We establish a correspondence between inverse sumset theorems (which can be viewed as classifications of approximate (abelian) groups) and inverse theorems for the Gowers norms (which can be viewed as classifications of approximate polynomials). In particular, we show that the inverse sumset theorems of Freĭman type are equivalent to the known inverse results for the Gowers U3 norms, and moreover that the conjectured polynomial strengthening of the former is also equivalent to the polynomial strengthening of the latter. We establish this equivalence in two model settings, namely that of the finite field vector spaces 2n, and of the cyclic groups ℤ/Nℤ.

In both cases the argument involves clarifying the structure of certain types of approximate homomorphism.

The main result of this paper is a proof of the expected asymptotic formula for the density of zeros of a family of cubic forms in seven variables. This is established using the Hardy–Littlewood circle method.

The geometric motivic Poincaré series of a germ (S, 0) of complex algebraic variety takes into account the classes in the Grothendieck ring of the jets of arcs through (S, 0). Denef and Loeser proved that this series has a rational form. We give an explicit description of this invariant when (S, 0) is an irreducible germ of quasi-ordinary hypersurface singularity in terms of the Newton polyhedra of the logarithmic jacobian ideals. These ideals are determined by the characteristic monomials of a quasi-ordinary branch parametrizing (S, 0).

In this article we provide sufficient conditions on a space X to verify Ganea conjecture with respect to exterior and proper Lusternik–Schnirelmann category. For this aim we previously develop an exterior version of the Whitehead, cellular approximation, CW-approximation and Blakers–Massey theorems within a homotopy theory of exterior CW-complexes and study their corresponding analogues and consequences in the proper setting.

We show that under certain mild conditions, a metric simplicial complex which satisfies the Ptolemy inequality is a CAT(0) space. Ptolemy's inequality is closely related to inversions of metric spaces. For a large class of metric simplicial complexes, we characterize those which are isometric to Euclidean space in terms of metric inversions.

We extend a mod 2 relation between the Kauffman and Homfly polynomials, first observed by Rudolph in 1987, to the general Kauffman and Homfly satellite invariants.

We give a parity condition of a Heegaard diagram implying that it is unstabilized. As applications, we show that Heegaard splittings of 2-fold branched coverings of n-component, n-bridge links in S3 are unstabilized, and we also construct unstabilized Heegaard splittings by Dehn twists on any given Heegaard splitting.

We establish two embedding theorems for tree-free groups. The first result embeds a group G acting freely and without inversions on a Λ-tree X into a group acting freely, without inversions, and transitively on a Λ-tree in such a way that X embeds into by means of a G-equivariant isometry. The second result embeds a group G acting freely and transitively on an ℝ-tree X into (H) for some suitable group H, again in such a way that X embeds G-equivariantly into the ℝ-tree XH associated with (H). The group (H) referred to here belongs to a class of groups introduced and studied by the present authors in [3]. As a consequence of these two theorems, we find that -groups and their associated ℝ-trees are in fact universal for free ℝ-tree actions. Moreover, our first embedding theorem throws light on the question, arising from the results of [7], whether a group endowed with a Lyndon length function L can always be embedded in a length-preserving way into a group with a regular Lyndon length function; modulo an obvious necessary restriction we show that this is indeed the case if L is free.

We consider self-similar iterated function systems in the sub-Riemannian setting of Carnot groups. We estimate the Hausdorff dimension of the exceptional set of translation parameters for which the Hausdorff dimension in terms of the Carnot–Carathéodory metric is strictly less than the similarity dimension. This extends a recent result of Falconer and Miao from Euclidean space to Carnot groups.

Given a static Schwarzschild spacetime of ADM mass M, it is well known that no ingoing causal geodesic starting in the outer domain r > 2M will cross the event horizon r = 2M in finite Schwarzschild time. We show that in gravitational collapse of Vlasov matter this behaviour can be very different. We construct initial data for which a black hole forms and all matter crosses the event horizon as Schwarzschild time goes to infinity, and show that this is a necessary condition for geodesic completeness of the event horizon. In addition to a careful analysis of the asymptotic behaviour of the matter characteristics our proof requires a new argument for global existence of solutions to the spherically symmetric Einstein–Vlasov system in an outer domain, since our initial data have non-compact support in the radial momentum variable and previous methods break down.

The following proposition in [2] was found to be incorrect as the result of a mistake in the proof in [2].