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1. Equal sums in random sets and the concentration of divisors

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00222-022-01177-y  

   Ford, Kevin; Green, Ben; Koukoulopoulos, Dimitris (June 2023, Inventiones mathematicae)

   Abstract We study the extent to which divisors of a typical integer n are concentrated. In particular, defining $$\Delta (n) := \max _t \# \{d | n, \log d \in [t,t+1]\}$$ Δ ( n ) : = max t # { d | n , log d ∈ [ t , t + 1 ] } , we show that $$\Delta (n) \geqslant (\log \log n)^{0.35332277\ldots }$$ Δ ( n ) ⩾ ( log log n ) 0.35332277 … for almost all n , a bound we believe to be sharp. This disproves a conjecture of Maier and Tenenbaum. We also prove analogs for the concentration of divisors of a random permutation and of a random polynomial over a finite field. Most of the paper is devoted to a study of the following much more combinatorial problem of independent interest. Pick a random set $${\textbf{A}} \subset {\mathbb {N}}$$ A ⊂ N by selecting i to lie in $${\textbf{A}}$$ A with probability 1/ i . What is the supremum of all exponents $$\beta _k$$ β k such that, almost surely as $$D \rightarrow \infty $$ D → ∞ , some integer is the sum of elements of $${\textbf{A}} \cap [D^{\beta _k}, D]$$ A ∩ [ D β k , D ] in k different ways? We characterise $$\beta _k$$ β k as the solution to a certain optimisation problem over measures on the discrete cube $$\{0,1\}^k$$ { 0 , 1 } k , and obtain lower bounds for $$\beta _k$$ β k which we believe to be asymptotically sharp. 

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2. Internal Sequential Commutation and Single Generation

   https://doi.org/10.1093/imrn/rnaf103  

   Gao, David; Kunnawalkam_Elayavalli, Srivatsav; Patchell, Gregory; Tan, Hui (April 2025, International Mathematics Research Notices)

   Abstract We extract a precise internal description of the sequential commutation equivalence relation introduced in [14] for tracial von Neumann algebras. As an application we, prove that if a tracial von Neumann algebra $$N$$ is generated by unitaries $$\{u_{i}\}_{i\in \mathbb{N}}$$ such that $$u_{i}\sim u_{j}$$ (i.e., there exists a finite set of Haar unitaries $$\{w_{i}\}_{i=1}^{n}$$ in $$N^{\mathcal{U}}$$ such that $$[u_{i}, w_{1}]= [w_{k}, w_{k+1}]=[w_{n},u_{j}]=0$$ for all $$1\leq k< n$$), then $$N$$ is singly generated. This generalizes and recovers several known single generation phenomena for II$$_{1}$$ factors in the literature with a unified proof. 

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3. Conditions for a Bigraph to be Super-Cyclic

   https://doi.org/10.37236/9683  

   Kostochka, Alexandr; Lavrov, Mikhail; Luo, Ruth; Zirlin, Dara (January 2021, The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics)

   A hypergraph $$\mathcal H$$ is super-pancyclic if for each $$A \subseteq V(\mathcal H)$$ with $$|A| \geqslant 3$$, $$\mathcal H$$ contains a Berge cycle with base vertex set $$A$$. We present two natural necessary conditions for a hypergraph to be super-pancyclic, and show that in several classes of hypergraphs these necessary conditions are also sufficient. In particular, they are sufficient for every hypergraph $$\mathcal H$$ with $$ \delta(\mathcal H)\geqslant \max\{|V(\mathcal H)|, \frac{|E(\mathcal H)|+10}{4}\}$$. We also consider super-cyclic bipartite graphs: those are $(X,Y)$-bigraphs $$G$$ such that for each $$A \subseteq X$$ with $$|A| \geqslant 3$$, $$G$$ has a cycle $$C_A$$ such that $$V(C_A)\cap X=A$$. Such graphs are incidence graphs of super-pancyclic hypergraphs, and our proofs use the language of such graphs. 

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4. 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)

   Abstract 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 semianalytic 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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5. Almost isotropic Kähler manifolds

   https://doi.org/10.1515/crelle-2019-0030  

   Schmidt, Benjamin; Shankar, Krishnan; Spatzier, Ralf (October 2020, Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik (Crelles Journal))

   Abstract Let M be a complete Riemannian manifold and suppose {p\in M} . For each unit vector {v\in T_{p}M} , the Jacobi operator , {\mathcal{J}_{v}:v^{\perp}\rightarrow v^{\perp}} is the symmetric endomorphism, {\mathcal{J}_{v}(w)=R(w,v)v} . Then p is an isotropic point if there exists a constant {\kappa_{p}\in{\mathbb{R}}} such that {\mathcal{J}_{v}=\kappa_{p}\operatorname{Id}_{v^{\perp}}} for each unit vector {v\in T_{p}M} . If all points are isotropic, then M is said to be isotropic; it is a classical result of Schur that isotropic manifolds of dimension at least 3 have constant sectional curvatures. In this paper we consider almost isotropic manifolds , i.e. manifolds having the property that for each {p\in M} , there exists a constant {\kappa_{p}\in\mathbb{R}} such that the Jacobi operators {\mathcal{J}_{v}} satisfy {\operatorname{rank}({\mathcal{J}_{v}-\kappa_{p}\operatorname{Id}_{v^{\perp}}}% )\leq 1} for each unit vector {v\in T_{p}M} . Our main theorem classifies the almost isotropic simply connected Kähler manifolds, proving that those of dimension {d=2n\geqslant 4} are either isometric to complex projective space or complex hyperbolic space or are totally geodesically foliated by leaves isometric to {{\mathbb{C}}^{n-1}} . 

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