Sparse polynomial equations and other enumerative problems whose Galois groups are wreath products

We introduce a new technique to prove connectivity of subsets of covering spaces (so called inductive connectivity), and apply it to Galois theory of problems of enumerative geometry. As a model example, consider the problem of permuting the roots of a complex polynomial $$f(x) = c_0 + c_1 x^{d_1} + \cdots + c_k x^{d_k}$$ f ( x ) = c 0 + c 1 x d 1 + ⋯ + c k x d k by varying its coefficients. If the GCD of the exponents is d, then the polynomial admits the change of variable $$y=x^d$$ y = x d , and its roots split into necklaces of length d. At best we can expect to permute these necklaces, i.e. the Galois group of f equals the wreath product of the symmetric group over $$d_k/d$$ d k / d elements and $${\mathbb {Z}}/d{\mathbb {Z}}$$ Z / d Z . We study the multidimensional generalization of this equality: the Galois group of a general system of polynomial equations equals the expected wreath product for a large class of systems, but in general this expected equality fails, making the problem of describing such Galois groups unexpectedly rich.

Invariant Differential Forms on Complexes of Graphs and Feynman Integrals

We study differential forms on an algebraic compactification of a moduli space of metric graphs. Canonical examples of such forms are obtained by pulling back invariant differentials along a tropical Torelli map. The invariant differential forms in question generate the stable real cohomology of the general linear group, as shown by Borel. By integrating such invariant forms over the space of metrics on a graph, we define canonical period integrals associated to graphs, which we prove are always finite and take the form of generalised Feynman integrals. Furthermore, canonical integrals can be used to detect the non-vanishing of homology classes in the commutative graph complex. This theory leads to insights about the structure of the cohomology of the commutative graph complex, and new connections between graph complexes, motivic Galois groups and quantum field theory.

Two families of pro-𝑝 groups that are not absolute Galois groups

Let 𝑝 be a prime. We produce two new families of pro-𝑝 groups which are not realizable as absolute Galois groups of fields. To prove this, we use the 1-smoothness property of absolute Galois pro-𝑝 groups. Moreover, we show in these families, one has several pro-𝑝 groups which may not be ruled out as absolute Galois groups employing the quadraticity of Galois cohomology (a consequence of the norm residue theorem), or the vanishing of Massey products in Galois cohomology.

Global and local properties of finite groups with only finitely many central units in their integral group ring

The aim of this article is to explore global and local properties of finite groups whose integral group rings have only trivial central units, so-called cut groups. For such a group, we study actions of Galois groups on its character table and show that the natural actions on the rows and columns are essentially the same; in particular, the number of rational-valued irreducible characters coincides with the number of rational-valued conjugacy classes. Further, we prove a natural criterion for nilpotent groups of class 2 to be cut and give a complete list of simple cut groups. Also, the impact of the cut property on Sylow 3-subgroups is discussed. We also collect substantial data on groups which indicates that the class of cut groups is surprisingly large. Several open problems are included.

Classifying Galois groups of an orthogonal family of quartic polynomials

We consider the quartic generalized Laguerre polynomials $L_{4}^{(\alpha)}(x)$ for $\alpha \in \mathbb Q$. It is shown that except $\mathbb Z/4\mathbb Z$, every transitive subgroup of $S_{4}$ appears as the Galois group of $L_{4}^{(\alpha)}(x)$ for infinitely many $\alpha \in \mathbb Q$. A precise characterization of $\alpha\in \mathbb Q$ is obtained for each of these occurrences. Our methods involve the standard use of resolvent cubics and the theory of p-adic Newton polygons. Using these, the Galois group computations are reduced to Diophantine problem of finding integer and rational points on certain curves.