We aim to maximize the number of first-quadrant lattice points in a convex domain with respect to reciprocal stretching in the coordinate directions. The optimal domain is shown to be asymptotically balanced, meaning that the stretch factor approaches 1 as the “radius” approaches infinity. In particular, the result implies that among all p-ellipses (or Lamé curves), the p-circle encloses the most first-quadrant lattice points as the radius approaches infinity, for 1<p<∞. The case p=2 corresponds to minimization of high eigenvalues of the Dirichlet Laplacian on rectangles, and so our work generalizes a result of Antunes and Freitas. Similarly, we generalize a Neumann eigenvalue maximization result of van den Berg, Bucur and Gittins. Further, Ariturk and Laugesen recently handled 0<p<1 by building on our results here. The case p=1 remains open, and is closely related to minimizing energy levels of harmonic oscillators: which right triangles in the first quadrant with two sides along the axes will enclose the most lattice points, as the area tends to infinity?

For families of continuous plurisubharmonic functions we show that, in a local sense, separately bounded above implies bounded above.

Powersum varieties, also called varieties of sums of powers, have provided examples of interesting relations between varieties since their first appearance in the 19th century. One of the most useful tools to study them is apolarity, a notion originally related to the action of differential operators on the polynomial ring. In this work, we make explicit how one can see apolarity in terms of the Cox ring of a variety. In this way, powersum varieties are a special case of varieties of apolar schemes; we explicitly describe examples of such varieties in the case of two toric surfaces, when the Cox ring is particularly well-behaved.

Nilpotency for discrete groups can be defined in terms of central extensions. In this paper, the analogous definition for spaces is stated in terms of principal fibrations having infinite loop spaces as fibers, yielding a new invariant between the classical LS cocategory and the more recent notion of homotopy nilpotency introduced by Biedermann and Dwyer. This allows us to characterize finite homotopy nilpotent loop spaces in the spirit of Hubbuck’s Torus Theorem, and obtain corresponding results for p-compact groups and p-Noetherian groups.

We prove that almost all random subsets of a finite vector space are weak Salem sets (small Fourier coefficient), which extend a result of Hayes to a different probability model.