we construct a class of irreducible weight $\mathfrak{g}$-modules $\mathcal{V}$α (V,W) with three parameters: a vector α∈ℂd, an irreducible $\mathfrak{gl}$d-module V and a graded-irreducible $\mathfrak{gl}$N-module W. Then, we show that an irreducible Harish Chandra (uniformaly bounded) $\mathfrak{g}$-module M is isomorphic to $\mathcal{V}$α(V,W) for suitable α, V, W, if the action of Z(ℂq) on M is associative (respectively nonzero).

Let G be a finite group. A minimal subgroup of G is a subgroup of prime order. A subgroup of G is called S-quasinormal in G if it permutes with each Sylow subgroup of G. A group G is called an MS-group if each minimal subgroup of G is S-quasinormal in G. In this paper, we investigate the structure of minimal non-MS-groups (non-MS-groups all of whose proper subgroups are MS-groups).

We study bi-invariant word metrics on groups. We provide an efficient algorithm for computing the bi-invariant word norm on a finitely generated free group and we construct an isometric embedding of a locally compact tree into the bi-invariant Cayley graph of a nonabelian free group. We investigate the geometry of cyclic subgroups. We observe that in many classes of groups, cyclic subgroups are either bounded or detected by homogeneous quasimorphisms. We call this property the bq-dichotomy and we prove it for many classes of groups of geometric origin.

Let Q(S) denote the maximal right quotient semigroup of the semigroup S as defined in [4]. In this paper, we initiate a study of Q(S) when S is a semilattice of groups. A structure theorem for such semigroups is given by Theorem 4.11 of [2].