Using the complex coloring method, we present the graphs of the quantum dilogarithm function Gb(z) and visualize its analytic and asymptotic behaviours. In particular we demonstrate the limiting process when the modified Gb(z)→Γ(z) as b→0. We also survey the relations of Gb(z) with different variants of the quantum dilogarithm function.

We study Schrdinger operators on an infinite quantum graph of a chain form which consists of identical rings connected at the touching points by -couplings with a parameter\alpha\in {\bb R}. If the graph is' straight', ie periodic with respect to ring shifts, its Hamiltonian has a band spectrum with all the gaps open whenever 0. We consider a'bending'deformation of the chain consisting of changing one position at a single ring and show that it gives rise to eigenvalues in the open spectral gaps. We analyze dependence of these eigenvalues on the coupling and the'bending angle'as well as resonances of the system coming from the bending. We also discuss the behaviour of the eigenvalues and resonances at the edges of the spectral bands.

The object of this paper is to establish an existence result for nonlinear inequalities for not necessarily pseudomonotone maps. As a consequence of our result, we give some existence results for variational and variational-like inequalities.

In all the odd dimensions which allow Majorana spinors, we consider a gravitational Lagrangian possessing local Poincare invariance and given by the dimensional continuation of the Euler density in one dimension less. We show that the local supersymmetric extension of this Lagrangian requires the algebra to be the maximal extension of the N=1 super-Poincare algebra. By maximal, we mean that in the right hand side of the anticommutator of the Majorana super charge appear all the possible central charges. The resulting action defines a Chern-Simons gauge theory for the maximal extension of the super-Poincare algebra. In these dimensions, we address the same problem for the AdS invariant gravity and we derive its supersymmetric extension for the minimal super-AdS algebra. The connection between both models is realized at the algebraic level through an expansion of their corresponding Lie super algebras. Within a procedure consistent with the expansion of the algebras, the local supersymmetric extension of the Poincare invariant gravity Lagrangian is derived from the super AdS one.

We adopt a recent work in Chung, Qian, Uhlmann and Zhao (Inverse Problems, 23 (2007) 309-329) to develop a phase space method for reconstructing pressure wave speed and shear wave speed of an elastic medium from travel time measurements. The method is based on the so-called Stefanov-Uhlmann identity which links two Riemannian metrics with their travel time information. We design a numerical algorithm to solve the resulting inverse problem. The algorithm is a hybrid approach that combines both Lagrangian and Eulerian formulations. In particular the Lagrangian formulation in phase space can take into account multiple arrival times naturally, while the Eulerian formulation for wave speeds allows us to compute the solution in physical space. Numerical examples are shown to validate the method.