Papers

In this article, we have studied a particular criterion to establish if a particular class of nonlinear PDEs $\mathcal{O}_t u=\mathcal{O}_x u $ in unidimensional space-time $(x,t)$ admits elementary solutions respect to the spatial coordinate $x$, through the nested derivative method. Where a nested derivative is a generalization of the usual partial derivative of a order higher than one and, in terms of differentials operators, is a generalization of the Laguerre operator. This method, integrated with Liouville's theorem and Galois theory and method by integrate by parts, establishes if solution of nested derivative equations admits elementary solutions respect with $x$. These solutions could help to study better evolutions of possible physical systems in space-time.

This article introduces and studies the entropy spectrum of a hyperbolic surface, that is the set of entropies of its subsurfaces. The main results are that the entropy spectrum is a reverse well-ordered multiset, with finite multiplicities, and that there is a quantifiable gap around the value $1$. This gap comes from a counting result on the number of non-filling geodesics which in turn comes from explicit estimates on the number of curves on surfaces with boundary in terms of geometric data. The geometric data includes lengths of boundary geodesics and so-called boundary width, which measures maximal distance to the boundary but can also be interpreted in terms of the topology of the surface and the systole.

Let $K$ be a number field and $p$ be an odd prime. Greenberg introduced a natural topology on the space of all $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extensions of $K$ and established several boundedness results for the classical Iwasawa invariants. We extend this framework to compare the Iwasawa invariants of Selmer groups attached to an ordinary $p$-adic representation across $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extensions lying in a Greenberg neighbourhood in the sense of Greenberg. We also establish analogous results for the fine Selmer groups. Finally, in a neighbourhood of the cyclotomic $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extension, we provide evidence for the expected connection between the characteristic ideal of the Selmer group and the conjectural $p$-adic $L$-function introduced by Disegni.

Reliable multi-UAV communication control depends on predicting which aerial links will serve traffic before measurements are available. Radio world models (radio WMs) make such planning tractable, but their errors are nonuniform: a globally accurate model may still fail along high-demand corridors or association boundaries where rate errors reverse control decisions. This mismatch creates a learning challenge. Link queries must reduce decision-relevant channel uncertainty, while counterfactual trials must be filtered so that biased rollouts do not corrupt the policy. Existing acquisition and model-based control treat these budgets separately, valuing uncertainty, coverage, or optimistic return rather than risk reduction. We present RMWorld, a task-aware radio-WM framework that couples value-of-information channel calibration with credibility-diversity multi-trial selection. A biased propagation formula is corrected by a Bayesian residual, and each link is valued by its exact one-label reduction in locally linearized task-integrated posterior rate variance. Counterfactual branches are selected by a task-gated log-determinant objective, followed by conflict projection and fixed-batch validation. We derive the variance-reduction identity, prove posterior task-risk equivalence and the submodular greedy guarantee, and establish a scoped first-order non-interference result. Across 100 paired 3GPP trials RMWorld reaches 0.949~bit/s/Hz task-weighted RMSE, and across 30 severe-load DeepMIMO trials it reduces median backlog by 0.967 versus Ensemble UCB at 37.5% more offline rollouts.

Let $p, N \geq 5$ be primes such that $N \equiv 1 \bmod p$. We prove modularity theorems at levels $N$ and $N^2$, showing that suitable Eisenstein localizations of the weight-$2$ $p$-adic Hecke algebra at these levels are isomorphic to certain natural quotients of a universal pseudodeformation ring. This universal ring parametrizes pseudorepresentations that are residually Eisenstein, unramified outside $Np$ and finite-flat at $p$, and satisfy appropriate conditions at $N$ depending on the level.

This paper addresses the problem of estimating upper bounds on the probability that a dynamical system will enter an undesirable region at some point within a finite time horizon. The primary source of uncertainty lies in the system's initial state, for which only a finite set of moments is known or within a prescribed interval. To tackle this problem, we formulate a measure-based program and propose its relaxation using the moment-sum-of-squares (moment-SOS) framework. The corresponding dual problem is introduced as a functional program, which is subsequently strengthened into a sum-of-squares (SOS) program. Notably, this dual formulation bears a structural resemblance to classical barrier function techniques for certifying system safety, with the key distinction that it yields a probabilistic certificate. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through multiple case studies, including a case involving an object in orbit.

We construct a random, time-dependent divergence-free velocity field on $\mathbb{T}^3$—refreshing iid on finite time blocks and obeying deterministic $C^\infty_{t,x}$ bounds—that exhibits fast dynamo behavior. That is, for every fixed, sufficiently small resistivity, the almost sure exponential growth rate of the magnetic field solving the associated linear resistive induction equation is at least $1/2$; the exceptional null set may depend on the resistivity. We in fact get a time-uniform lower bound—with a random prefactor obeying a uniform-in-$\kappa$ inverse moment bound. The argument relies on a particular algebraic structure in Fourier space of the induction equation solution operator that allows us to propagate expected growth of the logarithmic size of three specially chosen Fourier modes. This allows us to reduce to a simple recursion, avoiding the complicated infinite-dimensional dynamics typical to the dynamo problem. The central proof idea was generated autonomously by ChatGPT 5.6 Sol Ultra; the manuscript was written (and verified) by the author.

This paper presents a rigorous extension of the explicit, high-order, positivity-preserving, and entropy-stable spectral collocation schemes developed in Upperman 2023 and Yamaleev 2023 for the 3D compressible Navier-Stokes equations to a time-implicit formulation. The time derivative terms are discretized by using the second-order implicit backward difference formula (BDF2) that is well suited for solving time-variable viscous flows at high Reynolds numbers. The nonlinear system of discrete equations resulting from the BDF2 discretization at each physical timestep is solved using a dual time-stepping (DTS) technique. The BDF2 DTS scheme is entropy-stable and positivity-preserving in the pseudotime and provides unconditional stability properties in the physical time. Numerical results demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the positivity-preserving BDF2 DTS scheme as compared with its explicit counterpart are presented for supersonic flows with strong shock waves and contact discontinuities.

Let $M_n(B)$ be the largest distance from an eigenvalue of an $n\times n$ complex Ginibre matrix, with entries of variance $1/n$, lying in a fixed bulk set $B$ compactly contained in the unit disk and of planar area $|B|$, to its nearest other eigenvalue. Lopatto and Otto proved that $ \sqrt{n} M_n(B)/(4\log n)^{1/4} \to 1$ in probability. Here we prove that $\beta_n^{3/4}\bigl(\sqrt n\,M_n(B)-\beta_n^{1/4}\bigr)$ converges in distribution to a Gumbel random variable, and we determine $\beta_n$ explicitly.

Sloan iteration raises the convergence order of Galerkin and degenerate-kernel approximations to second-kind integral equations. After quadrature discretization, these become a discrete Galerkin method and a product-integration Nyström method, respectively. How much of this improvement survives quadrature discretization? For zonal integral equations on the sphere, we give a sharp answer by expressing the Sloan error identity in terms of spherical harmonics. In the absence of quadrature, Sloan iteration fully exploits the smoothing of the integral operator. Quadrature can destroy this gain by aliasing unresolved information into low-frequency modes, where further iteration no longer improves the asymptotic rate. This yields a unified tail–aliasing description of these four methods. For positive-weight polynomially exact quadrature and multipliers of exact algebraic order, we derive sharp two-sided worst-case bounds that separate the spectral-tail and aliasing contributions. Their balance yields a depth-dependent recovery–saturation threshold: sufficient overintegration recovers the quadrature-free rate, while below the threshold aliasing determines the sharp order. We also extend the analysis beyond polynomial exactness using Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund stability and Gram-corrected least squares. Numerical experiments illustrate both regimes.

This article develops a self-contained Lie-theoretic route from linear controllability to nonlinear controllability on matrix Lie groups. The organizing question is whether local algebraic information can be propagated into statements about reachable sets. The linear case supplies the model: the matrix exponential, Cayley-Hamilton theorem, trajectory formula and Kalman family B,AB,...,An-1B reduce controllability to finite-dimensional linear algebra. In the nonlinear setting, Lie brackets replace matrix powers, but the associated Lie algebra may be infinite dimensional and the finite-dimensional Lie correspondence can fail. Particular emphasis is placed on rotation groups. Skew-symmetric matrices, their exponentials, commutators, one-parameter subgroups, and the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula provide a concrete laboratory for seeing how infinitesimal directions propagate on SO(n). A numerical SO(3) simulation illustrates the geometry of controlled rotations, while explicit SO(4) and SO(7) commutator sequences make the propagation of a localized control direction visible. The article then develops the attainable-subgroup argument for right-invariant systems, gives a detailed proof sequence behind the Yamabe step, and works through solvable, nilpotent and ideal examples for upper-triangular matrix algebras. The finite-dimensional mechanism is finally contrasted with Sussmann's local controllability theory for general nonlinear systems.

Backstepping control provides local stability guarantees for nonlinear Saint-Venant systems, but its regulation performance may degrade when the system operates far from the nominal equilibrium. This letter proposes a backstepping-guided soft actor-critic (SAC) controller framework that incorporates model-based control knowledge into reinforcement learning (RL). The nominal backstepping control law is first learned by deep operator network (DeepONet) and embedded into the actor and critic networks as prior informed feature representations. The learned prior is further combined with the SAC policy to generate the final control input, while a transfer-learning strategy preserves the useful backstepping knowledge during adaptation to the nonlinear dynamics. Simulation results on the Sambre River model demonstrate that the proposed method improves learning efficiency and maintains effective regulation over larger initial deviations than backstepping control.

We investigate the relation between the complete isometry class of subspaces of noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces and their contractive complementability, where $1 < p < \infty$ with $p \not= 2$. We show that if $P \colon \mathrm{L}^p(\mathcal{M}) \to \mathrm{L}^p(\mathcal{M})$ is a positive contractive projection whose range is completely isometric to another noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-space, then $P$ is necessarily completely positive. This provides a converse to the main result of [ArR24] and the positivity assumption on $P$ is essential. We further establish a rectangular analogue of this result. More precisely, we prove that every closed subspace of a noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-space which is completely isometric to a rectangular noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-space of the form $e\mathrm{L}^p(\mathcal{N})(1-e)$ is the range of a contractively decomposable projection. Combined with the known converse implication, this yields a characterization of the ranges of contractively decomposable projections as precisely the subspaces completely isometric to rectangular $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces associated with $\mathrm{W}^*$-ternary rings of operators.

We consider an inverse backscattering problem for time-dependent acoustic waves with a compactly supported penetrable scattering obstacle in unbounded three-dimensional free space. Assuming that dynamic backscattering far field data of scattered waves corresponding to a few time-dependent incident plane waves are available, the goal is to reconstruct the shape of the scattering obstacle. We establish Fréchet differentiability of the time-dependent far field pattern with respect to the shape of the scattering obstacle and give a characterization of the associated temporal domain derivative in terms of its Laplace transform. This characterization is then utilized in an efficient implementation of a regularized Gauß-Newton method for the inverse backscattering problem using convolution quadrature and a boundary element method. Numerical examples demonstrate potentials and limitations of the algorithm.

The term "dual control" refers to the dual objective of simultaneously balancing exploration and exploitation. Problems of this kind have been studied for nearly a century. This paper is devoted to theory and methodology relevant for optimal control of linear time-invariant systems whose parameters are initially unknown and must be learned by active probing. We review the main ideas underlying four major research directions: Multi-armed bandits, self-tuning regulators, regret rate minimizing controllers, and minimax optimal dual controllers. The first three have a long history and rich literature, whereas the fourth provides a promising framework for robust dual control.

In this article we prove that the solution to the focusing $H^{1/2}$-critical nonlinear Schrödinger equation in dimension $d\geq 5$ scatters outside finitely many arbitrarily small spacetime cones. We will discuss the relationship between Theorem~\ref{thm:finite-bad-directions} and the resolution of solitons. There are two key ingredients in the proof: the localized below-ground-state scattering in Theorem~\ref{thm:cone-scattering}, and the characterization in Theorem~\ref{thm:measure-convergence} of the asymptotic behaviour of the residual part (i.e., after subtracting the scattering part). As a byproduct, we also establish an upgrading machinery: if the solution is below the ground state (resp. small) along a time sequence in a spacetime cone, then it is also below ground state (resp. small) uniformly for large time in a shrinked spacetime cone. We expect this to be useful in future works using concentration compactness and our spacetime cone approach.

We obtain Calderón–Zygmund estimates for weak solutions to nonlinear parabolic systems with polynomial $p$-growth and the right-hand side in non-divergence form. Our approach does not require differentiability of the vector field with respect to the gradient variable and provides a unified treatment of both the singular and degenerate regimes. In particular, we establish local higher-integrability estimates for the gradient of the solution under appropriate dependency on the integrability of the right-hand side.

We construct weak solutions of the three-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on the torus. The convex-integration scheme is based on the moving-dipole construction of Bruè, Colombo, and Kumar~\cite{BrueColomboKumar2024}. For the explicit exponent $\bar p=\frac65+5\times10^{-5},$ and for any two mean-zero, divergence-free vector fields in $L^2(\mathbb T^3)$, we construct a weak solution whose traces at times $0$ and $1$ approximate the prescribed fields arbitrarily well and which satisfies \[ u\in C([0,1];L^2(\mathbb T^3)), \qquad \nabla u\in C([0,1];L^{\bar p}(\mathbb T^3)). \] Exploiting the time-locality of the iteration, we also obtain exact nonuniqueness for a dense set of initial data in \(L^2_\sigma(\mathbb T^3)\).The principal perturbations are localized, rescaled copies of Hill's spherical vortex. The Hill scaling preserves both the kinetic-energy scale and the \(L^{6/5}\)-scale of the velocity gradient. The construction uses localization of the potential exterior flow, long-orbit averaging of moving vortex cores, an auxiliary source correction, and a temporal corrector compatible with uniform-in-time Sobolev control.

Let k be a perfect field of characteristic p>0. We introduce an object-level construction for canonical strong embedded resolution and principalization over k. The construction program replaces monotonicity of pointwise numerical invariants by a well-founded history of addressed comparison factors. Starting from the differential-integral saturation of a marked Rees algebra, we construct total-Hasse activity packets, filtered coefficient cubes, semilinear Frobenius-Hasse sources, and literal transform data for ordinary permissible blowups. A six-row defect calculus routes local problems to certified surface, toroidal-monomial, binomial, and additive-type procedures, after which clean centre portfolios are serialized and descended on a global nerve. The central structure is a global replacement certificate transporting successor addresses, paid quotients, typed traces, displayed parents, reopening data, and terminal truth across macroblocks. We prove that a complete state equipped with this certificate admits a strict multiset replacement in a single dependent well-founded order; hence the iteration terminates and the exhausted state reconstructs a regular strict transform having normal crossings with the ordered boundary. We further formulate an object-level realization of the certificate through rigid generation, cross-generation no-reset, complete wild-capacity control, a centre-or-typed-exit alternative, structured cofibres, displayed-parent allocation, and literal terminal truth. The program page is also available at website https://sites.google.com/view/positive-char-resolution

Let $Q^\varepsilon(3,q)$, where $\varepsilon\in\{+,-\}$ and $q>3$ is odd, be a non-degenerate hyperbolic or elliptic quadric of $PG(3,q)$. Fix one of the two quadratic classes of anisotropic points. Since the line joining two distinct points of this class is tangent, secant, or external to the quadric, one obtains a $3$-class association scheme. We classify all non-trivial unions of its relations which define Deza graphs. In addition to the previously known tangency family, exactly four exceptional strictly Deza graphs occur, with parameters $(360,135,54,45)$, $(369,108,36,27)$, $(65,34,18,15)$ and $(168,111,75,70)$. We determine their spectra and Deza children and give geometric or group-theoretic descriptions of all four exceptional graphs.

In this paper, we investigate the dynamic stability of certain steady-state solutions to the periodic boundary value problem for compressible isentropic Navier-Stokes system under the van der Waals equation of state in one space dimension. These steady-state solutions correspond to the admissible solutions describing two-phase coexisting phase transitions, where the integral average of the specific volume belongs to the Maxwell region. We first construct a semi-discrete staggered grid difference scheme to prove the local existence of solutions to the periodic problem, without imposing the standard stability hypothesis \(p_v<0\). Then, by virtue of rigorous piecewise a priori estimates, we demonstrate that the periodic boundary value problem for van der Waals fluids possesses a global solution existing for all time, and this solution converges uniformly to the admissible steady state as time tends to infinity. This result firmly establishes the nonlinear stability of the admissible phase-transition solutions under general small initial disturbances.

Tight framelet systems on manifolds provide exact energy preservation and one-pass reconstruction, but their standard semi-discretization relies on polynomial-exact quadrature rules, which are difficult to reconcile with scattered and progressively refined data. We develop nested Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund (MZ) measures on compact Riemannian manifolds as a quantitative alternative. Using dyadic quasi-uniform nested point sets and local partition weights, we establish a sequence of deterministic MZ inequalities for diffusion polynomial spaces. The result has two complementary forms: a fixed-tolerance version, in which the polynomial bandwidth grows dyadically with the level, and a fixed-bandwidth refinement version, in which the MZ tolerance improves as more nested nodes are added. When these measures are used to discretize continuous tight framelets, the MZ tolerance transfers directly to the deviation of the frame bounds from one. Thus quadrature exactness is relaxed with a controlled loss of tightness, and near-tightness improves along the same nested hierarchy. For the fully discrete setting, we develop filter-bank analysis and synthesis procedures, characterize one-pass and canonical reconstruction, and show that the MZ tolerance also controls the conditioning of the frame-operator equation. Fast implementation of filter-bank transforms is also presented. Numerical experiments on the sphere and the flat torus illustrate the resulting multiscale decompositions and reconstruction behavior.

We study finite, connected, simple bipartite graphs in a grid model, in which a graph is drawn as a rectangular array and its structure is read off from empty subrectangles, called holes. In this model we attach to every brick a numerical invariant, its characteristic m, the difference between the number of rows and the largest proper independent set. A brick is excessive if m > 0. Our main results concern this invariant. We determine the characteristic of a disconnected excessive brick from those of its components, showing that m = min_i min{m_i, imb(W_i)} while the imbalance is additive; and we prove that an m-excessive brick is m-extendable, that is, every matching of size m extends to a maximum matching. Since Plummer's notion of n-extendability is defined only for graphs carrying a perfect matching, and our proof nowhere uses balance, the characteristic extends that notion canonically to unbalanced bipartite graphs. Using the characteristic we partition bipartite graphs into eleven structural classes. The underlying decomposition into atomic blocks is the classical decomposition into elementary components, and the description of the maximum proper independent sets by ideals of the block poset is likewise classical; the paper states precisely which results are classical and are not claimed here. What the grid model adds is a single geometric framework in which holes, characteristics and the block triangular form are read off from one picture.

For every $q\ge2$, we prove that every oriented graph $G$ on $n\ge45q-8$ vertices whose minimum semidegree satisfies \[ \delta^0(G)\ge \left\lceil\frac n3\right\rceil \] contains a directed cycle of length $3q$ through every vertex. The semidegree bound is sharp. This closes the one-unit gap left by the prescribed-vertex theorem of Kelly, Kühn and Osthus when $3\mid n$. We also prove that if an oriented graph $H$ has order $N$, minimum semidegree $d\ge3$, and $7d\ge2N+3$, then every ordered pair of distinct vertices is joined by a path of length three, four, or five. The constant $+3$ is best possible. As a consequence, the order hypothesis $n\ge10^{10}\ell$ in the general prescribed-vertex theorem of Kelly, Kühn and Osthus can be replaced by $n\ge15\ell-60$ for $\ell\ge7$.

A graph $G$ is $k$-vertex-critical if $\chi(G)=k$, but $\chi(H)<k$ for every induced subgraph $H$ of $G$. A graph $G$ is $(H_1,H_2,\dots,H_m)$-free if does not contain $H_i$ as an induced subgraph for any $i\in\{1,2,\dots,m\}$.We provide the following dichotomy that for bipartite graphs $H$ and any fixed integer $k\ge 5$ , there are only finitely many $k$-vertex-critical $(P_5,H)$-free graphs if and only if $H$ is $2P_2$-free. This leads us to pose the problem about determining for which graphs $H$ with $\chi(H)\ge 3$ there are infinitely many $k$-vertex-critical $(P_5,H)$-free graphs for all $k\ge 5$. Toward this problem, we show that there only finitely many $k$-vertex-critical $(P_5, K_{s,t}+e)$-free graphs for all $k,s,t\ge 1$, where $K_{s,t}+e$ is a complete bipartite graph plus a single edge. On the other hand, we show that there are infinitely many $k$-vertex-critical $(P_5,\operatorname{net},\operatorname{co-net},\overline{C_5},\overline{C_6},\dots\overline{C_{k-1}})$-free graphs for all $k\ge 5$. We also show that there are only finitely many $k$-vertex-critical $(P_4+\ell P_1,\overline{L(K_{2,n})})$-free graphs for all $\ell,n\ge 0$, providing the largest known subfamily of $(P_4+\ell P_1)$-free graphs to satisfy this property. Our results, together with known results, imply the existence of new polynomial-time certifying algorithms to determine the $k$-colourability of many subfamilies of $P_5$-free and $(P_4+\ell P_1)$-free graphs for fixed $k\ge 5$. Our proof techniques apply a powerful theorem of Chudnovsky, Kim, Oum, and Seymour (2016) on prime graphs that we expect to be of interest and have further applications to bounding the number of $k$-vertex-critical graphs in other hereditary families of graphs.

We study bilateral teleoperation between nonlinear, multi-DOF robotic manipulators in the presence of constant communication delays. Unlike classical wave-transformation architectures that transmit a coordinating force, we consider the case where the environmental force is reflected to the master side to enhance teleoperation transparency. Since direct contact force feedback might destabilize the closed-loop system, we first develop a passivity-shortage characterization for the Euler–Lagrange remote system using a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. An upper strictly passive communication law is then employed to compensate for the computed passivity shortage so that the closed-loop stability under delays as well as position and force synchronization are preserved under appropriate conditions. Simulations with nonlinear 2-DOF robotic manipulators in different settings illustrate our approach.

Let $(M^n, g, f)$ be a complete shrinking gradient Ricci soliton with constant scalar curvature. Under the assumptions that (i) $Ric \geq \frac{\nabla_{\nabla f}Ric}{f}$ on $M\setminus D$, where $D$ is a compact set over $M$; (ii) $(M^n, g, f)$ smoothly converges to $\mathbb{R}^2 \times \mathbb{S}^{n-2}$, we conclude that $(M^n, g, f)$ is isometric to $\mathbb{R}^2 \times \mathbb{S}^{n-2}$. Notably, condition (i) is weaker than the radial flatness condition in \cite{Petersen-Wylie2}.

This paper studies self-shrinkers and the long-time behavior of the inverse $\sigma_k$ curvature flow for noncompact entire spacelike strictly convex hypersurfaces in Minkowski space. In contrast to the co-compact setting, where the corresponding self-shrinker is rigid, the noncompact problem admits a rich family of self-shrinkers determined by their asymptotic data. More precisely, we formulate the self-shrinker equation as a fully nonlinear Dirichlet problem on hyperbolic space with prescribed data on its ideal boundary, and prove that every continuous negative boundary value determines a unique entire spacelike strictly convex self-shrinker. We further study the inverse $\sigma_k$ curvature flow starting from an entire spacelike strictly convex hypersurface satisfying a subsolution condition at infinity and a uniform positive lower bound for its $\sigma_k$ curvature. We prove global existence of the flow and show that the normalized flow converges locally smoothly to the unique self-shrinker with the same prescribed boundary value at infinity.

For a graph $ G = (V, E) $ with a vertex set $ V $ and an edge set $ E $, a function $ f : V \rightarrow \{0, 1, 2, . . . , diam(G)\} $ is called a broadcast on $ G $. For each vertex $ u \in V $, if there exists a vertex $ v $ in $ G $ (possibly, $ u = v $) such that $ f (v) > 0 $ and $ d(u, v) \leq f (v) $, then $ f $ is called a dominating broadcast on $ G $. The cost of the dominating broadcast $f$ is the quantity $ \sum_{v\in V}f(v) $. The minimum cost of a dominating broadcast is the broadcast domination number of $G$, denoted by $ \gamma_{b}(G) $. A multipacking is a set $ M \subseteq V $ in a graph $ G = (V, E) $ such that for every vertex $ v \in V $ and for every integer $ r \geq 1 $, the ball of radius $ r $ around $ v $ contains at most $ r $ vertices of $ M $, that is, there are at most $ r $ vertices in $ M $ at a distance at most $ r $ from $ v $ in $ G $. The multipacking number of $ G $ is the maximum cardinality of a multipacking of $ G $ and is denoted by $ mp(G) $. It is known that $mp(G)\leq\gamma_b(G)$. In 2014, Hartnell and Mynhardt proved that $\gamma_b(G)\leq 3mp(G)-2$ whenever $mp(G)\geq2$. In 2019, Beaudou, Brewster, and Foucaud improved this bound to $\gamma_b(G)\leq 2 mp(G)+3$ and conjectured that $\gamma_b(G)\leq 2 mp(G)$. We solve their conjecture by proving that $\gamma_b(G)\leq 2 mp(G)$ for every graph $G$. Our proof is constructive and yields a linear-time $2$-approximation algorithm for Maximum Multipacking problem which improves the earlier approximation factor $2+o(1)$.

This paper presents a comprehensive, high-order (p-version) Virtual Element Method (VEM) framework for the structural analysis of innovative variable stiffness plates. VEM is particularly suited for complex configurations due to its ability to handle arbitrary polygonal meshes, including curved edges. However, its mathematical formulation may hinder its spread in the engineering community. This work illustrates a formulation with an accessible implementation using well-known FEM notation and integrating at the same time a set of new advanced capabilities. Specifically, both standard stabilized and advanced self-stabilized strategies are adopted. To further improve the robustness of VEM in the presence of variable coefficients, polynomial projections taking into account the coefficients are employed. This approach is referred to as Variable Coefficients-VEM approach (VC-VEM). This unified framework is applied to linear static, free-vibration, and buckling analyses, and validated against analytical solutions and numerical benchmarks. In particular, plates with cutouts and problems featuring high-gradient solutions are investigated, demonstrating that the proposed comprehensive approach provides a flexible and ready-to-implement tool for advanced structural design.