Given a number field k and a positive integer d, in this paper we consider the following question: does there exist a smooth diagonal surface of degree d in $\mathbb{P}$3 over k which contains a line over every completion of k, yet no line over k? We answer the problem using Galois cohomology, and count the number of counter-examples using a result of Erdős.

We use Young's raising operators to introduce and study double theta polynomials, which specialize to both the theta polynomials of Buch, Kresch, and Tamvakis, and to double (or factorial) Schur S-polynomials and Q-polynomials. These double theta polynomials give Giambelli formulas which represent the equivariant Schubert classes in the torus-equivariant cohomology ring of symplectic Grassmannians, and we employ them to obtain a new presentation of this ring in terms of intrinsic generators and relations.

A set of elements of a finite abelian group is called sum-free if it contains no Schur triple, i.e., no triple of elements x, y, z with x + y = z. The study of how large the largest sum-free subset of a given abelian group is had started more than thirty years before it was finally resolved by Green and Ruzsa a decade ago. We address the following more general question. Suppose that a set A of elements of an abelian group G has cardinality a. How many Schur triples must A contain? Moreover, which sets of a elements of G have the smallest number of Schur triples? In this paper, we answer these questions for various groups G and ranges of a.

For any smooth compact manifold W with boundary of dimension of at least two we prove that the classifying spaces of its group of diffeomorphisms which fix a set of k points or k embedded disks (up to permutation) satisfy homology stability. The same is true for so-called symmetric diffeomorphisms of W connected sum with k copies of an arbitrary compact smooth manifold Q of the same dimension. The analogues for mapping class groups as well as other generalisations will also be proved.

We give an explicit formula for the log-canonical threshold of a reduced germ of plane curve. The formula depends only on the first two maximal contact values of the branches and their intersection multiplicities. We also improve the two branches formula given in [27].

We give an expression of the motivic zeta function for a real polynomial function in terms of the Newton polyhedron of the function. As a consequence, we show that the weights are determined by the motivic zeta function for convenient weighted homogeneous polynomials in three variables. We apply this result to the blow-Nash equivalence.

We deal with the question of continuity of numerical values of Hausdorff measures in parametrised families of linear (similarity) and conformal dynamical systems by developing the pioneering work of Lars Olsen and the work [SUZ]. We prove Hölder continuity of the function ascribing to a parameter the numerical value of the Hausdorff measure of either the corresponding limit set or the corresponding Julia set. We consider three cases. Firstly, we consider the case of parametrised families of conformal iterated function systems in $\mathbb{R}$k with k ⩾ 3. Secondly, we consider all linear iterated function systems consisting of similarities in $\mathbb{R}$k with k ⩾ 1. In either of these two cases, the strong separation condition is assumed. In the latter case the Hölder exponent obtained is equal to 1/2. Thirdly, we prove such Hölder continuity for analytic families of conformal expanding repellers in the complex plane $\mathbb{C}$. Furthermore, we prove the Hausdorff measure function to be piecewise real–analytic for families of naturally parametrised linear IFSs in $\mathbb{R}$ satisfying the strong separation condition. On the other hand, we also give an example of a family of linear IFSs in $\mathbb{R}$ for which this function is not even differentiable at some parameters.

Let E/Q be an elliptic curve with complex multiplication. We study the average size of τ(#E(Fp)) as p varies over primes of good ordinary reduction. We work out in detail the case of E: y2 = x3 − x, where we prove that

$$\begin{equation} \sum_{\substack{p \leq x \\p \equiv 1\pmod{4}}} \tau(\#E({\bf{F}}_p)) \sim \left(\frac{5\pi}{16} \prod_{p > 2} \frac{p^4-\chi(p)}{p^2(p^2-1)}\right)x, \quad\text{as $x\to\infty$}. \end{equation}$$

Now suppose that E/Q is a non-CM elliptic curve. We conjecture that the sum of τ(#E(Fp)), taken over p ⩽ x of good reduction, is ~cEx for some cE > 0, and we give a heuristic argument suggesting the precise value of cE. Assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis for Dedekind zeta functions, we prove that this sum is ≍Ex. The proof uses combinatorial ideas of Erdős.