On integrability of generalized Veronese curves of distributions

Given a 1-parameter family of 1-forms \g(t)= \g_0+t\g_1+...+t^n\g_n, consider the condition d\g(t)\wedge\g(t)=0 (of integrability for the annihilated by \g(t) distribution $w(t)$). We prove that in order that this condition is satisfied for any $t$ it is sufficient that it is satisfied for $N=n+3$ different values of $t$ (the corresponding implication for $N=2n+1$ is obvious). In fact we give a stronger result dealing with distributions of higher codimension. This result is related to the so-called Veronese webs and can be applied in the theory of bihamiltonian structures.Comment: 7p., to appear in "Reports on Mathematical Physics

Variability of North Atlantic hurricanes: seasonal versus individual-event features

Tropical cyclones are affected by a large number of climatic factors, which translates into complex patterns of occurrence. The variability of annual metrics of tropical-cyclone activity has been intensively studied, in particular since the sudden activation of the N Atl in the mid 1990's. We provide first a swift overview on previous work by diverse authors about these annual metrics for the NAtl basin, where the natural variability of the phenomenon, the existence of trends, the drawbacks of the records, and the influence of global warming have been the subject of interesting debates. Next, we present an alternative approach that does not focus on seasonal features but on the characteristics of single events [Corral et al Nature Phys 6, 693, 2010]. It is argued that the individual-storm power dissipation index (PDI) constitutes a natural way to describe each event, and further, that the PDI statistics yields a robust law for the occurrence of tropical cyclones in terms of a power law. In this context, methods of fitting these distributions are discussed. As an important extension to this work we introduce a distribution function that models the whole range of the PDI density (excluding incompleteness effects at the smallest values), the gamma distribution, consisting in a power-law with an exponential decay at the tail. The characteristic scale of this decay, represented by the cutoff parameter, provides very valuable information on the finiteness size of the basin, via the largest values of the PDIs that the basin can sustain. We use the gamma fit to evaluate the influence of sea surface temperature (SST) on the occurrence of extreme PDI values, for which we find an increase around 50 % in the values of these basin-wide events for a 0.49 degC SST average difference. ...Comment: final version available soon in the 1st author's web, http://www.crm.cat/Researchers/acorral/Pages/PersonalInformation.asp

The multi-fractal structure of contrast changes in natural images: from sharp edges to textures

We present a formalism that leads very naturally to a hierarchical description of the different contrast structures in images, providing precise definitions of sharp edges and other texture components. Within this formalism, we achieve a decomposition of pixels of the image in sets, the fractal components of the image, such that each set only contains points characterized by a fixed stregth of the singularity of the contrast gradient in its neighborhood. A crucial role in this description of images is played by the behavior of contrast differences under changes in scale. Contrary to naive scaling ideas where the image is thought to have uniform transformation properties \cite{Fie87}, each of these fractal components has its own transformation law and scaling exponents. A conjecture on their biological relevance is also given.Comment: 41 pages, 8 figures, LaTe

Primary singularities of vector fields on surfaces

Unless another thing is stated one works in the C∞ category and manifolds have empty boundary. Let X and Y be vector fields on a manifold M. We say that Y tracks X if [Y, X] = fX for some continuous function f: M→ R. A subset K of the zero set Z(X) is an essential block for X if it is non-empty, compact, open in Z(X) and its Poincaré-Hopf index does not vanishes. One says that X is non-flat at p if its ∞-jet at p is non-trivial. A point p of Z(X) is called a primary singularity of X if any vector field defined about p and tracking X vanishes at p. This is our main result: consider an essential block K of a vector field X defined on a surface M. Assume that X is non-flat at every point of K. Then K contains a primary singularity of X. As a consequence, if M is a compact surface with non-zero characteristic and X is nowhere flat, then there exists a primary singularity of X

Multifractal wavelet filter of natural images

Natural images are characterized by the multiscaling properties of their contrast gradient, in addition to their power spectrum. In this work we show that those properties uniquely define an {\em intrinsic wavelet} and present a suitable technique to obtain it from an ensemble of images. Once this wavelet is known, images can be represented as expansions in the associated wavelet basis. The resulting code has the remarkable properties that it separates independent features at different resolution level, reducing the redundancy, and remains essentially unchanged under changes in the power spectrum. The possible generalization of this representation to other systems is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTe