The mathematical picture language project that we began in 2016 has already yielded interesting results. We also point out areas of mathematics and physics where we hope that it will prove useful in the future.

In contrast to the usual quantum systems which have at most a finite number of open spectral gaps if they are periodic in more than one direction, periodic quantum graphs may have gaps arbitrarily high in the spectrum. This property of graph Hamiltonians, being generic in a sense, inspires the question about the existence of graphs with a finite and nonzero number of spectral gaps. We show that the answer depends on the vertex couplings together with commensurability of the graph edges. A finite and nonzero number of gaps is excluded for graphs with scale invariant couplings; on the other hand, we demonstrate that graphs featuring a finite nonzero number of gaps do exist, illustrating the claim on the example of a rectangular lattice with a suitably tuned -coupling at the vertices.

Published in 1999, Christodoulou proved that the naked singularities of a self-gravitating scalar field are not stable in spherical symmetry and therefore the cosmic censorship conjecture is true in this context. The original proof is by contradiction and sharp estimates are obtained strictly depending on spherical symmetry. In this paper, appropriate a priori estimates for the solution are obtained. These estimates are more relaxed but sufficient for giving another robust argument in proving the instability, in particular not by contradiction. In a companion paper, we are able to prove certain instability theorems of the spherically symmetric naked singularities of a scalar field under gravitational perturbations without symmetries. The argument given in this paper plays a central role.

In this paper, we construct the bilinear identities for the wave functions of an extended B-type Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (BKP) hierarchy, which contains two types of (2+1)-dimensional Sawada-Kotera equation with a self-consistent source (2d-SKwS-I and 2d-SKwS-II). By introducing an auxiliary variable corresponding to the extended flow for the BKP hierarchy, we find the tau-function and the bilinear identities for this extended BKP hierarchy. The bilinear identities can generate all the Hirota's bilinear equations for the zero-curvature forms of this extended BKP hierarchy. As examples, the Hirota's bilinear equations for the two types of 2d-SKwS (both 2d-SKwS-I and 2d-SKwS-II) will be given explicitly.

We prove the following stronger version of the positivity of quasi-local energy (mass) stated by Liu and Yau: the quasi-local energy of each connected component of the boundary of a compact spacelike hypersurface which satisfies the local energy condition is strictly positive unless the spacetime is flat along the spacelike hypersurface and the boundary of the spacelike hypersurface is connected.