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Almost all orbits of the Collatz map attain almost bounded values
Define the \emph{Collatz map} $\mathrm{Col} : \mathbb{N}+1 \to \mathbb{N}+1$ on the positive integers $\mathbb{N}+1 = \{1,2,3,\dots\}$ by setting $\mathrm{Col}(N)$ equal to $3N+1$ when $N$ is odd and $N/2$ when $N$ is even, and let $\mathrm{Col}_{\min}(N) := \inf_{n \in \mathbb{N}} \mathrm{Col}^n(N)$ denote the minimal element of the Collatz orbit $N, \mathrm{Col}(N), \mathrm{Col}^2(N), \dots$. The infamous \emph{Collatz conjecture} asserts that $\mathrm{Col}_{\min}(N)=1$ for all $N \in \mathbb{N}+1$. Previously, it was shown by Korec that for any $\theta > \frac{\log 3}{\log 4} \approx 0.7924$, one has $\mathrm{Col}_{\min}(N) \leq N^\theta$ for almost all $N \in \mathbb{N}+1$ (in the sense of natural density). In this paper we show that for \emph{any} function $f : \mathbb{N}+1 \to \mathbb{R}$ with $\lim_{N \to \infty} f(N)=+\infty$, one has $\mathrm{Col}_{\min}(N) \leq f(N)$ for almost all $N \in \mathbb{N}+1$ (in the sense of logarithmic density). Our proof proceeds by establishing an approximate transport property for a certain first passage random variable associated with the Collatz iteration (or more precisely, the closely related Syracuse iteration), which in turn follows from estimation of the characteristic function of a certain skew random walk on a $3$-adic cyclic group at high frequencies. This estimation is achieved by studying how a certain two-dimensional renewal process interacts with a union of triangles associated to a given frequency.
Spacetime integral bounds for the energy-critical nonlinear wave equation
In this paper we prove a global spacetime bound for the quintic, nonlinear wave equation in three dimensions. This bound depends on the $L_{t}^{\infty} L_{x}^{2}$ and $L_{t}^{\infty} \dot{H}^{2}$ norms of the solution to the quintic problem.
A counterexample to the periodic tiling conjecture
The periodic tiling conjecture asserts that any finite subset of a lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$ which tiles that lattice by translations, in fact tiles periodically. In this work we disprove this conjecture for sufficiently large $d$, which also implies a disproof of the corresponding conjecture for Euclidean spaces $\mathbb{R}^d$. In fact, we also obtain a counterexample in a group of the form $\mathbb{Z}^2 \times G_0$ for some finite abelian $2$-group $G_0$. Our methods rely on encoding a "Sudoku puzzle" whose rows and other non-horizontal lines are constrained to lie in a certain class of "$2$-adically structured functions," in terms of certain functional equations that can be encoded in turn as a single tiling equation, and then demonstrating that solutions to this Sudoku puzzle exist, but are all non-periodic.
Smooth invariant foliations and Koopman eigenfunctions about stable equilibria of semiflows
We consider a $C^r$ semiflow $\{ \varphi_t \}_{t \geq 0}$ on a Banach space $X$ admitting a stable fixed point $x$. We show, along the lines of the parameterization method (Cabr\'e et al., 2003), the existence of a $C^r$ invariant foliation tangent to $X_1$ at $x$, for an arbitrary $D \varphi_t(x)$-invariant subspace $X_1 \subset X$ satisfying some additional spectral conditions. Uniqueness ensues in a subclass of sufficiently smooth invariant foliations tangent to $X_1$ at $x$. We then draw relations to Koopman theory, and thereby establish the existence and uniqueness, in some appropriate sense, of $C^r$ Koopman eigenfunctions. We demonstrate that these results apply to the case of the Navier-Stokes system, the archetypal example considered by the modern upheaval of applied 'Koopmanism'.
Existence of KPP fronts in spatially-temporally periodic advection and variational principle for propagation speeds
We prove the existence of Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piskunov (KPP) type traveling fronts in space-time periodic and mean zero incompressible advection, and establish a variational (minimization) formula for the minimal speeds. We approach the existence by considering limit of a sequence of front solutions to a regularized traveling front equation where the nonlinearity is combustion type with ignition cut-off. The limiting front equation is degenerate parabolic and does not permit strong solutions, however, the necessary compactness follows from monotonicity of fronts and degenerate regularity. We apply a dynamic argument to justify that the constructed KPP traveling fronts propagate at minimal speeds, and derive the speed variational formula. The dynamic method avoids the degeneracy in traveling front equations, and utilizes the parabolic maximum principle of the governing reaction-diffusion-advection equation. The dynamic method does not rely on existence of traveling fronts.
Multiparameter bifurcation and asymptotics for the singular Lane-Emden-Fowler equation with convection term
We establish several bifurcation results for the singular Lane-Emden-Fowler equation.
The Two-Phase Membrane Problem -- an Intersection-Comparison Approach to the Regularity at Branch Points
For the two-phase membrane problem $ \Delta u = {\lambda_+\over 2} \chi_{\{u>0\}} - {\lambda_-\over 2} \chi_{\{u<0\}} ,$ where $\lambda_+> 0$ and $\lambda_->0 ,$ we prove in two dimensions that the free boundary is in a neighborhood of each ``branch point'' the union of two $C^1$-graphs. We also obtain a stability result with respect to perturbations of the boundary data. Our analysis uses an intersection-comparison approach based on the Aleksandrov reflection. In higher dimensions we show that the free boundary has finite $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure.
On Hopf's Lemma and the Strong Maximum Principle
In this paper we consider Hopf's Lemma and the Strong Maximum Principle for supersolutions to a class of non elliptic equations. In particular we prove a sufficient condition for the validity of Hopf's Lemma and of the Strong Maximum Principle and we give a condition which is at once necessary for the validity of Hopf's Lemma and sufficient for the validity of the Strong Maximum Principle.
Strichartz Estimates for Schrödinger Equations with Variable Coefficients
We prove the (local in time) Strichartz estimates (for the full range of parameters given by the scaling unless the end point) for asymptotically flat and non trapping perturbations of the flat Laplacian in $\R^n$, $n\geq 2$. The main point of the proof, namely the dispersion estimate, is obtained in constructing a parametrix. The main tool for this construction is the use of the FBI transform.
The Stability of the Irrotational Euler-Einstein System with a Positive Cosmological Constant
In this article, we study small perturbations of the family of Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker cosmological background solutions to the Euler-Einstein system with a positive cosmological constant in 1 + 3 dimensions. The background solutions describe an initially uniform quiet fluid of positive energy density evolving in a spacetime undergoing accelerated expansion. We show that under the equation of state p = c_s^2*(energy density), 0 < c_s^2 < 1/3, the background solutions are globally future asymptotically stable under small irrotational perturbations. In particular, we prove that the perturbed spacetimes, which have the topological structure [0,infinity) x T^3, are future causally geodesically complete.
The top-order energy of quasilinear wave equations in two space dimensions is uniformly bounded
Alinhac solved a long-standing open problem in 2001 and established that quasilinear wave equations in two space dimensions with quadratic null nonlinearities admit global-in-time solutions, provided that the initial data are compactly supported and sufficiently small in Sobolev norm. In this work, Alinhac obtained an upper bound with polynomial growth in time for the top-order energy of the solutions. A natural question then arises whether the time-growth is a true phenomena, despite the possible conservation of basic energy. Analogous problems are also of central importance for Schr\"odinger equations and the incompressible Euler equations in two space dimensions, as studied by Bourgain, Colliander-Keel-Staffilani-Takaoka-Tao, Kiselev-Sverak, and others. In the present paper, we establish that the top-order energy of the solutions in Alinhac theorem remains globally bounded in time, which is opposite to Alinhac's blowup-at-infinity conjecture.
Notes on Perelman's papers
These are detailed notes on Perelman's papers "The entropy formula for the Ricci flow and its geometric applications" and "Ricci flow with surgery on three-manifolds".
Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture: a nonlinear PDE perspective
We discuss some of the key ideas of Perelman's proof of Poincar\'e's conjecture via the Hamilton program of using the Ricci flow, from the perspective of the modern theory of nonlinear partial differential equations.
Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture: a nonlinear PDE perspective
We discuss some of the key ideas of Perelman's proof of Poincar\'e's conjecture via the Hamilton program of using the Ricci flow, from the perspective of the modern theory of nonlinear partial differential equations.
Late time tail of waves on dynamic asymptotically flat spacetimes of odd space dimensions
We introduce a general method for understanding the late time tail for solutions to wave equations on asymptotically flat spacetimes with odd space dimensions. In particular, for a large class of equations, we prove that the precise late time tail is determined by the limits of higher radiation field at future null infinity. In the setting of stationary linear equations, we recover and generalize the Price law decay rates. In particular, in addition to reproving known results on $(3+1)$-dimensional black holes, this allows one to obtain the sharp decay rate for the wave equation on higher dimensional black hole spacetimes, which exhibits an anomalous rate due to subtle cancellations. More interesting, our method goes beyond the stationary linear case and applies to both equations on dynamical background and nonlinear equations. In this case, our results can be used to show that in general there is a correction to the Price law rates.
Mastering Chess and Shogi by Self-Play with a General Reinforcement Learning Algorithm
The game of chess is the most widely-studied domain in the history of artificial intelligence. The strongest programs are based on a combination of sophisticated search techniques, domain-specific adaptations, and handcrafted evaluation functions that have been refined by human experts over several decades. In contrast, the AlphaGo Zero program recently achieved superhuman performance in the game of Go, by tabula rasa reinforcement learning from games of self-play. In this paper, we generalise this approach into a single AlphaZero algorithm that can achieve, tabula rasa, superhuman performance in many challenging domains. Starting from random play, and given no domain knowledge except the game rules, AlphaZero achieved within 24 hours a superhuman level of play in the games of chess and shogi (Japanese chess) as well as Go, and convincingly defeated a world-champion program in each case.
On the stabilizing effect of rotation in the 3d Euler equations
While it is well known that constant rotation induces linear dispersive effects in various fluid models, we study here its effect on long time nonlinear dynamics in the inviscid setting. More precisely, we investigate stability in the 3d rotating Euler equations in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with a fixed speed of rotation. We show that for any $M>0$, axisymmetric initial data of sufficiently small size $\varepsilon$ lead to solutions that exist for a long time at least $\varepsilon^{-M}$ and disperse. This is a manifestation of the stabilizing effect of rotation, regardless of its speed. To achieve this we develop an anisotropic framework that naturally builds on the available symmetries. This allows for a precise quantification and control of the geometry of nonlinear interactions, while at the same time giving enough information to obtain dispersive decay via adapted linear dispersive estimates.
Global existence of a nonlinear wave equation arising from Nordström's theory of gravitation
We show global existence of classical solutions for the nonlinear Nordstr\"om theory with a source term and a cosmological constant under the assumption that the source term is small in an appropriate norm, while in some cases no smallness assumption on the initial data is required. In this theory, the gravitational field is described by a single scalar function that satisfies a certain semi-linear wave equation. We consider spatial periodic deviation from the background metric, that is why we study the semi-linear wave equation on the three-dimensional torus $\setT^3$ in the Sobolev spaces $H^m(\setT^3)$. We apply two methods to achieve the existence of global solutions, the first one is by Fourier series, and in the second one, we write the semi-linear wave equation in a non-conventional way as a symmetric hyperbolic system. We also provide results concerning the asymptotic behavior of these solutions and, finally, a blow-up result if the conditions of our global existence theorems are not met.
Mask R-CNN
We present a conceptually simple, flexible, and general framework for object instance segmentation. Our approach efficiently detects objects in an image while simultaneously generating a high-quality segmentation mask for each instance. The method, called Mask R-CNN, extends Faster R-CNN by adding a branch for predicting an object mask in parallel with the existing branch for bounding box recognition. Mask R-CNN is simple to train and adds only a small overhead to Faster R-CNN, running at 5 fps. Moreover, Mask R-CNN is easy to generalize to other tasks, e.g., allowing us to estimate human poses in the same framework. We show top results in all three tracks of the COCO suite of challenges, including instance segmentation, bounding-box object detection, and person keypoint detection. Without bells and whistles, Mask R-CNN outperforms all existing, single-model entries on every task, including the COCO 2016 challenge winners. We hope our simple and effective approach will serve as a solid baseline and help ease future research in instance-level recognition. Code has been made available at: https://github.com/facebookresearch/Detectron
Attention Is All You Need
The dominant sequence transduction models are based on complex recurrent or convolutional neural networks in an encoder-decoder configuration. The best performing models also connect the encoder and decoder through an attention mechanism. We propose a new simple network architecture, the Transformer, based solely on attention mechanisms, dispensing with recurrence and convolutions entirely. Experiments on two machine translation tasks show these models to be superior in quality while being more parallelizable and requiring significantly less time to train. Our model achieves 28.4 BLEU on the WMT 2014 English-to-German translation task, improving over the existing best results, including ensembles by over 2 BLEU. On the WMT 2014 English-to-French translation task, our model establishes a new single-model state-of-the-art BLEU score of 41.8 after training for 3.5 days on eight GPUs, a small fraction of the training costs of the best models from the literature. We show that the Transformer generalizes well to other tasks by applying it successfully to English constituency parsing both with large and limited training data.