Let $\mathbb{A}=(A,+)$ be a (possibly non-commutative) semigroup. For $Z\subseteq A$, we define $Z^{\times }:=Z\cap \mathbb{A}^{\times }$, where $\mathbb{A}^{\times }$ is the set of the units of $\mathbb{A}$ and

$$\begin{eqnarray}{\it\gamma}(Z):=\sup _{z_{0}\in Z^{\times }}\inf _{z_{0}\neq z\in Z}\text{\text{ord}}(z-z_{0}).\end{eqnarray}$$

${\it\gamma}(\cdot )$

$\mathbb{A}$

$X,Y\subseteq A$

$$\begin{eqnarray}|X+Y|\geqslant \min ({\it\gamma}(X+Y),|X|+|Y|-1).\end{eqnarray}$$

$\mathbb{A}$

${\it\gamma}(X+Y)$

$|S|$

$S$

$\mathbb{A}$

One of the most fruitful results from Minkowski’s geometric viewpoint on number theory is his so-called first fundamental theorem. It provides an optimal upper bound for the volume of a $0$ -symmetric convex body whose only interior lattice point is the origin. Minkowski also obtained a discrete analog by proving optimal upper bounds on the number of lattice points in the boundary of such convex bodies. Whereas the volume inequality has been generalized to any number of interior lattice points already by van der Corput in the 1930s, a corresponding result for the discrete case remained to be proven. Our main contribution is a corresponding optimal relation between the number of boundary and interior lattice points of a $0$ -symmetric convex body. The proof relies on a congruence argument and a difference set estimate from additive combinatorics.

We consider the classical theta operator ${\it\theta}$ on modular forms modulo $p^{m}$ and level $N$ prime to $p$, where $p$ is a prime greater than three. Our main result is that ${\it\theta}$ mod $p^{m}$ will map forms of weight $k$ to forms of weight $k+2+2p^{m-1}(p-1)$ and that this weight is optimal in certain cases when $m$ is at least two. Thus, the natural expectation that ${\it\theta}$ mod $p^{m}$ should map to weight $k+2+p^{m-1}(p-1)$ is shown to be false. The primary motivation for this study is that application of the ${\it\theta}$ operator on eigenforms mod $p^{m}$ corresponds to twisting the attached Galois representations with the cyclotomic character. Our construction of the ${\it\theta}$-operator mod $p^{m}$ gives an explicit weight bound on the twist of a modular mod $p^{m}$ Galois representation by the cyclotomic character.

For any number field we calculate the exact proportion of rational numbers which are everywhere locally a norm but not globally a norm from the number field.

We continue our study of intermediate sums over polyhedra, interpolating between integrals and discrete sums, which were introduced by Barvinok [Computing the Ehrhart quasi-polynomial of a rational simplex. Math. Comp. 75 (2006), 1449–1466]. By well-known decompositions, it is sufficient to consider the case of affine cones $s+\mathfrak{c}$ , where $s$ is an arbitrary real vertex and $\mathfrak{c}$ is a rational polyhedral cone. For a given rational subspace  $L$ , we define the intermediate generating functions $S^{L}(s+\mathfrak{c})(\unicode[STIX]{x1D709})$ by integrating an exponential function over all lattice slices of the affine cone  $s+\mathfrak{c}$ parallel to the subspace  $L$ and summing up the integrals. We expose the bidegree structure in parameters $s$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D709}$ , which was implicitly used in the algorithms in our papers [Computation of the highest coefficients of weighted Ehrhart quasi-polynomials of rational polyhedra. Found. Comput. Math.12 (2012), 435–469] and [Intermediate sums on polyhedra: computation and real Ehrhart theory. Mathematika59 (2013), 1–22]. The bidegree structure is key to a new proof for the Baldoni–Berline–Vergne approximation theorem for discrete generating functions [Local Euler–Maclaurin expansion of Barvinok valuations and Ehrhart coefficients of rational polytopes. Contemp. Math.452 (2008), 15–33], using the Fourier analysis with respect to the parameter  $s$ and a continuity argument. Our study also enables a forthcoming paper, in which we study intermediate sums over multi-parameter families of polytopes.

Let ${\it\mu}_{1},\ldots ,{\it\mu}_{s}$ be real numbers, with ${\it\mu}_{1}$ irrational. We investigate sums of shifted $k$th powers $\mathfrak{F}(x_{1},\ldots ,x_{s})=(x_{1}-{\it\mu}_{1})^{k}+\cdots +(x_{s}-{\it\mu}_{s})^{k}$. For $k\geqslant 4$, we bound the number of variables needed to ensure that if ${\it\eta}$ is real and ${\it\tau}>0$ is sufficiently large then there exist integers $x_{1}>{\it\mu}_{1},\ldots ,x_{s}>{\it\mu}_{s}$ such that $|\mathfrak{F}(\mathbf{x})-{\it\tau}|<{\it\eta}$. This is a real analogue to Waring’s problem. When $s\geqslant 2k^{2}-2k+3$, we provide an asymptotic formula. We prove similar results for sums of general univariate degree-$k$ polynomials.

Let $E(N)$ denote the number of positive integers $n\leqslant N$, with $n\equiv 4\;(\text{mod}\;24)$, which cannot be represented as the sum of four squares of primes. We establish that $E(N)\ll N^{11/32}$, thus improving on an earlier result of Harman and the first author, where the exponent $7/20$ appears in place of $11/32$.

Based on a construction method introduced by Bourgain and Delbaen, we give a general definition of a Bourgain–Delbaen space and prove that every infinite-dimensional separable ${\mathcal{L}}_{\infty }$ -space is isomorphic to such a space. Furthermore, we provide an example of a ${\mathcal{L}}_{\infty }$ and asymptotic $c_{0}$ space not containing $c_{0}$ .

In a recent important paper, Hoffstein and Hulse [Multiple Dirichlet series and shifted convolutions, arXiv:1110.4868v2] generalized the notion of Rankin–Selberg convolution $L$-functions by defining shifted convolution$L$-functions. We investigate symmetrized versions of their functions, and we prove that the generating functions of certain special values are linear combinations of weakly holomorphic quasimodular forms and “mixed mock modular” forms.

Let $q\in (1,2)$. A $q$-expansion of a number $x$ in $[0,1/(q-1)]$ is a sequence $({\it\delta}_{i})_{i=1}^{\infty }\in \{0,1\}^{\mathbb{N}}$ satisfying

$$\begin{eqnarray}x=\mathop{\sum }_{i=1}^{\infty }\frac{{\it\delta}_{i}}{q^{i}}.\end{eqnarray}$$

${\mathcal{B}}_{\aleph _{0}}$

$q$

$x$

$q$

${\mathcal{B}}_{1,\aleph _{0}}$

$q$

$1$

$q$

$1=\sum _{i=1}^{\infty }q^{-n_{i}}$

$\min {\mathcal{B}}_{\aleph _{0}}=\min {\mathcal{B}}_{1,\aleph _{0}}=(1+\sqrt{5})/2$

${\mathcal{B}}_{\aleph _{0}}\cap ((1+\sqrt{5})/2,q_{1}]=\{q_{1}\}$

$q_{1}\,({\approx}1.64541)$

$x^{6}-x^{4}-x^{3}-2x^{2}-x-1=0$

${\mathcal{B}}_{1,\aleph _{0}}$

$q_{3}\,({\approx}1.68042)$

$x^{5}-x^{4}-x^{3}-x+1=0$

${\mathcal{B}}_{\aleph _{0}}\cap (q_{1},q_{3}]=\{q_{2},q_{3}\}$

$q_{2}\,({\approx}1.65462)$

$x^{6}-2x^{4}-x^{3}-1=0$

This paper presents a new result concerning the distribution of 2-Selmer ranks in the quadratic twist family of an elliptic curve over an arbitrary number field $K$ with a single point of order two that does not have a cyclic 4-isogeny defined over its two-division field. We prove that at least half of all the quadratic twists of such an elliptic curve have arbitrarily large 2-Selmer rank, showing that the distribution of 2-Selmer ranks in the quadratic twist family of such an elliptic curve differs from the distribution of 2-Selmer ranks in the quadratic twist family of an elliptic curve having either no rational two-torsion or full rational two-torsion.

We consider an elliptic self-adjoint first-order differential operator $L$ acting on pairs (2-columns) of complex-valued half-densities over a connected compact three-dimensional manifold without boundary. The principal symbol of the operator $L$ is assumed to be trace-free and the subprincipal symbol is assumed to be zero. Given a positive scalar weight function, we study the weighted eigenvalue problem for the operator $L$ . The corresponding counting function (number of eigenvalues between zero and a positive $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}$ ) is known to admit, under appropriate assumptions on periodic trajectories, a two-term asymptotic expansion as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}\rightarrow +\infty$ and we have recently derived an explicit formula for the second asymptotic coefficient. The purpose of this paper is to establish the geometric meaning of the second asymptotic coefficient. To this end, we identify the geometric objects encoded within our eigenvalue problem—metric, non-vanishing spinor field and topological charge—and express our asymptotic coefficients in terms of these geometric objects. We prove that the second asymptotic coefficient of the counting function has the geometric meaning of the massless Dirac action.

We investigate the problem of the decomposition of balls into a finite number of congruent pieces in dimension $d=2k$. In addition, we prove that the $d$-dimensional unit ball $B_{d}$ can be divided into a finite number of congruent pieces if $d=4$ or $d\geqslant 6$. We show that the minimal number of required pieces is less than $20d$, if $d\geqslant 10$.

We prove a family of sharp bilinear space–time estimates for the half-wave propagator $\text{e}^{\text{i}t\sqrt{-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E5}}}$ . As a consequence, for radially symmetric initial data, we establish sharp estimates of this kind for a range of exponents beyond the classical range.

The approximation constant ${\it\lambda}_{k}({\it\zeta})$ is defined as the supremum of ${\it\eta}\in \mathbb{R}$ such that the estimate $\max _{1\leqslant j\leqslant k}\Vert {\it\zeta}^{j}x\Vert \leqslant x^{-{\it\eta}}$ has infinitely many integer solutions $x$. Here $\Vert .\Vert$ denotes the distance to the closest integer. We establish a connection on the joint spectrum $({\it\lambda}_{1}({\it\zeta}),{\it\lambda}_{2}({\it\zeta}),\ldots )$, which will lead to various improvements of known results on the individual spectrum of the approximation constants ${\it\lambda}_{k}({\it\zeta})$ as well. In particular, for given $k\geqslant 1$ and ${\it\lambda}\geqslant 1$, we construct ${\it\zeta}$ in the Cantor set with ${\it\lambda}_{k}({\it\zeta})={\it\lambda}$. Moreover, we establish an estimate for the uniform approximation constants $\widehat{{\it\lambda}}_{k}({\it\zeta})$, which enables us to determine classical approximation constants for Liouville numbers.

We show that if a collection of lines in a vector space over a finite field has “dimension” at least $2(d-1)+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ , then its union has “dimension” at least $d+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ . This is the sharp estimate of its type when no structural assumptions are placed on the collection of lines. We also consider some refinements and extensions of the main result, including estimates for unions of $k$ -planes.

We study the meromorphic continuation and the spectral expansion of the opposite-sign Kloosterman sum zeta function

$$\begin{eqnarray}\displaystyle (2{\it\pi}\sqrt{mn})^{2s-1}\mathop{\sum }_{\ell =1}^{\infty }\frac{S(m,-n,\ell )}{\ell ^{2s}} & & \displaystyle \nonumber\end{eqnarray}$$

$m,n$

$s\in \mathbb{C}$

We consider the random functions $S_{N}(z):=\sum _{n=1}^{N}z(n)$, where $z(n)$ is the completely multiplicative random function generated by independent Steinhaus variables $z(p)$. It is shown that $\mathbb{E}|S_{N}|\gg \sqrt{N}(\log N)^{-0.05616}$ and that $(\mathbb{E}|S_{N}|^{q})^{1/q}\gg _{q}\sqrt{N}(\log N)^{-0.07672}$ for all $q>0$.

Assuming $T_{0}$ to be an m-accretive operator in the complex Hilbert space ${\mathcal{H}}$, we use a resolvent method due to Kato to appropriately define the additive perturbation $T=T_{0}+W$ and prove stability of square root domains, that is,

$$\begin{eqnarray}\text{dom}((T_{0}+W)^{1/2})=\text{dom}(T_{0}^{1/2}).\end{eqnarray}$$

$\text{dom}(T_{0}^{1/2})=\text{dom}((T_{0}^{\ast })^{1/2})$

$$\begin{eqnarray}\text{dom}((T_{0}+W)^{1/2})=\text{dom}(T_{0}^{1/2})=\text{dom}((T_{0}^{\ast })^{1/2})=\text{dom}(((T_{0}+W)^{\ast })^{1/2}),\end{eqnarray}$$

$$\begin{eqnarray}-\text{div}(a{\rm\nabla}\,\cdot )+(\vec{B}_{1}\cdot {\rm\nabla}\,\cdot )+\text{div}(\vec{B}_{2}\,\cdot )+V\end{eqnarray}$$

$L^{2}({\rm\Omega})$

${\rm\Omega}\subseteq \mathbb{R}^{n}$

$n\in \mathbb{N}$

$\partial {\rm\Omega}$

$\partial {\rm\Omega}$

Let $C\in \mathbb{Z}[x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}]$ be a cubic form. Assume that $C$ splits into four forms. Then $C(x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})=0$ has a non-trivial integer solution provided that $n\geqslant 10$.