Approximate common divisors via lattices

We analyze the multivariate generalization of Howgrave-Graham's algorithm for the approximate common divisor problem. In the m-variable case with modulus N and approximate common divisor of size N^beta, this improves the size of the error tolerated from N^(beta^2) to N^(beta^((m+1)/m)), under a commonly used heuristic assumption. This gives a more detailed analysis of the hardness assumption underlying the recent fully homomorphic cryptosystem of van Dijk, Gentry, Halevi, and Vaikuntanathan. While these results do not challenge the suggested parameters, a 2^(n^epsilon) approximation algorithm with epsilon<2/3 for lattice basis reduction in n dimensions could be used to break these parameters. We have implemented our algorithm, and it performs better in practice than the theoretical analysis suggests. Our results fit into a broader context of analogies between cryptanalysis and coding theory. The multivariate approximate common divisor problem is the number-theoretic analogue of multivariate polynomial reconstruction, and we develop a corresponding lattice-based algorithm for the latter problem. In particular, it specializes to a lattice-based list decoding algorithm for Parvaresh-Vardy and Guruswami-Rudra codes, which are multivariate extensions of Reed-Solomon codes. This yields a new proof of the list decoding radii for these codes.Comment: 17 page

Toric embedded resolutions of quasi-ordinary hypersurface singularities

We build two embedded resolution procedures of a quasi-ordinary singularity of complex analytic hypersurface, by using toric morphisms which depend only on the characteristic monomials associated to a quasi-ordinary projection of the singularity. This result answers an open problem of Lipman in Equisingularity and simultaneous resolution of singularities, Resolution of Singularities, Progress in Mathematics No. 181, 2000, 485-503. In the first procedure the singularity is embedded as hypersurface. In the second procedure, which is inspired by a work of Goldin and Teissier for plane curves (see Resolving singularities of plane analytic branches with one toric morphism,loc. cit., pages 315-340), we re-embed the singularity in an affine space of bigger dimension in such a way that one toric morphism provides its embedded resolution. We compare both procedures and we show that they coincide under suitable hypothesis.Comment: To apear in Annales de l'Institut Fourier (Grenoble

Approximate computations with modular curves

This article gives an introduction for mathematicians interested in numerical computations in algebraic geometry and number theory to some recent progress in algorithmic number theory, emphasising the key role of approximate computations with modular curves and their Jacobians. These approximations are done in polynomial time in the dimension and the required number of significant digits. We explain the main ideas of how the approximations are done, illustrating them with examples, and we sketch some applications in number theory

Energy localization on q-tori, long term stability and the interpretation of FPU recurrences

We focus on two approaches that have been proposed in recent years for the explanation of the so-called FPU paradox, i.e. the persistence of energy localization in the `low-q' Fourier modes of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam nonlinear lattices, preventing equipartition among all modes at low energies. In the first approach, a low-frequency fraction of the spectrum is initially excited leading to the formation of `natural packets' exhibiting exponential stability, while in the second, emphasis is placed on the existence of `q-breathers', i.e periodic continuations of the linear modes of the lattice, which are exponentially localized in Fourier space. Following ideas of the latter, we introduce in this paper the concept of `q-tori' representing exponentially localized solutions on low-dimensional tori and use their stability properties to reconcile these two approaches and provide a more complete explanation of the FPU paradox.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figure

Formal Desingularization of Surfaces - The Jung Method Revisited -

In this paper we propose the concept of formal desingularizations as a substitute for the resolution of algebraic varieties. Though a usual resolution of algebraic varieties provides more information on the structure of singularities there is evidence that the weaker concept is enough for many computational purposes. We give a detailed study of the Jung method and show how it facilitates an efficient computation of formal desingularizations for projective surfaces over a field of characteristic zero, not necessarily algebraically closed. The paper includes a generalization of Duval's Theorem on rational Puiseux parametrizations to the multivariate case and a detailed description of a system for multivariate algebraic power series computations.Comment: 33 pages, 2 figure