Let R be a not necessarily commutative ring with 1. In the present paper we first introduce a notion of quasi-orderings, which axiomatically subsumes all the orderings and valuations on R. We proceed by uniformly defining a coarsening relation ≤ on the set Q(R) of all quasi-orderings on R. One of our main results states that (Q(R),≤′) is a rooted tree for some slight modification ≤′ of ≤, i.e. a partially ordered set admitting a maximum such that for any element there is a unique chain to that maximum. As an application of this theorem we obtain that (Q(R),≤′) is a spectral set, i.e. order-isomorphic to the spectrum of some commutative ring with 1. We conclude this paper by studying Q(R) as a topological space.

We consider left-invariant distances d on a Lie group G with the property that there exists a multiplicative one-parameter group of Lie automorphisms (0,∞)→Aut(G), λ↦δλ, so that d(δ_λx,δ_λy)=λd(x,y), for all x,y∈G and all λ>0. First, we show that all such distances are admissible, that is, they induce the manifold topology. Second, we characterize multiplicative one-parameter groups of Lie automorphisms that are dilations for some left-invariant distance in terms of algebraic properties of their infinitesimal generator. Third, we show that an admissible left-invariant distance on a Lie group with at least one nontrivial dilating automorphism is bi-Lipschitz equivalent to one that admits a one-parameter group of dilating automorphisms. Moreover, the infinitesimal generator can be chosen to have spectrum in [1,∞). Fourth, we characterize the automorphisms of a Lie group that are a dilating automorphisms for some admissible distance. Finally, we characterize metric Lie groups admitting a one-parameter group of dilating automorphisms as the only locally compact, isometrically homogeneous metric spaces with metric dilations of all factors. Such metric spaces appear as tangents of doubling metric spaces with unique tangents.

We consider Pólya urns with infinitely many colours that are of a random walk type, in two related versions. We show that the colour distribution a.s., after rescaling, converges to a normal distribution, assuming only second moments on the offset distribution. This improves results by Bandyopadhyay and Thacker (2014–2017; convergence in probability), and Mailler and Marckert (2017; a.s. convergence assuming exponential moment).

We establish a magnetic Agmon estimate in the case of a purely magnetic single non-degenerate well, by means of the Fourier–Bros–Iagolnitzer transform and microlocal exponential estimates à la Martinez–Sjöstrand.

Given a bounded Euclidean domain Ω, we consider the sequence of optimisers of the k-th Laplacian eigenvalue within the family consisting of all possible disjoint unions of scaled copies of Ω with fixed total volume. We show that this sequence encodes information yielding conditions for Ω to satisfy Pólya’s conjecture with either Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. This is an extension of a result by Colbois and El Soufi which applies only to the case where the family of domains consists of all bounded domains. Furthermore, we fully classify the different possible behaviours for such sequences, depending on whether Pólya’s conjecture holds for a given specific domain or not. This approach allows us to recover a stronger version of Pólya’s original results for tiling domains satisfying some dynamical billiard conditions, and a strenghtening of Urakawa’s bound in terms of packing density.