Related papers: Graham Higman's PORC theorem
We give a simple matrix-based proof of congruence equations modulo a prime $p$ involving sums of binomial coefficients appearing in Pascal's triangle. These equations can be used to construct some groups of exponent $p^n$. These groups, as…
Hofstadter's G function is recursively defined via $G(0)=0$ and then $G(n)=n-G(G(n-1))$. Following Hofstadter, we vary the number $k$ of nested recursive calls in this equation and obtain a family of functions $(F\_k)$. Here we establish…
An old conjecture of Erd\H{o}s and R\'enyi, proved by Schinzel, predicted a bound for the number of terms of a polynomial $g(x) \in \mathbb{C}[x]$ when its square $g(x)^2$ has a given number of terms. Further conjectures and results arose,…
A group is sofic when every finite subset can be well approximated in a finite symmetric group. No example of a non-sofic group is known. Higman's group, which is a circular amalgamation of four copies of the Baumslag--Solitar group, is a…
We prove new results about the remarkable infinite simple groups introduced by Richard Thompson in the 1960s. We define the groups as partial transformation groups and we give a faithful representation in the Cuntz C*-algebra. For the…
In an exercise in the first volume of his famous series of books, Knuth considered sorting permutations by passing them through a stack. Many variations of this exercise have since been considered, including allowing multiple passes through…
Let $f\colon\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}_0$ be a multiplicative arithmetic function such that for all primes $p$ and positive integers $\alpha$, $f(p^{\alpha})<p^{\alpha}$ and $f(p)\vert f(p^{\alpha})$. Suppose also that any prime that…
We prove an analogue of the celebrated Hall-Higman theorem, which gives a lower bound for the degree of the minimal polynomial of any semisimple element of prime power order $p^{a}$ of a finite classical group in any nontrivial irreducible…
Given a square matrix with elements in the group-ring of a group, one can consider the sequence formed by the trace (in the sense of the group-ring) of its powers. We prove that the corresponding generating series is an algebraic…
A bracket polynomial on the integers is a function formed using the operations of addition, multiplication and taking fractional parts. For a fairly large class of bracket polynomials we show that if p is a bracket polynomial of degree k-1…
We introduce the notion of generalized bialgebra, which includes the classical notion of bialgebra (Hopf algebra) and many others. We prove that, under some mild conditions, a connected generalized bialgebra is completely determined by its…
We consider the group isomorphism problem: given two finite groups G and H specified by their multiplication tables, decide if G and H are isomorphic. The n^(log n) barrier for group isomorphism has withstood all attacks --- even for the…
To a multi-index filtration (say, on the ring of germs of functions on a germ of a complex analytic variety) one associates several invariants: the Hilbert function, the Poincar\'e series, the generalized Poincar\'e series, and the…
One of the most basic results concerning the number-theoretic properties of the partition function $p(n)$ is that $p(n)$ takes each value of parity infinitely often. This statement was first proved by Kolberg in 1959, and it was…
Let $n$ be a positive integer and $G(n)$ denote the number of non-isomorphic finite groups of order $n$. It is well-known that $G(n) = 1$ if and only if $(n,\phi(n)) = 1$, where $\phi(n)$ and $(a, b)$ denote the Euler's totient function and…
Let f: G=* G(i) -> B=* B(i) be a group homomorphism between free products of groups. Suppose that G(i)f=B(i) of all i. Let H be a subgroup of G such that Hf=B. Then H decomposes into a free product H=*H(i) with H(i)f=B(i). Furthermore, H(i)…
We prove a Filling Theorem for the Heisenberg Groups $H^{2n+1}$: For a given $k$-cycle $a$ we construct a $(k+1)$-chain $b$ (the filling) with boundary $\partial b=a$ and controlled volume. For this filling $b$ we prove a uniform bound on…
We examine when the composition of two entire functions f and g is even, and extend some of our results to cyclic compositions in general. We prove some theorems for the cases when f or g is a polynomial. Two of the key theorems we use are…
Nicolas and DeSalvo and Pak proved that the partition function $p(n)$ is log concave for $n \geq 25$. Chen, Jia and Wang proved that $p(n)$ satisfies the third order Tur\'{a}n inequality, and that the associated degree 3 Jensen polynomials…
In 1963, Anton Kotzig famously conjectured that $K_{n}$, the complete graph of order $n$, where $n$ is even, can be decomposed into $n-1$ perfect matchings such that every pair of these matchings forms a Hamilton cycle. The problem is still…