A nodal domain theorem for integrable billiards in two dimensions

Eigenfunctions of integrable planar billiards are studied - in particular, the number of nodal domains, $\nu$, of the eigenfunctions are considered. The billiards for which the time-independent Schr\"odinger equation (Helmholtz equation) is separable admit trivial expressions for the number of domains. Here, we discover that for all separable and non-separable integrable billiards, $\nu$ satisfies certain difference equations. This has been possible because the eigenfunctions can be classified in families labelled by the same value of $m\mod kn$, given a particular $k$, for a set of quantum numbers, $m, n$. Further, we observe that the patterns in a family are similar and the algebraic representation of the geometrical nodal patterns is found. Instances of this representation are explained in detail to understand the beauty of the patterns. This paper therefore presents a mathematical connection between integrable systems and difference equations.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Quantum Mechanics of a Rotating Billiard

Integrability of a square billiard is spontaneously broken as it rotates about one of its corners. The system becomes quasi-integrable where the invariant tori are broken with respect to a certain parameter, $\lambda = 2E/\omega^{2}$ where E is the energy of the particle inside the billiard and $\omega$ is the angular frequency of rotation of billiard. We study the system classically and quantum mechanically in view of obtaining a correspondence in the two descriptions. Classical phase space in Poincar\'{e} surface of section shows transition from regular to chaotic motion as the parameter $\lambda$ is decreased. In the Quantum counterpart, the spectral statistics shows a transition from Poisson to Wigner distribution as the system turns chaotic with decrease in $\lambda$. The wavefunction statistics however show breakdown of time-reversal symmetry as $\lambda$ decreases

A Polymatroid Approach to Generalized Weights of Rank Metric Codes

We consider the notion of a $(q,m)$-polymatroid, due to Shiromoto, and the more general notion of $(q,m)$-demi-polymatroid, and show how generalized weights can be defined for them. Further, we establish a duality for these weights analogous to Wei duality for generalized Hamming weights of linear codes. The corresponding results of Ravagnani for Delsarte rank metric codes, and Martinez-Penas and Matsumoto for relative generalized rank weights are derived as a consequence.Comment: 22 pages; with minor revisions in the previous versio

Arithmetic Progressions in a Unique Factorization Domain

Pillai showed that any sequence of consecutive integers with at most 16 terms possesses one term that is relatively prime to all the others. We give a new proof of a slight generalization of this result to arithmetic progressions of integers and further extend it to arithmetic progressions in unique factorization domains of characteristic zero.Comment: Version 2 (to appear in Acta Arithmetica) with minor typos correcte