arXiv subjects

Armand Borel

Publications and source records attributed to Armand Borel.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv1999

Almost commuting elements in compact Lie groups

We describe the components of the moduli space of conjugacy classes of commuting pairs and triples of elements in a compact Lie group. This description is in terms of the extended Dynkin diagram of the simply connected cover, together with the coroot integers and the action of the fundamental group. In the case of three commuting elements, we compute Chern-Simons invariants associated to the corresponding flat bundles over the three-torus, and verify a conjecture of Witten which reveals a surprising symmetry involving the Chern-Simons invariants and the dimensions of the components of the moduli space.

math.GR↗

arXiv1995

Values of indefinite quadratic forms at integral points and flows on spaces of lattices

This mostly expository paper centers on recently proved conjectures in two areas: A) A conjecture of A. Oppenheim on the values of real indefinite quadratic forms at integral points. B) Conjectures of Dani, Raghunathan, and Margulis on closures of orbits in spaces of lattices such as ${\BSL}_n(\R)/{\BSL}_n(\Z)$. At first sight, A) belongs to analytic number theory and B) belongs to ergodic and Lie theory, and they seem to be quite unrelated. They are discussed together here because of a very interesting connection between the two pointed out by M. S. Raghunathan, namely, a special case of B) yields a proof of A).

math.NT↗

arXiv1994

Responses to ``Theoretical Mathematics: Toward a cultural synthesis of mathematics and theoretical physics'', by A. Jaffe and F. Quinn

This article is a collection of letters solicited by the editors of the Bulletin in response to a previous article by Jaffe and Quinn [math.HO/9307227]. The authors discuss the role of rigor in mathematics and the relation between mathematics and theoretical physics.

math.HO↗