Asymptotic of geometrical navigation on a random set of points of the plane

A navigation on a set of points $S$ is a rule for choosing which point to move to from the present point in order to progress toward a specified target. We study some navigations in the plane where $S$ is a non uniform Poisson point process (in a finite domain) with intensity going to $+\infty$. We show the convergence of the traveller path lengths, the number of stages done, and the geometry of the traveller trajectories, uniformly for all starting points and targets, for several navigations of geometric nature. Other costs are also considered. This leads to asymptotic results on the stretch factors of random Yao-graphs and random $\theta$-graphs

Almost harmonic spinors

We show that any closed spin manifold not diffeomorphic to the two-sphere admits a sequence of volume-one-Riemannian metrics for which the smallest non-zero Dirac eigenvalue tends to zero. As an application, we compare the Dirac spectrum with the conformal volume.Comment: minor modifications of the published versio

The combinatorics of the colliding bullets problem

The finite colliding bullets problem is the following simple problem: consider a gun, whose barrel remains in a fixed direction; let $(V_i)_{1\le i\le n}$ be an i.i.d.\ family of random variables with uniform distribution on $[0,1]$; shoot $n$ bullets one after another at times $1,2,\dots, n$, where the $i$th bullet has speed $V_i$. When two bullets collide, they both annihilate. We give the distribution of the number of surviving bullets, and in some generalisation of this model. While the distribution is relatively simple (and we found a number of bold claims online), our proof is surprisingly intricate and mixes combinatorial and geometric arguments; we argue that any rigorous argument must very likely be rather elaborate.Comment: 29 page

Random recursive triangulations of the disk via fragmentation theory

We introduce and study an infinite random triangulation of the unit disk that arises as the limit of several recursive models. This triangulation is generated by throwing chords uniformly at random in the unit disk and keeping only those chords that do not intersect the previous ones. After throwing infinitely many chords and taking the closure of the resulting set, one gets a random compact subset of the unit disk whose complement is a countable union of triangles. We show that this limiting random set has Hausdorff dimension $\beta^*+1$, where $\beta^*=(\sqrt{17}-3)/2$, and that it can be described as the geodesic lamination coded by a random continuous function which is H\"{o}lder continuous with exponent $\beta^*-\varepsilon$, for every $\varepsilon>0$. We also discuss recursive constructions of triangulations of the $n$-gon that give rise to the same continuous limit when $n$ tends to infinity.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOP608 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Anarchy and Neutrino Physics

The neutrino sector of a seesaw-extended Standard Model is investigated under the anarchy hypothesis. The previously derived probability density functions for neutrino masses and mixings, which characterize the type I-III seesaw ensemble of $N\times N$ complex random matrices, are used to extract information on the relevant physical parameters. For $N=2$ and $N=3$, the distributions of the light neutrino masses, as well as the mixing angles and phases, are obtained using numerical integration methods. A systematic comparison with the much simpler type II seesaw ensemble is also performed to point out the fundamental differences between the two ensembles. It is found that the type I-III seesaw ensemble is better suited to accommodate experimental data. Moreover, the results indicate a strong preference for the mass splitting associated to normal hierarchy. However, since all permutations of the singular values are found to be equally probable for a particular mass splitting, predictions regarding the hierarchy of the mass spectrum remains out of reach in the framework of anarchy.Comment: 1+22 pages, 8 figures, typos fixed, added referenc

Relaxation approximation of Friedrich's systems under convex constraints

This paper is devoted to present an approximation of a Cauchy problem for Friedrichs' systems under convex constraints. It is proved the strong convergence in L^2\_{loc} of a parabolic-relaxed approximation towards the unique constrained solution