Related papers: On a question of Erdos and Ulam

For any pseudoconvex Runge domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{C}^2$ we prove that every closed discrete subset in $\Omega$ is contained in a properly embedded complex curve in $\Omega$ with any prescribed topology (possibly infinite).

Define $\theta(x)=(x-1)/3$ if $x\geq 1$, and $\theta(x)=2x/(1-x)$ if $x<1$. We conjecture that the orbit of every positive rational number ends in 0. In particular, there does not exist any positive rational fixed point for a map in the…

We consider the expansion of the real field by the group of rational points of an elliptic curve over the rational numbers. We prove a completeness result, followed by a quantifier elimination result. Moreover we show that open sets…

For any set $A$ of natural numbers with positive upper Banach density and any $k\geq 1$, we show the existence of an infinite set $B\subset{\mathbb N}$ and a shift $t\geq0$ such that $A-t$ contains all sums of $m$ distinct elements from $B$…

Let f(t,X) be an irreducible polynomial over the field of rational functions k(t), where k is a number field. Let O be the ring of integers of k. Hilbert's irreducibility theorem gives infinitely many integral specializations of t to values…

We study the space of rational curves on del Pezzo surfaces in positive characteristic. For most primes p we prove the irreducibility of the moduli space of rational curves of a given nef class, extending results of Testa in characteristic…

Let $\ell_m$ be a sequence of $m$ points on a line with consecutive points of distance one. For every natural number $n$, we prove the existence of a red/blue-coloring of $\mathbb{E}^n$ containing no red copy of $\ell_2$ and no blue copy of…

We present and study new definitions of universal and programmable universal unary functions and consider a new simplicity criterion: almost decidability of the halting set. A set of positive integers S is almost decidable if there exists a…

Building on work of Segre and Koll'ar on cubic hypersurfaces, we construct over imperfect fields of characteristic p\geq 3 particular hypersurfaces of degree p, which show that geometrically rational schemes that are regular and whose…

Let $X\subset\mathbb P^4$ be a very general hypersurface of degree $d\ge6$. Griffiths and Harris conjectured in 1985 that the degree of every curve $C\subset X$ is divisible by $d$. Despite substantial progress by Koll\'ar in 1991, this…

We construct a continuum of non-homeomorphic compact subspaces of the real line R without singleton components. Thus from the purely topological point of view the real line contains not only more closed sets than open sets but also more…

A rational triangle is a triangle with rational side lengths. We consider three different families of rational triangles having a fixed side and whose vertices are rational points in the plane. We display a one-to-one correspondence between…

We prove a special case of a dynamical analogue of the classical Mordell-Lang conjecture. In particular, let $\phi$ be a rational function with no superattracting periodic points other than exceptional points. If the coefficients of $\phi$…

We exhibit planar, rational curves of large degree over ${\mathbb F}_2$ that have a unique singular point, which has multiplicity 2. In characteristic 0 such curves exist only for degrees up to $6$. v.2: references updated and examples of…

Let $X$ be a smooth cubic hypersurface of dimension $n \ge 1$ over the rationals. It is well-known that new rational points may be obtained from old ones by secant and tangent constructions. In view of the Mordell--Weil theorem for $n=1$,…

Given a smooth curve $C/\mathbb{Q}$ with genus $\geq 2$, we know by Faltings' Theorem that $C(\mathbb{Q})$ is finite. Here we ask the reverse question: given a finite set of rational points $S\subseteq \mathbb{P}^n(\mathbb{Q})$, does there…

Let $X \subset \mathbb{P}(w_0, w_1, w_2, w_3)$ be a quasismooth well-formed weighted projective hypersurface and let $L = lcm(w_0,w_1,w_2,w_3)$. We characterize when $X$ is rational under the assumption that $L$ divides $deg(X)$ by…

Let X be a real normed vector space and dim X \ge 2. Let d>0 be a fixed real number. We prove that if x,y \in X and ||x-y||/d is a rational number then there exists a finite set {x,y} \subseteq S(x,y) \subseteq X with the following…

Transfinite set theory including the axiom of choice supplies the following basic theorems: (1) Mappings between infinite sets can always be completed, such that at least one of the sets is exhausted. (2) The real numbers can be well…

A complex projective manifold is rationally connected, resp. rationally simply connected, if finite subsets are connected by a rational curve, resp. the spaces parameterizing these connecting rational curves are themselves rationally…