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1. Zeroes of polynomials on definable hypersurfaces: pathologies exist, but they are rare

   https://doi.org/10.1093/qmath/haz022  

   Basu, Saugata ; Lerario, Antonio ; Natarajan, Abhiram ( October 2019 , The Quarterly Journal of Mathematics)

   Given a sequence $\{Z_d\}_{d\in \mathbb{N}}$ of smooth and compact hypersurfaces in ${\mathbb{R}}^{n-1}$, we prove that (up to extracting subsequences) there exists a regular definable hypersurface $\Gamma \subset {\mathbb{R}}\textrm{P}^n$ such that each manifold $Z_d$ is diffeomorphic to a component of the zero set on $\Gamma$ of some polynomial of degree $d$. (This is in sharp contrast with the case when $\Gamma$ is semialgebraic, where for example the homological complexity of the zero set of a polynomial $p$ on $\Gamma$ is bounded by a polynomial in $\deg (p)$.) More precisely, given the above sequence of hypersurfaces, we construct a regular, compact, semianalytic hypersurface $\Gamma \subset {\mathbb{R}}\textrm{P}^{n}$ containing a subset $D$ homeomorphic to a disk, and a family of polynomials $\{p_m\}_{m\in \mathbb{N}}$ of degree $\deg (p_m)=d_m$ such that $(D, Z(p_m)\cap D)\sim ({\mathbb{R}}^{n-1}, Z_{d_m}),$ i.e. the zero set of $p_m$ in $D$ is isotopic to $Z_{d_m}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^{n-1}$. This says that, up to extracting subsequences, the intersection of $\Gamma$ with a hypersurface of degree $d$ can be as complicated as we want. We call these ‘pathological examples’. In particular, we show that for every $0 \leq k \leq n-2$ and every sequence of natural numbers $a=\{a_d\}_{d\in \mathbb{N}}$ there is a regular, compact semianalyticmore »hypersurface $\Gamma \subset {\mathbb{R}}\textrm{P}^n$, a subsequence $\{a_{d_m}\}_{m\in \mathbb{N}}$ and homogeneous polynomials $\{p_{m}\}_{m\in \mathbb{N}}$ of degree $\deg (p_m)=d_m$ such that (0.1)$$\begin{equation}b_k(\Gamma\cap Z(p_m))\geq a_{d_m}.\end{equation}$$ (Here $b_k$ denotes the $k$th Betti number.) This generalizes a result of Gwoździewicz et al. [13]. On the other hand, for a given definable $\Gamma$ we show that the Fubini–Study measure, in the Gaussian probability space of polynomials of degree $d$, of the set $\Sigma _{d_m,a, \Gamma }$ of polynomials verifying (0.1) is positive, but there exists a constant $c_\Gamma$ such that $$\begin{equation*}0<{\mathbb{P}}(\Sigma_{d_m, a, \Gamma})\leq \frac{c_{\Gamma} d_m^{\frac{n-1}{2}}}{a_{d_m}}.\end{equation*}$$ This shows that the set of ‘pathological examples’ has ‘small’ measure (the faster $a$ grows, the smaller the measure and pathologies are therefore rare). In fact we show that given $\Gamma$, for most polynomials a Bézout-type bound holds for the intersection $\Gamma \cap Z(p)$: for every $0\leq k\leq n-2$ and $t>0$: $$\begin{equation*}{\mathbb{P}}\left(\{b_k(\Gamma\cap Z(p))\geq t d^{n-1} \}\right)\leq \frac{c_\Gamma}{td^{\frac{n-1}{2}}}.\end{equation*}$$

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2. Edge Expansion and Spectral Gap of Nonnegative Matrices

   https://doi.org/10.1137/1.9781611975994.73  

   Mehta, Jenish C. ; Schulman, Leonard J. ( January 2020 , Proceedings of the 2020 ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms)

   The classic graphical Cheeger inequalities state that if $M$ is an $n\times n$ \emph{symmetric} doubly stochastic matrix, then \[ \frac{1-\lambda_{2}(M)}{2}\leq\phi(M)\leq\sqrt{2\cdot(1-\lambda_{2}(M))} \] where $\phi(M)=\min_{S\subseteq[n],|S|\leq n/2}\left(\frac{1}{|S|}\sum_{i\in S,j\not\in S}M_{i,j}\right)$ is the edge expansion of $M$, and $\lambda_{2}(M)$ is the second largest eigenvalue of $M$. We study the relationship between $\phi(A)$ and the spectral gap $1-\re\lambda_{2}(A)$ for \emph{any} doubly stochastic matrix $A$ (not necessarily symmetric), where $\lambda_{2}(A)$ is a nontrivial eigenvalue of $A$ with maximum real part. Fiedler showed that the upper bound on $\phi(A)$ is unaffected, i.e., $\phi(A)\leq\sqrt{2\cdot(1-\re\lambda_{2}(A))}$. With regards to the lower bound on $\phi(A)$, there are known constructions with \[ \phi(A)\in\Theta\left(\frac{1-\re\lambda_{2}(A)}{\log n}\right), \] indicating that at least a mild dependence on $n$ is necessary to lower bound $\phi(A)$. In our first result, we provide an \emph{exponentially} better construction of $n\times n$ doubly stochastic matrices $A_{n}$, for which \[ \phi(A_{n})\leq\frac{1-\re\lambda_{2}(A_{n})}{\sqrt{n}}. \] In fact, \emph{all} nontrivial eigenvalues of our matrices are $0$, even though the matrices are highly \emph{nonexpanding}. We further show that this bound is in the correct range (up to the exponent of $n$), by showing that for any doubly stochastic matrix $A$, \[ \phi(A)\geq\frac{1-\re\lambda_{2}(A)}{35\cdot n}. \] As a consequence, unlike the symmetric case, there is a (necessary) loss of amore »factor of $n^{\alpha}$ for $\frac{1}{2}\leq\alpha\leq1$ in lower bounding $\phi$ by the spectral gap in the nonsymmetric setting. Our second result extends these bounds to general matrices $R$ with nonnegative entries, to obtain a two-sided \emph{gapped} refinement of the Perron-Frobenius theorem. Recall from the Perron-Frobenius theorem that for such $R$, there is a nonnegative eigenvalue $r$ such that all eigenvalues of $R$ lie within the closed disk of radius $r$ about $0$. Further, if $R$ is irreducible, which means $\phi(R)>0$ (for suitably defined $\phi$), then $r$ is positive and all other eigenvalues lie within the \textit{open} disk, so (with eigenvalues sorted by real part), $\re\lambda_{2}(R)« less
3. Universal features of higher-form symmetries at phase transitions

   https://doi.org/10.21468/SciPostPhys.11.2.033  

   Wu, Xiao-Chuan ; Jian, Chao-Ming ; Xu, Cenke ( January 2021 , SciPost Physics)

   We investigate the behavior of higher-form symmetries at variousquantum phase transitions. We consider discrete 1-form symmetries, whichcan be either part of the generalized concept “categorical symmetry”(labelled as \tilde{Z}_N^{(1)} Z ̃ N ( 1 ) )introduced recently, or an explicit Z_N^{(1)} Z N ( 1 ) 1-form symmetry. We demonstrate that for many quantum phase transitionsinvolving a Z_N^{(1)} Z N ( 1 ) or \tilde{Z}_N^{(1)} Z ̃ N ( 1 ) symmetry, the following expectation value \langle \left( O_\mathcal{C}\right)^2 \rangle ⟨ ( O 𝒞 ) 2 ⟩ takes the form \langle \left( \log O_\mathcal{C} \right)^2 \rangle \sim - \frac{A}{\epsilon} P + b \log P ⟨ ( log O 𝒞 ) 2 ⟩ ∼ − A ϵ P + b log P , where O_\mathcal{C} O 𝒞 is an operator defined associated with loop \mathcal{C} 𝒞 (or its interior \mathcal{A} 𝒜 ),which reduces to the Wilson loop operator for cases with an explicit Z_N^{(1)} Z N ( 1 ) 1-form symmetry. P P is the perimeter of \mathcal{C} 𝒞 ,and the b \log P b log P term arises from the sharp corners of the loop \mathcal{C} 𝒞 ,which is consistent with recent numerics on a particular example. b b is amore »universal microscopic-independent number, which in (2+1)d ( 2 + 1 ) d is related to the universal conductivity at the quantum phasetransition. b b can be computed exactly for certain transitions using the dualitiesbetween (2+1)d ( 2 + 1 ) d conformal field theories developed in recent years. We also compute the"strange correlator" of O_\mathcal{C} O 𝒞 : S_{\mathcal{C}} = \langle 0 | O_\mathcal{C} | 1 \rangle / \langle 0 | 1 \rangle S 𝒞 = ⟨ 0 | O 𝒞 | 1 ⟩ / ⟨ 0 | 1 ⟩ where |0\rangle | 0 ⟩ and |1\rangle | 1 ⟩ are many-body states with different topological nature.« less
4. An Unconditional Explicit Bound on the Error Term in the Sato–tate Conjecture

   https://doi.org/10.1093/qmath/haac004  

   Hoey, Alexandra ; Iskander, Jonas ; Jin, Steven ; Trejos Suárez, Fernando ( April 2022 , The Quarterly Journal of Mathematics)

   Let $f(z) = \sum_{n=1}^\infty a_f(n)q^n$ be a holomorphic cuspidal newform with even integral weight $k\geq 2$, level N, trivial nebentypus and no complex multiplication. For all primes p, we may define $\theta_p\in [0,\pi]$ such that $a_f(p) = 2p^{(k-1)/2}\cos \theta_p$. The Sato–Tate conjecture states that the angles θp are equidistributed with respect to the probability measure $\mu_{\textrm{ST}}(I) = \frac{2}{\pi}\int_I \sin^2 \theta \; d\theta$, where $I\subseteq [0,\pi]$. Using recent results on the automorphy of symmetric power L-functions due to Newton and Thorne, we explicitly bound the error term in the Sato–Tate conjecture when f corresponds to an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$ of arbitrary conductor or when f has square-free level. In these cases, if $\pi_{f,I}(x) := \#\{p \leq x : p \nmid N, \theta_p\in I\}$ and $\pi(x) := \# \{p \leq x \}$, we prove the following bound: $$ \left| \frac{\pi_{f,I}(x)}{\pi(x)} - \mu_{\textrm{ST}}(I)\right| \leq 58.1\frac{\log((k-1)N \log{x})}{\sqrt{\log{x}}} \qquad \text{for} \quad x \geq 3. $$ As an application, we give an explicit bound for the number of primes up to x that violate the Atkin–Serre conjecture for f.
5. Lower Bounds Against Sparse Symmetric Functions of ACC Circuits: Expanding the Reach of #SAT Algorithms

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00224-022-10106-8  

   Vyas, Nikhil ; Williams, R. Ryan ( November 2022 , Theory of Computing Systems)

   We continue the program of proving circuit lower bounds via circuit satisfiability algorithms. So far, this program has yielded several concrete results, proving that functions in$\mathsf {Quasi}\text {-}\mathsf {NP} = \mathsf {NTIME}[n^{(\log n)^{O(1)}}]$$\mathrm{Quasi}-\mathrm{NP}=\mathrm{NTIME}\left[n^{{\left(\log n\right)}^{O\left(1\right)}}\right]$and other complexity classes do not have small circuits (in the worst case and/or on average) from various circuit classes$\mathcal { C}$$C$, by showing that$\mathcal { C}$$C$admits non-trivial satisfiability and/or#SAT algorithms which beat exhaustive search by a minor amount. In this paper, we present a new strong lower bound consequence of having a non-trivial#SAT algorithm for a circuit class${\mathcal C}$$C$. Say that a symmetric Boolean functionf(x₁,…,x_n) issparseif it outputs 1 onO(1) values of${\sum }_{i} x_{i}$${\sum }_i{x}_i$. We show that for every sparsef, and for all “typical”$\mathcal { C}$$C$, faster#SAT algorithms for$\mathcal { C}$$C$circuits imply lower bounds against the circuit class$f \circ \mathcal { C}$$f\circ C$, which may bestrongerthan$\mathcal { C}$$C$itself. In particular:

   #SAT algorithms forn^k-size$\mathcal { C}$$C$-circuits running in 2ⁿ/n^ktime (for allk) implyNEXPdoes not have$(f \circ \mathcal { C})$$(f\circ C)$-circuits of polynomial size.

   #SAT algorithms for$2^{n^{{\varepsilon }}}$$2^{n^{\epsilon }}$-size$\mathcal { C}$$C$-circuits running in$2^{n-n^{{\varepsilon }}}$$2^{n-n^{\epsilon }}$time (for someε> 0) implyQuasi-NPdoes not have$(f \circ \mathcal { C})$$(f\circ C)$-circuits of polynomial size.

   Applying#SAT algorithms from the literature, one immediate corollary of our results is thatQuasi-NPdoes not haveEMAJ∘ACC⁰∘THRcircuits of polynomialmore »size, whereEMAJis the “exact majority” function, improving previous lower bounds againstACC⁰[Williams JACM’14] andACC⁰∘THR[Williams STOC’14], [Murray-Williams STOC’18]. This is the first nontrivial lower bound against such a circuit class.

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