Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

(joint work with M. Macasieb) Let $K$ be a hyperbolic $(-2, 3, n)$ pretzel knot and $M = S^3 \setminus K$ its complement. For these knots, we verify a conjecture of Reid and Walsh: there are at most three knotcomplements in the commensurability class of $M$. Indeed, if $n \neq 7$, weshow that $M$ is the unique knot complement in its class.

We consider the influence of an incompressible drift on the expected exit time of a diffusing particle from a bounded domain. Mixing resulting from an incompressible drift typically enhances diffusion so one might think it always decreases the expected exit time. Nevertheless, we show that in two dimensions, the only simply connected domains for which the expected exit time is maximized by zero drift are the discs.

In classical algebraic geometry,Torelli's theorem states that a complete smooth curve over an algebraically closed field is uniquely determined by its principally polarized Jacobian. We will investigate a tropical analogue of this theorem. Torelli's problem for tropical curves is intimately related to some basic combinatorial questions regarding the cycle space of a finite graph. Combinatorics of the Voronoi (or Delaunay) decomposition associated to the cycle lattice play an essential role. This talk will be self-contained. The talk next week (by Melody Chan) can be considered a natural sequel.

\ell-sequences are periodic binary sequences {a_i} that arise from Feedback with Carry Shift Registers and in many other ways. A decimation of {a_i} is a sequence of the form {a_{di}}. Goresky and Klapper conjectured that for any prime p>13 and any \ell-sequence based on p, every pair of allowable decimations of {a_i} is cyclically distinct. If true this would yield large families of binary sequences with ideal arithmetic cross correlations. The conjecture is essentially equivalent to the statement that if p>13 then the mapping x \to Ax^d on \mathbb Z/(p) with (d,p-1)=1, p \nmid A, permutes the even residues only if it is the identity mapping. We will report on the progress towards resolving this conjecture, focussing on our joint work with Bourgain, Paulhus and Pinner.