Orbifold quantum D-modules associated to weighted projective spaces

We construct in an abstract fashion the orbifold quantum cohomology (quantum orbifold cohomology) of weighted projective space, starting from the orbifold quantum differential operator. We obtain the product, grading, and intersection form by making use of the associated self-adjoint D-module and the Birkhoff factorization procedure. The method extends to the more difficult case of Fano hypersurfaces in weighted projective space. However, in contrast to the case of weighted projective space itself or a Fano hypersurface in projective space, a "small Birkhoff cell" can appear in the construction; we give an example of this phenomenon.Comment: 24 pages. The main modification in this (final) version is the description of an ambiguity in the example of section 5, which was omitted from the original versio

Spaces of polynomials with roots of bounded multiplicity

We describe an alternative approach to some results of Vassiliev on spaces of polynomials, by using the scanning method which was used by Segal in his investigation of spaces of rational functions. We explain how these two approaches are related by the Smale-Hirsch Principle or the h-Principle of Gromov. We obtain several generalizations, which may be of interest in their own right.Comment: 29 pages, AMS-Te