Articles

11/02/2018-- 11/02/2018

The multicolour size-Ramsey number of powers of paths

Given a positive integer $s$, a graph $G$ is $s$-Ramsey for a graph $H$, denoted $G\rightarrow (H)_s$, if every $s$-colouring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. The $s$-colour size-Ramsey number ${\hat{r}}_s(H)$ of a graph $H$ is defined to be ${\hat{r}}_s(H)=\min\{|E(G)|\colon G\rightarrow (H)_s\}$. We prove that, for all positive integers $k$ and $s$, we have ${\hat{r}}_s(P_n^k)=O(n)$, where $P_n^k$ is the $k$th power of the $n$-vertex path $P_n$.
11/24/2008-- 11/24/2008

Preduals of semigroup algebras

For a locally compact group $G$, the measure convolution algebra $M(G)$ carries a natural coproduct. In previous work, we showed that the canonical predual $C_0(G)$ of $M(G)$ is the unique predual which makes both the product and the coproduct on $M(G)$ weak$^*$-continuous. Given a discrete semigroup $S$, the convolution algebra $\ell^1(S)$ also carries a coproduct. In this paper we examine preduals for $\ell^1(S)$ making both the product and the coproduct weak$^*$-continuous. Under certain conditions on $S$, we show that $\ell^1(S)$ has a unique such predual. Such $S$ include the free semigroup on finitely many generators. In general, however, this need not be the case even for quite simple semigroups and we construct uncountably many such preduals on $\ell^1(S)$ when $S$ is either $\mathbb Z_+\times\mathbb Z$ or $(\mathbb N,\cdot)$.
09/09/2014-- 09/09/2014

$L^p$-Fourier and Fourier-Stieltjes algebras for locally compact groups

Let $G$ be a locally compact group and $1\leq p<\infty$. A continuous unitary representation $\pi\!: G\to B(\mathcal{H})$ of $G$ is an $L^p$-representation if the matrix coefficient functions $s\mapsto \langle \pi(s)x,x\rangle$ lie in $L^p(G)$ for sufficiently many $x\in \mathcal{H}$. Brannan and Ruan defined the $L^p$-Fourier algebra $A_{L^p}(G)$ to be the set of matrix coefficient functions of $L^p$-representations. Similarly, the $L^p$-Fourier-Stieltjes algebra $B_{L^p}(G)$ is defined to be the weak*-closure of $A_{L^p}(G)$ in the Fourier-Stieltjes algebra $B(G)$. These are always ideals in the Fourier-Stieltjes algebra containing the Fourier algebra. In this paper we investigate how these spaces reflect properties of the underlying group and study the structural properties of these algebras. As an application of this theory, we characterize the Fourier-Stieltjes ideals of $SL(2,\mathbb R)$.
07/15/2023-- 06/28/2023

Progress around the Boone-Higman Conjecture

A conjecture of Boone and Higman from the 1970's asserts that a finitely generated group $G$ has solvable word problem if and only if $G$ can be embedded into a finitely presented simple group. We comment on the history of this conjecture and survey recent results that establish the conjecture for many large classes of interesting groups.
07/14/2016-- 07/14/2016

Finite Element Integration with Quadrature on the GPU

We present a novel, quadrature-based finite element integration method for low-order elements on GPUs, using a pattern we call \textit{thread transposition} to avoid reductions while vectorizing aggressively. On the NVIDIA GTX580, which has a nominal single precision peak flop rate of 1.5 TF/s and a memory bandwidth of 192 GB/s, we achieve close to 300 GF/s for element integration on first-order discretization of the Laplacian operator with variable coefficients in two dimensions, and over 400 GF/s in three dimensions. From our performance model we find that this corresponds to 90\% of our measured achievable bandwidth peak of 310 GF/s. Further experimental results also match the predicted performance when used with double precision (120 GF/s in two dimensions, 150 GF/s in three dimensions). Results obtained for the linear elasticity equations (220 GF/s and 70 GF/s in two dimensions, 180 GF/s and 60 GF/s in three dimensions) also demonstrate the applicability of our method to vector-valued partial differential equations.
11/25/2024-- 05/28/2024

Finite presentability of twisted Brin-Thompson groups

Given a group $G$ acting faithfully on a set $S$, we characterize precisely when the twisted Brin-Thompson group $SV_G$ is finitely presented. The answer is that $SV_G$ is finitely presented if and only if we have the following: $G$ is finitely presented, the action of $G$ on $S$ has finitely many orbits of two-element subsets of $S$, and the stabilizer in $G$ of any element of $S$ is finitely generated. Since twisted Brin-Thompson groups are simple, a consequence is that any subgroup of a group admitting an action as above satisfies the Boone-Higman conjecture. In the course of proving this, we also establish a sufficient condition for a group acting cocompactly on a simply connected complex to be finitely presented, even if certain edge stabilizers are not finitely generated, which may be of independent interest.
08/05/2019-- 11/08/2017

Computing exact minimum cuts without knowing the graph

We give query-efficient algorithms for the global min-cut and the s-t cut problem in unweighted, undirected graphs. Our oracle model is inspired by the submodular function minimization problem: on query $S \subset V$, the oracle returns the size of the cut between $S$ and $V \setminus S$. We provide algorithms computing an exact minimum $s$-$t$ cut in $G$ with $\tilde{O}(n^{5/3})$ queries, and computing an exact global minimum cut of $G$ with only $\tilde{O}(n)$ queries (while learning the graph requires $\tilde{\Theta}(n^2)$ queries).
02/19/2014-- 08/20/2013

Hurwitz ball quotients

We consider the analogue of Hurwitz curves, smooth projective curves $C$ of genus $g \ge 2$ that realize equality in the Hurwitz bound $|\mathrm{Aut}(C)| \le 84 (g - 1)$, to smooth compact quotients $S$ of the unit ball in $\mathbb{C}^2$. When $S$ is arithmetic, we show that $|\mathrm{Aut}(S)| \le 288 e(S)$, where $e(S)$ is the (topological) Euler characteristic, and in the case of equality show that $S$ is a regular cover of a particular Deligne--Mostow orbifold. We conjecture that this inequality holds independent of arithmeticity, and note that work of Xiao makes progress on this conjecture and implies the best-known lower bound for the volume of a complex hyperbolic $2$-orbifold.
07/03/2013-- 06/27/2013

Using conditional entropy to identify periodicity

This paper presents a new period finding method based on conditional entropy that is both efficient and accurate. We demonstrate its applicability on simulated and real data. We find that it has comparable performance to other information-based techniques with simulated data but is superior with real data, both for finding periods and just identifying periodic behaviour. In particular, it is robust against common aliasing issues found with other period-finding algorithms.
10/26/2023-- 09/19/2018

Exotic C*-algebras of geometric groups

We consider a new class of potentially exotic group C*-algebras $C^*_{PF_p^*}(G)$ for a locally compact group $G$, and its connection with the class of potentially exotic group C*-algebras $C^*_{L^p}(G)$ introduced by Brown and Guentner. Surprisingly, these two classes of C*-algebras are intimately related. By exploiting this connection, we show $C^*_{L^p}(G)=C^*_{PF_p^*}(G)$ for $p\in (2,\infty)$, and the C*-algebras $C^*_{L^p}(G)$ are pairwise distinct for $p\in (2,\infty)$ when $G$ belongs to a large class of nonamenable groups possessing the Haagerup property and either the rapid decay property or Kunze-Stein phenomenon by characterizing the positive definite functions that extend to positive linear functionals of $C^*_{L^p}(G)$ and $C^*_{PF_p^*}(G)$. This greatly generalizes earlier results of Okayasu and the second author on the pairwise distinctness of $C^*_{L^p}(G)$ for $2<p<\infty$ when $G$ is either a noncommutative free group or the group $SL(2,\mathbb R)$, respectively. As a byproduct of our techniques, we present two applications to the theory of unitary representations of a locally compact group $G$. Firstly, we give a short proof of the well-known Cowling-Haagerup-Howe Theorem which presents sufficient condition implying the weak containment of a cyclic unitary representation of $G$ in the left regular representation of $G$. Also we give a near solution to a 1978 conjecture of Cowling. This conjecture of Cowling states if $G$ is a Kunze-Stein group and $\pi$ is a unitary representation of $G$ with cyclic vector $\xi$ such that the map $$G\ni s\mapsto \langle \pi(s)\xi,\xi\rangle$$ belongs to $L^p(G)$ for some $2< p <\infty$, then $A_\pi\subseteq L^p(G)$. We show $B_\pi\subseteq L^{p+\epsilon}(G)$ for every $\epsilon>0$ (recall $A_\pi\subseteq B_\pi$).


with thanks to arxiv.org/