Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Parabolic And Non-Parabolic Surfaces With Small Or Large End Spaces Via Fenchel-Nielsen Parameters, Michael Antony Pandazis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We consider conditions on the Fenchel-Nielsen parameters of a Riemann surface X that determine whether or not a surface X is parabolic. Fix a geodesic pants decomposition of a surface and call the boundary geodesics in the decomposition cuffs. For a zero or half-twist flute surface, we prove that parabolicity is equivalent to the surface having a covering group of the first kind. Using that result, we give necessary and sufficient conditions on the Fenchel-Nielsen parameters of a half-twist flute surface X with increasing cuff lengths such that X is parabolic. As an application, we determine whether or not each …

Geometries Gon Wild, Naat Ambrosino

Undergraduate Theses

A circle is mathematically defined as the collection of points a given distance away from a set point. Thus, the appearance of a circle varies dramatically across different metrics—for example, the taxicab metric (as popularized by Krause and Reynolds) has a circle that is a Euclidean square. As such, metrics can be partially defined by the appearance of their unit circles. This paper focuses on creating and analyzing an infinite set of metrics defined by their circles being regular polygons. Additionally, it provides a method of exactly generating a regular n-gon given a center, included point, and specified orientation.

Aspects Of Stochastic Geometric Mechanics In Molecular Biophysics, David Frost

All Dissertations

In confocal single-molecule FRET experiments, the joint distribution of FRET efficiency and donor lifetime distribution can reveal underlying molecular conformational dynamics via deviation from their theoretical Forster relationship. This shift is referred to as a dynamic shift. In this study, we investigate the influence of the free energy landscape in protein conformational dynamics on the dynamic shift by simulation of the associated continuum reaction coordinate Langevin dynamics, yielding a deeper understanding of the dynamic and structural information in the joint FRET efficiency and donor lifetime distribution. We develop novel Langevin models for the dye linker dynamics, including rotational dynamics, based …

Exploring The Structure Of Partial Difference Sets With Denniston Parameters, Nicolas Ferree

Honors Theses

In this work, we investigate the structure of particular partial difference sets (PDS) of size 70 with Denniston parameters in an elementary abelian group and in a nonelementary abelian group. We will make extensive use of character theory in our investigation and ultimately seek to understand the nature of difference sets with these parameters. To begin, we will cover some basic definitions and examples of difference sets and partial difference sets. We will then move on to some basic theorems about partial difference sets before introducing a group ring formalism and using it to explore several important constructions of partial …

The Sharp Bounds Of A Quasi-Isometry Of P-Adic Numbers In A Subset Real Plane, Kathleen Zopff

Undergraduate Theses

P-adic numbers are numbers valued by their divisibility by high powers of some prime, p. These numbers are an important concept in number theory that are used in major ideas such as the Reimann Hypothesis and Andrew Wiles’ proof of Fermat’s last theorem, and also have applications in cryptography. In this project, we will explore various visualizations of p-adic numbers. In particular, we will look at a mapping of p-adic numbers into the real plane which constructs a fractal similar to a Sierpinski p-gon. We discuss the properties of this map and give formulas for the sharp bounds of its …

Geometric Dissections, Daniel Robert Martin

MSU Graduate Theses

In the study of geometry, the notion of dissection and its mechanics are occasionally over-looked. We consider and trace the history and theorems surrounding geometric dissections in both recreational and academic mathematics. We explore the important advancements in this particular topic from antiquity through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We conclude with an exploration of the Banach-Tarski paradox

Equidistant Sets In Spaces Of Bounded Curvature, Logan Scott Fox

Dissertations and Theses

Given a metric space (X,d), and two nonempty subsets A,B ⊆ X, we study the properties of the set of points of equal distance to A and B, which we call the equidistant set E(A,B). In general, the structure of the equidistant set is quite unpredictable, so we look for conditions on the ambient space, as well as the given subsets, which lead to some regularity of the properties of the equidistant set. At a minimum, we will always require that X is path connected (so that E( …

Sangaku In Multiple Geometries: Examining Japanese Temple Geometry Beyond Euclid, Nathan Hartmann

Honors College Theses

When the country of Japan was closed from the rest of the world from 1603 until
1867 during the Edo period, the field of mathematics developed in a different way
from how it developed in the rest of the world. One way we see this development
is through the sangaku, the thousands of geometric problems hung in various Shinto and Buddhist temples throughout the country. Written on wooden tablets by people from numerous walks of life, all these problems hold true within Euclidean geometry. During the 1800s, while Japan was still closed, non-Euclidean geometries began to develop across the …

Counting The Moduli Space Of Pentagons On Finite Projective Planes, Maxwell Hosler

Senior Independent Study Theses

Finite projective planes are finite incidence structures which generalize the concept of the real projective plane. In this paper, we consider structures of points embedded in these planes. In particular, we investigate pentagons in general position, meaning no three vertices are colinear. We are interested in properties of these pentagons that are preserved by collineation of the plane, and so can be conceived as properties of the equivalence class of polygons up to collineation as a whole. Amongst these are the symmetries of a pentagon and the periodicity of the pentagon under the pentagram map, and a generalization of …

Quantum Symmetries In Noncommutative Geometry., Suvrajit Bhattacharjee Dr.

Doctoral Theses

No abstract provided.

A Tropical Approach To The Brill-Noether Theory Over Hurwitz Spaces, Kaelin Cook-Powell

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

The geometry of a curve can be analyzed in many ways. One way of doing this is to study the set of all divisors on a curve of prescribed rank and degree, known as a Brill-Noether variety. A sequence of results, starting in the 1980s, answered several fundamental questions about these varieties for general curves. However, many of these questions are still unanswered if we restrict to special families of curves. This dissertation has three main goals. First, we examine Brill-Noether varieties for these special families and provide combinatorial descriptions of their irreducible components. Second, we provide a natural generalization …

Studies On Polynomial Rings Through Locally Nilpotient Derivations., Nikhilesh Dasgupta Dr.

Doctoral Theses

No abstract provided.

Higher Chow Cycles On The Jacobian Of Curves., Subham Sarkar Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The following formula, usually called Beilinson’s formula — though independently due to Deligne as well — describes the motivic cohomology group of a smooth projective variety X over a number field as the group of extensions in a conjectured abelian category of mixed motives, MMQ.The aim of this thesis is to describe this construction in the case of the motivic cohomology group of the Jacobian of a curve. The first work in this direction is due to Harris [Har83] and Pulte [Pul88], [Hai87]. They showed that the Abel-Jacobi image of the modified diagonal cycle on the triple product of a …

V-Slam And Sensor Fusion For Ground Robots, Ejup Hoxha

Dissertations and Theses

In underground, underwater and indoor environments, a robot has to rely solely on its on-board sensors to sense and understand its surroundings. This is the main reason why SLAM gained the popularity it has today. In recent years, we have seen excellent improvement on accuracy of localization using cameras and combinations of different sensors, especially camera-IMU (VIO) fusion. Incorporating more sensors leads to improvement of accuracy,but also robustness of SLAM. However, while testing SLAM in our ground robots, we have seen a decrease in performance quality when using the same algorithms on flying vehicles.We have an additional sensor for ground …

Fuchsian Groups, Bob Anaya

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Fuchsian groups are discrete subgroups of isometries of the hyperbolic plane. This thesis will primarily work with the upper half-plane model, though we will provide an example in the disk model. We will define Fuchsian groups and examine their properties geometrically and algebraically. We will also discuss the relationships between fundamental regions, Dirichlet regions and Ford regions. The goal is to see how a Ford region can be constructed with isometric circles.

Unifications Of Pythagorean Triple Schema, Emily Hammes

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Euclid’s Method of finding Pythagorean triples is a commonly accepted and applied technique. This study focuses on a myriad of other methods behind finding such Pythagorean triples. Specifically, we discover whether or not other ways of finding triples are special cases of Euclid’s Method.

Coarse Geometric Coherence, Jonathan Lee Grossman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation establishes three coarse geometric analogues of algebraic coherence: geometric coherence, coarse coherence, and relative coarse coherence. Each of these coarse geometric coherence notions is a coarse geometric invariant. Several permanence properties of these coarse invariants are demonstrated, elementary examples are computed, and the relationships that these properties have with one another and with other previously established coarse geometric invariants are investigated. Significant results include that the straight finite decomposition complexity of A. Dranishnikov and M. Zarichnyi implies coarse coherence, and that M. Gromov’s finite asymptotic dimension implies coherence, coarse coherence, and relative coarse coherence. Further, as a consequence …

Applications Of Jeu De Taquin To Representation Theory And Schubert Calculus, Daniel Stephen Hono

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

We describe some applications of the \emph{jeu de taquin} algorithm on standard Young tableaux of skew shape $\lambda/\mu$ for $\lambda$ and $\mu$ partitions. We first briefly survey the relevant background on symmetric functions with a focus on the \emph{Schur functions}. We then introduce the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients in terms of Schur functions and survey some of the applications of the corresponding Littlewood-Richardson rule to representation theory and Schubert calculus on the Grassmannian. A reformulation of the Littlewood-Richardson rule in terms of the jeu de taquin algorithm and \emph{growth diagrams} is then surveyed. We illustrate this formulation with some examples. Finally, we …

Non-Euclidean Metric On The Resolvent Set, Mai Thi Thuy Tran

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

For a bounded linear operator $A$ on a complex Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$, the Douglas-Yang metric on the resolvent set $\rho(A)$ is defined by the metric function $g_{\vec{x}}(z)=\left \| \big(A -z I\big)^{-1} \vec{x} \right \|^2$, where $\vec{x} \in \mathcal{H}$ with $\left \| \vec{x} \right \|=1$.

Geometry, Growth And Pattern Formation In Thin Elastic Structures, Salem Al-Mosleh

Doctoral Dissertations

Thin shells are abundant in nature and industry, from atomic to planetary scales. The mechanical behavior of a thin shell depends crucially on its geometry and embedding in 3 dimensions (3D). In fact, the behavior of extremely thin shells becomes scale independent and only depends on geometry. That is why the crumpling of graphene will have similarities to the crumpling of paper. In this thesis, we start by discussing the static behavior of thin shells, highlighting the role of asymptotic curves (curves with zero normal curvature) in determining the possible deformations and in controlling the folding patterns. In particular, we …

Relations Between Theta Functions Of Genus One And Two From Geometry, Thomas Hill

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Genus-two curves with special symmetries are related to pairs of genus-one curves by two and three-sheeted ramified coverings. This classical work dates back to early 20th century and is known as Jacobi and Hermite reduction. Jacobians of genus-two curves can be used to construct complex two-dimensional complex projective manifolds known as Kummer surfaces. On the other hand, the defining coordinates and parameters of both elliptic curves and Kummer surfaces can be related to Riemann Theta functions and Siegel Theta functions, respectively. This result goes back to the seminal work of Mumford in the 1980s. We use the geometric relation between …

An Autothermal, Representative Scale Test Of Compost Heat Potential Using Geostatistical Analysis, William J. Mccune-Sanders

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Composting has been practiced for thousands of years as a way of stabilizing and recycling organic matter into useful soil amendments. Thermophilic compost releases significant amounts of heat at temperatures (~140 °F) that are useful for environmental heating or process water. This heat has been taken advantage of in various ways throughout history, but development of a widely adopted technology remains elusive.

The biggest barrier to adoption of compost heat recovery (CHR) systems is projecting accurate, attractive economic returns. The cost of transfer equipment is significant, and with variability in composting substrates and methods, it is difficult to predict the …

Generalized Characteristics Of A Generic Polytope, Tommy Naugle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For a smooth hypersurface S ⊂ R 2n given by the level set of a Hamiltonian function H, a symplectic form ω on R2n induces a vector field XH which flows tangent to S. By the nondegeneracy of ω, there exists a distinguished line bundle LS whose characteristics are the integral curves of XH. When S is the boundary of a smooth convex domain K˜ ⊂ R 2n, then the least action among closed characteristics of LS is equal to the Ekeland-Hofer-Zehnder capacity, a symplectic invariant. From a result due to Artstein-Avidan and Ostrover, there exists a continuous extension of …

Geometry Of Derived Categories On Noncommutative Projective Schemes, Blake Alexander Farman

Theses and Dissertations

Noncommutative Projective Schemes were introduced by Michael Artin and J.J. Zhang in their 1994 paper of the same name as a generalization of projective schemes to the setting of not necessarily commutative algebras over a commutative ring. In this work, we study the derived category of quasi-coherent sheaves associated to a noncommutative projective scheme with a primary emphasis on the triangulated equivalences between two such categories.

We adapt Artin and Zhang’s noncommutative projective schemes for the language of differential graded categories and work in Ho (dgcatk), the homotopy category of differential graded categories, making extensive use of Bertrand Toën’s Derived …

Advanced Enrichment Topics In An Honors Geometry Course, Kayla Woods

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Using Geogebra To Explore Properties Of Circles In Euclidean Geometry, Erin Hanna

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To Topology For The High School Student, Nathaniel Ferron

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Typical Images In High School Geometry Textbooks, Megan N. Cannon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Visualization in mathematics can be discussed in many ways; it is a broad term that references physical visualization objects as well as the process in which we picture images and manipulate them in our minds. Research suggests that visualization can be a powerful tool in mathematics for intuitive understanding, providing and/or supporting proof and reasoning, and assisting in comprehension. The literature also reveals some difficulties related to the use of visualization, particularly how illustrations can mislead students if they are not comfortable seeing concepts represented in varied ways. However, despite the extensive research on the benefits and challenges of visualization …

Improvements For The T0c+ Geometry Of The Fast Interaction Trigger (Fit) Upgrade To Alice At The Cern Lhc, Noah Miller

Physics

The purpose of the ALICE experiment at CERN is to investigate the properties of the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma formed in the high-energy collisions of lead nuclei in the CERN Large Hadron Collider. ALICE has been collecting data since 2009. The upcoming upgrade of the CERN LHC injectors during 2019-20 will boost the luminosity and the collision rate beyond the design parameters for several of the key ALICE detectors including the forward trigger detectors. The new Fast Interaction Trigger (FIT) will enable ALICE to discriminate beam-beam interactions with a 99% efficiency for the collisions generated by the LHC at a …

Integrating Non-Euclidean Geometry Into High School, John Buda

Honors Thesis

The purpose of this project is to provide the framework for integrating the study of non-Euclidean geometry into a high school math class in such a way that both aligns with the Common Core State Standards and makes use of research-based practices to enhance the learning of traditional geometry. Traditionally, Euclidean geometry has been the only strand of geometry taught in high schools, even though mathematicians have developed several other strands. The non-Euclidean geometry that I focus on in this project is what is known as taxicab geometry. With the Common Core Standards for Math Practice pushing students to “model …