We introduce and study the notion of singular hermitian metrics on holomorphic vector bundles, following Berndtsson and Păun. We define what it means for such a metric to be positively and negatively curved in the sense of Griffiths and investigate the assumptions needed in order to locally define the curvature Θ^{$h$}as a matrix of currents. We then proceed to show that such metrics can be regularised in such a way that the corresponding curvature tensors converge weakly to Θ^{$h$}. Finally we define what it means for$h$to be strictly negatively curved in the sense of Nakano and show that it is possible to regularise such metrics with a sequence of smooth, strictly Nakano negative metrics.

We study the effective Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization theory for chiral deformation of two dimensional conformal field theories. We establish an exact correspondence between renormalized quantum master equations for effective functionals and Maurer-Cartan equations for chiral vertex operators. The generating functions are proven to have modular property with mild holo- morphic anomaly. As an application, we construct an exact solution of quan- tum B-model (BCOV theory) in complex one dimension that solves the higher genus mirror symmetry conjecture on elliptic curves.

Adult stem cells, which exist throughout the body, multiply by cell division to replenish dying cells or to promote regeneration to repair damaged tissues. To perform these functions during the lifetime of organs or tissues, stem cells need to maintain their populations in a faithful distribution of their epigenetic states, which are suscepti- ble to stochastic fluctuations during each cell division, unexpected injury, and potential genetic mutations that occur during many cell divisions. However, it remains unclear how the three processes of differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis in regulating stem cells collectively manage these challenging tasks. Here, without consid- ering molecular details, we propose a genetic optimal control model for adult stem cell regeneration that includes the three fundamental processes, along with cell division and adaptation based on differ- ential fitnesses of phenotypes. In the model, stem cells with a distri- bution of epigenetic states are required to maximize expected performance after each cell division. We show that heteroge- neous proliferation that depends on the epigenetic states of stem cells can improve the maintenance of stem cell distributions to create balanced populations. A control strategy during each cell division leads to a feedback mechanism involving heterogeneous proliferation that can accelerate regeneration with less fluctuation in the stem cell population. When mutation is allowed, apoptosis evolves to maximize the performance during homeostasis after multiple cell divisions. The overall results highlight the importance of cross-talk between genetic and epigenetic regulation and the performance objectives during homeostasis in shaping a desirable heterogeneous distribution of stem cells in epigenetic states.

Let $k$ be a field and $k(x_0,\ldots,x_{p-1})$ be the rational function field of $p$ variables over $k$ where $p$ is a prime number. Suppose that $G=\langle\sigma\rangle \simeq C_p$ acts on $k(x_0,\ldots,x_{p-1})$ by $k$-automorphisms defined as $\sigma:x_0\mapsto x_1\mapsto\cdots\mapsto x_{p-1}\mapsto x_0$. Denote by $P$ the set of all prime numbers and define $P_0=\{p\in P:\bm{Q}(\zeta_{p-1})$ is of class number one$\}$ where $\zeta_n$ a primitive $n$-th root of unity in $\bm{C}$ for a positive integer $n$; $P_0$ is a finite set by \cite{MM}. Theorem. Let $k$ be an algebraic number field and $P_k=\{p\in P: p$ is ramified in $k\}$. Then $k(x_0,\ldots,x_{p-1})^G$ is not stably rational over $k$ for all $p\in P\backslash (P_0\cup P_k)$.

In this paper we connect Calderón and Zygmund’s notion of Lp-differentiability (Calderón and Zygmund, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 46:1385–1389, 1960) with some recent characterizations of Sobolev spaces via the asymptotics of non-local functionals due to Bourgain, Brezis, and Mironescu (Optimal Control and Partial Differential Equations, pp. 439–455, 2001). We show how the results of the former can be generalized to the setting of the latter, while the latter results can be strengthened in the spirit of the former. As a consequence of these results we give several new characterizations of Sobolev spaces, a novel condition for whether a function of bounded variation is in the Sobolev space W1,1, and complete the proof of a characterization of the Sobolev spaces recently claimed in (Leoni and Spector, J Funct Anal 261:2926–2958, 2011; Leoni and Spector, J Funct Anal 266:1106–1114, 2014).