On the Skolem Problem for Continuous Linear Dynamical Systems

The Continuous Skolem Problem asks whether a real-valued function satisfying a linear differential equation has a zero in a given interval of real numbers. This is a fundamental reachability problem for continuous linear dynamical systems, such as linear hybrid automata and continuous-time Markov chains. Decidability of the problem is currently open---indeed decidability is open even for the sub-problem in which a zero is sought in a bounded interval. In this paper we show decidability of the bounded problem subject to Schanuel's Conjecture, a unifying conjecture in transcendental number theory. We furthermore analyse the unbounded problem in terms of the frequencies of the differential equation, that is, the imaginary parts of the characteristic roots. We show that the unbounded problem can be reduced to the bounded problem if there is at most one rationally linearly independent frequency, or if there are two rationally linearly independent frequencies and all characteristic roots are simple. We complete the picture by showing that decidability of the unbounded problem in the case of two (or more) rationally linearly independent frequencies would entail a major new effectiveness result in Diophantine approximation, namely computability of the Diophantine-approximation types of all real algebraic numbers.Comment: Full version of paper at ICALP'1

Isogenies of Elliptic Curves: A Computational Approach

Isogenies, the mappings of elliptic curves, have become a useful tool in cryptology. These mathematical objects have been proposed for use in computing pairings, constructing hash functions and random number generators, and analyzing the reducibility of the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem. With such diverse uses, understanding these objects is important for anyone interested in the field of elliptic curve cryptography. This paper, targeted at an audience with a knowledge of the basic theory of elliptic curves, provides an introduction to the necessary theoretical background for understanding what isogenies are and their basic properties. This theoretical background is used to explain some of the basic computational tasks associated with isogenies. Herein, algorithms for computing isogenies are collected and presented with proofs of correctness and complexity analyses. As opposed to the complex analytic approach provided in most texts on the subject, the proofs in this paper are primarily algebraic in nature. This provides alternate explanations that some with a more concrete or computational bias may find more clear.Comment: Submitted as a Masters Thesis in the Mathematics department of the University of Washingto

Extensions by Antiderivatives, Exponentials of Integrals and by Iterated Logarithms

Let F be a characteristic zero differential field with an algebraically closed field of constants, E be a no-new-constant extension of F by antiderivatives of F and let y1, ..., yn be antiderivatives of E. The antiderivatives y1, ..., yn of E are called J-I-E antiderivatives if the derivatives of yi in E satisfies certain conditions. We will discuss a new proof for the Kolchin-Ostrowski theorem and generalize this theorem for a tower of extensions by J-I-E antiderivatives and use this generalized version of the theorem to classify the finitely differentially generated subfields of this tower. In the process, we will show that the J-I-E antiderivatives are algebraically independent over the ground differential field. An example of a J-I-E tower is extensions by iterated logarithms. We will discuss the normality of extensions by iterated logarithms and produce an algorithm to compute its finitely differentially generated subfields.Comment: 66 pages, 1 figur

Fast algorithms for computing isogenies between elliptic curves

We survey algorithms for computing isogenies between elliptic curves defined over a field of characteristic either 0 or a large prime. We introduce a new algorithm that computes an isogeny of degree $\ell$ ($\ell$ different from the characteristic) in time quasi-linear with respect to $\ell$. This is based in particular on fast algorithms for power series expansion of the Weierstrass $\wp$-function and related functions