Veronese representation of projective Hjelmslev planes over some quadratic alternative algebras

We geometrically characterise the Veronese representations of ring projective planes over algebras which are analogues of the dual numbers, giving rise to projective Hjelmslev planes of level 2 coordinatised over quadratic alternative algebras. These planes are related to affine buildings of relative type Ã_2 and respective absolute type Ã_2, Ã_5 and Ẽ_6

The pseudo-hyperplanes and homogeneous pseudo-embeddings of the generalized quadrangles of order (3, t)

In the paper "as reported by De Bruyn (Adv Geom, to appear)", we introduced the notions of pseudo-hyperplane and pseudo-embedding of a point-line geometry and proved that every generalized quadrangle of order (s, t), 2 a parts per thousand currency sign s < a, has faithful pseudo-embeddings. The present paper focuses on generalized quadrangles of order (3, t). Using the computer algebra system GAP and invoking some theoretical relationships between pseudo-hyperplanes and pseudo-embeddings obtained in "De Bruyn (Adv Geom, to appear)", we are able to give a complete classification of all pseudo-hyperplanes of . We hereby find several new examples of tight sets of generalized quadrangles, as well as a complete classification of all 2-ovoids of . We use the classification of the pseudo-hyperplanes of to obtain a list of all homogeneous pseudo-embeddings of

Stress-induced anisotropy in granular materials: fabric, stiffness, and permeability

The loading of a granular material induces anisotropies of the particle arrangement (fabric) and of the material’s strength, incremental stiffness, and permeability. Thirteen measures of fabric anisotropy are developed, which are arranged in four categories: as preferred orientations of the particle bodies, the particle surfaces, the contact normals, and the void space. Anisotropy of the voids is described through image analysis and with Minkowski tensors. The thirteen measures of anisotropy change during loading, as determined with three-dimensional discrete element simulations of biaxial plane strain compression with constant mean stress. Assemblies with four different particle shapes were simulated. The measures of contact orientation are the most responsive to loading, and they change greatly at small strains, whereas the other measures lag the loading process and continue to change beyond the state of peak stress and even after the deviatoric stress has nearly reached a steady state. The paper implements a methodology for characterizing the incremental stiffness of a granular assembly during biaxial loading, with orthotropic loading increments that preserve the principal axes of the fabric and stiffness tensors. The linear part of the hypoplastic tangential stiffness is monitored with oedometric loading increments. This stiffness increases in the direction of the initial compressive loading but decreases in the direction of extension. Anisotropy of this stiffness is closely correlated with a particular measure of the contact fabric. Permeabilities are measured in three directions with lattice Boltzmann methods at various stages of loading and for assemblies with four particle shapes. Effective permeability is negatively correlated with the directional mean free path and is positively correlated with pore width, indicating that the anisotropy of effective permeability induced by loading is produced by changes in the directional hydraulic radius

Maximal partial line spreads of non-singular quadrics

For n >= 9 , we construct maximal partial line spreads for non-singular quadrics of for every size between approximately and , for some small constants and . These results are similar to spectrum results on maximal partial line spreads in finite projective spaces by Heden, and by Gacs and SzAnyi. These results also extend spectrum results on maximal partial line spreads in the finite generalized quadrangles and by Pepe, Roing and Storme

Characterizations of symplectic polar spaces

A polar space S is said to be symplectic if it admits an embedding e in a projective geometry PG(V) such that the e-image e(S) of S is defined by an alternating form of V. In this paper we characterize symplectic polar spaces in terms of their incidence properties, with no mention of peculiar properties of their embeddings. This is relevant especially when S admits different (non isomorphic) embeddings, as it is the case (precisely) when S is defined over a field of characteristic 2.Comment: 20 pages/extensively revise

Unextendible mutually unbiased bases (after Mandayam, Bandyopadhyay, Grassl and Wootters)

We consider questions posed in a recent paper of Mandayam et al. (2014) on the nature of unextendible mutually unbiased bases. We describe a conceptual framework to study these questions, using a connection proved by the author in Thas (2009) between the set of nonidentity generalized Pauli operators on the Hilbert space of N d-level quantum systems, d a prime, and the geometry of non-degenerate alternating bilinear forms of rank N over finite fields F d We then supply alternative and short proofs of results obtained in Mandayam et al. (2014), as well as new general bounds for the problems considered in loc. cit. In this setting, we also solve Conjecture 1 of Mandayam et al. (2014) and speculate on variations of this conjecture