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1. Almost all orbits of the Collatz map attain almost bounded values

   https://doi.org/10.1017/fmp.2022.8  

   Tao, Terence (January 2022, Forum of Mathematics, Pi)

   Abstract Define theCollatz map$${\operatorname {Col}} \colon \mathbb {N}+1 \to \mathbb {N}+1$$on the positive integers$$\mathbb {N}+1 = \{1,2,3,\dots \}$$by setting$${\operatorname {Col}}(N)$$equal to$$3N+1$$whenNis odd and$$N/2$$whenNis even, and let$${\operatorname {Col}}_{\min }(N) := \inf _{n \in \mathbb {N}} {\operatorname {Col}}^n(N)$$denote the minimal element of the Collatz orbit$$N, {\operatorname {Col}}(N), {\operatorname {Col}}^2(N), \dots $$. The infamousCollatz conjectureasserts that$${\operatorname {Col}}_{\min }(N)=1$$for all$$N \in \mathbb {N}+1$$. Previously, it was shown by Korec that for any$$\theta> \frac {\log 3}{\log 4} \approx 0.7924$$, one has$${\operatorname {Col}}_{\min }(N) \leq N^\theta $$for almost all$$N \in \mathbb {N}+1$$(in the sense of natural density). In this paper, we show that foranyfunction$$f \colon \mathbb {N}+1 \to \mathbb {R}$$with$$\lim _{N \to \infty } f(N)=+\infty $$, one has$${\operatorname {Col}}_{\min }(N) \leq f(N)$$for almost all$$N \in \mathbb {N}+1$$(in the sense of logarithmic density). Our proof proceeds by establishing a stabilisation property for a certain first passage random variable associated with the Collatz iteration (or more precisely, the closely related Syracuse iteration), which in turn follows from estimation of the characteristic function of a certain skew random walk on a$$3$$-adic cyclic group$$\mathbb {Z}/3^n\mathbb {Z}$$at high frequencies. This estimation is achieved by studying how a certain two-dimensional renewal process interacts with a union of triangles associated to a given frequency. 

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2. A TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO UNDEFINABILITY IN ALGEBRAIC EXTENSIONS OF Q

   https://doi.org/10.1017/bsl.2023.37  

   EISENTRÄGER, KIRSTEN; MILLER, RUSSELL; SPRINGER, CALEB; WESTRICK, LINDA (December 2023, The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic)

   Abstract For any subset$$Z \subseteq {\mathbb {Q}}$$, consider the set$$S_Z$$of subfields$$L\subseteq {\overline {\mathbb {Q}}}$$which contain a co-infinite subset$$C \subseteq L$$that is universally definable inLsuch that$$C \cap {\mathbb {Q}}=Z$$. Placing a natural topology on the set$${\operatorname {Sub}({\overline {\mathbb {Q}}})}$$of subfields of$${\overline {\mathbb {Q}}}$$, we show that ifZis not thin in$${\mathbb {Q}}$$, then$$S_Z$$is meager in$${\operatorname {Sub}({\overline {\mathbb {Q}}})}$$. Here,thinandmeagerboth mean “small”, in terms of arithmetic geometry and topology, respectively. For example, this implies that only a meager set of fieldsLhave the property that the ring of algebraic integers$$\mathcal {O}_L$$is universally definable inL. The main tools are Hilbert’s Irreducibility Theorem and a new normal form theorem for existential definitions. The normal form theorem, which may be of independent interest, says roughly that every$$\exists $$-definable subset of an algebraic extension of$${\mathbb Q}$$is a finite union of single points and projections of hypersurfaces defined by absolutely irreducible polynomials. 

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3. Two-sided permutation statistics via symmetric functions

   https://doi.org/10.1017/fms.2024.89  

   Gessel, Ira M; Zhuang, Yan (November 2024, Forum of Mathematics, Sigma)

   Abstract Given a permutation statistic$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}$$, define its inverse statistic$$\operatorname {\mathrm {ist}}$$by. We give a general approach, based on the theory of symmetric functions, for finding the joint distribution of$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}_{1}$$and$$\operatorname {\mathrm {ist}}_{2}$$whenever$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}_{1}$$and$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}_{2}$$are descent statistics: permutation statistics that depend only on the descent composition. We apply this method to a number of descent statistics, including the descent number, the peak number, the left peak number, the number of up-down runs and the major index. Perhaps surprisingly, in many cases the polynomial giving the joint distribution of$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}_{1}$$and$$\operatorname {\mathrm {ist}}_{2}$$can be expressed as a simple sum involving products of the polynomials giving the (individual) distributions of$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}_{1}$$and$$\operatorname {\mathrm {st}}_{2}$$. Our work leads to a rederivation of Stanley’s generating function for doubly alternating permutations, as well as several conjectures concerning real-rootedness and$$\gamma $$-positivity. 

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4. Increasing subsequences, matrix loci and Viennot shadows

   https://doi.org/10.1017/fms.2024.75  

   Rhoades, Brendon (January 2024, Forum of Mathematics, Sigma)

   Abstract Let$${\mathbf {x}}_{n \times n}$$be an$$n \times n$$matrix of variables, and let$${\mathbb {F}}[{\mathbf {x}}_{n \times n}]$$be the polynomial ring in these variables over a field$${\mathbb {F}}$$. We study the ideal$$I_n \subseteq {\mathbb {F}}[{\mathbf {x}}_{n \times n}]$$generated by all row and column variable sums and all products of two variables drawn from the same row or column. We show that the quotient$${\mathbb {F}}[{\mathbf {x}}_{n \times n}]/I_n$$admits a standard monomial basis determined by Viennot’s shadow line avatar of the Schensted correspondence. As a corollary, the Hilbert series of$${\mathbb {F}}[{\mathbf {x}}_{n \times n}]/I_n$$is the generating function of permutations in$${\mathfrak {S}}_n$$by the length of their longest increasing subsequence. Along the way, we describe a ‘shadow junta’ basis of the vector space ofk-local permutation statistics. We also calculate the structure of$${\mathbb {F}}[{\mathbf {x}}_{n \times n}]/I_n$$as a graded$${\mathfrak {S}}_n \times {\mathfrak {S}}_n$$-module. 

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5. Intersective sets for sparse sets of integers

   https://doi.org/10.1017/etds.2024.73  

   BIENVENU, PIERRE-YVES; GRIESMER, JOHN T; LE, ANH N; LÊ, THÁI HOÀNG (May 2025, Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems)

   Abstract For$$E \subset \mathbb {N}$$, a subset$$R \subset \mathbb {N}$$isE-intersectiveif for every$$A \subset E$$having positive relative density,$$R \cap (A - A) \neq \varnothing $$. We say thatRischromatically E-intersectiveif for every finite partition$$E=\bigcup _{i=1}^k E_i$$, there existsisuch that$$R\cap (E_i-E_i)\neq \varnothing $$. When$$E=\mathbb {N}$$, we recover the usual notions of intersectivity and chromatic intersectivity. We investigate to what extent the known intersectivity results hold in the relative setting when$$E = \mathbb {P}$$, the set of primes, or other sparse subsets of$$\mathbb {N}$$. Among other things, we prove the following: (1) the set of shifted Chen primes$$\mathbb {P}_{\mathrm {Chen}} + 1$$is both intersective and$$\mathbb {P}$$-intersective; (2) there exists an intersective set that is not$$\mathbb {P}$$-intersective; (3) every$$\mathbb {P}$$-intersective set is intersective; (4) there exists a chromatically$$\mathbb {P}$$-intersective set which is not intersective (and therefore not$$\mathbb {P}$$-intersective). 

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