It is shown in three examples that future cosmological data may allow us to constrain fundamental physics in interesting ways. The first example illustrates that correlations in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background may allow us to put the strongest limit yet on the mass of a particle, the graviton, at a level of m . 10−30 eV. In the second example, it is shown that observations of the correlations of temperature anisotropies and polarization of the cosmic microwave background may reveal hints for the realization of a class of string theoretic inflationary models that go by the name of axion monodromy inflation, or, rule them out. If the evidence for inflation strengthens substantially, just the requirement that inflation occurred may be used to constrain models of fundamental physics. The third example shows that a class of string compactifications that are commonly used in the context of string phenomenology cannot support inflation and might thus be ruled out by cosmology. For completeness, a review of the physics underlying the cosmic microwave background radiation is included and some analytical results for the signatures of primordial gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background are given. / text

O estudo dos pontos singulares em campos vetoriais analíticos é um problema quase completamente resolvido. O único caso que ainda permanece insolúvel é o caso monodrômico, em que as órbitas circundam a singularidade. Em sistemas diferenciais analíticos, se p é singularidade monodrômica, então p ou é um centro, ou é um foco. O problema do centro-foco consiste em determinar condições que diferenciem os casos em que p é um foco, daqueles em que p é um centro. O tema central desta dissertação é a investigação do problema do centro-foco em sistemas diferenciais analíticos com singularidade nilpotente. Este problema é bastante estudado, uma vez que ainda não existe um algoritmo eficiente para este caso, tal como ocorre em sistemas com singularidades não degeneradas. Estudamos duas técnicas bastante distintas. A primeira faz uso da teoria das formas normais e aborda o problema da maneira clássica, dividindo-o na investigação da monodromia e no estudo da estabilidade. O outro método investiga os sistemas diferenciais com singularidades nilpotentes como limite de sistemas com singularidades não degeneradas. A fim de avaliarmos sua eficiência e compreendermos as possíveis obstruções envolvidas, aplicamos os métodos a famílias concretas de sistemas diferenciais / The study of singular points in planar analytic vector fields is a problem almost completely solved. The only case that remains open is the monodromic one, in which the orbits turn around the singularity. In analytic differential systems, if p is a monodromic singular point, then p is either a center or a focus. The center-focus problem consists in determining conditions for distinguishing between a center and a focus. The main purpose of this work is the investigation of the center-focus problem in analytic differential systems with nilpotent singular points. This problem is still widely studied, since there is no algorithm for such case, comparable to the Lyapunov method for the case of non-degenerate singularities. We studied two different methods. The first makes use of the normal form theory and deals with the problem in the classic way, splitting it up in two parts: the investigation of the monodromy and the study of the stability. The latter investigates the differential analytic systems with nilpotent singular points as limit of differential systems with nondegenerate singularities. In order to evaluate the efficiency and understand possible obstructions, we applied the two techniques to concrete families of differential systems

Dans le cas générique Yu. S. Ilyashenko a donné une solution pour le problème tangentielle du centre et le probème de la monodromie. Néanmoins, on ne connaît pas la solution pour tous les cas non-génériques. Dans cette thèse on étudie une famille des équations hamiltoniennes non-génériques dont l'hamiltonien est un produit de polynômes réels irréductibles de dégre supérieur ou égal à 1. On étudie cette famille dans le but d'avoir un modèle d'équation hamiltonienne qui nous permette de comprendre d'autres cas non-génériques. Cette famille ne satisfait pas necessairement les conditions de généricité de transversalité à l'infini et n'a pas nécessairement tous les points singuliers aux niveaux distincts. Nous considerons quelques conditions géomètriques sur les hamiltoniens qu'on appelle bon partage du plan proyective réel et bonne multiplicité à l'infini. Ces conditions nous servent pour calculer l'orbite par monodromie des cycles évanescents. On résout le problème de la monodromie pour deux sous-familles dans cette famille d'hamiltoniennes. Une d'elles satisfait que tous les points critiques de type centre sont à des niveux critiques distincts, et l'autre satisfait que l'hamiltonien est invariant par la réflexion par rapport à l'axe des y. En utilisant la solution du problème de la monodromie on résout aussi le problème tangentiel du centre pour ces familles. / In the generic case Yu. S. Ilyashenko gave a solution of the tangential center problem and the monodromy problem. However, a solution for all non-generic cases is not known. In this thesis we study a family of non-generic Hamiltonians, whose Hamiltonian is a product of real polynomials of degree equal or bigger than 1. We study this family with the idea that a good understanding of this Hamiltonian model could help us to understand other non-generic cases later. In this family the genericity assumption of transversality at infinity fails and the coincidence of the critical values for different critical points is allowed. We consider some geometric conditions on the Hamiltonians of this family that we call good divide of the real projective plane and good multiplicity at infinity. These conditions help us to compute the orbit under monodromy of vanishing cycles. We give a solution of the monodromy problem of two sub-families in this family. One of them satisfying that all the center critical points are at different critical levels, and the other satisfying that the Hamiltonian is invariant under the reflection with respect to the y-axis. Using the solution of the monodromy problem we also provide a solution of the tangential center problem for those families.

In the preceding paper we proved an explicit index formula for elliptic pseudodifferential operators on a two-dimensional manifold with conical points. Apart from the Atiyah-Singer integral, it contains two additional terms, one of the two being the 'eta' invariant defined by the conormal symbol. In this paper we clarify the meaning of the additional terms for differential operators.

The index formula for elliptic pseudodifferential operators on a two-dimensional manifold with conical points contains the Atiyah-Singer integral as well as two additional terms. One of the two is the 'eta' invariant defined by the conormal symbol, and the other term is explicitly expressed via the principal and subprincipal symbols of the operator at conical points. In the preceding paper we clarified the meaning of the additional terms for first-order differential operators. The aim of this paper is an explicit description of the contribution of a conical point for higher-order differential operators. We show that changing the origin in the complex plane reduces the entire contribution of the conical point to the shifted 'eta' invariant. In turn this latter is expressed in terms of the monodromy matrix for an ordinary differential equation defined by the conormal symbol.

This dissertation is devoted to various aspects of groups generated by automata. We study particular classes and examples of such groups from different points of view. It consists of four main parts. In the first part we study Sushchansky p-groups introduced in 1979 by Sushchansky in "Periodic permutation p-groups and the unrestricted Burnside problem". These groups represent one of the earliest examples of Burnside groups and, at the same time, show the potential of the class of groups generated by automata to contain groups with extraordinary properties. The original definition is translated into the language of automata. The original actions of Sushchansky groups on p- ary tree are not level-transitive and we describe their orbit trees. This allows us to simplify the definition and prove that these groups admit faithful level-transitive actions on the same tree. Certain branch structures in their self-similar closures are established. We provide the connection with so-called G groups introduced by Bartholdi, Grigorchuk and Suninc in "Branch groups" that shows that all Sushchansky groups have intermediate growth and allows us to obtain an upper bound on their period growth functions. The second part is devoted to the opposite question of realization of known groups as groups generated by automata. We construct a family of automata with n states, n greater than or equal to 4, acting on a rooted binary tree and generating the free products of cyclic groups of order 2. The iterated monodromy group IMG(z2+i) of the self-map of the complex plain z -> z2 + i is the central object of the third part of dissertation. This group acts faithfully on the binary rooted tree and is generated by 4-state automaton. We provide a self-similar measure for this group giving alternative proof of its amenability. We also compute an L-presentation for IMG(z2+i) and provide calculations related to the spectrum of the Markov operator on the Schreier graph of the action of IMG(z2 + i) on the orbit of a point on the boundary of the binary rooted tree. Finally, the last part is discussing the package AutomGrp for GAP system developed jointly by the author and Yevgen Muntyan. This is a very useful tool for studying the groups generated by automata from the computational point of view. Main functionality and applications are provided.

We study certain confluences of equations with two Fuchsian singularities which produce an irregular singularity of Poincaré rank one. We demonstrate a method to understand how to pass from solutions with power-like behavior which are analytic in neighbourhoods to solutions with exponential behavior which are analytic in sectors and have divergent asymptotic behavior. We explicitly calculate the Stokes' matrices of the confluent system in terms of the monodromy data, specifically the connection matrices, of the original system around the merging singularities. The confluence of Gauss' hypergeometric equation gives an excellent opportunity to show our approach with a concrete example. We explicitly show how the Stokes' data arise in the confluences of the isomonodromic deformation problems for the Painlevé equations PVI to PV and PV to PIII(D6).

O estudo dos pontos singulares em campos vetoriais analíticos é um problema quase completamente resolvido. O único caso que ainda permanece insolúvel é o caso monodrômico, em que as órbitas circundam a singularidade. Em sistemas diferenciais analíticos, se p é singularidade monodrômica, então p ou é um centro, ou é um foco. O problema do centro-foco consiste em determinar condições que diferenciem os casos em que p é um foco, daqueles em que p é um centro. O tema central desta dissertação é a investigação do problema do centro-foco em sistemas diferenciais analíticos com singularidade nilpotente. Este problema é bastante estudado, uma vez que ainda não existe um algoritmo eficiente para este caso, tal como ocorre em sistemas com singularidades não degeneradas. Estudamos duas técnicas bastante distintas. A primeira faz uso da teoria das formas normais e aborda o problema da maneira clássica, dividindo-o na investigação da monodromia e no estudo da estabilidade. O outro método investiga os sistemas diferenciais com singularidades nilpotentes como limite de sistemas com singularidades não degeneradas. A fim de avaliarmos sua eficiência e compreendermos as possíveis obstruções envolvidas, aplicamos os métodos a famílias concretas de sistemas diferenciais / The study of singular points in planar analytic vector fields is a problem almost completely solved. The only case that remains open is the monodromic one, in which the orbits turn around the singularity. In analytic differential systems, if p is a monodromic singular point, then p is either a center or a focus. The center-focus problem consists in determining conditions for distinguishing between a center and a focus. The main purpose of this work is the investigation of the center-focus problem in analytic differential systems with nilpotent singular points. This problem is still widely studied, since there is no algorithm for such case, comparable to the Lyapunov method for the case of non-degenerate singularities. We studied two different methods. The first makes use of the normal form theory and deals with the problem in the classic way, splitting it up in two parts: the investigation of the monodromy and the study of the stability. The latter investigates the differential analytic systems with nilpotent singular points as limit of differential systems with nondegenerate singularities. In order to evaluate the efficiency and understand possible obstructions, we applied the two techniques to concrete families of differential systems

Cette thèse étudie la fibre de Milnor d'un arrangement d'hyperplans complexe central, et l'opérateur de monodromie sur ses groupes de cohomologie. On s'intéresse à la problématique suivante : peut-on déterminer l'opérateur de monodromie, ou au moins les nombres de Betti de la fibre de Milnor, à partir de l'information contenue dans le treillis d'intersection de l'arrangement? On donne deux théorèmes d'annulation des sous-espaces propres non triviaux de l'opérateur de monodromie. Le premier résultat s'applique à une large classe d'arrangements, le deuxième à des arrangements de droites projectives tels qu'il existe une droite contenant exactement un point de multiplicité supérieure ou égale à trois. Dans le dernier chapitre, on considère la structure de Hodge mixte des groupes de cohomologie de la fibre de Milnor d'un arrangement central et essentiel dans l'espace complexe de dimension quatre. On donne ensuite l'équivalence entre la trivialité de la monodromie, la nullité des coefficients non entiers du spectre de l'arrangement, et la nullité des nombres de Hodge mixtes des groupes de cohomologie de la fibre de Milnor. / This Ph.D.thesis studies the Milnor fiber of a central complex hyperplane arrangement, and the monodromy operator on its cohomology groups. Our aim is to study the following open question: is it possible to determinate the monodromy operator, or at least the Betti numbers of the Milnor fiber, just using the information contained in the intersection lattice of the arrangement? We give two vanishing results on the non trivial eigenspaces of the monodromy. The first one applies to a large class of arrangements, and the second one to projective line arrangements with a line containing exactly one point of multiplicity greater or equal to three.Then we consider the mixed Hodge structure of the cohomology groups of the Milnor fiber, for a central and essential hyperplane arrangement in the complex space of dimension four. In this case, we give the equivalence between triviality of the monodromy, Tate properties, and nullity of the non integer spectrum's coefficients.Keywords: hyperplane arrangement, intersection lattice, Milnor fiber, monodromy.

The integrable Schrödinger operators often have a singularity on the real line, which creates problems for their spectral analysis. In several particular cases we show that all closed gaps lie on the infinite spectral arc. In the second part we develop a theory of complex exceptional orthogonal polynomials corresponding to integrable rational and trigonometric Schrödinger operators, which may have a singularity on the real line. In particular, we study the properties of the corresponding complex exceptional Hermite polynomials related to Darboux transformations of the harmonic oscillator, and exceptional Laurent orthogonal polynomials related to trigonometric monodromy-free operators.