We construct a conformally invariant random family of closed curves in the plane by welding of random homeomorphisms of the unit circle. The homeomorphism is constructed using the exponential of$βX$, where X is the restriction of the 2-dimensional free field on the circle and the parameter$β$is in the “high temperature” regime $$ \beta < \sqrt {2} $$ . The welding problem is solved by studying a non-uniformly elliptic Beltrami equation with a random complex dilatation. For the existence a method of Lehto is used. This requires sharp probabilistic estimates to control conformal moduli of annuli and they are proven by decomposing the free field as a sum of independent fixed scale fields and controlling the correlations of the complex dilatation restricted to dyadic cells of various scales. For the uniqueness we invoke a result by Jones and Smirnov on conformal removability of Hölder curves. Our curves are closely related to SLE($ϰ$) for$ϰ$<4.

Going beyond the linearized study has been a longstanding problem in the theory of Landau damping. In this paper we establish exponential Landau damping in analytic regularity. The damping phenomenon is reinterpreted in terms of transfer of regularity between kinetic and spatial variables, rather than exchanges of energy; phase mixing is the driving mechanism. The analysis involves new families of analytic norms, measuring regularity by comparison with solutions of the free transport equation; new functional inequalities; a control of non-linear echoes; sharp “deflection” estimates; and a Newton approximation scheme. Our results hold for any potential no more singular than Coulomb or Newton interaction; the limit cases are included with specific technical effort. As a side result, the stability of homogeneous equilibria of the non-linear Vlasov equation is established under sharp assumptions. We point out the strong analogy with the KAM theory, and discuss physical implications. Finally, we extend these results to some Gevrey (non-analytic) distribution functions.

Building on [BB1] we prove a general criterion for convergence of (possibly singular) Bergman measures towards pluripotential-theoretic equilibrium measures on complex manifolds. The criterion may be formulated in terms of the growth properties of the unit-balls of certain norms on holomorphic sections, or equivalently as an asymptotic minimization property for generalized Donaldson$L$-functionals. Our result settles in particular a well-known conjecture in pluripotential theory concerning the equidistribution of Fekete points and it gives the convergence of Bergman measures towards the equilibrium measure for Bernstein-Markov measures. Applications to interpolation of holomorphic sections are also discussed.

We consider the Stokes conjecture concerning the shape of extreme 2-dimensional water waves. By new geometric methods including a non-linear frequency formula, we prove the Stokes conjecture in the original variables. Our results do not rely on structural assumptions needed in previous results such as isolated singularities, symmetry and monotonicity. Part of our results extends to the mathematical problem in higher dimensions.

Let $ \gamma = \frac{1}{2}\left( {1 + \sqrt {5} } \right) $ denote the golden ratio. H. Davenport and W. M. Schmidt showed in 1969 that, for each non-quadratic irrational real number ξ, there exists a constant$c$> 0 with the property that, for arbitrarily large values of$X$, the inequalities $ \left| {{x_0}} \right| \leqslant X,\,\,\,\left| {{x_0}\xi - {x_1}} \right| \leqslant c{X^{{{{ - 1}} \left/ {\gamma } \right.}}}\,\,\,{\text{and}}\,\,\,\left| {{x_0}{\xi^2} - {x_2}} \right| \leqslant c{X^{{{{ - 1}} \left/ {\gamma } \right.}}} $ admit no non-zero solution $ \left( {{x_0},{x_1},{x_2}} \right) \in {\mathbb{Z}^3} $ . Their result is best possible in the sense that, conversely, there are countably many non-quadratic irrational real numbers ξ such that, for a larger value of c, the same inequalities admit a non-zero integer solution for each$X$≥ 1. Such$extremal$numbers are transcendental and their set is stable under the action of $ {\text{G}}{{\text{L}}_2}\left( \mathbb{Z} \right) $ on $ \mathbb{R}\backslash \mathbb{Q} $ by linear fractional transformations. In this paper, it is shown that there exist extremal numbers ξ for which the Lagrange constant ν(ξ) = liminf_{$q$→∞}$q$||$q$ξ|| is $ \frac{1}{3} $ , the largest possible value for a non-quadratic number, and that there is a natural bijection between the $ {\text{G}}{{\text{L}}_2}\left( \mathbb{Z} \right) $ -equivalence classes of such numbers and the non-trivial solutions of Markoff’s equation.