In an infinite sequence of independent identically distributed continuous random variables we study the number of strings of two subsequent records interrupted by a given number of non-records. By embedding in a marked Poisson process we prove that these counts are independent and Poisson distributed. Also the distribution of the number of uninterrupted strings of records is considered.

For each closed, positive (1,1)-current$ω$on a complex manifold$X$and each$ω$-upper semicontinuous function$φ$on$X$we associate a disc functional and prove that its envelope is equal to the supremum of all$ω$-plurisubharmonic functions dominated by$φ$. This is done by reducing to the case where$ω$has a global potential. Then the result follows from Poletsky’s theorem, which is the special case$ω$=0. Applications of this result include a formula for the relative extremal function of an open set in$X$and, in some cases, a description of the$ω$-polynomial hull of a set.

We characterize those Lie groups, and algebraic groups over a local field of characteristic zero, whose first reduced$L$^{$p$}-cohomology is zero for all$p$>1, extending a result of Pansu. As an application, we obtain a description of Gromov-hyperbolic groups among those groups. In particular we prove that any non-elementary Gromov-hyperbolic algebraic group over a non-Archimedean local field of zero characteristic is quasi-isometric to a 3-regular tree. We also extend the study to general semidirect products of a locally compact group by a cyclic group acting by contracting automorphisms.

In this paper we study the singularities of holomorphic functions of bicomplex variables introduced by G. B. Price ($An Introduction to Multicomplex Spaces and Functions$, Dekker, New York,1991). In particular, we use computational algebra techniques to show that even in the case of one bicomplex variable, there cannot be compact singularities. The same techniques allow us to prove a duality theorem for such functions.

Here we classify$J$-embeddable surfaces, i.e. surfaces whose secant varieties have dimension at most 4, when the surfaces have two components at most.