All Questions
5,074 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
93
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answers
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Hironaka's proof of resolution of singularities in positive characteristics
Recent publication of Hironaka seems to provoke extended discussions, like Atiyah's proof of almost complex structure of $S^6$ earlier...
Unlike Atiyah's paper, Hironaka's paper does not have a ...
- 8,071
41
votes
0
answers
2k
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What does the theta divisor of a number field know about its arithmetic?
This question is about a remark made by van der Geer and Schoof in their beautiful article "Effectivity of Arakelov divisors and the theta divisor of a number field" (from '98) (link).
Let ...
- 2,029
36
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Grothendieck's "List of classes of structures"
In Lawvere's article Comments on the Development of Topos Theory, the author writes:
Similarly, Grothendieck and others unerringly recognized which kinds of mathematical structures are 'preserved ...
- 10.5k
32
votes
0
answers
993
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Is there a Mathieu groupoid M_31?
I have read something which said that the large amount of common structure between the simple groups $SL(3,3)$ and $M_{11}$ indicated to Conway the possibility that the Mathieu groupoid $M_{13}$ might ...
- 3,655
31
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0
answers
1k
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"Three great cocycles" in Complex Analysis as cohomology generators
In his lecture notes, C. McMullen discusses "the three great cocycles" in Complex Analysis: the derivative $$f\mapsto\log f',$$ the non-linearity $$f\mapsto (\log f')'dz$$
and the Schwarzian ...
- 8,992
30
votes
0
answers
1k
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Follow-up to Steinberg's problem (12) in his 1966 ICM talk?
Steinberg's lecture at the 1966 ICM in Moscow here surveyed his work on regular elements of semisimple algebraic groups, while also formulating a number of then-open questions as "problems" (...
- 52.9k
29
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0
answers
3k
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What are the possible singular fibers of an elliptic fibration over a higher dimensional base?
An elliptic fibration is a proper morphism $Y\rightarrow B$ between varieties such that the fiber over a general point of the base $B$ is a smooth curve of genus one.
It is often required for the ...
- 3,022
26
votes
0
answers
567
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Elliptic analogue of primes of the form $x^2 + 1$
I have a project in mind for an undergraduate to investigate next quarter -- a curiosity really, but I'm surprised I can't find it in the literature. I do not want a detailed analysis here... but ...
- 13.3k
26
votes
0
answers
1k
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The most important facts, modern surveys, and readable introductions to p-adic cohomology theories (crystalline cohomology and the mysterious functor)
I would like to organize a seminar on crystalline cohomology; I dream of understanding the Beilinson's recent paper on the mysterious functor (http://www.ams.org/journals/jams/2012-25-03/S0894-0347-...
- 16.9k
25
votes
0
answers
377
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Reference request for educational material In source format, for blind accessibility purposes
Introduction
I am a blind undergraduate studen in mathematics. I use screen reading software, which uses synthesized speech to read aloud the contents of the screen, to read and write math.
Due to ...
- 353
25
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0
answers
1k
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Status of the Euler characteristic in characteristic p
In the introduction to the Asterisque 82-83 volume on `Caractérisque d'Euler-Poincaré, Verdier writes:
Enfin signalons que la situation en caractéristique positive est loin
d'être aussi ...
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24
votes
0
answers
761
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How much of the plane is 4-colorable?
In 1981, Falconer proved that the measurable chromatic number of the plane is at least 5. That is, there are no measurable sets $A_1,A_2,A_3,A_4\subseteq\mathbb{R}^2$, each avoiding unit distances, ...
- 7,633
24
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0
answers
1k
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Exotic 4-spheres and the Tate-Shafarevich Group
The title is a talk given by Sir M. Atiyah in a conference with the following abstract:
I will explain a deep analogy between 4-dimensional smooth geometry (Donaldson theory)...
- 1,629
23
votes
0
answers
647
views
Is this a model for $K$-theory of a triangulated category?
The recent question Complete the following sequence: point, triangle, octahedron, . . . in a dg-category reminded me of something I wanted to clarify long time ago; most likely this is now well known ...
- 18.4k
23
votes
0
answers
784
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Characteristic classes for $E_8$ bundles
$\DeclareMathOperator\B{B}\DeclareMathOperator\SU{SU}$Given a principal $E_8$ bundle $P\rightarrow X$ one can take the
adjoint representation $\rho :E_8\rightarrow \SU(\mathbb C^{248})$
and form the ...
- 694
22
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0
answers
404
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What is the covering density of a very thin annulus? Is it $\frac{\pi\sqrt{51\sqrt{17}-107}}{16}$?
Take some very small $\epsilon>0$, and consider the annulus/ring given by the set $\{(r,\theta)\ |\ 1-\epsilon\le r\le1\}\subset \mathbb{R}^2$.
We wish to place translated copies of this annulus ...
- 3,068
22
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0
answers
676
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Are there "chain complexes" and "homology groups" taking values in pairs of topological spaces?
Throughout this question, notation of the form $(X,A)$ denotes a sufficiently nice pair of topological spaces. I think for most of what I'm saying here, it is enough to assume that the inclusion $A \...
- 15.5k
21
votes
0
answers
2k
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Cartan–Oka vanishing in one variable without $\overline{\partial}$?
This is a literature question, about possible proofs of some very basic results in complex analysis.
Some key facts about holomorphic functions are proved via reduction to smooth functions, using $\...
- 21.3k
21
votes
0
answers
861
views
A mysterious paper of Stallings that was supposed to appear in the Annals
In Stallings's paper
Stallings, John, Groups with infinite products, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 68 (1962), 388–389.
he briefly discusses how to prove "several generalizations" of Brown's ...
- 353
21
votes
0
answers
453
views
Does every 5-celled animal tile the plane?
An animal in the plane is a finite set of grid-aligned unit squares in $\mathbb{R}^2$. (The definition is the same as a polyomino, but where we relax the connectivity requirement.) One may ...
- 3,068
21
votes
0
answers
777
views
Is the mapping class group of $\Bbb{CP}^n$ known?
In his paper "Concordance spaces, higher simple homotopy theory, and applications", Hatcher calcuates the smooth, PL, and topological mapping class groups of the $n$-torus $T^n$. This requires an ...
- 9,580
20
votes
0
answers
408
views
Ado's theorem and the reduction to positive characteristic
The synopsis: proofs of Ado theorem in positive characteristic are simple, and in characteristic $0$ are difficult. Can one infer the characteristic $0$ case from the positive characteristic case?
The ...
- 2,934
20
votes
0
answers
1k
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How to approach the Mazur-Wiles paper on Iwasawa theory?
I would like to read and understand the Mazur-Wiles paper on Iwasawa theory: "Class Fields of Abelian Extensions of $\Bbb Q$". What would be the right way to approach this paper?
Currently, my ...
- 7,746
19
votes
0
answers
523
views
univariate integer version of Hilbert's 17th problem
Let $f(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $d$ with integer coefficients such that $f(x)\geqslant 0$ for all real $x$. Is it necessarily true that there exists an integer $N(d)$ such that $N(d)\cdot f$ is a ...
- 109k
19
votes
0
answers
604
views
How is this group theoretic construct called?
Let $G$ be a finite group, $S\subset G$ a generating set, $|g| = |g|_S = $ word length with respect to $S$. Define the "defect" of $g,h$ to be
$$\psi(g,h) = |g|+|h|-|gh|$$
Then $\psi:G\times G \...
user6671
19
votes
0
answers
782
views
Reference request: Parallel processor theorem of William Thurston
Sometime in the 1980's or 1990's, Bill Thurston proved a theorem regarding the existence of a universal parallel processing machine, using a certain class for such machines having finite deterministic ...
- 15.4k
19
votes
0
answers
575
views
The oriented homeomorphism problem for Haken 3-manifolds
Haken famously described an algorithm to solve the homeomorphism problem for the 3-manifolds that bear his name (fleshed out by many others, including Hemion and Matveev who fixed some gaps). But it'...
- 25.2k
18
votes
0
answers
612
views
Who first noticed the duality for finite groups?
A.A.Kirillov in section 12.3 of his "Elements of the Theory of Representations" writes that the first "symmetric" duality theory for non-commutative groups was the theory for finite groups. In short ...
- 7,426
18
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0
answers
439
views
An integral in Gradshteyn and Ryzhik
Section 3.248 of the 4th edition of the table of integrals by Gradshteyn and Ryzhik contains three entries. They are of elementary examples of the beta function. In the 5th edition there are two new ...
- 189
18
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0
answers
702
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Homotopy groups of spheres and differential forms
The only infinite homotopy groups of spheres are $\pi_n(\mathbb{S}^n)$ and $\pi_{4n-1}(\mathbb{S}^{2n})$. This is a well known result of Serre. In both cases the nontriviality of these groups can be ...
- 28k
18
votes
0
answers
579
views
What is the geometric intuition behind Wilf-Zeilberger theory?
This problem is somehow inspired by a bunch of impressive posts of combinatorial identities by T. Amdeberhan. Earlier this month I learnt from computer scientists that they have a generic algorithmic ...
- 8,071
18
votes
0
answers
734
views
How boundedly generated is $SL_3(\mathbb{Z})$?
The group $G = \mathrm{SL}_3(\mathbb{Z})$ is known to be boundedly generated, that is, there exists some $m \in \mathbb{N}$, and $g_1, \dots, g_m \in G$ such that we have the following equality of ...
- 11.3k
18
votes
0
answers
2k
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Etale Slice Theorem
I found the Luna's Slice Theorem very Technical. It will be helpful if someone illustrates the geometry involved in the theorem. Also why this theorem so useful?
This is Luna's Slice theorem from a ...
- 290
18
votes
0
answers
469
views
Quasi-classical limit of representation theory
I am looking for a good reference on a general phenomenon of quasi-classical limit in representation theory, which relates "large" representations to measures on (co-adjoint orbits of) the associated ...
- 1,765
18
votes
0
answers
718
views
Erdos-Kac for squarefree numbers
In its usual form, the Erdos-Kac Theorem states that if $f(n) : \mathbb{N} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is a strongly additive function with $|f(p)| \le 1$ for all primes $p$, then
$$\frac{|\{n \le x : \...
- 211
18
votes
0
answers
895
views
local equivalence of loop group representations
Let $G$ be a compact, simple, connected, simply connected (cscsc) Lie group, and let its smooth loop group $LG:=C^\infty(S^1,G)$. Given an interval $I\subset S^1$, we have the local loop group
$$
L_IG ...
- 43.2k
17
votes
0
answers
368
views
Joyal's topos in which $[0,1]$ fails to be compact
Some time around 1977, André Joyal constructed a topos (actually a locale, i.e., a localic topos, necessarily non-spatial) in which the closed unit interval $[0,1]$ fails to be compact. There are ...
- 32.5k
17
votes
1
answer
3k
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The homology of the orbit space
Suppose we have an acyclic group $G$ and let $X$ be a contractible CW-complex such that $G$ acts freely on $X$ (we do not suppose that the action is proper).
Is there a way to understand the homology ...
- 223
17
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0
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367
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Average value of j-invariant at infinity
Let $\xi\in\mathbb{R}$ and consider the average value (with respect to hyperbolic length) of the $j$-invariant ($j(z)=q^{-1}+744+196884q+\ldots$, $q=e^{2\pi iz}$) along a geodesic aimed at $\xi$:
$$
\...
- 609
17
votes
0
answers
681
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Proof of MacPherson's result about set-valued constructible sheaves and exit paths
I'm looking for a proof of a theorem that is attributed to MacPherson. Treumann (Section 1.1 in Exit paths and constructible stacks, 2009) states the theorem as:
Theorem 1.2 (MacPherson). Let $(X,S)...
- 355
17
votes
0
answers
893
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An elementary proof that, for every fixed $n \in \mathbf N^+$, there are infinitely many primes $\equiv -1 \bmod n$
This morning, I made a comment to a comment to a question of Ayman Moussa, only to point out that, among many others, there is an elementary proof of Dirichlet's theorem on the existence of infinitely ...
- 10.5k
17
votes
0
answers
1k
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Jets of sections of vector bundles expressed by symmetrized iterated covariant derivatives - who did it first?
The (non-unique) bundle isomorphism between the bundle $J^r E$ of $r$-th order jets of sections of a vector bundle $\pi:E\rightarrow M$ and the direct sum $$\bigoplus^r_{k=0}\vee^kT^*M\otimes E\...
- 7,817
17
votes
0
answers
1k
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Katz--Mazur for abelian varieties
Over $\mathbb Z$, there is a smooth DM stack $A_g$ classifying abelian varieties.
Over $\mathbb Z[\frac 1N]$, there is finite etale cover $A_g(N)_{\mathbb Z[\frac 1N]}\to A_g\otimes\mathbb Z[\frac 1N]...
- 18.7k
16
votes
0
answers
188
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Representation theory of Pin groups
I am (still) thinking about branching rules from $\mathfrak{so}(n+m)$ to $\mathfrak{so}(n) \oplus \mathfrak{so}(m)$, using Proctor's paper as the starting point.
Proctor describes this rule for $m = 2$...
- 1,574
16
votes
0
answers
429
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Complete resource of Ngô's course notes on Algebraic Groups and Group Schemes
I'm looking for Ngô's M2 course notes on "Groupes algébriques et schémas en groupes".
The Wayback Machine has an incomplete capture here. However, it apparently lacks chapter 1, 3, and 5.
I ...
- 161
16
votes
0
answers
222
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Reference request: Milnor rank of spheres
Milnor defines the rank of a smooth manifold $M$ as the maximum cardinality of a linearly independent set of vector fields on $M$ whose elements are pair wise commuting. In other words, the rank of $M$...
- 343
16
votes
1
answer
689
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Approximating zero sets of real polynomials with "less complicated" polynomials
Let $K \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ be a compact subset, and let $P(x_1,\dots,x_n)$ be a real multivariable polynomial of degree $d$, whose vanishing set we denote by $Z_P$. Is it plausible to approximate $...
- 1,407
16
votes
0
answers
556
views
Reference request for Grothendieck's work on "Integration with values in a topological group"
Disclaimer. This question was already asked in Mathematics Stack Exchange (see the link here). I wanted the question to be migrated here but I was told by a moderator that a question that old is ...
user57432
16
votes
0
answers
439
views
Survey of known results on equivariant transversality
Most basic differential topology theorems carry over to the equivariant case with mild modifications; see for instance Wasserman's paper. One thing that fails (more or less obviously) is equivariant ...
- 9,580
16
votes
0
answers
2k
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An open problem in convex geometry
Is it possible to find four norms $\| \cdot\|_k$ $( 1 \leq k \leq 4)$ on the plane such that a three-dimensional normed space containing four subspaces isometric to these normed planes does not exist? ...
- 13.5k