Homotopy type of the group of strict contactomorphisms of the standard tight contact structure on the three-sphere

We prove that the group $Aut_1(xi)$ of strict contactomorphisms, also known as quantomorphisms, of the standard tight contact structure $xi$ on $S^3$ is the total space of a fiber bundle $S^1 to Aut_1(xi) to SDiff(S^2)$ over the group of area-preserving $C^infty$-diffeomorphisms of $S^2$, and that it deformation retracts to its finite-dimensional sub-bundle $S^1 to U(2)cup cU(2) to O(3)$, where $U(2)$ is the unitary group and $c$ is complex conjugation.

Making matrices better: Geometry and topology of polar and singular value decomposition

Our goal here is to see the space of matrices of a given size from a geometric and topological perspective, with emphasis on the families of various ranks and how they fit together. We pay special attention to the nearest orthogonal neighbor and nearest singular neighbor of a given matrix, both of which play central roles in matrix decompositions, and then against this visual backdrop examine the polar and singular value decompositions and some of their applications.

The Four Vertex Theorem and its Converse

The Four Vertex Theorem, one of the earliest results in global differential geometry, says that a simple closed curve in the plane, other than a circle, must have at least four vertices, that is, at least four points where the curvature has a local maximum or local minimum. In 1909 Syamadas Mukhopadhyaya proved this for strictly convex curves in the plane, and in 1912 Adolf Kneser proved it for all simple closed curves in the plane, not just the strictly convex ones. The Converse to the Four Vertex Theorem says that any continuous real-valued function on the circle which has at least two local maxima and two local minima is the curvature function of a simple closed curve in the plane. In 1971 Herman Gluck proved this for strictly positive preassigned curvature, and in 1997 Bjorn Dahlberg proved the full converse, without the restriction that the curvature be strictly positive. Publication was delayed by Dahlbergs untimely death in January 1998, but his paper was edited afterwards by Vilhelm Adolfsson and Peter Kumlin, and finally appeared in 2005. The work of Dahlberg completes the almost hundred-year-long thread of ideas begun by Mukhopadhyaya, and we take this opportunity to provide a self-contained exposition.