The lamplighter group of rank two generated by a bireversible automaton

We construct a 4-state 2-letter bireversible automaton generating the lamplighter group $(\mathbb Z_2^2)\wr\mathbb Z$ of rank two. The action of the generators on the boundary of the tree can be induced by the affine transformations on the ring $\mathbb Z_2[[t]]$ of formal power series over $\mathbb Z_2$.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure

Lie Algebras and Growth in Branch Groups

We compute the structure of the Lie algebras associated to two examples of branch groups, and show that one has finite width while the other, the ``Gupta-Sidki group'', has unbounded width. This answers a question by Sidki. More precisely, the Lie algebra of the Gupta-Sidki group has Gelfand-Kirillov dimension $\log3/\log(1+\sqrt2)$. We then draw a general result relating the growth of a branch group, of its Lie algebra, of its graded group ring, and of a natural homogeneous space we call "parabolic space", namely the quotient of the group by the stabilizer of an infinite ray. The growth of the group is bounded from below by the growth of its graded group ring, which connects to the growth of the Lie algebra by a product-sum formula, and the growth of the parabolic space is bounded from below by the growth of the Lie algebra. Finally we use this information to explicitly describe the normal subgroups of the "Grigorchuk group". All normal subgroups are characteristic, and the number of normal subgroups of index $2^n$ is odd and is asymptotically $n^{\log_2(3)}$

The tensor product in the theory of Frobenius manifolds

We introduce the operation of forming the tensor product in the theory of analytic Frobenius manifolds. Building on the results for formal Frobenius manifolds which we extend to the additional structures of Euler fields and flat identities, we prove that the tensor product of pointed germs of Frobenius manifolds exists. Furthermore, we define the notion of a tensor product diagram of Frobenius manifolds with factorizable flat identity and prove the existence such a diagram and hence a tensor product Frobenius manifold. These diagrams and manifolds are unique up to equivalence. Finally, we derive the special initial conditions for a tensor product of semi--simple Frobenius manifolds in terms of the special initial conditions of the factors.Comment: 41 pages, amslatex, uses xy-te

Irregular singularities in Liouville theory

Motivated by problems arising in the study of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories we introduce and study irregular singularities in two-dimensional conformal field theory, here Liouville theory. Irregular singularities are associated to representations of the Virasoro algebra in which a subset of the annihilation part of the algebra act diagonally. In this paper we define natural bases for the space of conformal blocks in the presence of irregular singularities, describe how to calculate their series expansions, and how such conformal blocks can be constructed by some delicate limiting procedure from ordinary conformal blocks. This leads us to a proposal for the structure functions appearing in the decomposition of physical correlation functions with irregular singularities into conformal blocks. Taken together, we get a precise prediction for the partition functions of some Argyres-Douglas type theories on the four-sphere.Comment: 84 pages, 6 figure

The realization of input-output maps using bialgebras

The theory of bialgebras is used to prove a state space realization theorem for input/output maps of dynamical systems. This approach allows for the consideration of the classical results of Fliess and more recent results on realizations involving families of trees. Two examples of applications of the theorum are given