Diagonals of rational functions, pullbacked 2F1 hypergeometric functions and modular forms (unabrigded version)

We recall that diagonals of rational functions naturally occur in lattice statistical mechanics and enumerative combinatorics. We find that a seven-parameter rational function of three variables with a numerator equal to one (reciprocal of a polynomial of degree two at most) can be expressed as a pullbacked 2F1 hypergeometric function. This result can be seen as the simplest non-trivial family of diagonals of rational functions. We focus on some subcases such that the diagonals of the corresponding rational functions can be written as a pullbacked 2F1 hypergeometric function with two possible rational functions pullbacks algebraically related by modular equations, thus showing explicitely that the diagonal is a modular form. We then generalise this result to eight, nine and ten parameters families adding some selected cubic terms at the denominator of the rational function defining the diagonal. We finally show that each of these previous rational functions yields an infinite number of rational functions whose diagonals are also pullbacked 2F1 hypergeometric functions and modular forms.Comment: 39 page

A comment on free-fermion conditions for lattice models in two and more dimensions

We analyze free-fermion conditions on vertex models. We show --by examining examples of vertex models on square, triangular, and cubic lattices-- how they amount to degeneration conditions for known symmetries of the Boltzmann weights, and propose a general scheme for such a process in two and more dimensions.Comment: 12 pages, plain Late

A scanning electron microscope study of the male copulatory sclerite of the monogenean Diplectanum aequans

The cirrus of a monogenean Diplectanum aequans was isolated by treatment with sodium carbonate solution and studied with a scanning electron microscope. The method may be used in studies of the functional morphology and taxonomy of other organism

Deuterium on Venus: Observations from Earth

In view of the importance of the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in understanding the evolutionary scenario of planetary atmospheres and its relationship to understanding the evolution of our own Earth, we undertook a series of observations designed to resolve previous observational conflicts. We observed the dark side of Venus in the 2.3 micron spectral region in search of both H2O and HDO, which would provide us with the D/H ratio in Venus' atmosphere. We identified a large number of molecular lines in the region, belonging to both molecules, and, using synthetic spectral techniques, obtained mixing ratios of 34 plus or minus 10 ppm and 1.3 plus or minus 0.2 ppm for H2O and HDO, respectively. These mixing ratios yield a D/H ratio for Venus of D/H equals 1.9 plus or minus 0.6 times 10 (exp 12) and 120 plus or minus 40 times the telluric ratio. Although the detailed interpretation is difficult, our observations confirm that the Pioneer Venus Orbiter results and establish that indeed Venus had a period in its early history in which it was very wet, perhaps not unlike the early wet period that seems to have been present on Mars, and that, in contrast to Earth, lost much of its water over geologic time

Holonomic functions of several complex variables and singularities of anisotropic Ising n-fold integrals

Lattice statistical mechanics, often provides a natural (holonomic) framework to perform singularity analysis with several complex variables that would, in a general mathematical framework, be too complex, or could not be defined. Considering several Picard-Fuchs systems of two-variables "above" Calabi-Yau ODEs, associated with double hypergeometric series, we show that holonomic functions are actually a good framework for actually finding the singular manifolds. We, then, analyse the singular algebraic varieties of the n-fold integrals $\chi^{(n)}$, corresponding to the decomposition of the magnetic susceptibility of the anisotropic square Ising model. We revisit a set of Nickelian singularities that turns out to be a two-parameter family of elliptic curves. We then find a first set of non-Nickelian singularities for $\chi^{(3)}$ and $\chi^{(4)}$, that also turns out to be rational or ellipic curves. We underline the fact that these singular curves depend on the anisotropy of the Ising model. We address, from a birational viewpoint, the emergence of families of elliptic curves, and of Calabi-Yau manifolds on such problems. We discuss the accumulation of these singular curves for the non-holonomic anisotropic full susceptibility.Comment: 36 page

On Christol's conjecture

We show that the unresolved examples of Christol's conjecture \, _3F_{2}\left([2/9,5/9,8/9],[2/3,1],x\right) and $_3F_{2}\left([1/9,4/9,7/9],[1/3,1],x\right)$, are indeed diagonals of rational functions. We also show that other \, _3F_2 and \, _4F_3 unresolved examples of Christol's conjecture are diagonals of rational functions. Finally we give two arguments that show that it is likely that the \, _3F_2([1/9, 4/9, 5/9], \, [1/3,1], \, 27 \cdot x) function is a diagonal of a rational function.Comment: 13 page