We explain and generalise row and column removal phenomena for Schur algebras via integral isomorphisms between subquotients of these algebras. In particular, we prove new reduction formulae for p-Kostka numbers.

We introduce the polygonalisation complex of a surface, a cube complex whose vertices correspond to polygonalisations. This is a geometric model for the mapping class group and it is motivated by works of Harer, Mosher and Penner. Using properties of the flip graph, we show that the midcubes in the polygonalisation complex can be extended to a family of embedded and separating hyperplanes, parametrised by the arcs in the surface.

We study the crossing graph of these hyperplanes and prove that it is quasi-isometric to the arc complex. We use the crossing graph to prove that, generically, different surfaces have different polygonalisation complexes. The polygonalisation complex is not CAT(0), but we can characterise the vertices where Gromov's link condition fails. This gives a tool for proving that, generically, the automorphism group of the polygonalisation complex is the (extended) mapping class group of the surface.

A permutation group G on a set Ω is said to be binary if, for every n ∈ ℕ and for every I, J ∈ Ωn, the n-tuples I and J are in the same G-orbit if and only if every pair of entries from I is in the same G-orbit to the corresponding pair from J. This notion arises from the investigation of the relational complexity of finite homogeneous structures.

Cherlin has conjectured that the only finite primitive binary permutation groups are the symmetric groups Sym(n) with their natural action, the groups of prime order, and the affine groups V ⋊ O(V) where V is a vector space endowed with an anisotropic quadratic form.

We prove Cherlin's conjecture, concerning binary primitive permutation groups, for those groups with socle isomorphic to PSL2(q), 2B2(q), 2G2(q) or PSU3(q). Our method uses the notion of a “strongly non-binary action”.

Moore's conjecture is shown to hold for generalised moment-angle complexes and a criterion is proved that determines when a polyhedral product is elliptic or hyperbolic.

We construct η- and ρ-invariants for Dirac operators, on the universal covering of a closed manifold, that are invariant under the projective action associated to a 2-cocycle of the fundamental group. We prove an Atiyah–Patodi–Singer index theorem in this setting, as well as its higher generalisation. Applications concern the classification of positive scalar curvature metrics on closed spin manifolds. We also investigate the properties of these twisted invariants for the signature operator and the relation to the higher invariants.

In this paper, we study “the ring of component functions” of SL(2, C)-representations of free abelian groups. This is a subsequent research of our previous work [11] for free groups. We introduce some descending filtration of the ring, and determine the structure of its graded quotients.

Then we give two applications. In [30], we constructed the generalized Johnson homomorphisms. We give an upper bound on their images with the graded quotients. The other application is to construct a certain crossed homomorphisms of the automorphism groups of free groups. We show that our crossed homomorphism induces Morita's 1-cocycle defined in [22]. In other words, we give another construction of Morita's 1-cocyle with the SL(2, C)-representations of the free abelian group.

In this paper we prove that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of (nondegenerate) singular two-dimensional vectors with uniform exponent μ in (1/2, 1) is equal to 2(1 − μ) for μ ⩾ $\sqrt2/2$, whereas for μ < $\sqrt2/2$ it is greater than 2(1 − μ) and at most equal to (3 − 2 μ)(1 − μ)/(1 − μ + μ2). We also establish that this dimension tends to 4/3 (which is the dimension of the set of singular two-dimensional vectors) when μ tends to 1/2. These results improve upon previous estimates of R. Baker, joint work of the first author with M. Laurent, and unpublished work of M. Laurent. Moreover, we prove a lower bound for the packing dimension, which appears to be strictly greater than the Hausdorff dimension for μ ⩾ 0.565. . . .

Let S be a smooth cubic surface over a finite field $\mathbb{F}$q. It is known that #S($\mathbb{F}$q) = 1 + aq + q2 for some a ∈ {−2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7}. Serre has asked which values of a can arise for a given q. Building on special cases treated by Swinnerton–Dyer, we give a complete answer to this question. We also answer the analogous question for other del Pezzo surfaces, and consider the inverse Galois problem for del Pezzo surfaces over finite fields. Finally we give a corrected version of Manin's and Swinnerton–Dyer's tables on cubic surfaces over finite fields.

A. Avilés and C. Brech proved an intriguing result about the existence and uniqueness of certain injective Boolean algebras or Banach spaces. Their result refines the standard existence and uniqueness of saturated models. They express a wish to obtain a unified approach in the context of category theory. We provide this in the framework of weak factorisation systems. Our basic tool is the fat small object argument.

Let K be a field of characteristic 0. Fix integers r, d coprime with r ⩾ 2. Let XK be a smooth, projective, geometrically connected curve of genus g ⩾ 2 defined over K. Assume there exists a line bundle ${\cal L}_K$ on XK of degree d. In this paper we prove the existence of a stable locally free sheaf on XK with rank r and determinant ${\cal L}_K$. This trivially proves the C1 conjecture in mixed characteristic for the moduli space of stable locally free sheaves of fixed rank and determinant over a smooth, projective curve.

We prove that non-elementary hyperbolic groups grow exponentially more quickly than their infinite index quasiconvex subgroups. The proof uses the classical tools of automatic structures and Perron–Frobenius theory.

We also extend the main result to relatively hyperbolic groups and cubulated groups. These extensions use the notion of growth tightness and the work of Dahmani, Guirardel and Osin on rotating families.

Let (R, 𝔪) be a Noetherian local ring and I an arbitrary ideal of R with analytic spread s. In [3] the authors proved the existence of a chain of ideals I ⊆ I[s] ⊆ ⋅⋅⋅ ⊆ I[1] such that deg(PI[k]/I) < s − k. In this article we obtain a structure theorem for this ideals which is similar to that of K. Shah in [10] for 𝔪-primary ideals.

The celebrated Kerékjártó theorem asserts that planar continuous periodic maps can be continuously linearised. We prove that for each k ∈ {1, 2,. . ., ∞}, ${\Mathcal {C}}$k-planar periodic maps can be ${\Mathcal {C}}$k-linearised.

This work investigates the connections between the notion of a locus of a complex polynomial and the polar derivatives. Polar differentiation extends classical derivatives and provides additional flexibility. The notion of a locus was introduced in [8] and proved useful in providing sharp versions of several classical results in the area known as Geometry of Polynomials. The investigations culminated in the work [11]. A need was revealed for a unified treatment of bounded and unbounded loci of polynomials of degree at most n as well as a unified treatment of polar derivatives and ordinary derivatives. This work aims at providing such a framework.

We provide the first explicit example of a universal Hilbert set ${\Ncal S}$ having asymptotic density 1 in the set of integers. More precisely, the number of integers not in ${\Ncal S}$ with absolute value ≤ X is bounded by X/(log X)δ, where δ = 1 − (1 + loglog 2)/(log 2) = 0.086071. . ..

Let K be a field of characteristic zero and let R = K[X1, . . .,Xn], with standard grading. Let ${\mathfrak m}$ = (X1, . . ., Xn) and let E be the *injective hull of R/${\mathfrak m}$. Let An(K) be the nth Weyl algebra over K. Let I, J be homogeneous ideals in R. Fix i, j ≥ 0 and set M = HiI(R) and N = HjJ(R) considered as left An(K)-modules. We show the following two results for which no analogous result is known in charactersitc p > 0.

1. (i) $H^l_{\mathfrak m}$(TorRν(M, N)) ≅ E(n)al,ν for some al,ν ≥ 0.

2. (ii) For all ν ≥ 0; the finite dimensional vector space TorAn(K)ν(M♯, N) is concentrated in degree -n (here M♯ is the standard right An(K)-module associated to M).

For α a positive irrational, let 𝛢α be the subalgebra of continuous functions on the two-torus whose Fourier transform vanishes at (m, n) if m+αn < 0. These algebras were studied by Wermer and others, who proved properties such as maximality and characterised the Gelfand space. One of the major themes of current work in operator algebras is classification, but none of the properties which were investigated earlier distinguished between 𝛢α and αβ, if β is another positive irrational. We address this question. We also determine the automorphism group of 𝛢α.

In this paper, we consider sums of class numbers of the type ∑m ≡ a (mod p) H (4n − m2), where p is an odd prime, n ∈ ℕ, and a ∈ ℤ. By showing that these are coefficients of mixed mock modular forms, we obtain explicit formulas. Using these formulas for p = 5 and 7, we then prove a conjecture of Brown et al. in the case that n = ℓ is prime.

Khintchine's theorem is a classical result from metric number theory which relates the Lebesgue measure of certain limsup sets with the convergence/divergence of naturally occurring volume sums. In this paper we ask whether an analogous result holds for iterated function systems (IFS's). We say that an IFS is approximation regular if we observe Khintchine type behaviour, i.e., if the size of certain limsup sets defined using the IFS is determined by the convergence/divergence of naturally occurring sums. We prove that an IFS is approximation regular if it consists of conformal mappings and satisfies the open set condition. The divergence condition we introduce incorporates the inhomogeneity present within the IFS. We demonstrate via an example that such an approach is essential. We also formulate an analogue of the Duffin–Schaeffer conjecture and show that it holds for a set of full Hausdorff dimension.

Combining our results with the mass transference principle of Beresnevich and Velani [4], we prove a general result that implies the existence of exceptional points within the attractor of our IFS. These points are exceptional in the sense that they are “very well approximated”. As a corollary of this result, we obtain a general solution to a problem of Mahler, and prove that there are badly approximable numbers that are very well approximated by quadratic irrationals.

The ideas put forward in this paper are introduced in the general setting of iterated function systems that may contain overlaps. We believe that by viewing iterated function systems from the perspective of metric number theory, one can gain a greater insight into the extent to which they overlap. The results of this paper should be interpreted as a first step in this investigation.

We show that if f is a Boolean function on F2n with spectral norm at most M then there is some L ≤ exp(M3+o(1)) and subspaces V1,. . .,VL such that f = Σi ± 1Vi.