On the simple connectedness of hyperplane complements in dual polar spaces

Let $\Delta$ be a dual polar space of rank \geq 4$,$ be a hyperplane of $\Delta$ and $\Gamma: = \Delta\setminus H$ be the complement of $in$\Delta$. We shall prove that, if all lines of$\Delta$have more than$ points, then $\Gamma$ is simply connected. Then we show how this theorem can be exploited to prove that certain families of hyperplanes of dual polar spaces, or all hyperplanes of certain dual polar spaces, arise from embeddings

Simple maps, Hurwitz numbers, and Topological Recursion

We introduce the notion of fully simple maps, which are maps with non self-intersecting disjoint boundaries. In contrast, maps where such a restriction is not imposed are called ordinary. We study in detail the combinatorics of fully simple maps with topology of a disk or a cylinder. We show that the generating series of simple disks is given by the functional inversion of the generating series of ordinary disks. We also obtain an elegant formula for cylinders. These relations reproduce the relation between moments and free cumulants established by Collins et al. math.OA/0606431, and implement the symplectic transformation $x \leftrightarrow y$ on the spectral curve in the context of topological recursion. We conjecture that the generating series of fully simple maps are computed by the topological recursion after exchange of $x$ and $y$. We propose an argument to prove this statement conditionally to a mild version of symplectic invariance for the $1$-hermitian matrix model, which is believed to be true but has not been proved yet. Our argument relies on an (unconditional) matrix model interpretation of fully simple maps, via the formal hermitian matrix model with external field. We also deduce a universal relation between generating series of fully simple maps and of ordinary maps, which involves double monotone Hurwitz numbers. In particular, (ordinary) maps without internal faces -- which are generated by the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble -- and with boundary perimeters $(\lambda_1,\ldots,\lambda_n)$ are strictly monotone double Hurwitz numbers with ramifications $\lambda$ above $\infty$ and $(2,\ldots,2)$ above $0$. Combining with a recent result of Dubrovin et al. math-ph/1612.02333, this implies an ELSV-like formula for these Hurwitz numbers.Comment: 66 pages, 7 figure

Distance-regular graphs

This is a survey of distance-regular graphs. We present an introduction to distance-regular graphs for the reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, and then give an overview of some developments in the area of distance-regular graphs since the monograph 'BCN' [Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M., Neumaier, A., Distance-Regular Graphs, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1989] was written.Comment: 156 page

Towards the horizons of Tits's vision -- on band schemes, crowds and F1-structures

This text is dedicated to Jacques Tits's ideas on geometry over F1, the field with one element. In a first part, we explain how thin Tits geometries surface as rational point sets over the Krasner hyperfield, which links these ideas to combinatorial flag varieties in the sense of Borovik, Gelfand and White and F1-geometry in the sense of Connes and Consani. A completely novel feature is our approach to algebraic groups over F1 in terms of an alteration of the very concept of a group. In the second part, we study an incidence-geometrical counterpart of (epimorphisms to) thin Tits geometries; we introduce and classify all F1-structures on 3-dimensional projective spaces over finite fields. This extends recent work of Thas and Thas on epimorphisms of projective planes (and other rank 2 buildings) to thin planes.Comment: 29 page

Mini-Workshop: Amalgams for Graphs and Geometries

[no abstract available