Let $RG$ denote the group ring of the group $G$ over the ring $R$. Using an isomorphism between $RG$ and a certain ring of $n \times n$ matrices in conjunction with other techniques, the structure of the unit group of the group algebra of the dihedral group of order $8$ over any finite field of chracteristic $2$ is determined in terms of split extensions of cyclic groups.

Let $S$ be a subset of an amenable group $G$ such that $e\in S$ and $S^{-1}=S$. The main result of this paper states that if the Cayley graph of $G$ with respect to $S$ has a certain combinatorial property, then every positive definite operator-valued function on $S$ can be extended to a positive definite function on $G$. Several known extension results are obtained as corollaries. New applications are also presented.

Questions concerning the lengths of factorizations into irreducible elements in numerical monoids have gained much attention in the recent literature. In this note, we show that a numerical monoid has an element with two different irreducible factorizations of the same length if and only if its embedding dimension is greater than two. We find formulas in embedding dimension three for the smallest element with two different irreducible factorizations of the same length and the largest element whose different irreducible factorizations all have distinct lengths. We show that these formulas do not naturally extend to higher embedding dimensions.

We exhibit infinitely many hyperbolic $3$-manifold groups that are not right-orderable.

In this paper, we investigate a proper CAT(0) space $(X,d)$ that is homeomorphic to $\mathbb R^2$ and we show that the asymptotic dimension $\operatorname{asdim} (X,d)$ is equal to $2$.

The bigraded Hilbert function and the minimal free resolutions for the diagonal coinvariants of the dihedral groups are exhibited, as well as for all their bigraded invariant Gorenstein quotients.

We say that a numerical semigroup is \emph{$d$-squashed} if it can be written in the form $$ S=\frac 1 N \langle a_1,\dots,a_d \rangle \cap \mathbb{Z}$$ for $N,a_1,\dots,a_d$ positive integers with $\gcd(a_1,\dots, a_d)=1$. Rosales and Urbano have shown that a numerical semigroup is 2-squashed if and only if it is proportionally modular. Recent works by Rosales \emph{et al.} give a concrete example of a numerical semigroup that cannot be written as an intersection of $2$-squashed semigroups. We will show the existence of infinitely many numerical semigroups that cannot be written as an intersection of $2$-squashed semigroups. We also will prove the same result for $3$-squashed semigroups. We conjecture that there are numerical semigroups that cannot be written as the intersection of $d$-squashed semigroups for any fixed $d$, and we prove some partial results towards this conjecture.

The paper studies modular reduction techniques for abstract regular and chiral polytopes, with two purposes in mind:\ first, to survey the literature about modular reduction in polytopes; and second, to apply modular reduction, with moduli given by primes in $\mathbb{Z}[\tau]$ (with $\tau$ the golden ratio), to construct new regular $4$-polytopes of hyperbolic types $\{3,5,3\}$ and $\{5,3,5\}$ with automorphism groups given by finite orthogonal groups.

We consider the pushout of embedding functors in $\Cat$, the category of small categories. We show that if the embedding functors satisfy a 3-for-2 property, then the induced functors to the pushout category are also embeddings. The result follows from the connectedness of certain associated slice categories. The condition is motivated by a similar result for maps of semigroups. We show that our theorem can be applied to groupoids and to inclusions of full subcategories. We also give an example to show that the theorem does not hold when the property only holds for one of the inclusion functors, or when it is weakened to a one-sided condition.

Let $L$ be an RA loop, that is, a loop whose loop ring over any coefficient ring $R$ is an alternative, but not associative, ring. Let $\ell\mapsto\ell^\theta$ denote an involution on $L$ and extend it linearly to the loop ring $RL$. An element $\alpha\in RL$ is \emph{symmetric} if $\alpha^\theta=\alpha$ and \emph{skew-symmetric} if $\alpha^\theta=-\alpha$. In this paper, we show that there exists an involution making the symmetric elements of $RL$ commute if and only if the characteristic of $R$ is $2$ or $\theta$ is the canonical involution on $L$, and an involution making the skew-symmetric elements of $RL$ commute if and only if the characteristic of $R$ is $2$ or $4$.

Let $R_n(\alpha)$ be the $n!\times n!$ matrix whose matrix elements $[R_n(\alpha)]_{\sigma\rho}$, with $\sigma$ and $\rho$ in the symmetric group $\sn$, are $\alpha^{\ell(\sigma\rho^{-1})}$ with $0<\alpha<1$, where $\ell(\pi)$ denotes the number of cycles in $\pi\in \sn$. We give the spectrum of $R_n$ and show that the ratio of the largest eigenvalue $\lambda_0$ to the second largest one (in absolute value) increases as a positive power of $n$ as $n\rightarrow \infty$.

We determine the necessary and sufficient combinatorial conditions for which the tensor product of two irreducible polynomial representations of $\GL(n,\mathbb{C})$ is isomorphic to another. As a consequence we discover families of Littlewood--Richardson coefficients that are non-zero, and a condition on Schur non-negativity.

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic not $2,3$. Let $G$ be an exceptional simple algebraic group over $k$ of type $\F$, $^1{\E_6}$ or $\E_7$ with trivial Tits algebras. Let $X$ be a projective $G$-homogeneous variety. If $G$ is of type $\E_7$, we assume in addition that the respective parabolic subgroup is of type $P_7$. The main result of the paper says that the degree map on the group of zero cycles of $X$ is injective.

We show that the class of system proportionally modular numerical semigroups coincides with the class of numerical semigroups having a Toms decomposition.

The positive cohomology groups of a finite group acting on a ring vanish when the ring has a norm one element. In this note we give explicit homotopies on the level of cochains when the group is cyclic, which allows us to express any cocycle of a cyclic group as the coboundary of an explicit cochain. The formulas in this note are closely related to the effective problems considered in previous joint work with Eli Aljadeff.

Let $G$ be a compact topological group and let $f\colon G\to G$ be a continuous transformation of $G$. Define $f^*\colon G\to G$ by $f^*(x)=f(x^{-1})x$ and let $\mu=\mu_G$ be Haar measure on $G$. Assume that $H=\Imag f^*$ is a subgroup of $G$ and for every measurable $C\subseteq H$, $\mu_G((f^*)^{-1}(C))=\mu_H(C)$. Then for every measurable $C\subseteq G$, there exist $S\subseteq C$ and $g\in G$ such that $f(Sg^{-1})\subseteq Cg^{-1}$ and $\mu(S)\ge(\mu(C))^2$.

If $A$ is a subset of the set of reflections of a finite Coxeter group $W$, we define a sub-$\ZM$-module $\DC_A(W)$ of the group algebra $\ZM W$. We discuss cases where this submodule is a subalgebra. This family of subalgebras includes strictly the Solomon descent algebra, the group algebra and, if $W$ is of type $B$, the Mantaci--Reutenauer algebra.

Let $G=({\mathbb Z}/a\rtimes{\mathbb Z}/b) \times \SL_2(\mathbb{F}_p)$, and let $X(n)$ be an $n$-dimensional $CW$-complex of the homotopy type of an $n$-sphere. We study the automorphism group $\Aut (G)$ in order to compute the number of distinct homotopy types of spherical space forms with respect to free and cellular $G$-actions on all $CW$-complexes $X(2dn-1)$, where $2d$ is the period of $G$. The groups ${\mathcal E}(X(2dn-1)/\mu)$ of self homotopy equivalences of space forms $X(2dn-1)/\mu$ associated with free and cellular $G$-actions $\mu$ on $X(2dn-1)$ are determined as well.

Using ideas of S. Wassermann on non-exact $C^*$-algebras and property T groups, we show that one of his examples of non-invertible $C^*$-extensions is not semi-invertible. To prove this, we show that a certain element vanishes in the asymptotic tensor product. We also show that a modification of the example gives a $C^*$-extension which is not even invertible up to homotopy.

In this paper we study affine completeness of generalised dihedral groups. We give a formula for the number of unary compatible functions on these groups, and we characterise for every $k \in~\N$ the $k$-affine complete generalised dihedral groups. We find that the direct product of a $1$-affine complete group with itself need not be $1$-affine complete. Finally, we give an example of a nonabelian solvable affine complete group. For nilpotent groups we find a strong necessary condition for $2$-affine completeness.

We extend a result of Noritzsch, which describes the orbit sizes in the action of a Frobenius group $G$ on a finite vector space $V$ under certain conditions, to a more general class of finite solvable groups $G$. This result has applications in computing irreducible character degrees of finite groups. Another application, proved here, is a result concerning the structure of certain groups with few complex irreducible character degrees.

We give a short proof of Totaro's theorem that every$E_8$-torsor over a field $k$ becomes trivial over a finiteseparable extension of $k$of degree dividing $d(E_8)=2^63^25$.

This paper investigates the modularity of three non-rigid Calabi--Yau threefolds with bad reduction at 11. They are constructed as fibre products of rational elliptic surfaces, involving the modular elliptic surface of level 5. Their middle $\ell$-adic cohomology groups are shown to split into two-dimensional pieces, all but one of which can be interpreted in terms of elliptic curves. The remaining pieces are associated to newforms of weight 4 and level 22 or 55, respectively. For this purpose, we develop a method by Serre to compare the corresponding two-dimensional 2-adic Galois representations with uneven trace. Eventually this method is also applied to a self fibre product of the Hesse-pencil, relating it to a newform of weight 4 and level 27.

Given a finite group $G$, we attach to the character degrees of $G$ a graph whose vertex set is the set of primes dividing the degrees of irreducible characters of $G$, and with an edge between $p$ and $q$ if $pq$ divides the degree of some irreducible character of $G$. In this paper, we describe which graphs occur when $G$ is a solvable group of Fitting height $2$.

We introduce roots of indecomposable modules over group algebras of finite groups, and we investigate some of their properties. This allows us to correct an error in Landrock's book which has to do with roots of simple modules.