Quantitative isoperimetric inequalities in H^n

In the Heisenberg group H^n, we prove quantitative isoperimetric inequalities for Pansu's spheres, that are known to be isoperimetric under various assumptions. The inequalities are shown for suitably restricted classes of competing sets and the proof relies on the construction of sub-calibrations

Extremal H-Colorings of Graphs with Fixed Minimum Degree

For graphs G and H, a homomorphism from G to H, or H-coloring of G, is a map from the vertices of G to the vertices of H that preserves adjacency. When H is composed of an edge with one looped endvertex, an H-coloring of G corresponds to an independent set in G. Galvin showed that, for sufficiently large n, the complete bipartite graph Kδ,n-δ is the n-vertex graph with minimum degree δ that has the largest number of independent sets. In this paper, we begin the project of generalizing this result to arbitrary H. Writing hom(G, H) for the number of H-colorings of G, we show that for fixed H and δ = 1 or δ = 2, hom(G, H) ≤ max{hom(Kδ+1,H)n⁄δ =1, hom(Kδ,δ,H)n⁄2δ, hom(Kδ,n-δ,H)} for any n-vertex G with minimum degree δ (for sufficiently large n). We also provide examples of H for which the maximum is achieved by hom(Kδ+1, H)n⁄δ+1 and other H for which the maximum is achieved by hom(Kδ,δ,H)n⁄2δ. For δ ≥ 3 (and sufficiently large n), we provide a infinite family of H for which hom(G, H) ≤ hom (Kδ,n-δ, H) for any n-vertex G with minimum degree δ. The results generalize to weighted H-colorings

On finite index subgroups of the mapping class group of a nonorientable surface

Let $M(N_{h,n})$ denote the mapping class group of a compact nonorientable surface of genus $h\ge 7$ and $n\le 1$ boundary components, and let $T(N_{h,n})$ be the subgroup of $M(N_{h,n})$ generated by all Dehn twists. It is known that $T(N_{h,n})$ is the unique subgroup of $M(N_{h,n})$ of index $2$. We prove that $T(N_{h,n})$ (and also $M(N_{h,n})$) contains a unique subgroup of index $2^{g-1}(2^g-1)$ up to conjugation, and a unique subgroup of index $2^{g-1}(2^g+1)$ up to conjugation, where $g=\lfloor(h-1)/2\rfloor$. The other proper subgroups of $T(N_{h,n})$ and $M(N_{h,n})$ have index greater than $2^{g-1}(2^g+1)$. In particular, the minimum index of a proper subgroup of $T(N_{h,n})$ is $2^{g-1}(2^g-1)$.Comment: To appear in Glas. Ma

Extremal \u3cem\u3eH\u3c/em\u3e-Colorings of Graphs with Fixed Minimum Degree

For graphs G and H, a homomorphism from G to H, or H-coloring of G, is a map from the vertices of G to the vertices of H that preserves adjacency. When H is composed of an edge with one looped endvertex, an H-coloring of G corresponds to an independent set in G. Galvin showed that, for sufficiently large n, the complete bipartite graph Κ is the n-vertex graph with minimum degree δ that has the largest number of independent sets. In this article, we begin the project of generalizing this result to arbitrary H. Writing hom(G,H) for the number of H-colorings of G, we show that for fixed H and δ=1 or δ=2, hom(G,H) ≤max[hom(Kσ+1, H)^(n/2σ), hom(Kσ,n-δ, H)] for any n-vertex G with minimum degree δ (for sufficiently large n). We also provide examples of H for which the maximum is achieved by and other H for which the maximum is achieved by hom(Kσ+1, H)^(n/2σ). For δ≥3 (and sufficiently large n), we provide an infinite family of H for which hom(G,H)≤ hom(Kσ,n-δ, H) for any n-vertex G with minimum degree δ. The results generalize to weighted H-colorings