We say that a covering space of the surface S over X has the Birman--Hilden property if the subgroup of the mapping class group of X consisting of mapping classes that have representatives that lift to S embeds in the mapping class group of S modulo the group of deck transformations. We identify one necessary condition and one sufficient condition for when a covering space has this property. We give new explicit examples of irregular branched covering spaces that do not satisfy the necessary condition as well as explicit covering spaces that satisfy the sufficient condition. Our criteria are conditions on simple closed curves, and our proofs use the combinatorial topology of curves on surfaces.

The topic of this thesis is the moduli theory of (parabolic) sheaves on stable curves. Using geometric invariant theory (GIT), universal moduli spaces of semistable parabolic sheaves on stable marked curves are constructed: `universal' indicates that these are moduli spaces of pairs where the underlying marked curve may vary as well as the parabolic sheaf (as in the Pandharipande moduli space for pairs of stable curves and torsion-free sheaves without augmentations). As an intermediate step in this construction, we construct moduli spaces of semistable parabolic sheaves on flat families of arbitrary projective schemes (of any dimension or singularity type): this is the technical core of this thesis. These moduli spaces are projective, since they are constructed as GIT quotients of projective parameter spaces. The stability condition for parabolic sheaves depends on a choice of polarisation and is derived from the Hilbert-Mumford criterion. It is not quite the same as traditional stability with respect to parabolic Hilbert polynomials, but it is closely related to it, and the resulting moduli spaces are always compactifications of moduli of slope-stable parabolic sheaves. The construction works over algebraically closed fields of arbitrary characteristic.

We study the cause of the signature over finite fields of integrability in two dimensional discrete dynamical systems by using theory from algebraic geometry. In particular the theory of elliptic curves is used to prove the major result of the thesis: that all birational maps that preserve an elliptic curve necessarily act on that elliptic curve as addition under the associated group law. Our result generalises special cases previously given in the literature. We apply this theorem to the specific cases when the ground fields are finite fields of prime order and the function field $mathbb{C}(t)$. In the former case, this yields an explanation of the aforementioned signature over finite fields of integrability. In the latter case we arrive at an analogue of the Arnol'd-Liouville theorem. Other results that are related to this approach to integrability are also proven and their consequences considered in examples. Of particular importance are two separate items: (i) we define a generalization of integrability called mixing and examine its relation to integrability; and (ii) we use the concept of rotation number to study differences and similarities between birational integrable maps that preserve the same foliation. The final chapter is given over to considering the existence of the signature of reversibility in higher (three and four) dimensional maps. A conjecture regarding the distribution of periodic orbits generated by such maps when considered over finite fields is given along with numerical evidence to support the conjecture.

In this thesis, we consider semi-algebraic sets over a real closed field R defined by quadratic polynomials. Semi-algebraic sets of R^k are defined as the smallest family of sets in R^k that contains the algebraic sets as well as the sets defined by polynomial inequalities, and which is also closed under the boolean operations (complementation, finite unions and finite intersections). We prove new bounds on the topological complexity of semi-algebraic sets over a real closed field R defined by quadratic polynomials, in terms of the parameters of the system of polynomials defining them, which improve the known results. We conclude the thesis with presenting two new algorithms along with their implementations.

This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 explains how the research problems considered in this thesis fit into the investigation of local-global principle in the diophantine geometry, as well as gives a unified sketch of the proofs of the two main results in this thesis. Chapter 2 establishes a similar conclusion to Theorem B of a paper by Poonen and Voloch in another settings. Chapter 3 relates to the object considered in the main result of Chapter 2 to an old conjecture proposed by Skolem and solves some cases of its analog. / text

In this thesis, we introduce and study several norms constructed to satisfy an extremal property with respect to the Mahler measure. These norms naturally generalize the metric Mahler measure introduced by Dubickas and Smyth. We show that bounding these norms on a certain subspace implies Lehmer's conjecture and in at least one case that the converse is true as well. We evaluate these norms on a class of algebraic numbers that include Pisot and Salem numbers, and for surds. We prove that the infimum in the construction is achieved in a certain finite dimensional space for all algebraic numbers in one case, and for surds in general, a finiteness result analogous to that of Samuels and Jankauskas for the t-metric Mahler measures. Next, we generalize Dirichlet's S-unit theorem from the usual group of S-units of a number field K to the infinite rank group of all algebraic numbers having nontrivial valuations only on places lying over S. Specifically, we demonstrate that the group of algebraic S-units modulo torsion is a Q-vector space which, when normed by the Weil height, spans a hyperplane determined by the product formula, and that the elements of this vector space which are linearly independent over Q retain their linear independence over R. / text

We study the cause of the signature over finite fields of integrability in two dimensional discrete dynamical systems by using theory from algebraic geometry. In particular the theory of elliptic curves is used to prove the major result of the thesis: that all birational maps that preserve an elliptic curve necessarily act on that elliptic curve as addition under the associated group law. Our result generalises special cases previously given in the literature. We apply this theorem to the specific cases when the ground fields are finite fields of prime order and the function field $mathbb{C}(t)$. In the former case, this yields an explanation of the aforementioned signature over finite fields of integrability. In the latter case we arrive at an analogue of the Arnol'd-Liouville theorem. Other results that are related to this approach to integrability are also proven and their consequences considered in examples. Of particular importance are two separate items: (i) we define a generalization of integrability called mixing and examine its relation to integrability; and (ii) we use the concept of rotation number to study differences and similarities between birational integrable maps that preserve the same foliation. The final chapter is given over to considering the existence of the signature of reversibility in higher (three and four) dimensional maps. A conjecture regarding the distribution of periodic orbits generated by such maps when considered over finite fields is given along with numerical evidence to support the conjecture.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-09T12:28:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-03-28Bitstream added on 2015-04-09T12:48:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000809982.pdf: 1238279 bytes, checksum: 51811e33aad5834491b25013aa77ba4b (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O objetivo desde trabalho e estimar um cota para o n umero de pontos racionais de uma curva. Observando as várias semelhanças entre o anel dos inteiros e o anel dos polinômios em uma variável, iremos usar ferramentas da teoria dos números para resolver um problema da geometria algébrica. Desta fusão nasce uma das mais nobres areas da matemática: a geometria aritmética. Fazendo uso do célebre teorema de Riemann-Roch e das ferramentas da teoria dos números demonstraremos a hipótese de Riemann para a funço-zeta de uma curva não singular e qual consequência tal hipótese tem para a contagem de pontos racionais de uma curva / The aim of this work is to estimate a bound for the number of rational points of a curve. Observing the various similarities between the ring of integers and the ring of polynomials in one variable, we use tools from number theory to solve a problem of algebraic geometry. From this merger is born one of the noblest areas of mathematics: arithmetic geometry. Making use of the famous Riemann-Roch's theorem and tools of number theory we demonstrate the Riemann hypothesis for the zeta-function of a nonsingular curve and which consequence this hypothesis has to count rational points on a curve

Orientador: Parham Salehyan / Banca: Eduardo Tengan / Banca: Trajano Pires da Nóbrega Neto / Resumo: O objetivo desde trabalho e estimar um cota para o n umero de pontos racionais de uma curva. Observando as várias semelhanças entre o anel dos inteiros e o anel dos polinômios em uma variável, iremos usar ferramentas da teoria dos números para resolver um problema da geometria algébrica. Desta fusão nasce uma das mais nobres areas da matemática: a geometria aritmética. Fazendo uso do célebre teorema de Riemann-Roch e das ferramentas da teoria dos números demonstraremos a hipótese de Riemann para a funço-zeta de uma curva não singular e qual consequência tal hipótese tem para a contagem de pontos racionais de uma curva / Abstract: The aim of this work is to estimate a bound for the number of rational points of a curve. Observing the various similarities between the ring of integers and the ring of polynomials in one variable, we use tools from number theory to solve a problem of algebraic geometry. From this merger is born one of the noblest areas of mathematics: arithmetic geometry. Making use of the famous Riemann-Roch's theorem and tools of number theory we demonstrate the Riemann hypothesis for the zeta-function of a nonsingular curve and which consequence this hypothesis has to count rational points on a curve / Mestre

Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished