We consider semilinear elliptic problems in which the right-hand-side nonlinearity depends on a parameter λ > 0. Two multiplicity results are presented, guaranteeing the existence of at least three non-trivial solutions for this kind of problem, when the parameter λ belongs to an interval (0,λ*). Our approach is based on variational techniques, truncation methods and critical groups. The first result incorporates as a special case problems with concave–convex nonlinearities, while the second one involves concave nonlinearities perturbed by an asymptotically linear nonlinearity at infinity.

We show that if π is a group with a finite 2-dimensional Eilenberg-Mac Lane complex then the minimum of the Euler characteristics of closed 4-manifolds with fundamental group π is 2χ(K(π, 1)). If moreover M is such a manifold realizing this minimum then π2(M) ≅ Similarly, if π is a PD3-group and w1(M) is the canonical orientation character of π then χ(M)≧l and π2(M) is stably isomorphic to the augmentation ideal of Z[π].

In this paper we shall employ the nonlinear alternative of Leray–Schauder and known sign properties of a related Green's function to establish the existence results for the nth-order discrete focal boundary-value problem. Both the singular and non-singular cases will be discussed.

Let $A$ be a commutative comodule algebra over a commutative bialgebra $H$. The group of invertible relative Hopf modules maps to the Picard group of $A$, and the kernel is described as a quotient group of the group of invertible group-like elements of the coring $A\otimes H$, or as a Harrison cohomology group. Our methods are based on elementary $K$-theory. The Hilbert 90 theorem follows as a corollary. The part of the Picard group of the coinvariants that becomes trivial after base extension embeds in the Harrison cohomology group, and the image is contained in a well-defined subgroup $E$. It equals $E$ if $H$ is a cosemisimple Hopf algebra over a field.

A conjecture of Gromov states that a one-ended word-hyperbolic group must contain a subgroup that is isomorphic to the fundamental group of a closed hyperbolic surface. Recent papers by Gordon and Wilton and by Kim and Wilton give sufficient conditions for hyperbolic surface groups to be embedded in a hyperbolic Baumslag double G. Using Nielsen cancellation methods based on techniques from previous work by the second author, we prove that a hyperbolic orientable surface group of genus 2 is embedded in a hyperbolic Baumslag double if and only if the amalgamated word W is a commutator: that is, W = [U, V] for some elements U, V ∈ F. Furthermore, a hyperbolic Baumslag double G contains a non-orientable surface group of genus 4 if and only if W = X2Y2 for some X, Y ∈ F. G can contain no non-orientable surface group of smaller genus.

For a two-step nilpotent locally compact group $G$, we determine the Glimm ideal space of the group $C^*$-algebra $C^*(G)$ and its topology. This leads to necessary and sufficient conditions for $C^*(G)$ to be quasi-standard. Moreover, some results about the Glimm classes of points in the primitive ideal space $\mathrm{Prim}(C^*(G))$ are obtained.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 22D25. Secondary 22D10

This paper is a further contribution to the extensive study by a number of authors of the subalgebra lattice of a Lie algebra. We give some necessary and some sufficient conditions for a subalgebra to be upper modular. For algebraically closed fields of any characteristic these enable us to determine the structure of Lie algebras having abelian upper-modular subalgebras which are not ideals. We then study the structure of solvable Lie algebras having an abelian upper-modular subalgebra which is not an ideal and which has trivial intersection with the derived algebra; in particular, the structure is determined for algebras over the real field. Next we classify non-solvable Lie algebras over fields of characteristic zero having an upper-modular atom which is not an ideal. Finally, it is shown that every Lie algebra over a field of characteristic different from two and three in which every atom is upper modular is either quasi-abelian or a $\mu$-algebra.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 17B05; 17B50; 17B30; 17B20

Given two intersecting domains, we investigate the boundary behaviour of the quotient of Martin kernels of each domain. To this end, we give a characterization of minimal thinness for a difference of two subdomains in terms of Martin kernels of each domain. As a consequence of our main theorem, we obtain the boundary growth of the Martin kernel of a Lipschitz domain, which corresponds to earlier results for the boundary decay of the Green function for a Lipschitz domain investigated by Burdzy, Carroll and Gardiner.

The transpositions that generate a symmetric group can be represented as real reflections: symmetry operations of a regular simplex. Analogous unitary reflections serve to generate other factor groups of the braid group; they are symmetry operations of regular complex polytopes. Certain relationships among these groups have, as geometric counterparts, unexpected plane sections of the polytopes, beginning with the square sections of the regular tetrahedron. In Section 6, 5-dimensional coordinates will be used to exhibit pentagonal sections of the 4-dimensional regular simplex. The most spectacular instance of such “equatorial” sections occurs in the case of the Witting polytope in complex 4-space, so exquisitely drawn by Peter McMullen for the frontispiece of Regular Complex Polytopes [6]. This has a plane section 3{<5}3 which appears thare as Fig. 4.8B on page 48. Shephard [9, p. 92] called it 3(360)3. Its 120 vertices will be seen to be situated “inside” 120 of the 2160 faces 3{3}3 of the Witting polytope. These “faces” are self-inscribed octagons [7, p. 290].

Let X be a normed linear space. We regard X as a subspace of its bidual X**. Polars will always be evaluated in the pair (X**, X*). We denote the closed unit ball in X by U, so that U0, U00 are the closed unit balls in X*, X** respectively. The weak topology induced by X on X* (the “weak-star” topology) will be denoted by σ(X), and cl() will denote σ(X)-closure.

An analytic function is generally given either directly as a power-series, or at anyrate in some form which can readily be converted into a power-series. The power-series is not an altogether satisfactory method of representing the function, on account of the failure of its convergence outside its circle of convergence; in this respect it is decidedly inferior to the method of representing the function by a continued fraction, as this latter expression in many cases converges over the whole plane, except on certain curves.

If an oriented manifold M immerses in codimension k, then the normal bundle has dimension k such that its Euler class χ є Hk(M; Z) and χ2 є H2k(M; Z). (Cf. (3)).

If M is the complex Grassmann manifold G2(Cn) of 2-planes in Cn (n = 4, 5,…, 15, 17), then dim M = 4n – 8 ≡ d and we shall show that although M immerses in R2d–1 by classical results (3), M does not immerse in Rd+d/2.

The same result was obtained for n = 4 and 5 by Connell (2) and for n = 6 and 7 by the author (6). The nonimmersion results of this paper are new for n = 8, 9, …, 15, 17 and they are an improvement over the result for the general G2(Cn) obtained in (5). In this paper, we use generators of the cohomology ring of G2(Cn) different from those used in (2) and (6) and this simplifies the calculations considerably.

When $p$ is an odd prime, Delbourgo observed that any Kubota–Leopoldt $p$-adic $L$-function, when multiplied by an auxiliary Euler factor, can be written as an infinite sum. We shall establish such expressions without restriction on $p$, and without the Euler factor when the character is non-trivial, by computing the periods of appropriate measures. As an application, we will reprove the Ferrero–Greenberg formula for the derivative $L_p'(0,\chi )$. We will also discuss the convergence of sum expressions in terms of elementary $p$-adic analysis, as well as their relation to Stickelberger elements; such discussions in turn give alternative proofs of the validity of sum expressions.