We construct a counterexample to the conjugacy of maximal abelian diagonalizable subalgebras in extended affine Lie algebras.

We prove the BMV (Bessis, Moussa, Villani, [1]) conjecture, which states that the function $${t \mapsto \mathop{\rm Tr}\exp(A-tB)}$$ , $${t \geqslant 0}$$ , is the Laplace transform of a positive measure on [0,∞) if$A$and$B$are $${n \times n}$$ Hermitian matrices and$B$is positive semidefinite. A semi-explicit representation for this measure is given.

We present a version of a proof by Andy Chermak of the existence and uniqueness of centric linking systems associated with arbitrary saturated fusion systems. This proof differs from the one in [Ch2] in that it is based on the computation of derived functors of certain inverse limits. This leads to a much shorter proof, but one which is aimed mostly at researchers familiar with homological algebra.