Momentum polytopes of projective spherical varieties and related K\"ahler geometry

We apply the combinatorial theory of spherical varieties to characterize the momentum polytopes of polarized projective spherical varieties. This enables us to derive a classification of these varieties, without specifying the open orbit, as well as a classification of all Fano spherical varieties. In the setting of multiplicity free compact and connected Hamiltonian manifolds, we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition involving momentum polytopes for such manifolds to be K\"ahler and classify the invariant compatible complex structures of a given K\"ahler multiplicity free compact and connected Hamiltonian manifold.Comment: v1: 32 pages. v2: 47 pages, fixed errors, improved exposition, expanded Section 7. v3: 47 pages, implemented changes and corrections requested by refere

Finitary and Infinitary Mathematics, the Possibility of Possibilities and the Definition of Probabilities

Some relations between physics and finitary and infinitary mathematics are explored in the context of a many-minds interpretation of quantum theory. The analogy between mathematical ``existence'' and physical ``existence'' is considered from the point of view of philosophical idealism. Some of the ways in which infinitary mathematics arises in modern mathematical physics are discussed. Empirical science has led to the mathematics of quantum theory. This in turn can be taken to suggest a picture of reality involving possible minds and the physical laws which determine their probabilities. In this picture, finitary and infinitary mathematics play separate roles. It is argued that mind, language, and finitary mathematics have similar prerequisites, in that each depends on the possibility of possibilities. The infinite, on the other hand, can be described but never experienced, and yet it seems that sets of possibilities and the physical laws which define their probabilities can be described most simply in terms of infinitary mathematics.Comment: 21 pages, plain TeX, related papers from http://www.poco.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mjd101

Infinity

This essay surveys the different types of infinity that occur in pure and applied mathematics, with emphasis on: 1. the contrast between potential infinity and actual infinity; 2. Cantor's distinction between transfinite sets and absolute infinity; 3. the constructivist view of infinite quantifiers and the meaning of constructive proof; 4. the concept of feasibility and the philosophical problems surrounding feasible arithmetic; 5. Zeno's paradoxes and modern paradoxes of physical infinity involving supertasks

Correspondences between projective planes

We characterize integral homology classes of the product of two projective planes which are representable by a subvariety.Comment: Improved readability, 14 page

Thurston obstructions and Ahlfors regular conformal dimension

Let $f: S^2 \to S^2$ be an expanding branched covering map of the sphere to itself with finite postcritical set $P_f$. Associated to $f$ is a canonical quasisymmetry class \GGG(f) of Ahlfors regular metrics on the sphere in which the dynamics is (non-classically) conformal. We show \inf_{X \in \GGG(f)} \hdim(X) \geq Q(f)=\inf_\Gamma \{Q \geq 2: \lambda(f_{\Gamma,Q}) \geq 1\}. The infimum is over all multicurves $\Gamma \subset S^2-P_f$. The map $f_{\Gamma,Q}: \R^\Gamma \to \R^\Gamma$ is defined by $$f_{\Gamma, Q}(\gamma) =\sum_{[\gamma']\in\Gamma} \sum_{\delta \sim \gamma'} \deg(f:\delta \to \gamma)^{1-Q}[\gamma'],$$ where the second sum is over all preimages $\delta$ of $\gamma$ freely homotopic to $\gamma'$ in $S^2-P_f$, and $\lambda(f_{\Gamma,Q})$ is its Perron-Frobenius leading eigenvalue. This generalizes Thurston's observation that if $Q(f)>2$, then there is no $f$-invariant classical conformal structure.Comment: Minor revisions are mad