# All Questions

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### Conditioned sum of n Poissons versus unconditioned Poissons

Let $\theta >1$ and take independent random variables $Z_k \sim \text{Poisson}(\theta/k)$ for $1 \leq k \leq n$ and let $Z_k^*$ have marginals like the $Z_k$ conditioned on $\sum_1^n k Z_k = n$: ...
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### Deformation quantization of Poisson bracket without star-product

Kontsevich's formality theorem implies in particular that star-products on a $C^\infty$-manifold $M$, $$f\star g = fg + \sum_{k\geq1} \hbar^k B_k(f,g),\qquad f,g\in C^\infty(M),$$ where $B_k$ are ...
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### Strengthening of the local smoothing estimates for the free Laplacian

The classical local-smoothing estimates for the free Laplacian asserts that: $$\Vert e^{-it\Delta}f\Vert_{L^2((-\infty,+\infty)\,;\,H^{1/2}(B))}\leq C_B\cdot\Vert f\Vert_{L^2}$$ where ...
142k views

### Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics

The first thing to say is that this is not the same as the question about interesting mathematical mistakes. I am interested about the type of false beliefs that many intelligent people have while ...
97 views

### Closed-Form solution for system of simple nonlinear equations

I am interested in analytical solutions for a system of nonlinear equations. (The question was first asked at math.SE, where (after 1months and one rounds of bounty) there is only interesting ...
134 views

### Explicit calculations of small homotopy limits of CDGAs

I would like to carry out explicit calculations of homotopy limits of certain simple diagrams of CDGAS. My set-up is the following : I have a finite graded poset $R$ with minimal element $0$ and a ...
427 views

### What is the expected value of an N-dim vector of uniform randoms that sum to 1 which have been sorted into descending order?

What is the expected value of an N-dimensional vector of uniformly distributed random numbers which sum to 1 and have been sorted in descending order? Here is the algorithm for drawing a sample from ...
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### A-Paths as morphisms of Lie Algebroids $TI\longrightarrow A$?

In the paper Integrability of Lie Brackets Marius Crainic and Rui Fernandes describe obstructions to integrate a Lie algebroid to a Lie groupoid. The process of integration relies on the construction ...
3k views

### Did Bourbaki write a text on algebraic geometry?

Certainly Bourbaki never wrote an introduction to algebraic geometry: we would have heard about it, right?
5k views

### Is this differential identity known?

Recently I discovered the differential identity $$\frac{d^{k+1}}{dx^{k+1}} (1+x^2)^{k/2} = \frac{(1 \times 3 \times \dots \times k)^2}{(1+x^2)^{(k+2)/2}}$$ valid for any odd natural number $k$; for ...
33k views

### What is convolution intuitively?

If random variable $X$ has a probability distribution of $f(x)$ and random variable $Y$ has a probability distribution $g(x)$ then $(f*g)(x)$, the convolution of $f$ and $g$, is the probability ...
15k views

### Is there an introduction to probability theory from a structuralist/categorical perspective?

The title really is the question, but allow me to explain. I am a pure mathematician working outside of probability theory, but the concepts and techniques of probability theory (in the sense of ...
646 views

### Isotropic ternary forms

It is well known that some questions about isotropic ternary forms reduces to the study of the special case $f_0(X)=xz-y^2, X=(x,y,z)$, see page 301 of Cassel's "Rational quadratic forms" (Dover, ...
8k views

### Probabilistic Proofs of Analytic Facts

What are some interesting examples of probabilistic reasoning to establish results that would traditionally be considered analysis? What I mean by "probabilistic reasoning" is that the approach should ...
7k views

### Do we still need model categories?

One modern POV on model categories is that they are presentations of $(\infty, 1)$-categories (namely, given a model category, you obtain an $\infty$-category by localizing at the category of weak ...
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### Equivalence of “Weyl Algebra” and “Crystalline” definitions of rings of differential operators between modules?

Let $B$ be a commutative $A$-algebra, and let $M$, $N$ be two $B$-modules. We can talk about the set of $A$-linear module homomorphisms $M \to N$, i.e. the set $\text{Hom}_A(M, N)$. Differential ...
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### Geometric / physical / probabilistic interpretations of Riemann zeta(n>1)?

What are some physical, geometric, or probabilistic interpretations of the values of the Riemann zeta function at the positive integers greater than one? I've found some examples: 1) In MO-Q111339 ...
7k views

### What is a cumulant really?

A cumulant is defined via the cumulant generating function $$g(t)\stackrel{\tiny def}{=} \sum_{n=1}^\infty \kappa_n \frac{t^n}{n},$$ where $$g(t)\stackrel{\tiny def}{=} \log E(e^{tX}).$$ Cumulants ...
10k views

### Why do probabilists take random variables to be Borel (and not Lebesgue) measurable?

I've been studying a bit of probability theory lately and noticed that there seems to be a universal agreement that random variables should be defined as Borel measurable functions on the probability ...
830 views

### A dual version of a theorem of Øystein Ore in group theory

Let $(H \subset G)$ be an inclusion of finite groups. This post is a dual version for the Generalization of a theorem of Øystein Ore in which it's proved: Theorem: $\mathcal{L}(H\subset G)$ ...
22k views

### What are the big problems in probability theory?

Most branches of mathematics have big, sexy famous open problems. Number theory has the Riemann hypothesis and the Langlands program, among many others. Geometry had the Poincaré conjecture for a long ...
23k views

### Top specialized journals

In geometry/topology, there are (at least) three specialized journals that end up publishing a large fraction of the best papers in the subject -- Geometry and Topology, JDG, and GAFA. What journals ...
890 views

### fixed point property for maps of compacts

Definition. A topological space $X$ has the Fixed Point Property (FPP) if every continuous self-map $X\to X$ has a fixed point. Question. If $X$ and $Y$ are homotopy-equivalent compact metrizable ...
5k views

### Riemannian surfaces with an explicit distance function?

I'm looking for explicit examples of Riemannian surfaces (two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$) for which the distance function d(x,y) can be given explicitly in terms of local coordinates of ...
107 views

### Equality of Borel sets

I would like to understand the complexity of "equality of Borel sets". By complexity, I mean the complexity in the sense of Borel reducibility. Of course, since there is no standard Borel space of ...
12k views

### Is there a natural random process that is rigorously known to produce Zipf's law?

Zipf's law is the empirical observation that in many real-life populations of n objects, the $k^{th}$ largest object has size proportional to $1/k$, at least for $k$ significantly smaller than $n$ ...
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### Deduction theorem

Is there an axiomatic system where the deduction theorem does not hold?
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### A Game on Noetherian Rings

A friend suggested the following combinatorial game. At any time, the state of the game is a (commutative) Noetherian ring $\neq 0$. On a player's turn, that player chooses a nonzero non-unit element ...
721 views

### Do canonical stacks exist over Spec(Z)?

Suppose a scheme $X$ has tame quotient singularities. Does there exist a smooth DM stack $\mathcal X$ with coarse space $X$ so that the coarse space morphism $\mathcal X\to X$ is an isomorphism ...
987 views

### Shortest path through $\sqrt{n}$ points out of $n$

Say I sample $n$ points uniformly at random in the unit square, and then I look for the shortest path through $\sqrt{n}$ of those points (rounding up, say). What happens to the length of this path as ...
638 views

### Movable Divisors

Let $X$ be a projective variety. Does anyone know an example of a movable reducible divisor $D\in Mov(X)$ such that any element in the linear system $|D|$ of $D$ is reducible?
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### Intuition of law of iterated logarithm?

Let $X_i$ be iid random variables with $EX_i = 0$ and $Var X_i=1$ and $S_n=X_1+\cdots+X_n$. Then the law of the iterated logarithm says almost everywhere we have ...
My question is a reference request for the following fact: if $k$ is a field and $X$ a proper smooth surface over $k$, then $X \rightarrow \mathrm{Spec}\, k$ is projective. Where is this well-known ...