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1. PL homeomorphisms of surfaces and codimension 2 PL foliations

   https://doi.org/10.1112/S0010437X24007498  

   Nariman, Sam (November 2024, Compositio Mathematica)

   The Haefliger–Thurston conjecture predicts that Haefliger's classifying space for$$C^r$$-foliations of codimension$$n$$whose normal bundles are trivial is$$2n$$-connected. In this paper, we confirm this conjecture for piecewise linear (PL) foliations of codimension$$2$$. Using this, we use a version of the Mather–Thurston theorem for PL homeomorphisms due to the author to derive new homological properties for PL surface homeomorphisms. In particular, we answer the question of Epstein in dimension$$2$$and prove the simplicity of the identity component of PL surface homeomorphisms. 

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2. Eliminating Thurston obstructions and controlling dynamics on curves

   https://doi.org/10.1017/etds.2023.114  

   BONK, MARIO; HLUSHCHANKA, MIKHAIL; ISELI, ANNINA (September 2024, Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems)

   Abstract Every Thurston map$$f\colon S^2\rightarrow S^2$$on a$$2$$-sphere$$S^2$$induces a pull-back operation on Jordan curves$$\alpha \subset S^2\smallsetminus {P_f}$$, where$${P_f}$$is the postcritical set off. Here the isotopy class$$[f^{-1}(\alpha )]$$(relative to$${P_f}$$) only depends on the isotopy class$$[\alpha ]$$. We study this operation for Thurston maps with four postcritical points. In this case, a Thurston obstruction for the mapfcan be seen as a fixed point of the pull-back operation. We show that if a Thurston mapfwith a hyperbolic orbifold and four postcritical points has a Thurston obstruction, then one can ‘blow up’ suitable arcs in the underlying$$2$$-sphere and construct a new Thurston map$$\widehat f$$for which this obstruction is eliminated. We prove that no other obstruction arises and so$$\widehat f$$is realized by a rational map. In particular, this allows for the combinatorial construction of a large class of rational Thurston maps with four postcritical points. We also study the dynamics of the pull-back operation under iteration. We exhibit a subclass of our rational Thurston maps with four postcritical points for which we can give positive answer to the global curve attractor problem. 

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3. p -ADIC L -FUNCTIONS AND RATIONAL POINTS ON CM ELLIPTIC CURVES AT INERT PRIMES

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S147474802300021X  

   Burungale, Ashay A; Kobayashi, Shinichi; Ota, Kazuto (May 2024, Journal of the Institute of Mathematics of Jussieu)

   Abstract LetKbe an imaginary quadratic field and$$p\geq 5$$a rational prime inert inK. For a$$\mathbb {Q}$$-curveEwith complex multiplication by$$\mathcal {O}_K$$and good reduction atp, K. Rubin introduced ap-adicL-function$$\mathscr {L}_{E}$$which interpolates special values ofL-functions ofEtwisted by anticyclotomic characters ofK. In this paper, we prove a formula which links certain values of$$\mathscr {L}_{E}$$outside its defining range of interpolation with rational points onE. Arithmetic consequences includep-converse to the Gross–Zagier and Kolyvagin theorem forE. A key tool of the proof is the recent resolution of Rubin’s conjecture on the structure of local units in the anticyclotomic$${\mathbb {Z}}_p$$-extension$$\Psi _\infty $$of the unramified quadratic extension of$${\mathbb {Q}}_p$$. Along the way, we present a theory of local points over$$\Psi _\infty $$of the Lubin–Tate formal group of height$$2$$for the uniformizing parameter$$-p$$. 

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4. COVERING INTEGERS BY $x^2 + dy^2$

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474748024000513  

   Green, Ben; Soundararajan, Kannan (May 2025, Journal of the Institute of Mathematics of Jussieu)

   Abstract What proportion of integers$$n \leq N$$may be expressed as$$x^2 + dy^2$$for some$$d \leq \Delta $$, with$$x,y$$integers? Writing$$\Delta = (\log N)^{\log 2} 2^{\alpha \sqrt {\log \log N}}$$for some$$\alpha \in (-\infty , \infty )$$, we show that the answer is$$\Phi (\alpha ) + o(1)$$, where$$\Phi $$is the Gaussian distribution function$$\Phi (\alpha ) = \frac {1}{\sqrt {2\pi }} \int ^{\alpha }_{-\infty } e^{-x^2/2} dx$$. A consequence of this is a phase transition: Almost none of the integers$$n \leq N$$can be represented by$$x^2 + dy^2$$with$$d \leq (\log N)^{\log 2 - \varepsilon }$$, but almost all of them can be represented by$$x^2 + dy^2$$with$$d \leq (\log N)^{\log 2 + \varepsilon}\kern-1.5pt$$. 

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5. On approximability of satisfiable $$\boldsymbol {k}$$-CSPs: II

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963548325100114  

   Bhangale, Amey; Khot, Subhash; Minzer, Dor (November 2025, Combinatorics, Probability and Computing)

   Abstract Let$$\Sigma$$be an alphabet and$$\mu$$be a distribution on$$\Sigma ^k$$for some$$k \geqslant 2$$. Let$$\alpha \gt 0$$be the minimum probability of a tuple in the support of$$\mu$$(denoted$$\mathsf{supp}(\mu )$$). We treat the parameters$$\Sigma , k, \mu , \alpha$$as fixed and constant. We say that the distribution$$\mu$$has a linear embedding if there exist an Abelian group$$G$$(with the identity element$$0_G$$) and mappings$$\sigma _i : \Sigma \rightarrow G$$,$$1 \leqslant i \leqslant k$$, such that at least one of the mappings is non-constant and for every$$(a_1, a_2, \ldots , a_k)\in \mathsf{supp}(\mu )$$,$$\sum _{i=1}^k \sigma _i(a_i) = 0_G$$. In [Bhangale-Khot-Minzer, STOC 2022], the authors asked the following analytical question. Let$$f_i: \Sigma ^n\rightarrow [\!-1,1]$$be bounded functions, such that at least one of the functions$$f_i$$essentially has degree at least$$d$$, meaning that the Fourier mass of$$f_i$$on terms of degree less than$$d$$is at most$$\delta$$. If$$\mu$$has no linear embedding (over any Abelian group), then is it necessarily the case that\begin{equation*}\left | \mathop {\mathbb{E}}_{({\textbf {x}}_1, {\textbf {x}}_2, \ldots , {\textbf {x}}_k)\sim \mu ^{\otimes n}}[f_1({\textbf {x}}_1)f_2({\textbf {x}}_2)\cdots f_k({\textbf {x}}_k)] \right | = o_{d, \delta }(1),\end{equation*}where the right hand side$$\to 0$$as the degree$$d \to \infty$$and$$\delta \to 0$$? In this paper, we answer this analytical question fully and in the affirmative for$$k=3$$. We also show the following two applications of the result.1.The first application is related to hardness of approximation. Using the reduction from [5], we show that for every$$3$$-ary predicate$$P:\Sigma ^3 \to \{0,1\}$$such that$$P$$has no linear embedding, anSDP (semi-definite programming) integrality gap instanceof a$$P$$-Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) instance with gap$$(1,s)$$can be translated into a dictatorship test with completeness$$1$$and soundness$$s+o(1)$$, under certain additional conditions on the instance.2.The second application is related to additive combinatorics. We show that if the distribution$$\mu$$on$$\Sigma ^3$$has no linear embedding, marginals of$$\mu$$are uniform on$$\Sigma$$, and$$(a,a,a)\in \texttt{supp}(\mu )$$for every$$a\in \Sigma$$, then every large enough subset of$$\Sigma ^n$$contains a triple$$({\textbf {x}}_1, {\textbf {x}}_2,{\textbf {x}}_3)$$from$$\mu ^{\otimes n}$$(and in fact a significant density of such triples). 

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