When the states of a system can be described by the extrema of a high-dimensional function, the characterisation of its complexity, i.e. the enumeration of the accessible stable states, can be reduced to a sampling problem. In this thesis a robust numerical protocol is established, capable of producing numerical estimates of the total number of stable states for a broad class of systems, and of computing the a-priori probability of observing any given state. The approach is demonstrated within the context of the computation of the configurational entropy of two and three-dimensional jammed packings. By means of numerical simulation we show the extensivity of the granular entropy as proposed by S.F. Edwards for three-dimensional jammed soft-sphere packings and produce a direct test of the Edwards conjecture for the equivalent two dimensional systems. We find that Edwards’ hypothesis of equiprobability of all jammed states holds only at the (un)jamming density, that is precisely the point of practical significance for many granular systems. Furthermore, two new recipes for the computation of high-dimensional volumes are presented, that improve on the established approach by either providing more statistically robust estimates of the volume or by exploiting the trajectories of the paths of steepest descent. Both methods also produce as a natural by-product unprecedented details on the structures of high-dimensional basins of attraction. Finally, we present a novel Monte Carlo algorithm to tackle problems with fluctuating weight functions. The method is shown to improve accuracy in the computation of the ‘volume’ of high dimensional ‘fluctuating’ basins of attraction and to be able to identify transition states along known reaction coordinates. We argue that the approach can be extended to the optimisation of the experimental conditions for observing certain phenomena, for which individual measurements are stochastic and provide little guidance.

Esta tese objetiva apresentar duas abordagens inovadoras acerca de dois assuntos clássicos da teoria dos números: bases aditivas e prime gaps. O primeiro tópico é estudado de um ponto de vista topológico, com o intuito de oferecer uma visão abrangente e resultados gerais sobre o conjunto de todas as bases aditivas, não versando sobre uma base aditiva específica, como é de costume. Por meio da introdução de uma métrica, são apresentadas várias ferramentas topológicas que permitem tratar problemas de difícil ataque direto sobre bases aditivas por meio de argumentos indiretos sobre bases melhor comportadas e suficientemente próximas das originalmente consideradas. Já a contribuição sobre prime gaps é realizada utilizando ferramentas algébricas, no lugar das analíticas, como habitual. Por meio de técnicas oriundas tanto da teoria de Galois quanto da teoria algébrica dos números, é apresentado um estudo da conjectura de Firoozbakht, juntamente com algumas de suas consequências, caso ela venha a ser provada / This thesis aims to present two innovative approaches about two classical subjects on number theory: additive bases and prime gaps. The first topic is studied from a topological point of view, in order to offer a comprehensive treatment and general results on the set of all additive bases, not dealing with one specific additive basis, as usual. By the introduction of a metric, it\'s presented a variety of topological tools that allows to treat problems of difficult direct attack on additive bases through indirect arguments on bases better behaved and sufficiently close to the originally considered. The contribution on the prime gaps subject is performed by the use of algebraic tools instead of analytical methods, as usual. Utilizing techniques from Galois theory and algebraic number theory, it\'s presented a study of the Firoozbakht\'s conjecture, along with some of its consequences if the conjecture is proved

A ideia deste trabalho é apresentar a conjetura de Boyland para o anel e mostrar algums resultados nessa direção. Tal conjectura diz que: Dado um homeomorfismo irrotacional do anel, que possui uma medida com número de rotação positivo, é verdade que, neste caso, existem pontos com número de rotação negativo? Para dar uma resposta parcial a esta pregunta, nesta dissertação (baseada no estudo do [7]) começamos considerando os homeomorfismos do anel que preservam orientação, as componentes de fronteira, com número de rotação positivos em ambas fronteiras, e que tem un levantamento transitivo (o motivo desta hipoteses vem de [3]), mostrando que neste caso 0 está no interior do conjunto de rotação. Este resultado vai permitir provar a conjetura para os homeomorfismos do anel irrotacionais, sem pontos fixos na fronteira e com um levantamento transitivo. Além disso vai permitir estudar a dinâmica de tais homeomorfismos. No final do trabalho, estendemos algums dos teoremas provados ao longo dos capítulos anteriores a um conjunto maior de homeomorfismos e estudamos o comportamento de tais homeomorfismos com base nestes resultados. / The idea of this work is to present Boyland´s Conjecture for the annulus and show some results in its direction. The conjecture is the following: Given a homeomorphism of the annulus, which has a measure with positive rotation number, is it true that, in this case, there are points with negative rotation number?. To give a partial answer to this question, in this dissertation (based on [7]) we begin considering the homeomorphisms of the annulus that preserve orientation and boundary components, with positive rotation numbers in the boundaries, with has a transitive lift (the reason for this hypothesis is in [3]), and we show that 0 is in the interior of the rotation set. This result will be of help to prove the Boyland´s Conjecture for rotationless homeomorphisms of the annulus, without fixed points in the boundaries and with a transitive lift. In addition, we will be able to study the dynamics of such homeomorphisms. In the end of this work, we extend some of the theorems proved in the previous chapters to a bigger set of homeomorphisms and we study the behavior of such homeomorphisms using these results.

This thesis discusses the Kaplansky zero divisor conjecture. The conjecture states that a group ring of a torsion-free group over a field has no nonzero zero divisors. There are situations for which this conjecture is known to hold, such as linearly orderable groups, unique product groups, solvable groups, and elementary amenable groups. This paper considers the possibility that the conjecture is false and there is some counterexample in existence. The approach to searching for such a counterexample discussed here is to first find a torsion-free group that has subsets A and B such that AB has no unique product. We do this by exhaustively searching for the subsets A and B with fixed small sizes. When |A| = 1 or 2 and |B| is arbitrary we know that AB contains a unique product, but when |A| is larger, not much was previously known. After an example is found we then verify that the sets are contained in a torsion-free group and further investigate whether the group ring yields a nonzero zero divisor. Together with Dr. Pace P. Nielsen, assistant math professor of Brigham Young University, we created code that was implemented in Magma, a computational algebra system, for the purpose of considering each size of A and B and running through each case. Along the way we check for the possibility of torsion elements and for other conditions that lead to contradictions, such as a decrease in the size of A or B. Our results are the following: If A and B are sets of the sizes below contained in a torsion-free group, then they must contain a unique product. |A| = 3 and |B| ≤ 16; |A| = 4 and |B| ≤ 12; |A| = 5 and |B| ≤ 9; |A| = 6 and |B| ≤ 7. We have continued to run cases of larger size and hope to increase the size of B for each size of A. Additionally, we found a torsion-free group containing sets A and B, both of size 8, where AB has no unique product. Though this group does not yield a counterexample for the Kaplansky zero divisor conjecture, it is the smallest explicit example of a non-uniqueproduct group in terms of the size of A and B.

The Hirsch Conjecture states that for a d-dimensional polytope with n facets, the diameter of the graph of the polytope is at most n-d. This conjecture was disproven in 2010 by Francisco Santos Leal. However, a polynomial bound in n and d on the diameter of a polytope may still exist. Finding a polynomial bound would provide a worst-case scenario runtime for the Simplex Method of Linear Programming. However working only with polytopes in higher dimensions can prove challenging, so other approaches are welcome. There are many equivalent formulations of the Hirsch Conjecture, one of which is the Combinatorial Polynomial Hirsch Conjecture, which turns the problem into a matter of counting sets. This thesis explores the Combinatorial Polynomial Hirsch Conjecture.

In classical and quantum information theory there are different types of error-correcting codes being used. We study the equivalence of codes via a classification of their isometries. The isometries of various codes over Frobenius alphabets endowed with various weights typically have a rich and predictable structure. On the other hand, when the alphabet is not Frobenius the isometry group behaves unpredictably. We use character theory to develop a duality theory of partitions over Frobenius bimodules, which is then used to study the equivalence of codes. We also consider instances of codes over non-Frobenius alphabets and establish their isometry groups. Secondly, we focus on quantum stabilizer codes over local Frobenius rings. We estimate their minimum distance and conjecture that they do not underperform quantum stabilizer codes over fields. We introduce symplectic isometries. Isometry groups of binary quantum stabilizer codes are established and then applied to the LU-LC conjecture.

A. Ádám conjectured that for any non-acyclic digraph D, there exists an arc whose reversal reduces the total number of cycles in D. In this thesis we characterize and identify structure common to all digraphs for which Ádám's conjecture holds. We investigate quasi-acyclic digraphs and verify that Ádám's conjecture holds for such digraphs. We develop the notions of arc-cycle transversals and reversal sets to classify and quantify this structure. It is known that Ádám's conjecture does not hold for certain infinite families of digraphs. We provide constructions for such counterexamples to Ádám's conjecture. Finally, we address a conjecture of Reid [Rei84] that Ádám's conjecture is true for tournaments that are 3-arc-connected but not 4-arc-connected.

This thesis has four chapters. After a brief introduction in Chapter 1, the $AJ$-conjecture is introduced in Chapter 2. The $AJ$-conjecture for a knot $K \subset S^3$ relates the $A$-polynomial and the colored Jones polynomial of $K$. If $K$ satisfies the $AJ$-conjecture, sufficient conditions on $K$ are given for the $(r,2)$-cable knot $C$ to also satisfy the $AJ$-conjecture. If a reduced alternating diagram of $K$ has $\eta_+$ positive crossings and $\eta_-$ negative crossings, then $C$ will satisfy the $AJ$-conjecture when $(r+4\eta_-)(r-4\eta_+)>0$ and the conditions of Theorem 2.2.1 are satisfied. Chapter 3 is about quantum curves and their relation to the $AJ$ conjecture. The variables $l$ and $m$ of the $A$-polynomial are quantized to operators that act on holomorphic functions. Motivated by a heuristic definition of the Jones polynomial from quantum physics, an annihilator of the Chern-Simons section of the Chern-Simons line bundle is found. For torus knots, it is shown that the annihilator matches with that of the colored Jones polynomial. In Chapter 4, a tangle functor is defined using semicyclic representations of the quantum group $U_q(sl_2)$. The semicyclic representations are deformations of the standard representation used to define Kashaev's invariant for a knot $K$ in $S^3$. It is shown that at certain roots of unity the semicyclic tangle functor recovers Kashaev's invariant.

Soient g une k-algèbre de Lie, U(g) son algèbre enveloppante, K(g) le corps des fractions de U(g). L'objet de cette thèse est d'étudier des propriétés algébriques du corps gauche K(g) dans les deux cas suivants : d'une part si k est de caractéristique 0 et g est de dimension infinie ; d'autre part si k est de caractéristique positive et g est de dimension finie.<br /><br />On suppose k de caractéristique nulle. On définit d'abord la notion de "degré de transcendance de niveau q" pour les algèbres de Poisson. Cette notion est introduite à partir de la notion de dimension de niveau q définie par V. Pétrogradsky pour les algèbres associatives et les algèbres de Lie. On démontre, sous des hypothèses peu restrictives sur g, que le degré de transcendance de niveau q+1 de K(g) est égal à la dimension de niveau q de g.<br /><br />On s'attache ensuite à l'étude de la famille des algèbres de type Witt définies par R. Yu. On construit ainsi des familles infinies de corps gauches deux à deux non isomorphes mais de même degré de transcendance de niveau 3 donné. On étudie aussi la question des centralisateurs dans les corps enveloppants des parties positives des algèbres de type Witt. On établit en particulier le résultat suivant : il existe des algèbres de Lie non commutatives de dimension infinie g telles que le premier corps de Weyl ne se plonge pas dans K(g).<br /><br />Supposons maintenant k de caractéristique p>0. On étudie le cas particuliers des algèbres de Lie suivantes : les algèbres gl(n) ; les algèbres sl(n) lorsque p ne divise pas n ; l'algèbre de Witt modulaire W(1) et une sous-algèbre P de l'algèbre de Witt W(2) (s'identifiant à un produit tensoriel de l'algèbre de Lie W(1) avec une algèbre associative de polynômes tronqués). Dans tous les cas, on démontre que le corps enveloppant est isomorphe à un corps de Weyl. Pour les algèbres W(1) et P, on démontre en outre que le centre de l'algèbre enveloppante est un anneau factoriel, en accord avec une conjecture récente de A. Braun et C. Hajarnavis.

La première partie de la thèse porte sur les graphes de Steinhaus réguliers. On commence par obtenir une nouvelle preuve du théorème de Dymacek, selon lequel toute matrice de Steinhaus associée à un graphe pair est bisymétrique, en exhibant une relation entre les éléments de l'antidiagonale d'une matrice de Steinhaus et les degrés des sommets du graphe associé. Ce théorème est ensuite utilisé pour montrer que toute matrice de Steinhaus associée à un graphe régulier de degré impair admet une grande sous-matrice multisymétrique. On étudie alors les matrices de Steinhaus multisymétriques, en particulier celles dont le graphe associé admet une certaine régularité. Cette étude permet enfin de vérifier jusqu'à 1500 sommets une conjecture de Dymacek, qui annonce que le graphe complet à deux sommets K2 est le seul graphe de Steinhaus régulier de degré impair, améliorant ainsi d'un facteur 12 la borne précédemment connue (117 sommets).<br />La seconde partie porte sur les triangles de Steinhaus dans Z/nZ. En 1978 Molluzzo pose le problème de savoir si, pour tout n≥1 et pour toute longueur admissible m, il existe une suite balancée de longueur m dans Z/nZ, c'est-à-dire une suite dont le triangle de Steinhaus associé contienne chaque élément de Z/nZ avec la même multiplicité. On donne ici une réponse complète et positive au Problème de Molluzzo dans tout groupe cyclique d'ordre une puissance de 3. Plus généralement, on construit une infinité de suites balancées dans tout groupe cyclique d'ordre impair. Ces résultats, qui sont les premiers obtenus sur ce problème dans Z/nZ avec n>3, proviennent de l'étude des triangles de Steinhaus des suites arithmétiques dans les groupes cycliques.