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1. Block mapping class groups and their finiteness properties

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10711-025-00985-9  

   Aramayona, J; Aroca, J; Cumplido, M; Skipper, R; Wu, X (April 2025, Geometriae Dedicata)

   Abstract Given$$g \in \mathbb N \cup \{0, \infty \}$$ $g\in N\cup \{0,\infty \}$, let$$\Sigma _g$$ ${\Sigma }_g$denote the closed surface of genusgwith a Cantor set removed, if$$g<\infty $$ $g<\infty$; or the blooming Cantor tree, when$$g= \infty $$ $g=\infty$. We construct a family$$\mathfrak B(H)$$ $B\left(H\right)$of subgroups of$${{\,\textrm{Map}\,}}(\Sigma _g)$$ $\text{Map}\left({\Sigma }_g\right)$whose elements preserve ablock decompositionof$$\Sigma _g$$ ${\Sigma }_g$, andeventually like actlike an element ofH, whereHis a prescribed subgroup of the mapping class group of the block. The group$$\mathfrak B(H)$$ $B\left(H\right)$surjects onto an appropriate symmetric Thompson group of Farley–Hughes; in particular, it answers positively. Our main result asserts that$$\mathfrak B(H)$$ $B\left(H\right)$is of type$$F_n$$ $F_n$if and only ifHis. As a consequence, for every$$g\in \mathbb N \cup \{0, \infty \}$$ $g\in N\cup \{0,\infty \}$and every$$n\ge 1$$ $n\ge 1$, we construct a subgroup$$G <{{\,\textrm{Map}\,}}(\Sigma _g)$$ $G<\text{Map}\left({\Sigma }_g\right)$that is of type$$F_n$$ $F_n$but not of type$$F_{n+1}$$ $F_{n+1}$, and which contains the mapping class group of every compact surface of genus$$\le g$$ $\le g$and with non-empty boundary. 

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2. Sectional Curvature, Isotropic Curvature, and Yau’s Pinching Problem

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12220-026-02518-6  

   Li, Xiaolong (August 2026, The Journal of Geometric Analysis)

   Abstract We prove that if a closed Riemannian manifold$$(M^n,g)$$ $(M^n,g)$has finite fundamental group and satisfies the curvature condition$$\begin{aligned} R_{1313} +R_{1414} +R_{2323} + R_{2424} > \tfrac{1}{2}\left( R_{1212} + R_{3434}\right) \end{aligned}$$ $\begin{array}{c}{R}_{1313}+R_{1414}+R_{2323}+R_{2424}>\frac{1}{2}\left(R_{1212},+,R_{3434}\right)\end{array}$for all orthonormal four-frame$$\{e_1, e_2, e_3, e_4\} \subset T_pM$$ $\{e_1,e_2,e_3,e_4\}\subset T_{p}M$, then the universal cover ofMis homeomorphic to then-sphere. This generalizes the famous sphere theorem under the stronger condition of$$\frac{1}{4}$$ $\frac{1}{4}$-pinched sectional curvature. As an application, we provide a partial answer to a pinching problem proposed by Yau in 1990. 

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3. L-Systems and the Lovász Number

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00493-025-00136-4  

   Linz, William (April 2025, Combinatorica)

   Abstract Given integers$$n> k > 0$$ $n>k>0$, and a set of integers$$L \subset [0, k-1]$$ $L\subset [0,k-1]$, anL-systemis a family of sets$$\mathcal {F}\subset \left( {\begin{array}{c}[n]\\ k\end{array}}\right) $$ $F\subset \left(\begin{array}{c}\left[n\right]\\ k\end{array}\right)$such that$$|F \cap F'| \in L$$ $|F\cap F^{\prime }|\in L$for distinct$$F, F'\in \mathcal {F}$$ $F,F^{\prime }\in F$.L-systems correspond to independent sets in a certain generalized Johnson graphG(n, k, L), so that the maximum size of anL-system is equivalent to finding the independence number of the graphG(n, k, L). TheLovász number$$\vartheta (G)$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right)$is a semidefinite programming approximation of the independence number$$\alpha $$ $\alpha$of a graphG. In this paper, we determine the leading order term of$$\vartheta (G(n, k, L))$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right(n,k,L\left)\right)$of any generalized Johnson graph withkandLfixed and$$n\rightarrow \infty $$ $n\to \infty$. As an application of this theorem, we give an explicit construction of a graphGonnvertices with a large gap between the Lovász number and the Shannon capacityc(G). Specifically, we prove that for any$$\epsilon > 0$$ $ϵ>0$, for infinitely manynthere is a generalized Johnson graphGonnvertices which has ratio$$\vartheta (G)/c(G) = \Omega (n^{1-\epsilon })$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right)/c\left(G\right)=\Omega \left(n^{1-ϵ}\right)$, which improves on all known constructions. The graphGa fortiorialso has ratio$$\vartheta (G)/\alpha (G) = \Omega (n^{1-\epsilon })$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right)/\alpha \left(G\right)=\Omega \left(n^{1-ϵ}\right)$, which greatly improves on the best known explicit construction. 

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

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

   Greenfeld, Rachel; Tao, Terence (December 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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5. Measurement of CP asymmetry in $$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0\to {\textrm{D}}_{\textrm{s}}^{\mp }{\textrm{K}}^{\pm } $$ decays

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2025)139  

   Aaij, R; Abdelmotteleb, A_S W; Abellan_Beteta, C; Abudinén, F; Ackernley, T; Adefisoye, A A; Adeva, B; Adinolfi, M; Adlarson, P; Agapopoulou, C; et al (March 2025, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> A measurement of theCP-violating parameters in$$ {B}_s^0\boldsymbol{\to}{D}_s^{\mp }{K}^{\pm} $$ $B_s^0\to D_s^{\mp }{K}^{\pm }$decays is reported, based on the analysis of proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb⁻¹at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The measured parameters are obtained with a decay-time dependent analysis yieldingC_f= 0.791 ± 0.061 ± 0.022,$$ {A}_f^{\Delta \Gamma} $$ $A_f^{\text{∆}\Gamma }$= −0.051 ± 0.134 ± 0.058,$$ {A}_{\overline{f}}^{\Delta \Gamma} $$ $A_{\overline{f}}^{\text{∆}\Gamma }$= −0.303 ± 0.125 ± 0.055,S_f= −0.571 ± 0.084 ± 0.023 and$$ {S}_{\overline{f}} $$ $S_{\overline{f}}$= −0.503 ± 0.084 ± 0.025, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This corresponds to CP violation in the interference between mixing and decay of about 8.6σ. Together with the value of the$$ {B}_s^0 $$ $B_s^0$mixing phase −2β_s, these parameters are used to obtain a measurement of the CKM angleγequal to (74 ± 12)° modulo 180°, where the uncertainty contains both statistical and systematic contributions. This result is combined with the previous LHCb measurement in this channel using 3 fb⁻¹resulting in a determination of$$ \gamma ={\left({81}_{-11}^{+12}\right)}^{\circ } $$ $\gamma ={\left({81}_{-11}^{+12}\right)}^{\circ }$. 

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