Bernstein's problem on weighted polynomial approximation

We formulate and discuss a necessary and sufficient condition for polynomials to be dense in a space of continuous functions on the real line, with respect to Bernstein's weighted uniform norm. Equivalently, for a positive finite measure $\mu$ on the real line we give a criterion for density of polynomials in $L^p(\mu)$

Tensor products of Leavitt path algebras

We compute the Hochschild homology of Leavitt path algebras over a field $k$. As an application, we show that $L_2$ and $L_2\otimes L_2$ have different Hochschild homologies, and so they are not Morita equivalent; in particular they are not isomorphic. Similarly, $L_\infty$ and $L_\infty\otimes L_\infty$ are distinguished by their Hochschild homologies and so they are not Morita equivalent either. By contrast, we show that $K$-theory cannot distinguish these algebras; we have $K_*(L_2)=K_*(L_2\otimes L_2)=0$ and $K_*(L_\infty)=K_*(L_\infty\otimes L_\infty)=K_*(k)$.Comment: 10 pages. Added hypothesis to Corolary 4.5; Example 5.2 expanded, other cosmetic changes, including an e-mail address and some dashes. Final version, to appear in PAM

Shellability of noncrossing partition lattices

We give a case-free proof that the lattice of noncrossing partitions associated to any finite real reflection group is EL-shellable. Shellability of these lattices was open for the groups of type $D_n$ and those of exceptional type and rank at least three.Comment: 10 page

Data-Driven Prediction of Thresholded Time Series of Rainfall and SOC models

We study the occurrence of events, subject to threshold, in a representative SOC sandpile model and in high-resolution rainfall data. The predictability in both systems is analyzed by means of a decision variable sensitive to event clustering, and the quality of the predictions is evaluated by the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) method. In the case of the SOC sandpile model, the scaling of quiet-time distributions with increasing threshold leads to increased predictability of extreme events. A scaling theory allows us to understand all the details of the prediction procedure and to extrapolate the shape of the ROC curves for the most extreme events. For rainfall data, the quiet-time distributions do not scale for high thresholds, which means that the corresponding ROC curves cannot be straightforwardly related to those for lower thresholds.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

Bifurcations from families of periodic solutions in piecewise differential systems

Consider a differential system of the form $$x'=F_0(t,x)+\sum_{i=1}^k \varepsilon^i F_i(t,x)+\varepsilon^{k+1} R(t,x,\varepsilon),$$ where $F_i:\mathbb{S}^1 \times D \to \mathbb{R}^m$ and $R:\mathbb{S}^1 \times D \times (-\varepsilon_0,\varepsilon_0) \to \mathbb{R}^m$ are piecewise $C^{k+1}$ functions and $T$-periodic in the variable $t$. Assuming that the unperturbed system $x'=F_0(t,x)$ has a $d$-dimensional submanifold of periodic solutions with $d<m$, we use the Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction and the averaging theory to study the existence of isolated $T$-periodic solutions of the above differential system

Complex contact manifolds and S^{1} actions

We prove rigidity and vanishing theorems for several holomorphic Euler characteristics on complex contact manifolds admitting holomorphic circle actions preserving the contact structure. Such vanishings are reminiscent of those of LeBrun and Salamon on Fano contact manifolds but under a symmetry assumption instead of a curvature condition

Structure theorems for subgroups of homeomorphisms groups

In this partly expository paper, we study the set A of groups of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the circle S^1 which do not admit non-abelian free subgroups. We use classical results about homeomorphisms of the circle and elementary dynamical methods to derive various new and old results about the groups in A. Of the known results, we include some results from a family of results of Beklaryan and Malyutin, and we also give a new proof of a theorem of Margulis. Our primary new results include a detailed classification of the solvable subgroups of R. Thompson's group T .Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures; final version, to appear in "International Journal of Algebra and Computation

Stochastic multi-scale models of competition within heterogeneous cellular populations: simulation methods and mean-field analysis

We propose a modelling framework to analyse the stochastic behaviour of heterogeneous, multi-scale cellular populations. We illustrate our methodology with a particular example in which we study a population with an oxygen-regulated proliferation rate. Our formulation is based on an age-dependent stochastic process. Cells within the population are characterised by their age. The age-dependent (oxygen-regulated) birth rate is given by a stochastic model of oxygen-dependent cell cycle progression. We then formulate an age-dependent birth-and-death process, which dictates the time evolution of the cell population. The population is under a feedback loop which controls its steady state size: cells consume oxygen which in turns fuels cell proliferation. We show that our stochastic model of cell cycle progression allows for heterogeneity within the cell population induced by stochastic effects. Such heterogeneous behaviour is reflected in variations in the proliferation rate. Within this set-up, we have established three main results. First, we have shown that the age to the G1/S transition, which essentially determines the birth rate, exhibits a remarkably simple scaling behaviour. This allows for a huge simplification of our numerical methodology. A further result is the observation that heterogeneous populations undergo an internal process of quasi-neutral competition. Finally, we investigated the effects of cell-cycle-phase dependent therapies (such as radiation therapy) on heterogeneous populations. In particular, we have studied the case in which the population contains a quiescent sub-population. Our mean-field analysis and numerical simulations confirm that, if the survival fraction of the therapy is too high, rescue of the quiescent population occurs. This gives rise to emergence of resistance to therapy since the rescued population is less sensitive to therapy

What is the Jacobian of a Riemann surface with boundary?

We define the Jacobian of a Riemann surface with analytically parametrized boundary components. These Jacobians belong to a moduli space of ``open abelian varieties'' which satisfies gluing axioms similar to those of Riemann surfaces, and therefore allows a notion of ``conformal field theory'' to be defined on this space. We further prove that chiral conformal field theories corresponding to even lattices factor through this moduli space of open abelian varieties.Comment: 27 pages. Minor explanation and motivation added

Computational explorations in Thompson's group F

We describe the results of some computational explorations in Thompson's group F. We describe experiments to estimate the cogrowth of F with respect to its standard finite generating set, designed to address the subtle and difficult question whether or not Thompson's group is amenable. We also describe experiments to estimate the exponential growth rate of F and the rate of escape of symmetric random walks with respect to the standard generating set.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 5 table