Utilitarianism with and without expected utility

We give two social aggregation theorems under conditions of risk, one for constant population cases, the other an extension to variable populations. Intra and interpersonal welfare comparisons are encoded in a single ‘individual preorder’. The theorems give axioms that uniquely determine a social preorder in terms of this individual preorder. The social preorders described by these theorems have features that may be considered characteristic of Harsanyi-style utilitarianism, such as indifference to ex ante and ex post equality. However, the theorems are also consistent with the rejection of all of the expected utility axioms, completeness, continuity, and independence, at both the individual and social levels. In that sense, expected utility is inessential to Harsanyi-style utilitarianism. In fact, the variable population theorem imposes only a mild constraint on the individual preorder, while the constant population theorem imposes no constraint at all. We then derive further results under the assumption of our basic axioms. First, the individual preorder satisfies the main expected utility axiom of strong independence if and only if the social preorder has a vector-valued expected total utility representation, covering Harsanyi’s utilitarian theorem as a special case. Second, stronger utilitarian-friendly assumptions, like Pareto or strong separability, are essentially equivalent to strong independence. Third, if the individual preorder satisfies a ‘local expected utility’ condition popular in non-expected utility theory, then the social preorder has a ‘local expected total utility’ representation. Fourth, a wide range of non-expected utility theories nevertheless lead to social preorders of outcomes that have been seen as canonically egalitarian, such as rank-dependent social preorders. Although our aggregation theorems are stated under conditions of risk, they are valid in more general frameworks for representing uncertainty or ambiguity

The Fekete-Szego theorem with Local Rationality Conditions on Curves

Let $K$ be a number field or a function field in one variable over a finite field, and let $K^{sep}$ be a separable closure of $K$. Let $C/K$ be a smooth, complete, connected curve. We prove a strong theorem of Fekete-Szego type for adelic sets $E = \prod_v E_v$ on $C$, showing that under appropriate conditions there are infinitely many points in $C(K^{sep})$ whose conjugates all belong to $E_v$ at each place $v$ of $K$. We give several variants of the theorem, including two for Berkovich curves, and provide examples illustrating the theorem on the projective line, and on elliptic curves, Fermat curves, and modular curves

Progress in Commutative Algebra 2

This is the second of two volumes of a state-of-the-art survey article collection which originates from three commutative algebra sessions at the 2009 Fall Southeastern American Mathematical Society Meeting at Florida Atlantic University. The articles reach into diverse areas of commutative algebra and build a bridge between Noetherian and non-Noetherian commutative algebra. These volumes present current trends in two of the most active areas of commutative algebra: non-noetherian rings (factorization, ideal theory, integrality), and noetherian rings (the local theory, graded situation, and interactions with combinatorics and geometry). This volume contains surveys on aspects of closure operations, finiteness conditions and factorization. Closure operations on ideals and modules are a bridge between noetherian and nonnoetherian commutative algebra. It contains a nice guide to closure operations by Epstein, but also contains an article on test ideals by Schwede and Tucker and more

Number Theory, Analysis and Geometry: In Memory of Serge Lang

Serge Lang was an iconic figure in mathematics, both for his own important work and for the indelible impact he left on the field of mathematics, on his students, and on his colleagues. Over the course of his career, Lang traversed a tremendous amount of mathematical ground. As he moved from subject to subject, he found analogies that led to important questions in such areas as number theory, arithmetic geometry and the theory of negatively curved spaces. Lang's conjectures will keep many mathematicians occupied far into the future. In the spirit of Lang’s vast contribution to mathematics, this memorial volume contains articles by prominent mathematicians in a variety of areas, namely number theory, analysis and geometry, representing Lang’s own breadth of interests. A special introduction by John Tate includes a brief and engaging account of Serge Lang’s life

Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2021, which was held during March 27 until April 1, 2021, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Luxembourg and changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 28 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 88 submissions. They deal with research on theories and methods to support the analysis, integration, synthesis, transformation, and verification of programs and software systems

Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2020, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2020, and was held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2020. The 31 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 98 submissions. The papers cover topics such as categorical models and logics; language theory, automata, and games; modal, spatial, and temporal logics; type theory and proof theory; concurrency theory and process calculi; rewriting theory; semantics of programming languages; program analysis, correctness, transformation, and verification; logics of programming; software specification and refinement; models of concurrent, reactive, stochastic, distributed, hybrid, and mobile systems; emerging models of computation; logical aspects of computational complexity; models of software security; and logical foundations of data bases.

Non-archimedean tame topology and stably dominated types

Let $V$ be a quasi-projective algebraic variety over a non-archimedean valued field. We introduce topological methods into the model theory of valued fields, define an analogue $\hat {V}$ of the Berkovich analytification $V^{an}$ of $V$, and deduce several new results on Berkovich spaces from it. In particular we show that $V^{an}$ retracts to a finite simplicial complex and is locally contractible, without any smoothness assumption on $V$. When $V$ varies in an algebraic family, we show that the homotopy type of $V^{an}$ takes only a finite number of values. The space $\hat {V}$ is obtained by defining a topology on the pro-definable set of stably dominated types on $V$. The key result is the construction of a pro-definable strong retraction of $\hat {V}$ to an o-minimal subspace, the skeleton, definably homeomorphic to a space definable over the value group with its piecewise linear structure.Comment: Final versio

ISIPTA'07: Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Imprecise Probability: Theories and Applications

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