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1. VC-Dimension of Hyperplanes Over Finite Fields

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00373-025-02909-6  

   Ascoli, Ruben; Betti, Livia; Cheigh, Justin; Iosevich, Alex; Jeong, Ryan; Liu, Xuyan; McDonald, Brian; Milgrim, Wyatt; Miller, Steven_J; Romero_Acosta, Francisco; et al (March 2025, Graphs and Combinatorics)

   Abstract Let$$\mathbb {F}_q^d$$ $F_q^d$be thed-dimensional vector space over the finite field withqelements. For a subset$$E\subseteq \mathbb {F}_q^d$$ $E\subseteq F_q^d$and a fixed nonzero$$t\in \mathbb {F}_q$$ $t\in F_q$, let$$\mathcal {H}_t(E)=\{h_y: y\in E\}$$ $H_t\left(E\right)=\{h_y:y\in E\}$, where$$h_y:E\rightarrow \{0,1\}$$ $h_y:E\to \{0,1\}$is the indicator function of the set$$\{x\in E: x\cdot y=t\}$$ $\{x\in E:x·y=t\}$. Two of the authors, with Maxwell Sun, showed in the case$$d=3$$ $d=3$that if$$|E|\ge Cq^{\frac{11}{4}}$$ $\left|E\right|\ge C{q}^{\frac{11}{4}}$andqis sufficiently large, then the VC-dimension of$$\mathcal {H}_t(E)$$ $H_t\left(E\right)$is 3. In this paper, we generalize the result to arbitrary dimension by showing that the VC-dimension of$$\mathcal {H}_t(E)$$ $H_t\left(E\right)$isdwhenever$$E\subseteq \mathbb {F}_q^d$$ $E\subseteq F_q^d$with$$|E|\ge C_d q^{d-\frac{1}{d-1}}$$ $\left|E\right|\ge C_d{q}^{d-\frac{1}{d-1}}$. 

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2. The geometric distribution of Selmer groups of elliptic curves over function fields

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00208-022-02429-1  

   Feng, Tony; Landesman, Aaron; Rains, Eric M. (September 2022, Mathematische Annalen)

   Abstract Fix a positive integernand a finite field$${\mathbb {F}}_q$$ $F_q$. We study the joint distribution of the rank$${{\,\mathrm{rk}\,}}(E)$$ $\mathrm{rk}\left(E\right)$, then-Selmer group$$\text {Sel}_n(E)$$ ${\text{Sel}}_n\left(E\right)$, and then-torsion in the Tate–Shafarevich group Equation missing<#comment/>asEvaries over elliptic curves of fixed height$$d \ge 2$$ $d\ge 2$over$${\mathbb {F}}_q(t)$$ $F_q\left(t\right)$. We compute this joint distribution in the largeqlimit. We also show that the “largeq, then large height” limit of this distribution agrees with the one predicted by Bhargava–Kane–Lenstra–Poonen–Rains. 

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3. Universality and phase transitions in low moments of secular coefficients of critical holomorphic multiplicative chaos

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00440-025-01443-z  

   Gu, Haotian; Zhang, Zhenyuan (November 2025, Probability Theory and Related Fields)

   Abstract We investigate the low moments$$\mathbb {E}[|A_N|^{2q}],\, 0 $E\left[\right|A_N{|}^{2q}],0<q⩽1$of secular coefficients$$A_N$$ $A_N$of the critical non-Gaussian holomorphic multiplicative chaos, i.e. coefficients of$$z^N$$ $z^N$in the power series expansion of$$\exp (\sum _{k=1}^\infty X_kz^k/\sqrt{k})$$ $exp({\sum }_{k=1}^{\infty }{X}_k{z}^k/\sqrt{k})$, where$$\{X_k\}_{k\geqslant 1}$$ ${\left\{X_k\right\}}_{k⩾1}$are i.i.d. rotationally invariant unit variance complex random variables. Inspired by Harper’s remarkable result on random multiplicative functions, Soundararajan and Zaman recently showed that if each$$X_k$$ $X_k$is standard complex Gaussian,$$A_N$$ $A_N$features better-than-square-root cancellation:$$\mathbb {E}[|A_N|^2]=1$$ $E\left[\right|A_N{|}^2]=1$and$$\mathbb {E}[|A_N|^{2q}]\asymp (\log N)^{-q/2}$$ $E\left[\right|A_N{|}^{2q}]\asymp {(logN)}^{-q/2}$for fixed$$q\in (0,1)$$ $q\in (0,1)$as$$N\rightarrow \infty $$ $N\to \infty$. We show that this asymptotics holds universally if$$\mathbb {E}[e^{\gamma |X_k|}]<\infty $$ $E\left[e^{\gamma |X_k|}\right]<\infty$for some$$\gamma >2q$$ $\gamma >2q$. As a consequence, we establish the universality for the tightness of the normalized secular coefficients$$A_N(\log (1+N))^{1/4}$$ $A_N{(log(1+N))}^{1/4}$, generalizing a result of Najnudel, Paquette, and Simm. Another corollary is the almost sure regularity of some critical non-Gaussian holomorphic chaos in appropriate Sobolev spaces. Moreover, we characterize the asymptotics of$$\mathbb {E}[|A_N|^{2q}]$$ $E\left[\right|A_N{|}^{2q}]$for$$|X_k|$$ $|X_k|$following a stretched exponential distribution with an arbitrary scale parameter, which exhibits a completely different behavior and underlying mechanism from the Gaussian universality regime. As a result, we unveil a double-layer phase transition around the critical case of exponential tails. Our proofs combine Harper’s robust approach with a careful analysis of the (possibly random) leading terms in the monomial decomposition of$$A_N$$ $A_N$. 

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4. On a Traveling Salesman Problem for Points in the Unit Cube

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-024-01257-w  

   Balogh, József; Clemen, Felix Christian; Dumitrescu, Adrian (September 2024, Algorithmica)

   Abstract LetXbe ann-element point set in thek-dimensional unit cube$$[0,1]^k$$ ${[0,1]}^k$where$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$. According to an old result of Bollobás and Meir (Oper Res Lett 11:19–21, 1992) , there exists a cycle (tour)$$x_1, x_2, \ldots , x_n$$ $x_1,x_2,\dots ,x_n$through thenpoints, such that$$\left( \sum _{i=1}^n |x_i - x_{i+1}|^k \right) ^{1/k} \le c_k$$ ${\left({\sum }_{i=1}^n,{|x_i-x_{i+1}|}^k\right)}^{1/k}\le c_k$, where$$|x-y|$$ $|x-y|$is the Euclidean distance betweenxandy, and$$c_k$$ $c_k$is an absolute constant that depends only onk, where$$x_{n+1} \equiv x_1$$ $x_{n+1}\equiv x_1$. From the other direction, for every$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$and$$n \ge 2$$ $n\ge 2$, there existnpoints in$$[0,1]^k$$ ${[0,1]}^k$, such that their shortest tour satisfies$$\left( \sum _{i=1}^n |x_i - x_{i+1}|^k \right) ^{1/k} = 2^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ ${\left({\sum }_{i=1}^n,{|x_i-x_{i+1}|}^k\right)}^{1/k}=2^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$. For the plane, the best constant is$$c_2=2$$ $c_2=2$and this is the only exact value known. Bollobás and Meir showed that one can take$$c_k = 9 \left( \frac{2}{3} \right) ^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=9{\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)}^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$for every$$k \ge 3$$ $k\ge 3$and conjectured that the best constant is$$c_k = 2^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=2^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$, for every$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$. Here we significantly improve the upper bound and show that one can take$$c_k = 3 \sqrt{5} \left( \frac{2}{3} \right) ^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=3\sqrt{5}{\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)}^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$or$$c_k = 2.91 \sqrt{k} \ (1+o_k(1))$$ $c_k=2.91\sqrt{k}(1+o_k\left(1\right))$. Our bounds are constructive. We also show that$$c_3 \ge 2^{7/6}$$ $c_3\ge 2^{7/6}$, which disproves the conjecture for$$k=3$$ $k=3$. Connections to matching problems, power assignment problems, related problems, including algorithms, are discussed in this context. A slightly revised version of the Bollobás–Meir conjecture is proposed. 

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5. Undecidable Translational Tilings with Only Two Tiles, or One Nonabelian Tile

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00454-022-00426-4  

   Greenfeld, Rachel; Tao, Terence (January 2023, Discrete & Computational Geometry)

   Abstract We construct an example of a group$$G = \mathbb {Z}^2 \times G_0$$ $G=Z^2\times G_0$for a finite abelian group $$G_0$$ $G_0$, a subsetEof $$G_0$$ $G_0$, and two finite subsets$$F_1,F_2$$ $F_1,F_2$of G, such that it is undecidable in ZFC whether$$\mathbb {Z}^2\times E$$ $Z^2\times E$can be tiled by translations of$$F_1,F_2$$ $F_1,F_2$. In particular, this implies that this tiling problem isaperiodic, in the sense that (in the standard universe of ZFC) there exist translational tilings ofEby the tiles$$F_1,F_2$$ $F_1,F_2$, but no periodic tilings. Previously, such aperiodic or undecidable translational tilings were only constructed for sets of eleven or more tiles (mostly in $$\mathbb {Z}^2$$ $Z^2$). A similar construction also applies for$$G=\mathbb {Z}^d$$ $G=Z^d$for sufficiently large d. If one allows the group$$G_0$$ $G_0$to be non-abelian, a variant of the construction produces an undecidable translational tiling with only one tile F. The argument proceeds by first observing that a single tiling equation is able to encode an arbitrary system of tiling equations, which in turn can encode an arbitrary system of certain functional equations once one has two or more tiles. In particular, one can use two tiles to encode tiling problems for an arbitrary number of tiles. 

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