On the Mumford-Tate conjecture for Abelian varieties with reduction conditions

In this thesis we study Galois representations corresponding to abelian varieties with certain reduction conditions. We show that these conditions force the image of the representations to be "big," so that the Mumford-Tate conjecture (:= MT) holds. We also prove that the set of abelian varieties satisfying these conditions is dense in a corresponding moduli space.

The main results of the thesis are the following two theorems.

Theorem A: Let A be an absolutely simple abelian variety, End° (A) = k : imaginary quadratic field, g = dim(A). Assume either dim(A) ≤ 4, or A has bad reduction at some prime ϕ, with the dimension of the toric part of the reduction equal to 2r, and gcd(r,g) = 1, and (r,g) ≠ (15,56) or (m -1, m(m+1)/2). Then MT holds.

Theorem B: Let M be the moduli space of abelian varieties with fixed polarization, level structure and a k-action. It is defined over a number field F. The subset of M(Q) corresponding to absolutely simple abelian varieties with a prescribed stable reduction at a large enough prime ϕ of F is dense in M(C) in the complex topology. In particular, the set of simple abelian varieties having bad reductions with fixed dimension of the toric parts is dense.

Besides this we also established the following results:

(1) MT holds for some other classes of abelian varieties with similar reduction conditions. For example, if A is an abelian variety with End° (A) = Q and the dimension of the toric part of its reduction is prime to dim( A), then MT holds.

(2) MT holds for Ribet-type abelian varieties.

(3) The Hodge and the Tate conjectures are equivalent for abelian 4-folds.

(4) MT holds for abelian 4-folds of type II, III, IV (Theorem 5.0(2)) and some 4-folds of type I.

(5) For some abelian varieties either MT or the Hodge conjecture holds.

Geometric quantization and foliation reduction

A standard question in the study of geometric quantization is whether symplectic reduction interacts nicely with the quantized theory, and in particular whether “quantization commutes with reduction.” Guillemin and Sternberg first proposed this question, and answered it in the affirmative for the case of a free action of a compact Lie group on a compact Kähler manifold. Subsequent work has focused mainly on extending their proof to non-free actions and non-Kähler manifolds. For realistic physical examples, however, it is desirable to have a proof which also applies to non-compact symplectic manifolds.

In this thesis we give a proof of the quantization-reduction problem for general symplectic manifolds. This is accomplished by working in a particular wavefunction representation, associated with a polarization that is in some sense compatible with reduction. While the polarized sections described by Guillemin and Sternberg are nonzero on a dense subset of the Kähler manifold, the ones considered here are distributional, having support only on regions of the phase space associated with certain quantized, or “admissible”, values of momentum.

We first propose a reduction procedure for the prequantum geometric structures that “covers” symplectic reduction, and demonstrate how both symplectic and prequantum reduction can be viewed as examples of foliation reduction. Consistency of prequantum reduction imposes the above-mentioned admissibility conditions on the quantized momenta, which can be seen as analogues of the Bohr-Wilson-Sommerfeld conditions for completely integrable systems.

We then describe our reduction-compatible polarization, and demonstrate a one-to-one correspondence between polarized sections on the unreduced and reduced spaces.

Finally, we describe a factorization of the reduced prequantum bundle, suggested by the structure of the underlying reduced symplectic manifold. This in turn induces a factorization of the space of polarized sections that agrees with its usual decomposition by irreducible representations, and so proves that quantization and reduction do indeed commute in this context.

A significant omission from the proof is the construction of an inner product on the space of polarized sections, and a discussion of its behavior under reduction. In the concluding chapter of the thesis, we suggest some ideas for future work in this direction.

Multiscale model reduction methods for deterministic and stochastic partial differential equations

Partial differential equations (PDEs) with multiscale coefficients are very difficult to solve due to the wide range of scales in the solutions. In the thesis, we propose some efficient numerical methods for both deterministic and stochastic PDEs based on the model reduction technique.

For the deterministic PDEs, the main purpose of our method is to derive an effective equation for the multiscale problem. An essential ingredient is to decompose the harmonic coordinate into a smooth part and a highly oscillatory part of which the magnitude is small. Such a decomposition plays a key role in our construction of the effective equation. We show that the solution to the effective equation is smooth, and could be resolved on a regular coarse mesh grid. Furthermore, we provide error analysis and show that the solution to the effective equation plus a correction term is close to the original multiscale solution.

For the stochastic PDEs, we propose the model reduction based data-driven stochastic method and multilevel Monte Carlo method. In the multiquery, setting and on the assumption that the ratio of the smallest scale and largest scale is not too small, we propose the multiscale data-driven stochastic method. We construct a data-driven stochastic basis and solve the coupled deterministic PDEs to obtain the solutions. For the tougher problems, we propose the multiscale multilevel Monte Carlo method. We apply the multilevel scheme to the effective equations and assemble the stiffness matrices efficiently on each coarse mesh grid. In both methods, the $\KL$ expansion plays an important role in extracting the main parts of some stochastic quantities.

For both the deterministic and stochastic PDEs, numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the methods. We also show the computational time cost reduction in the numerical examples.

A fundamental approach to phase noise reduction in hybrid Si/III-V lasers

Spontaneous emission into the lasing mode fundamentally limits laser linewidths. Reducing cavity losses provides two benefits to linewidth: (1) fewer excited carriers are needed to reach threshold, resulting in less phase-corrupting spontaneous emission into the laser mode, and (2) more photons are stored in the laser cavity, such that each individual spontaneous emission event disturbs the phase of the field less. Strong optical absorption in III-V materials causes high losses, preventing currently-available semiconductor lasers from achieving ultra-narrow linewidths. This absorption is a natural consequence of the compromise between efficient electrical and efficient optical performance in a semiconductor laser. Some of the III-V layers must be heavily doped in order to funnel excited carriers into the active region, which has the side effect of making the material strongly absorbing.

This thesis presents a new technique, called modal engineering, to remove modal energy from the lossy region and store it in an adjacent low-loss material, thereby reducing overall optical absorption. A quantum mechanical analysis of modal engineering shows that modal gain and spontaneous emission rate into the laser mode are both proportional to the normalized intensity of that mode at the active region. If optical absorption near the active region dominates the total losses of the laser cavity, shifting modal energy from the lossy region to the low-loss region will reduce modal gain, total loss, and the spontaneous emission rate into the mode by the same factor, so that linewidth decreases while the threshold inversion remains constant. The total spontaneous emission rate into all other modes is unchanged.

Modal engineering is demonstrated using the Si/III-V platform, in which light is generated in the III-V material and stored in the low-loss silicon material. The silicon is patterned as a high-Q resonator to minimize all sources of loss. Fabricated lasers employing modal engineering to concentrate light in silicon demonstrate linewidths at least 5 times smaller than lasers without modal engineering at the same pump level above threshold, while maintaining the same thresholds.

Iridium and rhodium analogues of the Shilov cycle catalyst; and the investigation and applications of the Reduction-Coupled Oxo Activation (ROA) mechanistic motif towards alkane upgrading

This dissertation will cover several disparate topics, with the overarching theme centering on the investigation of organometallic C-H activation and hydrocarbon transformation and upgrading. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss iridium and rhodium analogues of the Shilov cycle catalyst for methane to methanol oxidation, and Chapter 4 on the recently discovered ROA mechanistic motif in catalysts for various alkane partial oxidation reactions. In addition, Chapter 5 discusses the mechanism of nickel pyridine bisoxazoline Negishi catalysts for asymmetric and stereoconvergent C-C coupling, and the appendices discuss smaller projects on rhodium H/D exchange catalysts and DFT method benchmarking.

Development of Metalloenzyme Dioxygen Reduction Cathodes

The prime thrust of this dissertation is to advance the development of fuel cell dioxygen reduction cathodes that employ some variant of multicopper oxidase enzymes as the catalyst. The low earth-abundance of platinum metal and its correspondingly high market cost has prompted a general search amongst chemists and materials scientists for reasonable alternatives to this metal for facilitating catalytic dioxygen reduction chemistry. The multicopper oxidases (MCOs), which constitute a class of enzyme that naturally catalyze the reaction O₂ + 4H⁺ + 4e^- → 2H₂O, provide a promising set of biochemical contenders for fuel cell cathode catalysts. In MCOs, a substrate reduces a copper atom at the type 1 site, where charge is then transferred to a trinuclear copper cluster consisting of a mononuclear type 2 or “normal copper” site and a binuclear type 3 copper site. Following the reduction of all four copper atoms in the enzyme, dioxygen is then reduced to water in two two-electron steps, upon binding to the trinuclear copper cluster. We identified an MCO, a laccase from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus strain HB27, as a promising candidate for cathodic fuel cell catalysis. This protein demonstrates resilience at high temperatures, exhibiting no denaturing transition at temperatures high as 95°C, conditions relevant to typical polymer electrolyte fuel cell operation.

In Chapter I of this thesis, we discuss initial efforts to physically characterize the enzyme when operating as a heterogeneous cathode catalyst. Following this, in Chapter II we then outline the development of a model capable of describing the observed electrochemical behavior of this enzyme when operating on porous carbon electrodes. Developing a rigorous mathematical framework with which to describe this system had the potential to improve our understanding of MCO electrokinetics, while also providing a level of predictive power that might guide any future efforts to fabricate MCO cathodes with optimized electrochemical performance. In Chapter III we detail efforts to reduce electrode overpotentials through site-directed mutagenesis of the inner and outer-sphere ligands of the Cu sites in laccase, using electrochemical methods and electronic spectroscopy to try and understand the resultant behavior of our mutant constructs. Finally, in Chapter IV, we examine future work concerning the fabrication of enhanced MCO cathodes, exploring the possibility of new cathode materials and advanced enzyme deposition techniques.

Synthesis, Oxidation and Photophysics of Perfluoroborated Tetrakis(pyrophosphito)diplatinate (II) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) Study of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction by Mn Catalysts

In the first part of this thesis (Chapters I and II), the synthesis, characterization, reactivity and photophysics of per(difluoroborated) tetrakis(pyrophosphito)diplatinate(II) (Pt(POPBF₂)) are discussed. Pt(POP-BF₂) was obtained by reaction of [Pt₂(POP)₄]^4- with neat boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BF₃·Et₂O). While Pt(POP-BF₂) and [Pt₂(POP)₄]^4- have similar structures and absorption spectra, they differ in significant ways. Firstly, as discussed in Chapter I, the former is less susceptible to oxidation, as evidenced by the reversibility of its oxidation by I2. Secondly, while the first excited triplet states (T₁) of both Pt(POP-BF₂) and [Pt₂(POP)₄]^4- exhibit long lifetimes (ca. 0.01 ms at room temperature) and substantial zero-field splitting (40 cm^-1), Pt(POP-BF₂) also has a remarkably long-lived (1.6 ns at room temperature) singlet excited state (S₁), indicating slow intersystem crossing (ISC). Fluorescence lifetime and quantum yield (QY) of Pt(POP-BF₂) were measured over a range of temperatures, providing insight into the slow ISC process. The remarkable spectroscopic and photophysical properties of Pt(POP-BF₂), both in solution and as a microcrystalline powder, form the theme of Chapter II.

In the second part of the thesis (Chapters III and IV), the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to CO by [(L)Mn(CO)₃]^- catalysts is investigated using density functional theory (DFT). As discussed in Chapter III, the turnover frequency (TOF)-limiting step is the dehydroxylation of [(bpy)Mn(CO)₃(CO₂H)]^0/- (bpy = bipyridine) by trifluoroethanol (TFEH) to form [(bpy)Mn(CO)₄]^+/0. Because the dehydroxylation of [(bpy)Mn(CO)₃(CO₂H)]^- is faster, maximum TOF (TOF_max) is achieved at potentials sufficient to completely reduce [(bpy)Mn(CO)₃(CO₂H)]⁰ to [(bpy)Mn(CO)₃(CO₂H)]^-. Substitution of bipyridine with bipyrimidine reduces the overpotential needed, but at the expense of TOF_max. In Chapter IV, the decoration of the bipyrimidine ligand with a pendant alcohol is discussed as a strategy to increase CO₂ reduction activity. Our calculations predict that the pendant alcohol acts in concert with an external TFEH molecule, the latter acidifying the former, resulting in a ~ 80,000-fold improvement in the rate of TOF-limiting dehydroxylation of [(L)Mn(CO)₃(CO₂H)]^-.

An interesting strategy for the co-upgrading of light olefins and alkanes into heavier alkanes is the subject of Appendix B. The proposed scheme involves dimerization of the light olefin, operating in tandem with transfer hydrogenation between the olefin dimer and the light alkane. The work presented therein involved a Ta olefin dimerization catalyst and a silica-supported Ir transfer hydrogenation catalyst. Olefin dimer was formed under reaction conditions; however, this did not undergo transfer hydrogenation with the light alkane. A significant challenge is that the Ta catalyst selectively produces highly branched dimers, which are unable to undergo transfer hydrogenation.

Electrocatalytic reduction of dioxygen at chemically modified electrodes

The kinetics of the reduction of O₂ by Ru(NH₃)₆⁺² as catalyzed by cobalt(II) tetrakis(4-N-methylpyridyl)porphyrin are described both in homogeneous solution and when the reactants are confined to Nafion coatings on graphite electrodes. The catalytic mechanism is determined and the factors that can control the total reduction currents at Nafion-coated electrodes are specified. A kinetic zone diagram for analyzing the behavior of catalyst-mediator-substrate systems at polymer coated electrodes is presented and utilized in identifying the current-limiting processes. Good agreement is demonstrated between calculated and measured reduction currents at rotating disk electrodes. The experimental conditions that will yield the optimum performance of coated electrodes are discussed, and a relationship is derived for the optimal coating thickness.

The relation between the reduction potentials of adsorbed and unadsorbed cobalt(III) tetrakis(4-N-methylpyridyl)porphyrin and those where it catalyzes the electroreduction of dioxygen is described. There is an unusually large change in the formal potential of the Co(III) couple upon the adsorption of the porphyrin on the graphite electrode surface. The mechanism in which the (inevitably) adsorbed porphyrin catalyzes the reduction of O₂ is in accord with a general mechanistic scheme proposed for most monomeric cobalt porphyrins.

Four new dimeric metalloporphyrins (prepared in the laboratory of Professor C. K. Chang) have the two porphyrin rings linked by an anthracene bridge attached to meso positions. The electrocatalytic behavior of the diporphyrins towards the reduction of O₂ at graphite electrodes has been examined for the following combination of metal centers: Co-Cu, Co-Fe, Fe-Fe, Fe-H₂. The Co-Cu diporphyrin catalyzes the reduction of O₂ to H₂O₂ but no further. The other three catalysts all exhibit mixed reduction pathways leading to both H₂O₂ and H₂O. However, the pathways that lead to H₂O do not involve H₂O₂ as an intermediate. A possible mechanistic scheme is offered to account for the observed behavior.

Devil's Gate Reservoir and its effect upon Pasadena's water supply

[Intro.] The Devil’s Gate Dam has been of great benefit to Pasadena’s water supply, in that it prevents a large amount of the flood waters of the Arroyo Seco being wasted into the ocean.

Proton-Coupled Reduction of N2 Facilitated by Molecular Fe Complexes

The activation of Fe-coordinated N₂ via the formal addition of hydrogen atom equivalents is explored in this thesis. These reactions may occur in nitrogenase enzymes during the biological conversion of N₂ to NH₃. To understand these reactions, the N₂ reactivity of a series of molecular Fe(N₂) platforms is investigated. A trigonal pyramidal, carbon-ligated Fe^I complex was prepared that displays a similar geometry to that of the resting state 'belt' Fe atoms of nitrogenase. Upon reduction, this species was shown to coordinate N₂, concomitant with significant weakening of the C-Fe interaction. This hemilability of the axial ligand may play a critical role in mediating the interconversion of Fe(N_xH_y) species during N₂ conversion to NH₃. In fact, a trigonal pyramidal borane-ligated Fe complex was shown to catalyze this transformation, generating up to 8.49 equivalents of NH₃. To shed light on the mechanistic details of this reaction, protonation of a borane-ligated Fe(N₂) complex was investigated and found to give rise to a mixture of species that contains an iron hydrazido(2-) [Fe(NNH₂)] complex. The identification of this species is suggestive of an early N-N bond cleavage event en route to NH₃ production, but the highly-reactive nature of this complex frustrated direct attempts to probe this possibility. A structurally-analogous silyl-ligated Fe(N₂) complex was found to react productively with hydrogen atom equivalents, giving rise to an isolable Fe(NNH₂) species. Spectroscopic and crystallographic studies benefited from the enhanced stability of this complex relative to the borane analogue. One-electron reduction of this species initiates a spontaneous disproportionation reaction with an iron hydrazine [Fe(NH₂NH₂)] complex as the predominant reaction product. This transformation provides support for an Fe-mediated N₂ activation mechanism that proceeds via a late N-N bond cleavage. In hopes of gaining more fundamental insight into these reactions, a series of Fe(CN) complexes were prepared and reacted with hydrogen-atom equivalents. Significant quantities of CH₄ and NH₃ are generated in these reactions as a result of complete C-N bond activation. A series of Fe(CNH_x) were found to be exceptionally stable and may be intermediates in these reactions. The stability of these compounds permitted collection of thermodynamic parameters pertinent to the unique N-H bonds. This data is comparatively discussed with the theoretically-predicted data of the N₂-derived Fe(NNH_x) species. Exceptionally-weak N-H bond enthalpies are found for many of these compounds, and sheds light on their short-lived nature and tendency to evolve H₂. As a whole, these works both establish and provide a means to understand Fe-mediated N₂ activation via the addition of hydrogen atom equivalents.