Let F ⊂ G be closed and A(F) = A(G)/IF. If F is a Helson set then A(F)** is an amenable (semisimple) Banach algebra. Our main result implies the following theorem: Let G be a locally compact group, F ⊂ G closed, a ∈ G. Assume either (a) For some non-discrete closed subgroup H, the interior of F ∩ aH in aH is non-empty, or (b) R ⊂ G, S ⊂ R is a symmetric set and aS ⊂ F. Then A(F)** is a non-amenable non-semisimple Banach algebra. This raises the question: How ‘thin’ can F be for A(F)** to remain a non-amenable Banach algebra?

By a fundamental theorem of Brauer every irreducible character of a finite group G can be written in the field Q(εm) of mth roots of unity where m is the exponent of G. Is it always possible to find a matrix representation over its ring Z[εm] of integers? In the present paper it is shown that this holds true provided it is valid for the quasisimple groups. The reduction to such groups relies on a useful extension theorem for integral representations. Iwasawa theory on class groups of cyclotomic fields gives evidence that the answer is at least affirmative when the exponent is replaced by the order, and provides for a general qualitative result.

Let F(X, Y) be an absolutely irreducible polynomial with coefficients in an algebraic number field K. Denote by C the algebraic curve defined by the equation F(X, Y) = 0 and by K[C] the ring of regular functions on Cover K. Assume that there is a unit ϕ in K[C] − K such that 1 − ϕ is also a unit. Then we establish an explicit upper bound for the size of integral solutions of the equation F(X, Y) = 0, defined over K. Using this result we establish improved explicit upper bounds on the size of integral solutions to the equations defining non-singular affine curves of genus zero, with at least three points at ‘infinity’, the elliptic equations and a class of equations containing the Thue curves.

A unified study is undertaken of finitely generated varieties HSP () of distributive lattices with unary operations, extending work of Cornish. The generating algebra () is assusmed to be of the form (P; ∧, ∨, 0, 1, {fμ}), where each fμ is an endomorphism or dual endomorphism of (P; ∧, ∨, 0, 1), and the Priestly dual of this lattice is an ordered semigroup N whose elements act by left multiplication to give the maps dual to the operations fμ. Duality theory is fully developed within this framework, into which fit many varieties arising in algebraic logic. Conditions on N are given for the natural and Priestley dualities for HSP () to be essentially the same, so that, inter alia, coproducts in HSP () are enriched D-coproducts.

Let G be a connected Lie group with Lie algebra g and a1, …, ad an algebraic basis of g. Further let Ai denote the generators of left translations, acting on the Lp-spaces Lp(G; dg) formed with left Haar measure dg, in the directions ai. We consider second-order operators in divergence form corresponding to a quadratic form with complex coefficients, bounded Hölder continuous principal coefficients cij and lower order coefficients ci, c′ii, c0 ∈ L∞ such that the matrix C= (cij) of principal coefficients satisfies the subellipticity condition uniformly over G.

We discuss the hierarchy relating smoothness properties of the coefficients of H with smoothness of the kernel and smoothness of the domain of powers of H on the Lρ-spaces. Moreover, we present Gaussian type bounds for the kernel and its derivatives.

Similar theorems are proved for strongly elliptic operators in non-divergence form for which the principal coefficients are at least once differentiable.

We investigate the relationship between the peripheral spectrum of a positive operator T on a Banach lattice E and the peripheral spectrum of the operators S dominated by T, that is, ]Sx] ≤ T]x] for all x ε E. This can be applied to obtain inheritance results for asymptotic properties of dominated operators.

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of cylindrical ends in compact foliated 3-manifolds and give a sufficient condition for these ends to spiral onto a toral leaf.

We study the Cesàro operator on the classical group G and give a necessary and sufficient condition on the index α = α(G) for which the operator is convergent to f(U) for any continuous function f as N → ∞. The result in this paper solves a question posed by Gong in the book Harmonic analysis on classical groups.

The recently developed theory of partial actions of discrete groups on C*-algebras is extended. A related concept of actions of inverse semigroups on C*-algebras is defined, including covariant representations and crossed products. The main result is that every partial crossed product is a crossed product by a semigroup action.

The aim of this paper is to resolve Taylor's question concerning certain regularity conditions on a Borel measure. The proposed solution is given in the framework of Brown, Michon and Peyrière, and Olsen.

It has been known that mixed automorphic forms arise naturally as holomorphic forms on elliptic varieties and that they include classical automorphic forms as a special case. In this paper, we show how to construct mixed automorphic forms of type (k, l) from elliptic modular forms to give nontrivial examples of mixed automorphic forms.

The theory of directed complexes is extended from free ω-categories by defining presentations in which the generators are atoms and the relations are equations between molecules. Our main result relates these presentations to the more standard algebraic presentations; we also show that every ω-category has a presentation by directed complexes. The approach is similar to that used by Crans for pasting presentations.

Crittenden and Vanden Eynden conjectured that if n arithmetic progressions, each having modulus at least k, include all the integers from 1 to k2n-k+1, then they include all the integers. They proved this for the cases k = 1 and k = 2. We give various necessary conditions for a counterexample to the conjecture; in particular we show that if a counterexample exists for some value of k, then one exists for that k and a value of n less than an explicit function of k.

We examine when the composition of two entire functions f and g is even, and extend some of our results to cyclic compositions in general. If p is a polynomial, then we prove that f ^ p is even for a non-constant entire function f if and only if p is even, odd plus a constant, or a quadratic polynomial composed with an odd polynomial. Similar results are proven for odd compositions. We also show that p ^ f can be even when f and no derivative of f are even or odd, where p is a polynomial. We extend some results of an earlier paper to cyclic compositions of polynomials. We also show that our results do not extend in general to rational functions or polynomials in two variables.

We present a representation theory for the maximal ideal space of a real function algebra, endowed with the Gelfand topology, using the theory of uniform spaces. Application are given to algebras of differentiable functions in a normęd space, improving and generalizing some known results.

We study classes of Banach spaces where every set-valued mapping from a complete metric space into subsets of the Banach space which satisfies certain minimal properties, is single-valued and norm upper semi-continuous at the points of a dense Gδ subset of its domain. Characterisations of these classes are developed and permanence properties are established. Sufficiency conditions for membership of these classes are defined in terms of fragmentability and σ-fragmentability of the weak topology. A characterisation of non membership is used to show that l∞ (N) is not a member of our classe of generic continuity spaces.

In Banach space operators with a bounded H∞ functional calculus, Cowling et al. provide some necessary and sufficient conditions for a type-ω operator to have a bounded H∞ functional calculus. We provide an alternate development of some of their ideas using a modified Cauchy kernel which is L1 with respect to the measure ]dz]/]z]. The method is direct and has the advantage that no transforms of the functions are necessary.

Let F(z) be a continuous complex-valued function defined on the closed upper half plane H whose generalized derivative ∂F(z) is unbounded. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between the increasing order of ]∂F(x + iy)] when y → 0 and that of λf(x, t) ](F(x + t) − 2F(x) + F(x − t))/t], (x, t ∈ R), when t → 0.