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We prove a Weyl law for the number of quasinormal modes (QNM) of a Schwarzschild black hole contained in a sector below the real axis. This requires introducing a new pseudodifferential operator calculus tailored to the study of semiclassical spectral problems near threshold energies. Elliptic theory in this calculus can be combined with the method of complex scaling to give uniform resolvent estimates near zero energy for operators that behave at infinity like a semiclassical Schrödinger operator with a repulsive inverse-square potential. Applied to the Regge-Wheeler potential, our methods imply the absence of high angular momentum QNM from a disc whose radius grows linearly with the angular momentum. Together with the asymptotic description of Schwarzschild QNM recently obtained by Hitrik and Zworski, this shows that the number of QNM contained in a small sector below the real axis and with modulus bounded by $λ$ grows as $Cλ^3$. We also study the effect of cutting off the Schwarzschild resolvent away from the event horizon and show that such a cutoff does not lead to any pole cancellations. less

We establish Gromov's celebrated reconstruction theorem in Lorentzian geometry. Alongside this result, we introduce and study a natural concept of isomorphy of normalized bounded Lorentzian metric measure spaces. We outline applications to the spacetime reconstruction problem from causal set theory. Lastly, we propose three notions of convergence of (isomorphism classes of) normalized bounded Lorentzian metric measure spaces, for which we prove several fundamental properties. less

This paper develops a synthetic framework for the geometric and analytic study of null (lightlike) hypersurfaces in non-smooth spacetimes. Drawing from optimal transport and recent advances in Lorentzian geometry and causality theory, we define a synthetic null hypersurface as a triple $(H, G, \mathfrak{m})$: $H$ is a closed achronal set in a topological causal space, $G$ is a gauge function encoding affine parametrizations along null generators, and $\mathfrak{m}$ is a Radon measure serving as a synthetic analog of the rigged measure. This generalizes classical differential geometric structures to potentially singular spacetimes. A central object is the synthetic null energy condition ($\mathsf{NC}^e(N)$), defined via the concavity of an entropy power functional along optimal transport, with parametrization given by the gauge $G$. This condition is invariant under changes of gauge and measure within natural equivalence classes. It agrees with the classical Null Energy Condition in the smooth setting and it applies to low-regularity spacetimes. A key property of $\mathsf{NC}^e(N)$ is the stability under convergence of synthetic null hypersurfaces, inspired by measured Gromov--Hausdorff convergence. As a first application, we obtain a synthetic version of Hawking's area theorem. Moreover, we obtain various sharpenings of the celebrated Penrose's singularity theorem: for smooth spacetimes we show that the incomplete null geodesic whose existence is guaranteed by Penrose's argument is actually maximizing; we extend Penrose's singularity theorem to continuous spacetimes; we prove the existence of trapped regions in the general setting of topological causal spaces satisfying the synthetic $\mathsf{NC}^e(N)$. less

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We consider the problem of optimization of contributions of a financial planner such as a working individual towards a financial goal such as retirement. The objective of the planner is to find an optimal and feasible schedule of periodic installments to an investment portfolio set up towards the goal. Because portfolio returns are random, the practical version of the problem amounts to finding an optimal contribution scheme such that the goal is satisfied at a given confidence level. This paper suggests a semi-analytical approach to a continuous-time version of this problem based on a controlled backward Kolmogorov equation (BKE) which describes the tail probability of the terminal wealth given a contribution policy. The controlled BKE is solved semi-analytically by reducing it to a controlled Schrodinger equation and solving the latter using an algebraic method. Numerically, our approach amounts to finding semi-analytical solutions simultaneously for all values of control parameters on a small grid, and then using the standard two-dimensional spline interpolation to simultaneously represent all satisficing solutions of the original plan optimization problem. Rather than being a point in the space of control variables, satisficing solutions form continuous contour lines (efficient frontiers) in this space. less

We derive double product representations of nonterminating basic hypergeometric series using diagonalization, a method introduced by Theo William Chaundy in 1943. We also present some generating functions that arise from it in the $q$ and $q$-inverse Askey schemes. Using this $q$-Chaundy theorem which expresses a product of two nonterminating basic hypergeometric series as a sum over a terminating basic hypergeometric series, we study generating functions for the symmetric families of orthogonal polynomials in the $q$ and $q$-inverse Askey scheme. By applying the $q$-Chaundy theorem to $q$-exponential generating functions due to Ismail, we are able to derive alternative expansions of these generating functions and from these, new representations for the continuous $q$-Hermite and $q$-inverse Hermite polynomials which are connected by a quadratic transformation for the terminating basic hypergeometric series representations. less

We develop an equivariant Dixmier-Douady theory for locally trivial bundles of $C^*$-algebras with fibre $D \otimes \mathbb{K}$ equipped with a fibrewise $\mathbb{T}$-action, where $\mathbb{T}$ denotes the circle group and $D = \operatorname{End}\left(V\right)^{\otimes \infty}$ for a $\mathbb{T}$-representation $V$. In particular, we show that the group of $\mathbb{T}$-equivariant $*$-automorphisms $\operatorname{Aut}_{\mathbb{T}}(D \otimes \mathbb{K})$ is an infinite loop space giving rise to a cohomology theory $E^*_{D,\mathbb{T}}(X)$. Isomorphism classes of equivariant bundles then form a group with respect to the fibrewise tensor product that is isomorphic to $E^1_{D,\mathbb{T}}(X) \cong [X, B\operatorname{Aut}_{\mathbb{T}}(D \otimes \mathbb{K})]$. We compute this group for tori and compare the case $D = \mathbb{C}$ to the equivariant Brauer group for trivial actions on the base space. less

The four-dimensional variational data assimilation methodology for assimilating noisy observations into a deterministic model has been the workhorse of forecasting centers for over three decades. While this method provides a computationally efficient framework for dynamic data assimilation, it is largely silent on the important question concerning the minimum number and placement of observations. To answer this question, we demonstrate the dual advantage of placing the observations where the square of the sensitivity of the model solution with respect to the unknown control variables, called forward sensitivities, attains its maximum. Therefore, we can force the observability Gramian to be of full rank, which in turn guarantees efficient recovery of the optimal values of the control variables, which is the first of the two advantages of this strategy. We further show that the proposed strategy of placing observations has another inherent optimality: the square of the sensitivity of the optimal estimates of the control with respect to the observations (used to obtain these estimates) attains its minimum value, a second advantage that is a direct consequence of the above strategy for placing observations. Our analytical framework and numerical experiments on linear and nonlinear systems confirm the effectiveness of our proposed strategy. less