arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Richard Montgomery.
The subject is brake orbits for the 3-body problem: orbits where all velocities are zero at some instant. We extract a paradox and a mystery out of a recent database of 30 non-collision periodic brake orbits for the equal mass 3-body problem built up by Li and Liao. We solve the paradox and the mystery and pose an open question.
We prove that there exists $C>0$ such that any $(n+Ck)$-vertex tournament contains a copy of every $n$-vertex oriented tree with $k$ leaves, improving the previously best known bound of $n+O(k^2)$ vertices to give a result tight up to the value of $C$. Furthermore, we show that, for each $k$, there exists $n_0$, such that, whenever $n\geqslant n_0$, any $(n+k-2)$-vertex tournament contains a copy of every $n$-vertex oriented tree with at most $k$ leaves, confirming a conjecture of Dross and Havet.
Given a collection of graphs $\mathbf{G}=(G_1, \ldots, G_m)$ with the same vertex set, an $m$-edge graph $H\subset \cup_{i\in [m]}G_i$ is a transversal if there is a bijection $ϕ:E(H)\to [m]$ such that $e\in E(G_{ϕ(e)})$ for each $e\in E(H)$. We give asymptotically-tight minimum degree conditions for a graph collection on an $n$-vertex set to have a transversal which is a copy of a graph $H$, when $H$ is an $n$-vertex graph which is an $F$-factor or a tree with maximum degree $o(n/\log n)$.
In 2001, Komlós, Sárközy and Szemerédi proved that, for each $α>0$, there is some $c>0$ and $n_0$ such that, if $n\geq n_0$, then every $n$-vertex graph with minimum degree at least $(1/2+α)n$ contains a copy of every $n$-vertex tree with maximum degree at most $cn/\log n$. We prove the corresponding result for directed graphs. That is, for each $α>0$, there is some $c>0$ and $n_0$ such that, if $n\geq n_0$, then every $n$-vertex directed graph with minimum semi-degree at least $(1/2+α)n$ contains a copy of every $n$-vertex oriented tree whose underlying maximum degree is at most $cn/\log n$. As with Komlós, Sárközy and Szemerédi's theorem, this is tight up to the value of $c$. Our result improves a recent result of Mycroft and Naia, which requires the oriented trees to have underlying maximum degree at most $Δ$, for any constant $Δ\in \mathbb{N}$ and sufficiently large $n$. In contrast to these results, our methods do not use Szemerédi's regularity lemma.
We consider the scattering of $n$ classical particles interacting via pair potentials, under the assumption that each pair potential is "long-range", i.e. being of order ${\cal O}(r^{-α})$ for some $α>0$. We define and focus on the "free region", the set of states leading to well-defined and well-separated final states at infinity. As a first step, we prove the existence of an explicit, global surface of section for the free region. This surface of section is key to proving the smoothness of the map sending a point to its final state and to establishing a forward conjugacy between the $n$-body dynamics and free dynamics.
We relate the sub-Riemannian geometry on the group of rigid motions of the plane to `bicycling mathematics'. We show that this geometry's geodesics correspond to bike paths whose front tracks are either non-inflectional Euler elasticae or straight lines, and that its infinite minimizing geodesics (or `metric lines') correspond to bike paths whose front tracks are either straight lines or `Euler's solitons' (also known as Syntractrix or Convicts' curves).
We show that a one dimensional disordered conductor with correlated disorder has an extended state and a Landauer resistance that is non-zero in the limit of infinite system size in contrast to the predictions of the scaling theory of Anderson localization. The delocalization transition is not related to any underlying symmetry of the model such as particle-hole symmetry. For a wire of finite length the effect manifests as a sharp transmission resonance that narrows as the length of the wire is increased. Experimental realizations and applications are discussed including the possibility of constructing a narrow band light filter.
We study solutions of the Newtonian $n$-body problem which tend to infinity hyperbolically, that is, all mutual distances tend to infinity with nonzero speed as $t \rightarrow +\infty$ or as $t \rightarrow -\infty$. In suitable coordinates, such solutions form the stable or unstable manifolds of normally hyperbolic equilibrium points in a boundary manifold "at infinity". We show that the flow near these manifolds can be analytically linearized and use this to give a new proof of Chazy's classical asymptotic formulas. We also address the scattering problem, namely, for solutions which are hyperbolic in both forward and backward time, how are the limiting equilibrium points related? After proving some basic theorems about this scattering relation, we use perturbations of our manifold at infinity to study scattering "near infinity", that is, when the bodies stay far apart and interact only weakly.
Motivated by a longstanding conjecture of Thomassen, we study how large the average degree of a graph needs to be to imply that it contains a $C_4$-free subgraph with average degree at least $t$. Kühn and Osthus showed that an average degree bound which is double exponential in t is sufficient. We give a short proof of this bound, before reducing it to a single exponential. That is, we show that any graph $G$ with average degree at least $2^{ct^2\log t}$ (for some constant $c>0$) contains a $C_4$-free subgraph with average degree at least $t$. Finally, we give a construction which improves the lower bound for this problem, showing that this initial average degree must be at least $t^{3-o(1)}$.
A subgraph of an edge-coloured graph is called rainbow if all its edges have distinct colours. Our main result implies that, given any optimal colouring of a sufficiently large complete graph $K_{2n}$, there exists a decomposition of $K_{2n}$ into isomorphic rainbow spanning trees. This settles conjectures of Brualdi--Hollingsworth (from 1996) and Constantine (from 2002) for large graphs.
The iterative absorption method has recently led to major progress in the area of (hyper-)graph decompositions. Amongst other results, a new proof of the Existence conjecture for combinatorial designs, and some generalizations, was obtained. Here, we illustrate the method by investigating triangle decompositions: we give a simple proof that a triangle-divisible graph of large minimum degree has a triangle decomposition and prove a similar result for quasi-random host graphs.
A typical decomposition question asks whether the edges of some graph $G$ can be partitioned into disjoint copies of another graph $H$. One of the oldest and best known conjectures in this area, posed by Ringel in 1963, concerns the decomposition of complete graphs into edge-disjoint copies of a tree. It says that any tree with $n$ edges packs $2n+1$ times into the complete graph $K_{2n+1}$. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for large $n$.
Let $\{D_M\}_{M\geq 0}$ be the $n$-vertex random directed graph process, where $D_0$ is the empty directed graph on $n$ vertices, and subsequent directed graphs in the sequence are obtained by the addition of a new directed edge uniformly at random. For each $\varepsilon>0$, we show that, almost surely, any directed graph $D_M$ with minimum in- and out-degree at least 1 is not only Hamiltonian (as shown by Frieze), but remains Hamiltonian when edges are removed, as long as at most $(1/2-\varepsilon)$ of both the in- and out-edges incident to each vertex are removed. We say such a directed graph is $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian. Furthermore, for each $\varepsilon>0$, we show that, almost surely, each directed graph $D_M$ in the sequence is not $(1/2+\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian. This improves a result of Ferber, Nenadov, Noever, Peter and Škorić, who showed, for each $\varepsilon>0$, that the binomial random directed graph $D(n,p)$ is almost surely $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian if $p=ω(\log^8n/n)$.
For each $Δ>0$, we prove that there exists some $C=C(Δ)$ for which the binomial random graph $G(n,C\log n/n)$ almost surely contains a copy of every tree with $n$ vertices and maximum degree at most $Δ$. In doing so, we confirm a conjecture by Kahn.
We study the model $G_α\cup G(n,p)$ of randomly perturbed dense graphs, where $G_α$ is any $n$-vertex graph with minimum degree at least $αn$ and $G(n,p)$ is the binomial random graph. We introduce a general approach for studying the appearance of spanning subgraphs in this model using absorption. This approach yields simpler proofs of several known results. We also use it to derive the following two new results. For every $α>0$ and $Δ\ge 5$, and every $n$-vertex graph $F$ with maximum degree at most $Δ$, we show that if $p=ω(n^{-2/(Δ+1)})$ then $G_α\cup G(n,p)$ with high probability contains a copy of $F$. The bound used for $p$ here is lower by a $\log$-factor in comparison to the conjectured threshold for the general appearance of such subgraphs in $G(n,p)$ alone, a typical feature of previous results concerning randomly perturbed dense graphs. We also give the first example of graphs where the appearance threshold in $G_α\cup G(n,p)$ is lower than the appearance threshold in $G(n,p)$ by substantially more than a $\log$-factor. We prove that, for every $k\geq 2$ and $α>0$, there is some $η>0$ for which the $k$th power of a Hamilton cycle with high probability appears in $G_α\cup G(n,p)$ when $p=ω(n^{-1/k-η})$. The appearance threshold of the $k$th power of a Hamilton cycle in $G(n,p)$ alone is known to be $n^{-1/k}$, up to a $\log$-term when $k=2$, and exactly for $k>2$.
With the help of a generalization of the Fermat principle in general relativity, we show that chains in CR geometry are geodesics of a certain Kropina metric constructed from the CR structure. We study the projective equivalence of Kropina metrics and show that if the kernel distributions of the corresponding 1-forms are non-integrable then two projectively equivalent metrics are trivially projectively equivalent. As an application, we show that sufficiently many chains determine the CR structure up to conjugacy, generalizing and reproving the main result of [J.-H. Cheng, 1988]. The correspondence between geodesics of the Kropina metric and chains allows us to use the methods of metric geometry and the calculus of variations to study chains. We use these methods to re-prove the result of [H. Jacobowitz, 1985] that locally any two points of a strictly pseudoconvex CR manifolds can be joined by a chain. Finally, we generalize this result to the global setting by showing that any two points of a connected compact strictly pseudoconvex CR manifold which admits a pseudo-Einstein contact form with positive Tanaka-Webster scalar curvature can be joined by a chain.
Let $\{G_M\}_{M\geq 0}$ be the random graph process, where $G_0$ is the empty graph on $n$ vertices and subsequent graphs in the sequence are obtained by adding a new edge uniformly at random. For each $\varepsilon>0$, we show that, almost surely, any graph $G_M$ with minimum degree at least 2 is not only Hamiltonian (as shown by Bollobás), but remains Hamiltonian despite the removal of any set of edges, as long as at most $(1/2-\varepsilon)$ of the edges incident to each vertex are removed. We say that such a graph is $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian. Furthermore, for each $ε>0$, we show that, almost surely, each graph $G_M$ is not $(1/2+\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian. These results strengthen those by Lee and Sudakov on the likely resilience of Hamiltonicity in the binomial random graph. For each $k$, we denote by $G^{(k)}$ the (possibly empty) maximal subgraph with minimum degree at least $k$ of a graph $G$. That is, the $k$-core of $G$. Krivelevich, Lubetzky and Sudakov have shown that, for each $k\geq 15$, in almost every random graph process $\{G_M\}_{M\geq 0}$, every non-empty $k$-core is Hamiltonian. We show that, for each $\varepsilon>0$ and $k\geq k_0(\varepsilon)$, in almost every random graph process $\{G_M\}_{M\geq 0}$, every non-empty $k$-core is $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian, but not $(1/2+\varepsilon)$-resiliently Hamiltonian.
We study the $F$-decomposition threshold $δ_F$ for a given graph $F$. Here an $F$-decomposition of a graph $G$ is a collection of edge-disjoint copies of $F$ in $G$ which together cover every edge of $G$. (Such an $F$-decomposition can only exist if $G$ is $F$-divisible, i.e. if $e(F)\mid e(G)$ and each vertex degree of $G$ can be expressed as a linear combination of the vertex degrees of $F$.) The $F$-decomposition threshold $δ_F$ is the smallest value ensuring that an $F$-divisible graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with $δ(G)\ge(δ_F+o(1))n$ has an $F$-decomposition. Our main results imply the following for a given graph $F$, where $δ_F^\ast$ is the fractional version of $δ_F$ and $χ:=χ(F)$: (i) $δ_F\le \max\{δ_F^\ast,1-1/(χ+1)\}$; (ii) if $χ\ge 5$, then $δ_F\in\{δ_F^{\ast},1-1/χ,1-1/(χ+1)\}$; (iii) we determine $δ_F$ if $F$ is bipartite. In particular, (i) implies that $δ_{K_r}=δ^\ast_{K_r}$. Our proof involves further developments of the recent `iterative' absorbing approach.