A Reduced Form for Linear Differential Systems and its Application to Integrability of Hamiltonian Systems

Let $[A]: Y'=AY$ with $A\in \mathrm{M}_n (k)$ be a differential linear system. We say that a matrix $R\in {\cal M}_{n}(\bar{k})$ is a {\em reduced form} of $[A]$ if $R\in \mathfrak{g}(\bar{k})$ and there exists $P\in GL_n (\bar{k})$ such that $R=P^{-1}(AP-P')\in \mathfrak{g}(\bar{k})$. Such a form is often the sparsest possible attainable through gauge transformations without introducing new transcendants. In this article, we discuss how to compute reduced forms of some symplectic differential systems, arising as variational equations of hamiltonian systems. We use this to give an effective form of the Morales-Ramis theorem on (non)-integrability of Hamiltonian systems.Comment: 28 page

The cultural epigenetics of psychopathology: The missing heritability of complex diseases found?

We extend a cognitive paradigm for gene expression based on the asymptotic limit theorems of information theory to the epigenetic epidemiology of mental disorders. In particular, we recognize the fundamental role culture plays in human biology, another heritage mechanism parallel to, and interacting with, the more familiar genetic and epigenetic systems. We do this via a model through which culture acts as another tunable epigenetic catalyst that both directs developmental trajectories, and becomes convoluted with individual ontology, via a mutually-interacting crosstalk mediated by a social interaction that is itself culturally driven. We call for the incorporation of embedding culture as an essential component of the epigenetic regulation of human mental development and its dysfunctions, bringing what is perhaps the central reality of human biology into the center of biological psychiatry. Current US work on gene-environment interactions in psychiatry must be extended to a model of gene-environment-culture interaction to avoid becoming victim of an extreme American individualism that threatens to create paradigms particular to that culture and that are, indeed, peculiar in the context of the world's cultures. The cultural and epigenetic systems of heritage may well provide the 'missing' heritability of complex diseases now under so much intense discussion

Methods in Mathematica for Solving Ordinary Differential Equations

An overview of the solution methods for ordinary differential equations in the Mathematica function DSolve is presented.Comment: 13 page

On Abel's problem and Gauss congruences

A classical problem due to Abel is to determine if a differential equation $y'=\eta y$ admits a non-trivial solution $y$ algebraic over $\mathbb C(x)$ when $\eta$ is a given algebraic function over $\mathbb C(x)$. Risch designed an algorithm that, given $\eta$, determines whether there exists an algebraic solution or not. In this paper, we adopt a different point of view when $\eta$ admits a Puiseux expansion with rational coefficients at some point in $\mathbb C\cup \{\infty\}$, which can be assumed to be 0 without loss of generality. We prove the following arithmetic characterization: there exists a non-trivial algebraic solution of $y'=\eta y$ if and only if the coefficients of the Puiseux expansion of $\eta$ at $0$ satisfy Gauss congruences for almost all prime numbers. We then apply our criterion to hypergeometric series: we completely determine the equations $y'=\eta y$ with an algebraic solution when $x\eta(x)$ is an algebraic hypergeometric series with rational parameters, and this enables us to prove a prediction Golyshev made using the theory of motives. We also present three other applications, in particular to diagonals of rational fractions and to directed two-dimensional walks

On globally nilpotent differential equations

In a previous work of the authors, a middle convolution operation on the category of Fuchsian differential systems was introduced. In this note we show that the middle convolution of Fuchsian systems preserves the property of global nilpotence. This leads to a globally nilpotent Fuchsian system of rank two which does not belong to the known classes of globally nilpotent rank two systems. Moreover, we give a globally nilpotent Fuchsian system of rank seven whose differential Galois group is isomorphic to the exceptional simple algebraic group of type $G_2.