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# Hydrogen atom in phase space. The Kirkwood-Rihaczek representation

## I Introduction

The Wigner function Wigner , which was introduced in 1932, is up to now the most commonly used phase space quasi-distribution representation of physical systems in momentum and position representations. This function fully characterizes the quantum state and gives basic physical intuition about the investigated state. Moreover, there are some simple physical properties that make this function unique O'Connell . Nevertheless, over the years many others quasi-distributions have been introduced and studied. Especially well-known are functions from the Glauber and Cahill s-parameterized class of distributions GlaCah  containing the Wigner function, the Glauber-Sudarshan $`P`$-representation Gla ; Sud , and the Husimi or the $`Q`$-representation Husimi .

For many systems the Wigner function is well known and has been carefully studied, but there are some elementary quantum mechanical states, for which this phase space representation is not known. An example of such system is the hydrogen atom. No exact analytical formula of the Wigner function is known even for the 1s state. In the literature one can find a limited number of papers devoted to this subject Dahl1 ; Dahl2 ; Dahl3 ; Nouri , and all the published results have been achieved using methods of approximation.

It is the purpose of this short communication to present an analytical phase space representation of the hydrogen atom using a lesser-known Kirkwood–Rihaczek (K-R) distribution function Kirkwood . Its form allows us to obtain analytical results, and as we have shown in K-R  this distribution, like the Wigner function, fully characterizes a quantum state.

## II Different quasi-distribution and operator ordering

In general, the problem of defining a joint probability function in phase space lies in the operator ordering. Because different orderings of position $`\widehat{q}`$ and momentum $`\widehat{p}`$ operators are not equivalent, the association of the quantum operator with classical functions has no unique solution. The association of classical phase space functions $`𝒜(q,p)`$ with quantum operators is shown by:

$`\{\widehat{𝒜}(\widehat{q},\widehat{p})\}_{\mathrm{ordering}}={\displaystyle 𝑑q𝑑p𝒜(q,p)\{\delta (q\widehat{q})\delta (p\widehat{p})\}_{\mathrm{ordering}}}.`$
The Fourier decomposition of the Dirac delta functions makes it possible to rewrite the above equation in the form

$`\{\delta (q\widehat{q})\delta (p\widehat{p})\}_{\mathrm{ordering}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^2}}{\displaystyle 𝑑q^{}𝑑p^{}e^{\frac{i(p^{}qq^{}p)}{\mathrm{}}}\left\{e^{\frac{i\widehat{p}q^{}}{\mathrm{}}}e^{\frac{ip^{}\widehat{q}}{\mathrm{}}}\right\}_{\mathrm{ordering}}}.`$ (1)
For every operator ordering there exists a corresponding probability quasi-distribution in phase space.

The Wigner distribution function is obtained by taking a quantum average of the above formula with the respect to the Wigner-Weyl ordering:

$`W(q,p)=\mathrm{\Psi }\{\delta (q\widehat{q})\delta (p\widehat{p})\}_{WW}\mathrm{\Psi }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^2}}{\displaystyle 𝑑q^{}𝑑p^{}e^{\frac{i(p^{}qq^{}p)}{\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }e^{\frac{i(\widehat{p}q^{}p^{}\widehat{q})}{\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }}.`$ (2)
in which $`\widehat{q}`$ and $`\widehat{p}`$ operators are put in the same exponent.

The K–R distribution function corresponds to an ordering called the anti-standard ordering, that is obtained by putting all $`\widehat{p}`$ operators on the left of all $`\widehat{q}`$ operators:

$`K(q,p)=\mathrm{\Psi }\delta (p\widehat{p})\delta (q\widehat{q})\mathrm{\Psi }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^2}}{\displaystyle 𝑑q^{}𝑑p^{}e^{\frac{i(p^{}qq^{}p)}{\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }e^{\frac{i\widehat{p}q^{}}{\mathrm{}}}e^{\frac{ip^{}\widehat{q}}{\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }}.`$ (3)
The complex conjugation of the K–R function corresponds to the standard ordering (all operators $`\widehat{q}`$ are on the left followed by $`\widehat{p}`$ operators), and the real part of the K–R distribution function is obtained by a symmetric superposition of the anti-standard and the standard ordering: $`\frac{1}{2}(\widehat{q}^n\widehat{p}^m+\widehat{p}^m\widehat{q}^n)`$.

Obviously, the Wigner-Weyl ordering and the anti-standard ordering are not equivalent, so they lead to different quasi-distributions. But both of these orderings are intuitive and simple ones, and appropriate phase space distribution functions have the same marginal properties.

## III The Wigner and the Kirkwood-Rihaczek distribution functions

The definition of the famous Wigner quasi-distribution function was firstly presented as:

$$W_\mathrm{\Psi }(\text{q},p)=\frac{1}{2\pi \mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(q+\xi /2)e^{\frac{ip\xi }{\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }(q\xi /2)𝑑\xi .$$
(4)
Although for most one dimensional systems formula (4) allows to evaluate the Wigner function relatively easily, in three dimensions this problem is more complicated. Integrals become quite cumbersome and sometimes impossible to handle analytically. As we have mentioned before, an analytical formula for the Wigner function is not known even for 1s state of hydrogen atom.

That is why, in order to investigate the hydrogen atom in phase space we shall use the K–R distribution. This function was introduced by Kirkwood Kirkwood  just one year after Wigner introduced his function. Then, in 1968, the same function was rediscovered by Rihaczek Rihaczek  in the context of signal time-frequency distributions and is known by his name in signal transmitting theory. The definition of the K–R function in terms of anti-standard ordering has a simple form:

$`K(q,p)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\xi \mathrm{\Psi }^{}(\xi )e^{\frac{i(\xi q)p}{\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }(q)}=`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \mathrm{}}}\mathrm{\Psi }(q)e^{\frac{ipq}{\mathrm{}}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(p).`$
Elsewhere K-R  we have presented an extensive analysis of the K–R distribution and its comparison with the Wigner distribution function. Here we will only mention the main properties of the K–R function. Similar to the Wigner function, the K-R distribution has the correct marginal properties:

$`{\displaystyle K(q,p)𝑑p}=|\mathrm{\Psi }(q)|^2,`$
$`{\displaystyle K(q,p)𝑑q}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \mathrm{}}}|\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}(p)|^2,`$ (6)
which is a fundamental requirement for a joint distribution in phase space. Unlike the Wigner distribution, the K-R function is a complex function, and its operator form is not hermitian. Nevertheless, for an arbitrary quantum state the knowledge of the K-R distribution at every point of the phase space allows a full reconstruction of this state (see K-R ).

## IV Hydrogen atom in phase space

The definition of the K-R distribution (5) allows one to evaluate analytical formulas of this distribution for many complicated quantum mechanical states, for which the analytical expression of the Wigner function is not accessible.

In the following we will present analytical results obtained for states of the hydrogen atom. The wave functions of a non-relativistic hydrogen atom are well known, both in position and momentum representation. The Schrödinger equation with Coulomb potential can be separated in the spherical polar coordinates (see, e.g. B-S ). The solutions of angular part of the equation are given by the spherical harmonics $`Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )`$, and of the radial part can be expressed in terms of Laguerre functions $`L_m^k`$ (in the position representation):

$$R_{nl}(r)=\left[\frac{(nl1)!}{(n+l)!^3(2n)}\right]^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{2Z}{n}\right)^{\frac{3}{2}}e^{\frac{Zr}{n}}\left(\frac{2Zr}{n}\right)^lL_{n+l}^{2l+1}\left(\frac{2Zr}{n}\right),$$
(7)
or Gegenbauer functions $`C_m^k`$ (in the momentum representation):

$$F_{nl}(p)=\left[\frac{2}{\pi }\frac{(nl1)!}{(n+l)!}\right]^{\frac{1}{2}}n^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}^{2(l+1)}l!\frac{n^lp^l}{(n^2p^2+1)^{l+2}}C_{nl1}^{l+1}\left(\frac{n^2p^21}{n^2p^2+1}\right).$$
(8)
As usual, $`n`$, $`l`$, $`m`$ denote principal, orbital, and magnetic quantum numbers, respectively.

Substituting the expressions (7, 8) into the definition of the K-R distribution Eq. (5), and inserting the angular relation, we obtain the general formulas for K-R functions of the hydrogen atom states. In the next Section we shall present graphical results obtained for selected hydrogen quantum numbers. It is worth noting that the absolute square of the K-R function:

$$K(r,\theta ,\phi ,p,\theta ^{},\phi ^{})^2=\frac{1}{(2\pi )^6}|R_{nl}(r)Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )|^2|F_{nl}(p)Y_{lm}(\theta ^{},\phi ^{})|^2.$$

is proportional to the product of probability densities in position and momentum representations ($`\mathrm{}=1`$). Thus, one can treat it as the cornerstone of the phase space analysis of physical systems.

## V Examples

Figures 1 to 5 present phase space K-R representation of $`1s`$, $`2s`$, $`2p`$, $`10m`$, and $`10l`$ states of the hydrogen atom. Let us note that for a 3-dimensional systems the K–R distribution is a function of 6 variables $`(r,\theta ,\phi ,p,\theta ^{},\phi ^{})`$, so a graphical phase space representation can only present selected cross-sections. We have decided to use the following method to represent the hydrogen atom in phase space: all the Figures labelled by (a), (b) (later called Fig. X.a, X.b) are auxiliary ones – they present hydrogen atom wave functions in position and momentum representation and the arrows depicted on those figures show the directions chosen for the cross-sections. The corresponding cross-sections of the K-R phase space functions are plotted in Figures labelled by (c) and (d) (Fig. X.c, X.d).

All the Figures are organized as follows: Fig X.a shows cross-section $`\phi =const`$ of the absolute square of hydrogen atom wave function in the position representation, i.e. $`R_{nl}(r)Y_{lm}(\theta ,\phi )^2`$ which is the probability density of finding an electron at point $`(r,\theta ,\phi )`$ (and which does not depend on the value of $`\phi `$). Fig. X.b shows cross-section $`\phi ^{}=const`$ of the absolute square of the same wave function in the momentum representation, i.e. $`F_{nl}(p)Y_{lm}(\theta ^{},\phi ^{})^2`$ which is the probability density of finding an electron with momentum $`(p,\theta ^{},\phi ^{})`$ (and here again, a cross-section does not depend on the value of $`\phi ^{}`$). The arrows depicted on the Fig. X.a, X.b show the directions chosen for the cross-sections of the corresponding K-R phase space functions that are presented in Fig. X.c, where the real part of the K–R distribution and appropriate contour plot are shown, and in Fig X.d, where the absolute value of this K–R distribution and its contour plot are plotted.

Let us first study the K-R function of the $`1s`$ state. Well-known solutions of the radial part of the Schrödinger equation are given by, in atomic unit:

$`R_{10}(r)=`$ $`2e^r`$ (in the position representation), and
$`F_{10}(p)=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{4}{(1+p^2)^2}}`$ (in the momentum representation).
Fig. 1.a shows spatial probability density $`R_{10}(r)/(4\pi )^2`$ of finding an electron at certain point, and Fig. 1.b shows momentum probability density $`F_{10}(p)/(4\pi )^2`$ of finding an electron with definite momentum. Note, that those are not radial distributions and they have nonzero values at $`r=0`$ and $`p=0`$ as the wave functions were not multiplied by $`r^2`$ or $`p^2`$ factors. The K-R distribution of $`1s`$ state is given by:

$`K_{10}(r,\theta ,\phi ,p,\theta ^{},\phi ^{})=(2\pi ^3)^{\frac{3}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{e^r}{(1+p^2)^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left(ipr\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Theta }\right),`$ (9)
where $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ denotes the angle between $`r`$ and $`p`$:

$$\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Theta }=\mathrm{cos}(\theta \theta ^{})+\left(\mathrm{cos}(\phi \phi ^{})1\right)\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{sin}\theta ^{}.$$
(10)
Fig. 1.c shows the real part of Eq. (9), $`K_{\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}s}`$, multiplied by $`(2\pi )^3`$:

$$K_{\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}s}=(2\pi )^3\mathrm{Re}\left[K_{10}(r,\frac{\pi }{2},0,p,\frac{\pi }{2},0)\right].$$
(11)
The cross-section is chosen in the directions depicted by arrows in Fig. 1.a, 1.b. Next we have displayed its contour plot. The absolute value of Eq. (9) multiplied by $`(2\pi )^3`$ is:

$$K_{\mathrm{Abs}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}s}=(2\pi )^3\mathrm{Abs}\left[K_{10}(r,\frac{\pi }{2},0,p,\frac{\pi }{2},0)\right]$$
(12)
and its contour plot is presented in Fig 1.d. In this case, $`K_{\mathrm{Re}}`$ and $`K_{\mathrm{Abs}}`$ look quite similar mainly because the wave function both in position and momentum representation decreases rapidly with the increase of $`r`$ or $`p`$, and the oscillating $`\mathrm{cos}(rp)`$-like structure characteristic for the real part of K-R distribution is not clearly seen on the scale used to make these figures. These oscillations are merely marked in the contour plot of $`K_{\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}s}`$ by dashed lines which correspond to $`K_{\mathrm{Re}}=0`$.

Next we shall examine the K–R distribution of 2s and 2p states. Solutions of the radial part of the Schrödinger equation in momentum representation are given by:

$`F_{20}(p)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{32}{\sqrt{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{4p^21}{(1+4p^2)^2}},`$
$`F_{21}(p)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{128}{\sqrt{3\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{p}{(1+4p^2)^2}}.`$
Thus, the corresponding K–R distribution are of the form:

$`K_{20}(r,\theta ,\phi ,p,\theta ^{},\phi ^{})`$ $`=\sqrt{(2^5\pi ^9)}(2r)e^{\frac{r}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{4p^21}{(1+4p^2)^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left(ipr\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Theta }\right),`$ (13)
$`K_{21}(r,\theta ,\phi ,p,\theta ^{},\phi ^{})`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{(2\pi ^9)}}{3}}re^{\frac{r}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{p}{(1+4p^2)^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left(ipr\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Theta }\right)\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\theta ^{},`$ (14)
where $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is defined by Eq. (10). The real part of Eq. (13) and appropriate contour plot are shown in Fig. 2.c and the real part of Eq. (14) in Fig. 3.c. The absolute value of Eqs. (13,14) and their contour plots are presented in Fig. 2.d and Fig. 3.d, respectively. The plot presented in Fig. 3.d has one maximum at $`(r,p)=(2,\sqrt{3}/6)`$ the location of which does not depend on variables $`\theta `$, $`\phi `$, $`\theta ^{}`$, $`\phi ^{}`$ chosen for the cross section. This result is in perfect agreement with what we expect for the state which has quantum numbers $`n`$, $`l`$ satisfying the condition $`nl=1`$. In Fig. 3.c, where the real part of the K–R distribution is presented, we see the additional minimum. It is due to $`\mathrm{cos}(rp)`$-like oscillations of the real part of the K–R distribution. Actually, there is an infinite number of alternate maxima and minima but their amplitude decreases rapidly and only two are seen on this scale. Dashed lines depicted on this (and every other contour-plot) denote $`K_{Re}=0`$. According to the results of Fig. 2.d the absolute value of the K–R distribution for the $`2s`$ state also has quite a simple form: we notice one global and three local maxima on this cross section. Fig. 2.c, where the real part of the same function is presented, is much more complicated when we look at it close up (see contour plot): Extrema are localized on lines where $`\mathrm{cos}(rp)`$ achieves its extremal value, but on this regular structure is another one – the wave function dependence on $`r`$ and $`p`$ that is responsible for the appearance of additional zeros and sign–changes of the plotted figure.

Finally we shall present an instructive example of a Rydberg state. Figure 4 shows the K-R distribution for a state with $`n=10`$ and $`l=9`$. The real part of the K–R distribution is shown in Fig. 4.c, and the absolute value is shown in Fig. 4.d. Just as one would expect there is one peak in the absolute value plot and similar, but modified by $`\mathrm{cos}(rp)`$, structure in the real part of the plot. Comparing the figures with that shown in Fig. 3.c-d we notice similarities in their structure. Obviously, peaks are located at different values of $`(r,p)`$ but there is the property that for states with $`nl=1`$ we observe one maximum in the absolute value plot. Its location changes with the increase of $`n`$ (it moves towards larger $`r`$ and smaller $`p`$) and the maximum value gets much smaller, but it is apparent this class of states has much in common. Figure 5 shows the K–R distribution for state $`n=10`$, $`l=8`$. Analysis similar to that made above holds true when we compare Fig. 5 and 2. Without counting that all the scales have changed we find 4 extrema ($`(nl)^2`$) in the absolute value plots and similar oscillating structures in the real part plots. It is a general and well known result that $`nl`$ is equal to the number of extrema of hydrogen atom wave functions both in position and momentum representation. We only stress that the K-R distribution renders very well this property: its absolute value has $`(nl)^2`$ extrema.

## VI Summary remarks

We have presented a phase space representation of the hydrogen atom using the K-R distribution. An advantage of such a representation is that the system can be treated analytically. It is an attractive feature of the K-R distribution that as long as one knows the wave function of the system there is no need to perform any integrals to obtain this distribution value in every point of phase space.

We have described in detail the $`1s`$, $`2s`$, $`2p`$, $`10m`$, and $`10l`$ states of the hydrogen atom. Plots corresponding to the K–R functions of these states were presented and compared with the plots of probability densities in position and momentum representations.

## Acknowledgments

We thank S. Daffer for comments about the final draft. This work was partially supported by a KBN grant 2P03 B 02123, and the European Commission through the Research Training Network QUEST.


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# Circles and Quadratic Maps Between Spheres

## Introduction

By a circle in a Euclidean space we mean a round Euclidean circle, or a straight line, or a point. By a vector line in a vector space we mean a line passing through the origin.

Fix a vector space structure on $`^m`$ and a Euclidean structure on $`^n`$. Consider a germ of an analytic map $`\mathrm{\Phi }:(^m,0)(^n,0)`$. We say that $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is a rounding if it takes all germs of vector lines to germs of circles. By the rank of a rounding we mean the rank of its first differential at 0.

| Throughout this paper, we will always assume that |
| --- |
| the rank of a rounding is at least 2. |

Roundings of ranks 1 and 0 are also interesting but their study requires different methods.

We say that two roundings $`\mathrm{\Phi }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_2`$ are equivalent if for any germ of vector line $`l`$ the germs $`\mathrm{\Phi }_1(l)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_2(l)`$ belong to the same circle. We are mostly interested in description of roundings up to the equivalence.

Roundings mapping $`(^2,0)`$ to $`(^2,0)`$ were described by A. Khovanskii in . The problem was motivated by nomography (see ). Nomograms are used for a graphical representation of functions. They usually involve one or several families of curves that provide the means of reading data. The most common types of nomograms are nomograms with aligned points and circular nomograms. How to transform one type of nomograms into the other? This problem was posed by G.S. Khovanskii  in 1970-s. A description of all roundings in dimension 2 was a major part in the solution of this problem.

All roundings mapping $`(^2,0)`$ to $`(^2,0)`$ are equivalent to Möbius transformations. In other words, there is a point $`p0`$ in $`^2`$ with the following property. For any germ of vector line $`l`$, the image $`\mathrm{\Phi }(l)`$ belongs to a circle passing through $`p`$. Izadi  proved the same result for roundings mapping $`(^3,0)`$ to $`(^3,0)`$ and having an invertible first differential at 0.

It turns out that in dimension 4, an analogous statement is wrong. The simplest counterexample is as follows. Let us identify $`^4`$ with $`^2`$ so that multiplication by $`i`$ is an orthogonal operator, and embed $`^2`$ to the complex projective plane $`\mathrm{P}^2`$. Consider the germ at 0 of a complex projective transformation $`P:\mathrm{P}^2\mathrm{P}^2`$ such that $`P(0)=0`$. It takes germs of real vector lines to circles. But it is not equivalent (as a rounding) to a Möbius transformation.

Nevertheless, there is a simple description of all roundings mapping $`(^4,0)`$ to $`(^4,0)`$ (see ). There are 2 natural roundings from $`(\mathrm{Im}()\times ,0)`$ to $`(,0)`$ where $``$ is the skew-field of quaternions and $`\mathrm{Im}()`$ is the set of all purely imaginary quaternions. The first rounding sends $`(x,y)`$ to $`(1+x)^1y`$ and the second to $`y(1+x)^1`$. Any rounding mapping $`(^4,0)`$ to $`(^4,0)`$ is equivalent to a rounding obtained from one of these 2 roundings by composing it with an $``$-linear map $`^4\mathrm{Im}()\times `$.

The main theorem of this article is the following:

###### Theorem 0.1.

Any rounding is equivalent to some fractional quadratic rounding, i.e. a rounding of the form $`P/Q`$ where $`P`$ is a map given in coordinates by quadratic polynomials, and $`Q`$ is a quadratic polynomial.

In Section 3, we give a definition of a degenerate rounding and show that any such rounding factors through a linear projection to a smaller space. A nondegenerate quadratic rounding gives rise to a quadratic map between spheres, i.e. a map between Euclidean spaces that is given in coordinates by quadratic polynomials and that takes the unit sphere to the unit sphere. Thus the description of nondegenerate roundings is reduced to description of quadratic maps between spheres.

Results of  lead to some interesting consequences regarding roundings, including the following:

###### Theorem 0.2.

There exists a nondegenerate rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }:(^m,0)(^n,0)`$ if and only if $`n\kappa (m)`$, where $`\kappa `$ is an explicit function introduced in .

In Section 5, we will recall the definition of $`\kappa `$.

The article is organized as follows. We introduce a complexification of the notion of circle in Section 1. With the help of it, in Section 2, we establish a crucial algebraic property of the Taylor expansion of a rounding. Section 3 contains the proof of Theorem 0.1. Closely related with fractional quadratic roundings are normed pairings and quadratic maps between spheres which are briefly discussed in Sections 4 and 5. Results of Yiu  on quadratic maps between spheres are used in Section 5 to describe all possible dimensions $`m`$ and $`n`$ for which there is a nondegenerate rounding mapping $`(^m,0)`$ to $`(^n,0)`$.

I am grateful to A. Khovanskii for useful discussions and to the anonymous referee for useful comments and suggestions.

## 1. Complex circles

Let $`^n`$ be a Euclidean space with the Euclidean inner product $`,`$. Consider the complexification $`^n`$ of $`^n`$ and extend the inner product to it by bilinearity. The extended complex bilinear inner product will be also denoted by $`,`$. Note that this inner product is not Hermitian! We will never use Hermitian inner products.

A complex circle in $`^n`$ is either a line, or the intersection of an affine 2-plane (2-dimensional plane) with a complex sphere, i.e. a quadratic hypersurface $`\{x^n|x,x=a,x+b\}`$ where $`a^n`$ and $`b`$. Note that the complex sphere is a complex algebraic hypersurface, not a round sphere!

###### Proposition 1.1.

A complex circle is a smooth curve, or a pair of intersecting lines, or a 2-plane.

Proof. Consider a complex circle $`C=PS`$, where $`P`$ is a 2-plane and $`S`$ is a complex sphere. If $`P`$ does not belong to tangent hyperplanes to $`S`$ at points of $`C`$, then the intersection of $`P`$ and $`S`$ is transverse, hence $`C`$ is smooth. Now suppose that $`P`$ belongs to the tangent hyperplane to $`S`$ at a point $`xC`$. The intersection $`ST_xS`$ is a quadratic cone centered at the point $`x`$, which lies in $`P`$. If we now intersect this quadratic cone with $`P`$, then we obtain either the whole plane $`P`$ or a pair of intersecting (possibly coincident) lines from $`P`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

The null-cone (isotropic cone) $`\{x^n|x,x=0\}`$ will be denoted by $`𝒩`$.

###### Proposition 1.2.

Consider a germ of holomorphic curve $`\gamma :(,0)(^n,0)`$, whose image lies in a complex circle. Suppose that $`\gamma ^{}(0)`$ is nonzero and belongs to $`𝒩`$. Then the linear span of the image of $`\gamma `$ belongs entirely to $`𝒩`$.

Proof. Consider a complex circle $`C`$ containing the image of $`\gamma `$. If $`C`$ is a line or a pair of lines, then the statement is obvious (the curve $`\gamma `$ cannot switch from one line to the other).

Suppose that $`C`$ is the intersection of some plane and a complex sphere $`S`$. Since $`S`$ contains the origin, its equation has the form

$$x,x=a,x,a^n.$$

The curve $`\gamma `$ belongs to $`S`$. Therefore, $`\gamma ,\gamma =a,\gamma `$ identically. Differentiating this relation at 0, we obtain that $`a,v=0`$ where $`v=\gamma ^{}(0)`$. It follows that the whole vector line spanned by $`v`$ belongs to $`S`$ and hence to the circle $`C`$ containing the image of $`\gamma `$.

We see that $`C`$ is a 2-plane $`P`$. This 2-plane $`P`$ must belong entirely to $`𝒩`$. Indeed, if the restriction of the inner product to $`P`$ were nontrivial, then in some coordinates $`(x_1,x_2)`$ on $`P`$, it would be given by $`x_1^2+x_2^2`$ or $`x_1^2`$. In both cases, a point with sufficiently large real $`x_1`$ and a real $`x_2`$ would not be in $`S`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Proposition 1.3.

A set $`X^n`$ lies in a complex circle if and only if it lies in a real circle.

Proof. Suppose that $`X^n`$ lies in a complex circle $`C`$. If $`C`$ is a complex line, then $`C^n`$ is a real line containing $`X`$. Otherwise, $`C=PS`$, where $`P`$ is a complex 2-plane and $`S`$ is a complex sphere. Then $`X`$ belongs to the real 2-plane $`P^n`$. Let $`S`$ be given by the equation

$$x,x=a,x+b,a^n,b.$$

The real part of this equation defines a real sphere in $`^n`$. Thus $`X`$ lies in the intersection of a real 2-plane with a real sphere. But this intersection is a real circle.

In the other direction, the statement is obvious. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Proposition 1.4.

A set $`X^n`$ lies in a complex circle passing through 0 if and only if the set of points $`(x,x,x)`$, $`xX`$, spans at most 2-dimensional vector subspace of $`^{n+1}`$.

Proof. Assume that $`X`$ lies in a complex circle passing through 0. If it lies in a vector line $`L`$, then all vectors of the form $`(x,x,x)`$ are linear combinations of $`(a,0)`$ and $`(0,1)`$, where $`a`$ is any point of $`L`$.

If $`X`$ does not belong to a single line, then it lies in some sphere $`S`$ containing the origin. The restriction of the inner product $`,`$ to $`S`$ equals to some linear function restricted to $`S`$. In an orthonormal coordinate system, we have

$$x,x=\lambda _1x_1+\mathrm{}+\lambda _nx_n$$

for any point $`x`$ from $`X`$, where $`x_i`$ are the coordinates of $`x`$. The coefficients $`\lambda _i`$ are independent of $`x`$. Therefore, the system of vectors $`(x,x,x)_{xX}`$ has the same rank as the set $`X`$. But a circle is a plane curve, therefore, $`X`$ has rank 2.

The proof in the opposite direction is a simple reversion of the argument given above. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Proposition 1.5.

Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ be an analytic map of a neighborhood of 0 in $`^m`$ to $`^n`$. Take a vector $`v^m`$. The $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$-image of the germ of the real line spanned by $`v`$ lies in a complex circle if and only if the set of vectors $`(_v^k\mathrm{\Phi }(0),_v^k\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Phi }(0))_k`$ spans at most 2-dimensional vector subspace of $`^{n+1}`$. Here $`_v`$ denotes the differentiation along the constant vector field $`v`$.

Proof. By the Taylor formula, the vector subspace spanned by the image of an analytic map coincides with the vector subspace spanned by all its derivatives. Consider the analytic map of $``$ to $`^n\times `$ taking $`t`$ to $`(\mathrm{\Phi }(tv),\mathrm{\Phi }(tv),\mathrm{\Phi }(tv))`$. The vector space spanned by the image of this map is exactly the linear span of the vectors $`(_v^k\mathrm{\Phi }(0),_v^k\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Phi }(0))_k`$.

It remains to use Proposition 1.4. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 2. Roundings

In this Section, we will give an algebraic constrain on the 2-jet of a rounding.

###### Lemma 2.1.

Suppose that the linear span of vectors $`y_1,y_2^n`$ belongs to the null-cone $`𝒩`$. Then we have

$$y_1,y_1=y_2,y_2=y_1,y_2=0.$$

Proof. Indeed, for any complex number $`\lambda `$, we have $`y_1+\lambda y_2𝒩`$. Equating coefficients with all powers of $`\lambda `$ in the equation $`y_1+\lambda y_2,y_1+\lambda y_2=0`$ to 0, we obtain the desired result. $`\mathrm{}`$

Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }:(^m,0)(^n,0)`$ be a rounding. Denote by $`A`$ its first differential at 0. In other words, $`A:^m^n`$ is a linear map such that $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)=A(x)+\alpha (x)`$, where $`|\alpha (x)|=o(|x|)`$ as $`x0`$. Denote by $`A,A`$ the quadratic form on $`^m`$ whose value on a vector $`x^m`$ is $`A(x),A(x)`$. Analogously, we define analytic functions $`\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi },A`$ on $`^m`$:

$$\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Phi }:x\mathrm{\Phi }(x),\mathrm{\Phi }(x),\mathrm{\Phi },A:x\mathrm{\Phi }(x),A(x).$$

###### Theorem 2.2.

The analytic functions $`A,\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Phi }`$ are divisible by $`A,A`$ in the class of formal power series.

This theorem gives conditions on an analytic map $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ that are necessary for $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ being a rounding. We will only need restrictions that are imposed on the 2-jet of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ by Theorem 2.2. It turns out (see Section 3) that these restrictions are sufficient to guarantee that there exists a rounding with a given 2-jet.

Proof. Since $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is analytic, it admits an analytic continuation to a neighborhood of 0 in $`^m`$.

By Proposition 1.5, we have that for any $`v^m`$ the set of vectors $`(_v^k\mathrm{\Phi }(0),_v^k\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Phi }(0))_k`$ spans at most 2-dimensional subspace of $`^{n+1}`$. But this is an algebraic condition on the coefficients of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Thus it holds for all $`v^m`$. Using Proposition 1.5 again, we conclude that the image of the germ at 0 of any complex vector line from $`^m`$ lies in some complex circle.

Suppose that a point $`x^m`$ is such that $`A(x),A(x)=0`$ but $`A(x)0`$. Consider the holomorphic curve $`\gamma :^n`$ defined by the formula $`\gamma (\tau )=\mathrm{\Phi }(\tau x)`$ for all $`\tau `$. The image of this holomorphic curve is the image of the complex line in $`^m`$ spanned by $`x`$. Therefore, the image of $`\gamma `$ lies in some complex circle.

Moreover, we have $`\gamma ^{}(0)=A(x)0`$ and $`\gamma ^{}(0),\gamma ^{}(0)=A(x),A(x)=0`$. The latter means that $`\gamma ^{}(0)𝒩`$, where $`𝒩`$ is the null-cone. By Proposition 1.2, the linear span $`M`$ of the image of $`\gamma `$ belongs to $`𝒩`$.

Denote by $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ the power series of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ at 0 truncated at degree $`k`$. In other words, $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)=\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x)+\alpha _k(x)`$, where $`|\alpha _k(x)|=o(|x|^k)`$. The vector subspace $`M^n`$ contains the image of $`\gamma `$. Therefore, it contains all derivatives of $`\gamma `$ at 0. Then it must also contain

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x)=\gamma ^{}(0)+\frac{\gamma ^{\prime \prime }(0)}{2}+\mathrm{}+\frac{\gamma ^{(k)(0)}}{k!}.$$

Since $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x)`$ and $`A(x)=\mathrm{\Phi }_1(x)`$ belong to $`M`$, the linear span of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x)`$ and $`A(x)`$ belongs to $`𝒩`$. By the preceding lemma, we have

$$A(x),\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x)=\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x),\mathrm{\Phi }_k(x)=0.$$

This equality holds for all $`x`$ satisfying the condition $`A(x),A(x)=0`$.

By definition of a rounding, the rank of $`A`$ is et least 2. Now we have two cases: $`\mathrm{rk}(A)>2`$ and $`\mathrm{rk}(A)=2`$.

Case 1. In the first case, the equation $`A,A=0`$ defines an irreducible hypersurface $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Any polynomial vanishing on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is divisible by $`A,A`$, the equation of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Therefore, for any $`k`$, the polynomials $`A,\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k,\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ are divisible by $`A,A`$. The theorem now follows.

Case 2. In the second case, the equation $`A,A=0`$ splits into the product of two distinct linear factors: $`A,A=l_1l_2`$. Here $`l_1`$ and $`l_2`$ are linear functionals with complex coefficients. The equation $`A,A=0`$ defines the union of two hyperplanes: one is given by the equation $`l_1=0`$ and the other is given by the equation $`l_2=0`$. Both polynomials $`A,\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k,\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ vanish on the hyperplane $`l_1=0`$. Therefore, both polynomials are divisible by $`l_1`$. Analogously, both polynomials are divisible by $`l_2`$. Thus they are divisible by $`A,A=l_1l_2`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Theorem 2.2 has two important corollaries. Recall that a map $`B:^m^n`$ is a quadratic map if for any constant vector field $`v`$ on $`^m`$ the third derivative $`_v^3B`$ vanishes everywhere.

###### Corollary 2.3.

Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ be a rounding. Denote by $`A`$ its linear part and by $`B`$ its quadratic part. In other words, $`A`$ is a linear map and $`B`$ is a homogeneous quadratic map of $`^m`$ to $`^n`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)=A(x)+B(x)+C(x)`$, where $`|C(x)|=o(|x|^2)`$. Then both polynomials $`A,B`$ and $`B,B`$ are divisible by $`A,A`$.

Proof. We will use the notation of the proof of Theorem 2.2. We have $`\mathrm{\Phi }_2=A+B`$. Polynomials $`A,\mathrm{\Phi }_2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_2,\mathrm{\Phi }_2`$ are divisible by $`A,A`$. This follows from Theorem 2.2, and even more directly, it follows from the proof of it. Since $`A,A+B`$ is divisible by $`A,A`$, the polynomial $`A,B`$ must also be divisible by $`A,A`$. Since $`A+B,A+B=A,A+2A,B+B,B`$ is divisible by $`A,A`$, the polynomial $`B,B`$ must also be divisible by $`A,A`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Corollary 2.4.

Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ be a rounding with the first differential $`A`$. Then the kernel of $`A`$ maps to 0 under $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$.

Now we are going to establish a criterion of the equivalence of two roundings.

###### Lemma 2.5.

If two roundings have the same 2-jets, then they are equivalent.

Proof. Let $`\mathrm{\Phi },\mathrm{\Psi }:(^m,0)(^n,0)`$ be analytic roundings with the same 2-jet $`A+B`$, where $`A`$ is the linear part and $`B`$ is the quadratic part. It is clear that if a line from $`^m`$ does not belong to the kernel of $`A`$, then it goes to the same circle under both maps. Indeed, a circle is determined by the velocity (the first derivative) and the acceleration (the second derivative) at 0 of any parameterized curve lying in this circle and such that the velocity at 0 does not vanish. Corollary 2.4 concludes the proof. $`\mathrm{}`$

We need the following technical fact:

###### Lemma 2.6.

Consider a linear map $`A:^m^n`$ of rank at least 2 and a quadratic (or linear) homogeneous map $`B:^m^n`$ such that $`B`$ is everywhere parallel to $`A`$. In other words, for any $`x^m`$, the vectors $`A(x)`$ and $`B(x)`$ are linearly dependent. Then $`B(x)=l(x)A(x)`$ for some linear (or constant) function $`l:^m`$ and all $`x^m`$.

Proof. We will work out only the case when $`B`$ is a homogeneous quadratic map. The linear case is only easier. The function $`l=B/A`$ (mapping any vector $`x^m`$ to the real number $`l(x)`$ such that $`B(x)=l(x)A(x)`$) is defined on the complement to the kernel of $`A`$. The parallelogram equality for $`B`$ reads

$$l(x+y)A(x+y)+l(xy)A(xy)=2(l(x)A(x)+l(y)A(y))$$

where $`x`$ and $`y`$ are vectors from $`^m`$ such that none of the vectors $`x`$, $`y`$, $`x+y`$ and $`xy`$ lies in the kernel of $`A`$.

Suppose that $`A(x)`$ and $`A(y)`$ are linearly independent. Equating the coefficients with $`A(x)`$ in the parallelogram equality, we obtain $`l(x+y)+l(xy)=2l(x)`$. Set $`u=x+y`$ and $`v=xy`$. Then $`l(u+v)=l(u)+l(v)`$. This holds for almost all pairs $`(u,v)`$ of vectors from $`^m`$. Therefore, $`l`$ extends to a linear function. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Proposition 2.7.

Consider two roundings $`\mathrm{\Phi }=A+B+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}=A^{}+B^{}+`$, where $`A`$ and $`A^{}`$ are linear maps, $`B`$ and $`B^{}`$ are homogeneous quadratic maps, and dots denote terms of order 3 and higher. The roundings $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$ are equivalent if and only if $`A^{}(x)=\lambda A(x)`$ and $`B^{}(x)=\lambda ^2B(x)+l(x)A(x)`$, where $`\lambda `$ is a real number, and $`l:^m`$ is a linear functional.

Proof. First suppose that $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$ are related to $`A`$ and $`B`$ as above. Composing $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ with the local diffeomorphism $`x\lambda x+l(x)x`$, which preserves all germs of vector lines, we obtain a rounding equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and having the 2-jet $`A^{}+B^{}`$. By Lemma 2.5, this rounding is equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$. Thus $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$ are equivalent.

Now suppose that for any germ of vector line in $`^m`$ the roundings $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$ map this germ to the same circle. In particular, the vectors $`A(x)`$ and $`A^{}(x)`$ are linearly dependent for all $`x^m`$. Indeed, both vectors $`A(x)`$ and $`A^{}(x)`$ are tangent at 0 to the circle containing the images of the vector line spanned by $`x`$ under the maps $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$. By Lemma 2.6, we have $`A^{}(x)=\lambda A(x)`$ for a real number $`\lambda `$ independent of $`x`$.

The orthogonal projection of $`B^{}(x)`$ to the orthogonal complement of $`A(x)`$ is the same as that of $`\lambda ^2B(x)`$. This follows from the fact that the images of the line spanned by $`x`$ under the maps $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$ lie in the same circle, in particular, they have the same curvature at 0. Thus the vectors $`B^{}(x)\lambda ^2B(x)`$ and $`A(x)`$ are linearly dependent for all $`x^m`$. The Proposition now follows from Lemma 2.6. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 3. Fractional quadratic maps

Let $`F`$ be a quadratic map of $`^m`$ to $`^n`$, and $`Q`$ a quadratic function on $`^m`$ ($`F`$ and $`Q`$ are not necessarily homogeneous). The map $`F/Q:xF(x)/Q(x)`$ is called a fractional quadratic map. It is defined on the complement to the zero level of $`Q`$. Nonetheless, it will be referred to as a fractional quadratic map of $`^m`$ to $`^n`$.

A map from an open subset $`U`$ of $`^m`$ to $`^n`$ is said to take all lines to circles if any germ of line contained in $`U`$ gets mapped to a germ of circle under this map.

###### Proposition 3.1.

Let $`F:^m^n`$ be a quadratic map such that the polynomial $`F,F:xF(x),F(x)`$ is divisible by some quadratic function $`Q`$. Then the fractional quadratic map $`F/Q`$ takes all lines to circles.

Proof. Introduce an orthonormal basis in $`^n`$. Denote the components of $`F(x)`$ with respect to this basis by $`F_1(x),\mathrm{},F_n(x)`$. Thus $`F_1,\mathrm{},F_n`$ are quadratic polynomials on $`^m`$, not necessarily homogeneous.

Take an arbitrary line $`L^m`$ not lying in the zero level of $`Q`$. The functions $`F_1,F_2,\mathrm{},F_n`$ and $`Q`$ restricted to $`L`$ span a subspace $`V`$ of the space of all quadratic polynomials on $`L`$. We have a natural map of the space of all affine functions on $`^n`$ to the space $`V`$. Namely, an affine function $`f`$ on $`^n`$ gets mapped to the function $`xQ(x)f(F(x)/Q(x)))`$, which is a quadratic function belonging to the space $`V`$. Clearly, this map is onto. The kernel of this map, which consists of all affine functions vanishing identically on the image of $`L`$ under the map $`F/Q`$, has dimension $`n+1dim(V)`$.

If the subspace $`V`$ is one-dimensional, then $`(F/Q)(L)`$ is just a point. If $`V`$ is 2-dimensional, then $`(F/Q)(L)`$ belongs to a line. Finally, if $`V`$ is 3-dimensional (i.e. it contains all quadratic polynomials on $`L`$) then $`(F/Q)(L)`$ is a plane curve.

Consider the last case. The ratio $`F,F/Q`$ is a quadratic polynomial. Its restriction to $`L`$ belongs to $`V`$. Therefore, $`F,F/Q`$ is a linear combination of functions $`F_i`$ and $`Q`$ on $`L`$, and $`F,F/Q^2`$ is a linear combination of $`F_i/Q`$ and $`1`$ on $`L`$. This means that under restriction to the image of $`L`$, the square of the Euclidean norm equals to some affine function. Hence the image of $`L`$ lies in some sphere. A plane curve that lies in a sphere is necessarily a circle. $`\mathrm{}`$

The main result of this section is as follows:

###### Theorem 3.2.

Let $`A:^m^n`$ be a linear homogeneous map and $`B:^m^n`$ a quadratic homogeneous map such that both polynomials $`A,B`$ and $`B,B`$ are divisible by $`A,A`$. Then the map

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{A+B2pA}{12p+q},p=\frac{A,B}{A,A},q=\frac{B,B}{A,A},$$

is a fractional quadratic rounding whose 2-jet at 0 is $`A+B`$. Moreover, $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ takes all lines to circles, not only those passing through 0.

Proof. By our assumptions, $`p`$ is a linear polynomial, and $`q`$ is a quadratic polynomial.

It is readily seen that $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ has 2-jet $`A+B`$. We also claim that $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ rounds all germs of lines (i.e., maps them to germs of circles). Indeed, this follows from Proposition 3.1, since the square of the norm of $`A+(B2pA)`$ equals to $`(12p+q)A,A`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Corollary 3.3.

Suppose that a rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ has 2-jet $`A+B`$. In other words, $`A:^m^n`$ is a linear map, and $`B:^m^n`$ is a homogeneous quadratic map such that $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)=A(x)+B(x)+\mathrm{}`$, where dots denote terms of order 3 and higher. Then $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is equivalent to the fractional quadratic rounding

$$\frac{A+B2pA}{12p+q}$$

where $`p=A,B/A,A`$ and $`q=B,B/A,A`$.

This follows from Theorem 3.2 and Lemma 2.5.

Consider a rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ with 2-jet $`A+B`$, where $`A`$ is a linear map, and $`B`$ is a homogeneous quadratic map. The rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is said to be degenerate if there exists a point $`x_0^m`$ such that $`A(x_0)=0`$ and $`q(x_0)=p^2(x_0)`$, where $`p`$ and $`q`$ are as above. This definition may look artificial but it is explained by the following

###### Lemma 3.4.

A rounding equivalent to a degenerate rounding is itself degenerate. Any degenerate rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ with 2-jet $`A+B`$ is equivalent to a rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}=A^{}+B^{}+\mathrm{}`$ such that the kernels of $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$ intersect nontrivially.

Proof. Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ be a degenerate rounding with 2-jet $`A+B`$. Assume that a rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}=A^{}+B^{}+\mathrm{}`$ is equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Then by Lemma 2.7, we have $`A^{}=\lambda A`$ and $`B^{}=\lambda ^2B+lA`$, where $`\lambda `$ is a number and $`l`$ is a linear function. The polynomials $`p`$ and $`q`$ of these 2 roundings are related as follows:

$$p^{}=\lambda p+\frac{l}{\lambda },q^{}=\lambda ^2q+2lp+\frac{l^2}{\lambda ^2}.$$

If $`A=0`$ at some point, then $`A^{}=0`$ at the same point. If $`q=p^2`$ at some point, then $`q^{}=p^2`$. This proves the first part of the Lemma.

To prove the second part, choose $`\lambda =1`$, $`l=p`$. Then $`p^{}=0`$, $`q^{}=qp^2`$. Now assume that at a point $`x_0^m`$, we have $`A(x_0)=0`$ and $`q(x_0)=p^2(x_0)`$. Then $`q^{}(x_0)=0`$, hence $`x_0`$ is a zero of $`B^{}`$ of order greater than 1, so it lies in the kernel of $`B^{}`$. Thus the point $`x_0`$ lies in the kernels of both $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

We can concentrate on nondegenerate roundings only, due to the following

###### Proposition 3.5.

Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }:(^m,0)(^n,0)`$ be a degenerate rounding. Then there is a projection $`\pi `$ from $`^m`$ to a smaller space $`^k`$, $`k<m`$, and a nondegenerate fractional quadratic rounding rounding $`\mathrm{\Psi }:(^k,0)(^n,0)`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Psi }\pi `$ is equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$.

Proof. By Lemma 3.4 we can assume that the intersection $`K`$ of the kernels of $`A`$ and $`B`$ is a nontrivial subspace of $`^m`$. Denote by $`\pi `$ the natural projection of $`^m`$ to the quotient $`^k=^m/K`$. Then $`A=\stackrel{~}{A}\pi `$ and $`B=\stackrel{~}{B}\pi `$ where the maps $`\stackrel{~}{A}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{B}`$ from $`^k`$ to $`^n`$ are linear and quadratic, respectively. Both polynomials $`\stackrel{~}{A},\stackrel{~}{B}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{B},\stackrel{~}{B}`$ are divisible by $`\stackrel{~}{A},\stackrel{~}{A}`$.

By Theorem 3.2 there is a fractional quadratic rounding $`\mathrm{\Psi }:(^k,0)(^n,0)`$ with the 2-jet $`\stackrel{~}{A}+\stackrel{~}{B}`$. Hence $`\mathrm{\Psi }\pi `$ is a fractional quadratic rounding with the 2-jet $`A+B`$. By Lemma 2.5 it is equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 4. Normed pairings

It turns out that roundings are closely related with normed pairings and quadratic maps between spheres. In this section and in the next one, we review these subjects.

Hurwitz in 1898 posed the following problem which is still unsolved: find all relations of the form

$$(x_1^2+\mathrm{}+x_r^2)(y_1^2+\mathrm{}+y_s^2)=z_1^2+\mathrm{}+z_n^2$$

where $`z_1,\mathrm{},z_n`$ are bilinear functions of the variables $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_r`$ and $`y_1,\mathrm{},y_s`$. A relation of this form is represented by a bilinear map $`f:^r\times ^s^n`$ such that for all $`x^r`$ and $`y^s`$ we have $`|f(x,y)|=|x||y|`$. Such maps are called normed pairings of size $`[r,s,n]`$.

Many examples of normed pairings are known. The most familiar are the multiplication laws for real numbers, complex numbers, quaternions and octonions. These are normed pairings of sizes $`[1,1,1]`$, $`[2,2,2]`$, $`[4,4,4]`$ and $`[8,8,8]`$, respectively. As Hurwitz proved in 1898 , these are the only possible normed pairings of size $`[n,n,n]`$ up to orthogonal transformations. Later on, he succeeded in describing all normed pairings of size $`[r,n,n]`$, see . The same result was independently obtained by Radon .

Recall that the Clifford algebra $`\mathrm{Cliff}(k)`$ is the associative algebra generated over reals by $`r`$ elements $`e_1,\mathrm{},e_k`$ satisfying the relations

$$e_i^2=1,e_ie_j+e_je_i=0(ij).$$

A linear representation of $`\mathrm{Cliff}(k)`$ in a Euclidean space $`^n`$ is called compatible with the Euclidean structure if all generators $`e_i`$ act as orthogonal operators. Any finite dimensional representation of a Clifford algebra is compatible with a suitable Euclidean structure on the space of representation. The result of Hurwitz and Radon is as follows:

###### Theorem 4.1.

Suppose that $`f:^r\times ^n^n`$ is a normed pairing. Then there is a representation $`\varphi `$ of $`\mathrm{Cliff}(r1)`$ in $`^n`$ compatible with the Euclidean structure and such that

$$f(x,y)=\varphi (x_0+x_1e_1+\mathrm{}+x_{r1}e_{r1})A(y)$$

where $`A`$ is a linear conformal transformation and $`x_0,\mathrm{},x_{r1}`$ are coordinates of $`x`$ in some orthonormal basis.

The largest $`r`$ for which there is a representation of $`\mathrm{Cliff}(r1)`$ in $`^n`$ is denoted by $`\rho (n)`$ and is called the Hurwitz–Radon function of $`n`$. The Hurwitz–Radon theorem implies that for any normed pairing of size $`[r,n,n]`$, we have $`r\rho (n)`$. The Hurwitz–Radon function can be computed explicitly due to the result of É. Cartan  who classified all Clifford algebras and their representations in 1908 (the idea of this classification goes back to Clifford). See also . Suppose that $`n=2^su`$, where $`u`$ is odd. If $`s=4a+b`$, $`0b3`$, then $`\rho (n)=8a+2^b`$.

###### Proposition 4.2.

Let $`f:^r\times ^s^n`$ be a normed pairing. The map $`f`$ can be regarded as a quadratic map of $`^r^s`$ to $`^n`$. Consider the quadratic form $`Q`$ on $`^r^s`$ defined by the formula $`Q(x,y)=x,x`$ for all $`x^r`$, $`y^s`$. Then the degree 4 polynomial $`f,f`$ on $`^r^s`$ is divisible by $`Q`$, hence $`f/Q`$ takes all lines to circles.

This Proposition follows immediately from definitions and Proposition 3.1. We see that normed pairings provide many examples of maps taking all lines to circles.

A bilinear map $`f:^r\times ^s^n`$ is called nonsingular if from $`f(x,y)=0`$ it follows that $`x=0`$ or $`y=0`$. Clearly, any normed pairing is a nonsingular bilinear map. Possible sizes of nonsingular bilinear maps are restricted by the following theorem of Stiefel  and Hopf .

###### Theorem 4.3.

If there is a nonsingular bilinear map of size $`[r,s,n]`$, then the binomial coefficient $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{k}\right)`$ is even whenever $`nr<k<s`$.

This is a topological theorem. It uses the ring structure in the cohomology of projective spaces.

## 5. Quadratic maps between spheres

By a unit sphere $`S^n`$ we mean the set of all vectors in $`^{n+1}`$ of Euclidean length 1. A map $`f:S^mS^n`$ between unit spheres is called quadratic, if it extends to a quadratic homogeneous map of $`^{m+1}`$ to $`^{n+1}`$. This extension must satisfy the condition $`f(x),f(x)=x,x^2`$ for all $`x^{m+1}`$. By a great circle in $`S^m`$ we mean a circle obtained as the intersection of $`S^m`$ with a 2-dimensional vector subspace. The following simple but very important statement is proved in :

###### Proposition 5.1.

Any quadratic map $`f:S^mS^n`$ takes great circles to circles.

Consider a homogeneous quadratic map $`F:^{m+1}^n`$ such that $`F,F=Q_1Q_2`$, where $`Q_1`$ and $`Q_2`$ are quadratic forms. Then the forms $`Q_1`$ and $`Q_2`$ both take nonnegative values only or both take non-positive values only. By changing the sign, if necessary, we can always arrange that both forms take nonnegative values only. Suppose that the kernels of $`Q_1`$ and $`Q_2`$ intersect trivially. Then $`Q_1+Q_2`$ is a positive definite form on $`^{m+1}`$. Equip $`^{m+1}`$ with the Euclidean structure such that the square of the length with respect to this structure equals to the quadratic form $`Q_1+Q_2`$. In other words, $`x,x=Q_1(x)+Q_2(x)`$ for any $`x^{m+1}`$.

The next proposition is verified by a simple direct computation:

###### Proposition 5.2.

The quadratic map $`(2F,Q_1Q_2):^{m+1}^{n+1}`$ takes the unit sphere $`S^m^{m+1}`$ to the unit sphere $`S^n^{n+1}`$.

Most examples of quadratic maps between spheres come from normed pairings. Consider a normed pairing $`f:^r\times ^s^n`$. Then the Hopf map

$$H_f(x,y)=(2f(x,y),x,xy,y)$$

takes $`S^{r+s1}`$ to $`S^n`$.

Yiu  described all pairs of positive integers $`m,n`$ such that there is a non-constant quadratic map of $`S^m`$ to $`S^n`$. Namely, $`n\kappa (m)`$, where the Yiu function $`\kappa `$ is defined recurrently as follows:

$$\kappa (2^t+m)=\{\begin{array}{cc}2^t,\hfill & \hfill 0m<\rho (2^t)\\ 2^t+\kappa (m),\hfill & \hfill \rho (2^t)m<2^t\end{array}$$

Let $`f:S^mS^n`$ be any map between unit spheres. Denote by $`\varphi `$ a map of an open subset $`U`$ of $`^m`$ to $`^n`$ obtained as the composition of

* an affine embedding of $`U^m`$ into $`^{m+1}0`$,
* the radial projection of $`^{m+1}0`$ to $`S^m^{m+1}`$,
* the map $`f:S^mS^n`$,
* a stereographic projection of $`S^n`$ to some hyperplane $`H`$ in $`^{n+1}`$,
* a Euclidean identification of $`H`$ with $`^n`$.

Then we say that the map $`\varphi `$ factors through the map $`f`$.

###### Theorem 5.3.

Any nondegenerate rounding $`\mathrm{\Phi }:(^m,0)(^n,0)`$ admits an equivalent rounding that factors through a quadratic map between spheres $`S^m`$ and $`S^n`$.

Proof. By Corollary 3.3, there is a rounding $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ that extends to a fractional quadratic map $`F/Q`$, where $`F:^m^n`$ is a (possibly inhomogeneous) quadratic map, $`Q:^m`$ is a (possibly inhomogeneous) quadratic polynomial and the degree 4 polynomial $`F,F`$ is divisible by $`Q`$. Extend $`^m`$ to $`^{m+1}`$ by adding an extra coordinate $`t`$. Let $`\stackrel{~}{F}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{Q}`$ be the homogeneous quadratic map and the homogeneous quadratic form, respectively, that restrict to $`F`$ and $`Q`$ on the hyperplane $`t=1`$.

Consider the map $`\stackrel{~}{F}/\stackrel{~}{Q}:^{m+1}^n`$. By Proposition 3.1, it sends all lines to circles. Now compose this map with the inverse stereographic projection of $`^n`$ to the unit sphere in $`^{n+1}`$. We obtain the map

$$f^{}:^{m+1}^{n+1},f^{}=(\frac{2\stackrel{~}{F}}{\stackrel{~}{Q}_1+\stackrel{~}{Q}_2},\frac{\stackrel{~}{Q}_1\stackrel{~}{Q}_2}{\stackrel{~}{Q}_1+\stackrel{~}{Q}_2}),f^{}(^{m+1})S^n,$$

where $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_2`$ are quadratic forms such that $`\stackrel{~}{F}=\stackrel{~}{Q}_1\stackrel{~}{Q}_2`$. Without loss of generality, we can assume that forms $`Q_1`$ and $`Q_2`$ are nonnegative.

If the quadratic form $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_1+\stackrel{~}{Q}_2`$ is nondegenerate, then it is positive definite, i.e. it defines a Euclidean inner product on $`^{m+1}`$. The quadratic map $`f=(2\stackrel{~}{F},\stackrel{~}{Q}_1\stackrel{~}{Q}_2)`$ from Proposition 5.2 takes the unit sphere $`S^m`$ in $`^{m+1}`$ to the unit sphere $`S^n`$ in $`^{n+1}`$ and coincides with $`f^{}`$ on $`S^m`$. Thus $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ factors through $`f`$.

It remains to verify that $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_1+\stackrel{~}{Q}_2`$ is indeed nondegenerate. Using the explicit construction of $`F`$ and $`Q`$, we can write

$$\stackrel{~}{Q}_1+\stackrel{~}{Q}_2=t^22pt+q+A,A=(qp^2)+(pt)^2+A,A.$$

Here $`A+B`$ is the 2-jet of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ (and of $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$), $`p=A,B/A,A`$ and $`q=B,B/A,A`$. If at some point $`x_0^m`$, the form $`\stackrel{~}{Q}_1+\stackrel{~}{Q}_2`$ vanishes, then $`A(x_0)=0`$, $`q(x_0)=p^2(x_0)`$, and hence $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is degenerate. Contradiction. $`\mathrm{}`$

In , we found a simple condition on a rounding, which guarantees that it factors through the Hopf map associated with a representation of a Clifford algebra.

Theorem 5.3 combined with results of Yiu leads to Theorem 0.2.


text:
# 1 𝜆'-sets and 𝛾-sets

## 1 $`\lambda ^{}`$-sets and $`\gamma `$-sets

A set $`X2^\omega `$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set iff for all countable $`A2^\omega `$ there exists a $`G_\delta `$ set $`G`$ such that

$$(XA)G=A$$

An $`\omega `$-cover of $`X`$ is a countable set of open sets such that every finite subset of $`X`$ is contained an element of the cover. A $`\gamma `$-cover of $`X`$ is a countable sequence of open subsets of $`X`$ such that every element of $`X`$ is in all but countably many elements of the sequence.

Define. $`X`$ is a $`\gamma `$-set iff any $`\omega `$-cover of $`X`$ contains a $`\gamma `$-cover of $`X`$.

In this section we answer a question of Gary Gruenhage who asked if there is always a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set which is not a $`\gamma `$-set. We answer this in the negative.

It is well known (see Gerlitz and Nagy ) that MA($`\sigma `$-centered) implies that every set of reals of cardinality less than the continuum is a $`\gamma `$-set. The standard model for MA($`\sigma `$-centered) (see Kunen and Tall ) is obtained as follows:

Suppose that $`M`$ is a countable standard model of ZFC+CH and we iterate $`\sigma `$-centered forcings of size $`\omega _1`$ in $`M`$ with a finite support iteration of length $`\omega _2`$. In the final model $`M_{\omega _2}`$, we have that MA($`\sigma `$-centered) is true and the continuum is $`\omega _2`$.

###### Theorem 1.1

In the standard model for MA($`\sigma `$-centered) every $`\lambda ^{}`$ set has cardinality $`\omega _1`$. and (it follows from MA($`\sigma `$-centered)) every set of size $`\omega _1`$ is a $`\gamma `$-set. Hence, in this model, every $`\lambda ^{}`$-set is a $`\gamma `$-set.

Proof

We will use the following Lemma in our proof.

###### Lemma 1.2

Suppose that $``$ is a $`\sigma `$-centered forcing such that

$$|\tau 2^\omega $$

Then there exists a countable set $`A2^\omega `$ in the ground model such that for every $`p`$ and open set $`UA`$ coded in the ground model there exists $`qp`$ such that $`q|\tau U`$.

Proof

To prove the Lemma we will use the following Claim.

Claim. Suppose $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a centered subset. Then there exists $`x2^\omega `$ such that for every $`p\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and for every $`n<\omega `$ there exists $`qp`$ such that

$$p|\stackrel{ˇ}{x}n=\tau n.$$

pf: Otherwise by the compactness of $`2^\omega `$ there exists a finite set

$$\{p_m:m<N\}\mathrm{\Sigma }\text{ and }\{s_m:m<N\}2^{<\omega }$$

such that $`\{[s_m]:m<N\}`$ covers $`2^\omega `$ and for each $`m<N`$ we have that

$$p_m|\tau [s_m].$$

But this is a contradiction since there exists some $`p`$ below all of the $`p_m`$. This proves the Claim.

Let $`=_{n<\omega }\mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$ be a sequence of centered sets. Then for each $`n`$ there exists $`x_n2^\omega `$ such that for every $`p\mathrm{\Sigma }_n`$ and for every $`m\omega `$ there exists $`qp`$ such that

$$q|\stackrel{ˇ}{x}_nm=\tau m.$$

Now let $`A=\{x_n:n<\omega \}`$. This proves the Lemma.

QED

Suppose $`X2^\omega `$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set in $`M_{\omega _2}`$. For each $`\alpha \omega _2`$ define

$$X_\alpha =XM_\alpha $$

By a standard Lowenheim-Skolem argument we can find $`\alpha <\omega _2`$ such that

1. $`X_\alpha M_\alpha `$ and
2. for every countable $`A2^\omega `$ which is in $`M_\alpha `$ there exists a $`G_\delta `$-set $`G`$ coded in $`M_\alpha `$ such that

$$(X_{\omega _2}A)G=A$$

We claim that $`X=X_{\omega _2}=X_\alpha `$ and hence has cardinality $`\omega _1`$. Suppose that $`\tau `$ is any term for an element of $`2^\omega `$ in $`M_{\omega _2}`$. Since $`\tau `$ is added at some latter stage $`\beta `$ with $`\alpha \beta <\omega _2`$ and the iteration of $`\sigma `$-centered forcings of length $`<\omega _2`$ is $`\sigma `$-centered, it follows that $`\tau `$ is added by a $`\sigma `$-centered forcing over $`M_\alpha `$. Let $`A2^\omega `$ be the countable set given by the Lemma. By the Lemma it follows that $`\tau `$ must be an element of any $`G_\delta `$ set coded in $`M_\alpha `$ which contains $`A`$. Using item (2) above we see that $`\tau `$ must be in $`A`$ if it is in $`X_{\omega _2}`$. Therefore $`X_{\omega _2}X_\alpha =\mathrm{}`$.

QED

Remark. This argument is similar to the proof that there are no $`\lambda ^{}`$-sets of size $`\omega _2`$ in Laver’s model, see Miller .

Remark. A set of reals $`X`$ is a $`\lambda `$-set iff every countable subset of $`X`$ is a relative $`G_\delta `$. In ZFC we must always have a $`\lambda `$-set which is not a $`\gamma `$-set. To see this let

$$X=\{f_\alpha \omega ^\omega :\alpha <𝔟\}$$

be well-ordered by eventual dominance and unbounded. Then Rothberger  (or see Miller ) showed that $`X`$ is a $`\lambda `$-set. However $`X`$ is not a $`\gamma `$-set as is witnessed by the sequences of $`\omega `$-covers

$$𝒰_m=\{U_n^m:n\omega \}\text{ where }U_n^m=\{f\omega ^\omega :f(m)<n\}.$$

In fact the set $`X`$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set with respect to $`\omega ^\omega `$. This follows from the following lemma.

###### Lemma 1.3

(Rothberger) Suppose $`Z_\beta =\{f_\alpha :\alpha <\beta \}\omega ^\omega `$ is well-ordered by eventual dominance, and $`A\omega ^\omega `$ is countable and for every $`gA`$ there exists $`\alpha <\beta `$ such that $`^{\mathrm{}}ng(n)<f_\alpha (n)`$. Then there exists a $`G_\delta `$ set $`G`$ with

$$G(Z_\beta A)=A$$

Proof

This is proved by induction on $`\beta `$. and assume the lemma is true for all $`\delta <\beta `$. If $`\beta `$ is a successor ordinal, then the induction is trivial.

Case 1. $`\beta `$ is a limit ordinal of uncountable cofinality.

Find $`\delta _0<\beta `$ so that for each $`gA`$ $`^{\mathrm{}}ng(n)<f_{\delta _0}(n)`$. Then by induction there exists a $`G_\delta `$ set $`G`$ with

$$G(Z_{\delta _0}A)=A$$

Let $`H=\{g\omega :^{\mathrm{}}ng(n)<f_{\delta _0}(n)\}`$ Then $`H`$ is a $`G_\delta `$ set containing $`A`$ and missing $`Z_\beta Z_\delta `$ and so

$$(GH)(Z_\beta A)=A$$

Case 2. $`\beta `$ is a limit ordinal of countable cofinality.

Let $`\beta _n`$ be an increasing $`\omega `$-sequence with limit $`\beta `$ and let

$$A_n=\{gA:^{\mathrm{}}mg(m)<f_{\beta _n}(m)\}$$

By inductive assumption there exists $`G_\delta `$ sets $`G_n`$ so that

$$G_n(Z_{\beta _n}A_n)=A_n$$

Define

$$G_n^{}=G_n\{g\omega ^\omega :^{\mathrm{}}mf_{\beta _n}(m)g(m)\}$$

Note that $`G_n^{}`$ is a $`G_\delta `$ set which contains $`A`$ but still

$$G_n^{}(Z_{\beta _n}A_n)=A_n$$

Define $`G=_{n<\omega }G_n^{}`$. Then $`G`$ is a $`G_\delta `$-set with

$$G(Z_\beta A)=A$$

QED

Remark. A Hausdorff gap is an example of a $`\lambda ^{}`$ set of cardinality $`\omega _1`$. $`\gamma `$-sets have strong measure zero and Laver  proved that it consistent that every strong measure zero set is countable.

Suppose there exists $`X,Y2^\omega `$ such that $`|X|=|Y|`$ and $`X`$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set and $`Y`$ is not a $`\gamma `$-set. Then there exists $`Z`$ which is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set and not a $`\gamma `$-set. To see this let $`X=\{x_\alpha :\alpha <\kappa \}`$ and $`Y=\{y_\alpha :\alpha <\kappa \}`$. Put $`Z=\{(x_\alpha ,y_\alpha ):\alpha <\kappa \}`$. The first $`\kappa `$ for which MA($`\sigma `$-centered) fails is $`𝔭`$ (Bell ) and $`𝔭`$ is also the size of the smallest non $`\gamma `$-set. Hence any model where every $`\lambda ^{}`$-set is $`\gamma `$-set and $`𝔠\omega _2`$ must satisfy MA($`\sigma `$-centered) and $`𝔠=\omega _2`$.

Remark. Gruenhage and Szeptychi  were interested in obtaining a set of reals $`X2^\omega `$ which is $`\gamma `$-set and not a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set because of the following two topological games.

Let $`X`$ be a topological space and $`xX`$.

Game: $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X,x)`$: On round $`n`$ player $`𝒪`$ chooses an open neighborhood $`U_n`$ of $`x`$ and player $`𝒫`$ chooses a point $`p_nU_n\{x\}`$. Player $`𝒪`$ wins iff the sequence $`p_n`$ converges to $`x`$.

Game: $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X,x)`$: The same except we allow player $`𝒫`$ to choose a finite set of points $`P_nU_n\{x\}`$ on his move and $`𝒪`$ wins iff $`_{n<\omega }P_n`$ converges to $`x`$.

It is not hard to check that player $`𝒪`$ has a winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X,x)`$ iff player $`𝒪`$ has a winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X,x)`$. Also if player $`𝒫`$ has a winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X,x)`$, then it is a winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X,x)`$.

Given $`X2^\omega `$ consider the topology on $`2^{<\omega }\mathrm{}`$ generated by

1. $`\{\sigma \}`$ for each $`\sigma 2^{<\omega }`$ and
2. $`\{\mathrm{}\}(2^{<\omega }\{xn:n<\omega \})`$ for each $`xX`$.

Let $`X_F`$ denote this countable topological space.

Gruenhage , Nyikos , Sharma , and Gruenhage and Szeptycki  can be combined to show that:

$`X`$ is not a $`\gamma `$-set iff player $`𝒫`$ has a winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X_F,\mathrm{})`$.

If $`X`$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set, then $`𝒫`$ has no winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X_F,\mathrm{})`$.

Hence, if there is a set $`X`$ which is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set and not a $`\gamma `$-set, then $`𝒫`$ has a winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X_F,\mathrm{})`$ but not in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X_F,\mathrm{})`$.

Dow  results imply that in Laver’s model :

$`X`$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set iff $`𝒫`$ has no winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X_F,\mathrm{})`$.

But, it also consistent that they are not the same. In Galvin and Miller  it is shown that assuming MA($`\sigma `$-centered) there is a $`\gamma `$-set $`X`$ which is concentrated on a countable subset of itself. Hence $`𝒫`$ has no winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X_F,\mathrm{})`$ hence none in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X_F,\mathrm{})`$, but $`X`$ is not a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set.

###### Question 1.4

Is it consistent with ZFC that for every $`X2^\omega `$ that

$`𝒫`$ has no winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}(X_F,\mathrm{})`$

iff

$`𝒫`$ has no winning strategy in $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X_F,\mathrm{})`$?

To better see the connection with $`\gamma `$-sets consider the following game:

Game: $`G_{,𝒞}^\gamma (X)`$: Two players $``$ finite and $`𝒞`$ clopen alternate plays as follows. On round $`n`$ player $``$ plays a finite set $`F_nX`$ and player $`𝒞`$ responds with a clopen set $`C_n`$ in $`2^\omega `$ with $`F_nC_n`$. Player $``$ wins iff $`C_n:n<\omega `$ is a $`\gamma `$-cover of $`X`$, ie. for all $`xX`$ for all but finitely many $`n`$ we have $`xC_n`$.

This game is exactly the same as $`G_{𝒪,𝒫}^f(X_F,\mathrm{})`$. A neighborhood basis for $`\mathrm{}`$ in $`X_F`$ consists of sets of the form $`2^{<\omega }\{xn:xF,n<\omega \}`$ for $`FX`$ finite. So we can regard $`𝒪`$ as player $``$ playing a finite subset of $`X`$. Instead of $`𝒫`$ playing a finite set $`P_n2^{<\omega }`$ just regard him as $`𝒞`$ playing the clopen set

$$C_n=2^\omega \{[s]:sP_n\}.$$

###### Theorem 1.5

(Gruenhage, Szeptycki, Nyikos) For $`X2^\omega `$ the following are equivalent:

1. $`X`$ is not a $`\gamma `$-set
2. $`𝒞`$ has a winning strategy in $`G_{,𝒞}^\gamma (X)`$.

Proof

Suppose $`X`$ is is not a $`\gamma `$-set and let $`𝒰`$ be an $`\omega `$-cover with no $`\gamma `$-subcover. Without loss of generality we may assume the elements of $`𝒰`$ are clopen. Given any $`F_n`$ let $`𝒞`$ choose $`C_n𝒰`$ with $`F_nC_n`$. Then since $`C_n:n<\omega `$ is not a $`\gamma `$-cover, $`𝒞`$ wins.

For the other direction suppose Player $`𝒞`$ has a winning strategy $`\tau `$ in $`G_{,𝒞}^\gamma (X)`$. Construct $`F_s,C_s:s\omega ^{<\omega }`$ so that

1. for each $`s\omega ^{<\omega }`$ the set $`𝒰_s=\{C_{sn}:n<\omega \}`$ is an $`\omega `$-cover of $`X`$ and
2. for each $`s\omega ^{<\omega }`$ and the set $`C_s`$ is the response of player $`𝒞`$ using the strategy $`\tau `$ against the play $`F_{s1},F_{s2},\mathrm{},F_s`$.

To do this just let

$$𝒰_s=\{C:FC=\tau (F_{s1},F_{s2},\mathrm{},F_s,F)\}$$

This is countable since there are only countably many clopen sets and by the rules of the game it must be an $`\omega `$-cover. For each element of $`𝒰_s`$ choose a witness $`F`$.

Suppose for contradiction that $`X`$ is a $`\gamma `$-set. It is well known (Gerlits and Nagy ) that for a $`\gamma `$ set $`X`$ that given a sequence of $`\omega `$-covers, we may choose one element of each to get a $`\gamma `$-cover. This is denoted $`XS_1(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. Hence we may choose $`C_{sn_s}`$ for each $`s\omega ^{<\omega }`$ such that every $`xX`$ is in all but finitely many $`C_{sn_s}`$. But now just look at the branch

$$m_0,m_1,m_2,\mathrm{}\text{ where }m_0=n_{},\mathrm{},m_{k+1}=n_{m_0,m_1,m_2,\mathrm{},m_k}$$

But

$$F_{m_0},C_{m_0},\mathrm{},F_{m_0,m_1,\mathrm{},m_k},C_{m_0,m_1,\mathrm{},m_k},\mathrm{}$$

is a play using the strategy $`\tau `$ with yields a $`\gamma `$ cover. This is a contradiction.

QED

## 2 $`()`$-$`\lambda ^{}`$-set

In this section we answer Problem 2.12 from Nowik and Weiss  which asks basically whether it is true that every $`()`$-$`\lambda ^{}`$-set is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set.

Definition. For any $`f\omega ^\omega `$

$$G_f=\{a[\omega ]^\omega 2^\omega :nm>na_n<f(n)\}a=\{a_0<a_1<\mathrm{}\}$$

Definition. A set $`X2^\omega `$ is a $`()`$-$`\lambda ^{}`$-set iff for every $`f\omega ^\omega `$ we have $`XG_f`$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set.

###### Theorem 2.1

Suppose that the continuum hypothesis is true or even just $`𝔟=𝔡`$. Then there exists a $`()`$-$`\lambda ^{}`$-set which is not a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set.

###### Theorem 2.2

In the Cohen real model (Cohen’s original model for not CH) every $`()`$-$`\lambda ^{}`$-set is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set.

Proof of Theorem 2.1

Assume CH. Let $`\{f_\alpha \omega ^\omega :\alpha <\omega _1\}`$ be a scale. That is, for $`\alpha <\beta `$ we have that $`f_\alpha <^{}f_\beta `$ and for all $`g\omega ^\omega `$ there exists $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ such that $`g<^{}f_\alpha `$. We may also assume that the $`f_\alpha `$ are strictly increasing. Let $`X[\omega ]^\omega `$ be the set of ranges of the elements of the scale. Then for any $`g\omega ^\omega `$ we have that $`G_gX`$ is countable and hence a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set. On the other hand $`X`$ is not a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set because of the countable set $`[\omega ]^{<\omega }`$. If $`UP(\omega )`$ is an open set containing $`[\omega ]^{<\omega }`$, then $`P(\omega )U`$ is a compact subset of $`[\omega ]^\omega `$. If we identify $`\omega ^\omega `$ with $`[\omega ]^\omega `$ this means that there exists $`f\omega ^\omega `$ such that for all $`gK`$ we have $`ng(n)<f(n)`$. It follows that for all but countably many $`\alpha `$ we have that the range($`f_\alpha )U`$.

The proof using $`𝔟=𝔡`$ is similar. Start with a scale indexed by $`𝔟`$ and note that any set $`YP(\omega )`$ of size less than $`𝔟`$ is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set (this is due to Rothberger, see the proof of Lemma 2.4).

QED

Proof of Theorem 2.2

Assume that $`M`$ is a countable transitive standard model of ZFC+CH.

For any $`\alpha \omega _2^M`$ let $`_\alpha `$ be the finite partial functions from $`\alpha `$ into 2. We claim that for any $`G`$ a $`_{\omega _2}`$-generic filter over $`M`$ that in the model $`M[G]`$ every $`()`$-$`\lambda ^{}`$-set is a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set.

###### Lemma 2.3

Suppose $`N`$ is a countable standard model of ZFC+CH, $``$ is a countable poset in $`N`$, and

$$NX\omega ^\omega \text{ is unbounded in }^{}$$

Then for any $`G`$ which is $``$-generic over $`N`$ we have that

$$N[G]X\text{ is unbounded in }^{}$$

Proof

Let $`\{g_\alpha :\alpha <\omega _1^N\}`$ be a scale in $`N`$. Working in $`N`$ choose $`f_\alpha X`$ so that

$$^{\mathrm{}}nf_\alpha (n)>g_\alpha (n)$$

Note that for every $`g\omega ^\omega N`$ there exists $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ such that

$$\beta >\alpha ^{\mathrm{}}nf_\beta (n)>g(n).$$

Suppose for contradiction that for some $`gN[G]\omega ^\omega `$ and all $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ we have that $`g^{}f_\alpha `$. Then for some $`\mathrm{\Sigma }[\omega _1]^{\omega _1}`$ and $`n<\omega `$ we have that

$$m>n\alpha \mathrm{\Sigma }f_\alpha (m)g(m)$$

Let $`qG`$ force this fact. Now since $``$ is a countable poset, there exists some $`pG`$ with $`pq`$ such that

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\{\alpha <\omega _1:p|\alpha \dot{\mathrm{\Sigma }}\}$$

is uncountable (and by definability of forcing it is in $`N`$). But note that $`\{f_\alpha :\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }\}`$ is unbounded and so for some $`m>n`$ the set $`\{f_\alpha (m):\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }\}`$ is unbounded in $`\omega `$.

Let $`rp`$ decide $`g(m)`$, i.e., for some $`k<\omega `$ suppose

$$r|\dot{g}(m)=k.$$

Choose $`\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }`$ such that $`f_\alpha (m)>k`$, then $`r`$ forces a contradiction and the Lemma is proved.

QED

###### Lemma 2.4

Suppose $`N`$ is a countable standard model of ZFC+CH, $``$ is a countable poset in $`N`$, and

$$NY2^\omega \text{ is not a }\lambda ^{}\text{ - set}$$

Then for $`G`$ $``$-generic over $`N`$ we have that

$$N[G]Y\text{ is not a }\lambda ^{}\text{ - set}$$

Proof

Let $`D2^\omega `$ be countable in $`N`$ and witness that $`Y`$ is not a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set, ie. there is no $`G_\delta `$ set $`_nU_n`$ coded in $`N`$ with

$$\underset{n}{}U_n(YD)=D$$

Working in $`N`$ let $`D=\{x_n:n<\omega \}`$ and let $`Z=YD`$ and for each $`zZ`$ define $`f_z\omega ^\omega `$ such that $`f_z(n)`$ is the least $`m`$ such that $`x_nmzm`$. Now the family $`X=\{f_z:zZ\}`$ must be unbounded in $`^{}`$ in $`N`$. Suppose not, then there exists $`g\omega ^\omega N`$ which eventually dominates each element of $`X`$. It follows that if we let

$$U_n=\underset{m<n}{}[x_mn]\underset{mn}{}[x_mg(m)]$$

then

$$(\underset{n<\omega }{}U_n)(YD)=D$$

which is a contradiction.

It follows from Lemma 2.3 that $`X`$ is unbounded in $`N[G]`$. I claim that $`D`$ cannot be $`G_\delta `$ in $`YD`$ in the model $`N[G]`$. Suppose not, and let $`_{n<\omega }U_n`$ be a $`G_\delta `$ in $`N[G]`$ such that

$$\underset{n<\omega }{}U_n(YD)=D$$

For each $`n`$ let $`g_n\omega ^\omega `$ be such that for every $`m`$ we have that

$$[x_mg_n(m)]U_n.$$

Now for any $`zZ`$ there exist a $`n`$ such that $`zU_n`$. But this means that $`f_z(m)g_n(m)`$ for every $`m`$ since otherwise

$$x_mg_n(m)=zg_n(m)$$

and then $`zU_n`$. This proves the Lemma.

QED

Now we prove Theorem 2.2. Suppose that $`X2^\omega `$ is in $`M[G]`$ where $`G`$ is $`_{\omega _2}`$-generic over $`M`$ and

$$M[G]X\text{ is not a }\lambda ^{}\text{-set}$$

By Lowenheim-Skolem arguments there exists $`\alpha <\omega _2`$ such that

$$X_\alpha =^{def}XM[G_\alpha ],X_\alpha M[G_\alpha ],\text{ and }M[G_\alpha ]X_\alpha \text{ is not a }\lambda ^{}\text{-set}$$

Since being a $`\lambda ^{}`$-set only depends on codes for $`G_\delta `$-sets and reals are added by countable suborders of $`_{[\alpha ,\omega _2)}`$ it follows from Lemma 2.4 that

$$M[G]X_\alpha \text{ is not a }\lambda ^{}\text{-set}$$

But if $`f\omega ^\omega M[G]`$ is $`\omega ^{<\omega }`$-generic over $`M[G_\alpha ]`$ then $`X_\alpha G_f`$. It follows that

$$M[G]X\text{ is not }()\text{-}\lambda ^{}\text{-set }$$

as was to be proved.

QED

Arnold W. Miller

miller@math.wisc.edu

http://www.math.wisc.edu/$``$miller

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Department of Mathematics, Van Vleck Hall

480 Lincoln Drive

Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1388