We construct skew corner-free subsets of $[n]^2$ of size $n^2\exp(\!-O(\sqrt{\log n}))$, thereby improving on recent bounds of the form $\Omega(n^{5/4})$ obtained by Pohoata and Zakharov. We also prove that any such set has size at most $O(n^2(\log n)^{-c})$ for some absolute constant $c \gt 0$. This improves on the previously best known upper bound $O(n^2(\log\log n)^{-c})$, coming from Shkredov’s work on the corners theorem.

We prove new statistical results about the distribution of the cokernel of a random integral matrix with a concentrated residue. Given a prime p and a positive integer n, consider a random $n \times n$ matrix $X_n$ over the ring $\mathbb{Z}_p$ of p-adic integers whose entries are independent. Previously, Wood showed that as long as each entry of $X_n$ is not too concentrated on a single residue modulo p, regardless of its distribution, the distribution of the cokernel $\mathrm{cok}(X_n)$ of $X_n$, up to isomorphism, weakly converges to the Cohen–Lenstra distribution, as $n \rightarrow \infty$. Here on the contrary, we consider the case when $X_n$ has a concentrated residue $A_n$ so that $X_n = A_n + pB_n$. When $B_n$ is a Haar-random $n \times n$ matrix over $\mathbb{Z}_p$, we explicitly compute the distribution of $\mathrm{cok}(P(X_n))$ for every fixed n and a non-constant monic polynomial $P(t) \in \mathbb{Z}_p[t]$. We deduce our result from an interesting equidistribution result for matrices over $\mathbb{Z}_p[t]/(P(t))$, which we prove by establishing a version of the Weierstrass preparation theorem for the noncommutative ring $\mathrm{M}_n(\mathbb{Z}_p)$ of $n \times n$ matrices over $\mathbb{Z}_p$. We also show through cases the subtlety of the “universality” behavior when $B_n$ is not Haar-random.

Let $\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$ be the mapping class group of the closed orientable surface of genus $g \geq 1$, and let $\mathrm{LMod}_{p}(X)$ be the liftable mapping class group associated with a finite-sheeted branched cover $p:S \to X$, where X is a hyperbolic surface. For $k \geq 2$, let $p_k: S_{k(g-1)+1} \to S_g$ be the standard k-sheeted regular cyclic cover. In this paper, we show that $\{\mathrm{LMod}_{p_k}(S_g)\}_{k \geq 2}$ forms an infinite family of self-normalising subgroups in $\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$, which are also maximal when k is prime. Furthermore, we derive explicit finite generating sets for $\mathrm{LMod}_{p_k}(S_g)$ for $g \geq 3$ and $k \geq 2$, and $\mathrm{LMod}_{p_2}(S_2)$. For $g \geq 2$, as an application of our main result, we also derive a generating set for $\mathrm{LMod}_{p_2}(S_g) \cap C_{\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)}(\iota)$, where $C_{\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)}(\iota)$ is the centraliser of the hyperelliptic involution $\iota \in \mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$. Let $\mathcal{L}$ be the infinite ladder surface, and let $q_g : \mathcal{L} \to S_g$ be the standard infinite-sheeted cover induced by $\langle h^{g-1} \rangle$ where h is the standard handle shift on $\mathcal{L}$. As a final application, we derive a finite generating set for $\mathrm{LMod}_{q_g}(S_g)$ for $g \geq 3$.

In an earlier work, we defined a “generalised Temperley–Lieb algebra” $TL_{r, 1, n}$ corresponding to the imprimitive reflection group G(r, 1, n) as a quotient of the cyclotomic Hecke algebra. In this work we introduce the generalised Temperley–Lieb algebra $TL_{r, p, n}$ which corresponds to the complex reflection group G(r, p, n). Our definition identifies $TL_{r, p, n}$ as the fixed-point subalgebra of $TL_{r, 1, n}$ under a certain automorphism $\sigma$. We prove the cellularity of $TL_{r, p, n}$ by proving that $\sigma$ induces a special shift automorphism with respect to the cellular structure of $TL_{r, 1, n}$. We also give a description of the cell modules of $TL_{r, p, n}$ and their decomposition numbers, and finally we point to how our algebras might be categorified and could lead to a diagrammatic theory.

The space of monic squarefree complex polynomials has a stratification according to the multiplicities of the critical points. We introduce a method to study these strata by way of the infinite-area translation surface associated to the logarithmic derivative $df/f$ of the polynomial. We determine the monodromy of these strata in the braid group, thus describing which braidings of the roots are possible if the orders of the critical points are required to stay fixed. Mirroring the story for holomorphic differentials on higher-genus surfaces, we find the answer is governed by the framing of the punctured disk induced by the horizontal foliation on the translation surface.