Related papers: Aspherical completions and rationally inert elemen…
If a closed orientable manifold (resp. rational Poincar\'e duality space) $X$ receives a map $Y \to X$ from a formal manifold (resp. space) $Y$ that hits a fundamental class, then $X$ is formal. The main technical ingredient in the proof…
We describe inertial endomorphisms of an abelian group $A$, that is endomorphisms $\varphi$ with the property $|(\varphi(X)+X)/X|<\infty$ for each $X\le A$. They form a ring containing multiplications, the so-called finitary endomorphisms…
We first prove that a graded, connected, free and cofree Hopf algebra is always self-dual; then that two graded, connected, free and cofree Hopf algebras are isomorphic if, and only if, they have the same Poincar\'e-Hilbert formal series.…
We give a generalization of a result of R. Pandharipande to arbitrary characteristic: We prove that, if $X$ is a convex, separably rationally connected, smooth complete intersection in $\mathbb{P}^N$ over an algebraically closed field of…
Let A be a commutative noetherian ring. Call a functor <<commutative A-algebras>> --> <<sets>> coherent if it can be built up (via iterated finite limits) from functors of the form B \mapsto M tensor_A B, where M is a f.g. A-module. When…
A Hausdorff topological semiring is called simple if every non-zero continuous homomorphism into another Hausdorff topological semiring is injective. Classical work by Anzai and Kaplansky implies that any simple compact ring is finite. We…
A manifold $M$ is said to be a double disk bundle if it can be decomposed as a union of two disk bundles glued together by a diffeomorphism of their boundaries. We show that if $M^n$ is a closed simply connected $n$-manifold with $n$ even…
Consider an algebraic function like $F(x) = \sqrt{x^3 - 1}$. If $p \in \mathbb{Q}$ is a rational number, how many iterates of $p$ under $F$ can also be rational? The dynamics of algebraic functions may be formalized in the language of…
Let $X$ be a nilpotent space such that there exists $p\geq 1$ with $H^p(X,\mathbb Q) \ne 0$ and $H^n(X,\mathbb Q)=0$ if $n>p$. Let $Y$ be a m-connected space with $m\geq p+1$ and $H^*(Y,\mathbb Q)$ is finitely generated as algebra. We…
A topological commutative ring is said to be rigid when for every set $X$, the topological dual of the $X$-fold topological product of the ring is isomorphic to the free module over $X$. Examples are fields with a ring topology, discrete…
A combination of Bestvina--Brady Morse theory and an acyclic reflection group trick produces a torsion-free finitely presented Q-Poincar\'e duality group which is not the fundamental group of an aspherical closed ANR Q-homology manifold.…
We study non-counital coalgebras and their dual non-unital algebras, and introduce the finite dual of a non-unital algebra. We show that a theory that parallels in good part the duality in the unital case can be constructed. Using this, we…
Recognizing when a ring is a complete matrix ring is of significant importance in algebra. It is well-known folklore that a ring $R$ is a complete $n\times n$ matrix ring, so $R\cong M_{n}(S)$ for some ring $S$, if and only if it contains a…
The natural problem we approach in the present paper is to show how the notion of formally smooth (co)algebra inside monoidal categories can substitute that of (co)separable (co)algebra in the study of splitting bialgebra homomorphisms.…
Let X and Y be finite nilpotent CW complexes with dimension of X less than the connectivity of Y. Generalizing results of Vigu\'e-Poirrier and Yamaguchi, we prove that the mapping space Map(X,Y) is rationally formal if and only if Y has the…
Nonsingular projective varieties which are both convex and rationally connected are considered. We ask whether such varieties must be algebraic homogeneous spaces G/P. In case X is a complete intersection, an affirmative answer is obtained…
The set of natural integers is fundamental for at least two reasons: it is the free induction algebra over the empty set (and at such allows definitions of maps by primitive recursion) and it is the free monoid over a one-element set, the…
In this short note we prove that in many cases the failure of a variety to be separably rationally connected is caused by the instability of the tangent sheaf (if there are no other obvious reasons). A simple application of the results…
Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0, and let f be a morphism of smooth projective varieties from X to Y over the ring k((t)) of formal Laurent series. We prove that if a general geometric fiber of f is rationally…
A set $A$ is dually Dedekind finite if every surjection from $A$ onto $A$ is injective; otherwise, $A$ is dually Dedekind infinite. An amorphous set is an infinite set that cannot be partitioned into two infinite subsets. A strictly…