Why Delannoy numbers?

This article is not a research paper, but a little note on the history of combinatorics: We present here a tentative short biography of Henri Delannoy, and a survey of his most notable works. This answers to the question raised in the title, as these works are related to lattice paths enumeration, to the so-called Delannoy numbers, and were the first general way to solve Ballot-like problems. These numbers appear in probabilistic game theory, alignments of DNA sequences, tiling problems, temporal representation models, analysis of algorithms and combinatorial structures.Comment: Presented to the conference "Lattice Paths Combinatorics and Discrete Distributions" (Athens, June 5-7, 2002) and to appear in the Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference

A Survey on Continuous Time Computations

We provide an overview of theories of continuous time computation. These theories allow us to understand both the hardness of questions related to continuous time dynamical systems and the computational power of continuous time analog models. We survey the existing models, summarizing results, and point to relevant references in the literature

Extremal Lipschitz functions in the deviation inequalities from the mean

We obtain an optimal deviation from the mean upper bound \begin{equation} D(x)\=\sup_{f\in \F}\mu\{f-\E_{\mu} f\geq x\},\qquad\ \text{for}\ x\in\R\label{abstr} \end{equation} where \F is the class of the integrable, Lipschitz functions on probability metric (product) spaces. As corollaries we get exact solutions of \eqref{abstr} for Euclidean unit sphere $S^{n-1}$ with a geodesic distance and a normalized Haar measure, for $\R^n$ equipped with a Gaussian measure and for the multidimensional cube, rectangle, torus or Diamond graph equipped with uniform measure and Hamming distance. We also prove that in general probability metric spaces the $\sup$ in \eqref{abstr} is achieved on a family of distance functions.Comment: 7 page

Analysis of Schr\"odinger operators with inverse square potentials I: regularity results in 3D

Let $V$ be a potential on \RR^3 that is smooth everywhere except at a discrete set \maS of points, where it has singularities of the form $Z/\rho^2$, with $\rho(x) = |x - p|$ for $x$ close to $p$ and $Z$ continuous on \RR^3 with $Z(p) > -1/4$ for p \in \maS. Also assume that $\rho$ and $Z$ are smooth outside \maS and $Z$ is smooth in polar coordinates around each singular point. We either assume that $V$ is periodic or that the set \maS is finite and $V$ extends to a smooth function on the radial compactification of \RR^3 that is bounded outside a compact set containing \maS. In the periodic case, we let $\Lambda$ be the periodicity lattice and define \TT := \RR^3/ \Lambda. We obtain regularity results in weighted Sobolev space for the eigenfunctions of the Schr\"odinger-type operator $H = -\Delta + V$ acting on L^2(\TT), as well as for the induced \vt k--Hamiltonians \Hk obtained by restricting the action of $H$ to Bloch waves. Under some additional assumptions, we extend these regularity and solvability results to the non-periodic case. We sketch some applications to approximation of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues that will be studied in more detail in a second paper.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in Bull. Math. Soc. Sci. Math. Roumanie, vol. 55 (103), no. 2/201

A geometry of information, I: Nerves, posets and differential forms

The main theme of this workshop (Dagstuhl seminar 04351) is `Spatial Representation: Continuous vs. Discrete'. Spatial representation has two contrasting but interacting aspects (i) representation of spaces' and (ii) representation by spaces. In this paper, we will examine two aspects that are common to both interpretations of the theme, namely nerve constructions and refinement. Representations change, data changes, spaces change. We will examine the possibility of a `differential geometry' of spatial representations of both types, and in the sequel give an algebra of differential forms that has the potential to handle the dynamical aspect of such a geometry. We will discuss briefly a conjectured class of spaces, generalising the Cantor set which would seem ideal as a test-bed for the set of tools we are developing.Comment: 28 pages. A version of this paper appears also on the Dagstuhl seminar portal http://drops.dagstuhl.de/portals/04351

A Digital Signature Scheme for Long-Term Security

In this paper we propose a signature scheme based on two intractable problems, namely the integer factorization problem and the discrete logarithm problem for elliptic curves. It is suitable for applications requiring long-term security and provides a more efficient solution than the existing ones