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__NOTOC__
= Mathematics Colloquium =
= Mathematics Colloquium =


All colloquia are on Fridays at 4:00 pm in Van Vleck B239, '''unless otherwise indicated'''.
All colloquia are on Fridays at 4:00 pm in Van Vleck B239, '''unless otherwise indicated'''.


== Spring 2015  ==
== Spring 2018 ==


{| cellpadding="8"
{| cellpadding="8"
!align="left" | date
!align="left" | date  
!align="left" | speaker
!align="left" | speaker
!align="left" | title
!align="left" | title
!align="left" | host(s)
!align="left" | host(s)
|-
|-
| '''January 12''' (special time: '''3PM''')
|January 30
| [http://math.nd.edu/people/visiting-faculty/botong-wang/ Botong Wang] (Notre Dame)
| [http://www.math.columbia.edu/~chaoli/ Li Chao] (Columbia)
| [[Colloquia#January 12: Botong Wang (Notre Dame) | Cohomology jump loci of algebraic varieties]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Maxim
| Jordan Ellenberg
|
|-
|-
| '''January 14''' (special time: '''11AM''')
|February 2
| [http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~jathreya/ Jayadev Athreya] (UIUC)
| [https://scholar.harvard.edu/tfai/home Thomas Fai] (Harvard)
| [[Colloquia#January 14: Jayadev Athreya (UIUC) | Counting points for random (and not-so-random) geometric structures]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Ellenberg
| Spagnolie, Smith
|
|-
|-
| '''January 15''' (special time: '''3PM''')
| March 16
| [http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~chili/ Chi Li] (Stony Brook)
|[https://math.dartmouth.edu/~annegelb/ Anne Gelb] (Dartmouth)
| [[Colloquia#January 15: Chi Li (Stony Brook) | On Kahler-Einstein metrics and K-stability]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Sean Paul
| WIMAW
|
|-
|-
| '''January 21'''
|April 4 (Wednesday)
| [http://www.math.utoronto.ca/cms/kitagawa-jun/ Jun Kitagawa] (Toronto)
| [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/ John Baez] (UC Riverside)
| [[Colloquia#January 21: Jun Kitagawa (Toronto) | Regularity theory for generated Jacobian equations: from optimal transport to geometric optics]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Feldman
| Craciun
|
|-
|-
| '''January 23''' (special room/time: '''B135, 2:30PM''')
| April 6
| [http://math.duke.edu/~adding/ Nicolas Addington] (Duke)
| Reserved
| [[Colloquia#January 23: Nicolas Addington (Duke) | Recent developments in rationality of cubic 4-folds]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Ellenberg
| Melanie
|
|-
|-
| '''Monday January 26 4pm'''
| April 13
| [http://www.bcamath.org/en/people/minh-binh Minh Binh Tran] (CAM)
| [https://www.math.brown.edu/~jpipher/ Jill Pipher] (Brown)
| [[Colloquia#January 26: Minh Binh Tran (CAM) | Nonlinear approximation theory for the homogeneous Boltzmann
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
equation]]
| WIMAW
| Jin
|
|-
|-
| January 30
| April 25 (Wednesday)
| Tentatively reserved for possible interview
| Hitoshi Ishii (Waseda University) Wasow lecture
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| Tran
|
|
|-
|date
| person (institution)
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
|
|
|-
|-
| '''Monday, February 2 4pm'''
|date
| [https://web.math.princeton.edu/~ajsb/ Afonso Bandeira] (Princeton)
| person (institution)
| [[Colloquia#February 2: Afonso Bandeira (Princeton) | Tightness of convex relaxations for certain inverse problems on graphs]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Ellenberg
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|-
| February 6
|date
| Morris Hirsch (UC Berkeley and UW Madison)
| person (institution)
| [[Colloquia#February 6:  Morris Hirsch (UC Berkeley and UW Madison) | Fixed points of Lie transformation group, and zeros of Lie algebras of vector fields]]
|[[# TBATBA ]]
| Stovall
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|-
| February 13
|date
| [http://www.math.ucsb.edu/~mputinar/ Mihai Putinar] (UC Santa Barbara, Newcastle University)
| person (institution)
| [[Colloquia#February 13: Mihai Putinar (UC Santa Barbara) | Quillen’s property of real algebraic varieties]]
|[[# TBA| TBA  ]]
| Budišić
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|-
| February 20
|date
| [http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~dzb/ David Zureick-Brown] (Emory University)
| person (institution)
| [[Colloquia#February 20: David Zureick-Brown (Emory University) | Diophantine and tropical geometry]]
|[[# TBA| TBA  ]]
| Ellenberg
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|-
| February 27
|date
| [http://www.math.rochester.edu/people/faculty/allan/ Allan Greenleaf] (University of Rochester)
| person (institution)
| [[Colloquia#February 27: Allan Greenleaf (u\University of Rochester) | Erdos-Falconer Configuration problems]]
|[[# TBA| TBA  ]]
| Seeger
| hosting faculty
|
|
|-
|-
| March 6
|date
| [http://math.mit.edu/~lguth/ Larry Guth] (MIT)
| person (institution)
| [[Colloquia#March 6: Larry Guth (MIT) | Introduction to incidence geometry]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA ]]
| Stovall
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|-
| March 13
|date
|[http://www.ma.utexas.edu/text/webpages/gordon.html Cameron Gordon] (UT-Austin)
| person (institution)
| TBA
|[[# TBA| TBA  ]]
| Maxim
| hosting faculty
|-
| March 20
|
|
|
|
|-
|-
| March 27
|date
|[http://php.indiana.edu/~korr/ Kent Orr] (Indiana University at Bloomigton)
| person (institution)
| TBA
|[[# TBA| TBA  ]]
| Maxim
| hosting faculty
|-
| April 3
| University holiday
|
|
|
|-
| April 10
| [http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~jyfoo/ Jasmine Foo] (University of Minnesota)
|TBA
| Roch, WIMAW
|-
| April 17
| [http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~kkirkpat/ Kay Kirkpatrick] (University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign)
| TBA
| Stovall
|-
| April 24
| Marianna Csornyei (University of Chicago)
| TBA
| Seeger, Stovall
|-
| May 1
| [http://www.math.washington.edu/~bviray/ Bianca Viray] (University of Washington)
| TBA
| Erman
|-
| May 8
| [http://www.math.ucla.edu/~mroper/www/Home.html Marcus Roper] (UCLA)
| TBA
| Roch
|}
|}


== Abstracts ==


===January 12:  Botong Wang (Notre Dame)===
== Spring Abstracts ==


====Cohomology jump loci of algebraic varieties====
<DATE>: <PERSON> (INSTITUTION)
Title: <TITLE>


In the moduli spaces of vector bundles (or local systems), cohomology jump loci are the algebraic sets where certain cohomology group has prescribed dimension. We will discuss some arithmetic and deformation theoretic aspects of cohomology jump loci. If time permits, we will also talk about some applications in algebraic statistics.
Abstract: <ABSTRACT>


===January 14:  Jayadev Athreya (UIUC)===
== Past Colloquia ==
 
====Counting points for random (and not-so-random) geometric structures====
 
We describe a philosophy of how certain counting problems can be studied by methods of probability theory and dynamics on appropriate moduli spaces. We focus on two particular cases:
 
(1) Counting for Right-Angled Billiards: understanding the dynamics on and volumes of moduli spaces of meromorphic quadratic differentials yields interesting universality phenomenon for billiards in polygons with interior angles integer multiples of 90 degrees. This is joint work with A. Eskin and A. Zorich
 
(2) Counting for almost every quadratic form: understanding the geometry of a random lattice allows yields striking diophantine and counting results for typical (in the sense of measure) quadratic (and other) forms. This is joint work with G. A. Margulis.
 
===January 15:  Chi Li (Stony Brook)===
====On Kahler-Einstein metrics and K-stability====
 
The existence of Kahler-Einstein metrics on Kahler manifolds is a basic problem in complex differential geometry. This problem has connections to other fields: complex algebraic geometry, partial differential equations and several complex variables. I will discuss the existence of Kahler-Einstein metrics on Fano manifolds and its relation to K-stability. I will mainly focus on the analytic part of the theory, discuss how to solve the related complex Monge-Ampere equations and provide concrete examples in both smooth and conical settings. If time permits, I will also say something about the algebraic part of the theory, including the study of K-stability using the Minimal Model Program (joint with Chenyang Xu) and the existence of proper moduli space of smoothable K-polystable Fano varieties (joint with Xiaowei Wang and Chenyang Xu).
 
===January 21:  Jun Kitagawa (Toronto)===
 
====Regularity theory for generated Jacobian equations: from optimal transport to geometric optics====
 
Equations of Monge-Ampere type arise in numerous contexts, and solutions often exhibit very subtle qualitative and quantitative properties; this is owing to the highly nonlinear nature of the equation, and its degeneracy (in the sense of ellipticity). Motivated by an example from geometric optics, I will talk about the class of Generated Jacobian Equations; recently introduced by Trudinger, this class also encompasses, for example, optimal transport, the Minkowski problem, and the classical Monge-Ampere equation. I will present a new regularity result for weak solutions of these equations, which is new even in the case of equations arising from near-field reflector problems (of interest from a physical and practical point of view). This talk is based on joint works with N. Guillen.
 
===January 23:  Nicolas Addington (Duke)===
 
====Recent developments in rationality of cubic 4-folds====
 
The question of which cubic 4-folds are rational is one of the foremost open problems in algebraic geometry.  I'll start by explaining what this means and why it's interesting; then I'll discuss three approaches to solving it (including one developed in the last year), my own work relating the three approaches to one another, and the troubles that have befallen each approach.
 
===January 26:  Minh Binh Tran (CAM)===
 
====Nonlinear approximation theory for the homogeneous Boltzmann equation====
 
A challenging problem in solving the Boltzmann equation
numerically is that the velocity space is approximated by a finite region.
Therefore, most methods are based on a truncation technique and the
computational cost is then very high if the velocity domain is large.
Moreover, sometimes, non-physical conditions have to be imposed on the
equation in order to keep the velocity domain bounded. In this talk, we
introduce the first nonlinear approximation theory for the Boltzmann
equation. Our nonlinear wavelet approximation is non-truncated and based on
a nonlinear, adaptive spectral method associated with a new wavelet
filtering technique and a new formulation of the equation. The
approximation is proved to converge and perfectly preserve most of the
properties of the homogeneous Boltzmann equation. It could also be
considered as a general framework for approximating kinetic integral
equations.
 
===February 2:  Afonso Bandeira (Princeton)===
 
====Tightness of convex relaxations for certain inverse problems on graphs====
 
Many maximum likelihood estimation problems are known to be
intractable in the worst case. A common approach is to consider convex
relaxations of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), and relaxations
based on semidefinite programming (SDP) are among the most popular. We
will focus our attention on a certain class of graph-based inverse
problems and show a couple of remarkable phenomena.
 
In some instances of these problems (such as community detection under
the stochastic block model) the solution to the SDP matches the ground
truth parameters (i.e. achieves exact recovery) for information
theoretically optimal regimes. This is established using new
nonasymptotic bounds for the spectral norm of random matrices with
independent entries.
 
On other instances of these problems (such as angular
synchronization), the MLE itself tends to not coincide with the ground
truth (although maintaining favorable statistical properties).
Remarkably, these relaxations are often still tight (meaning that the
solution of the SDP matches the MLE). For angular synchronization we
can understand this behavior by analyzing the solutions of certain
randomized Grothendieck problems. However, for many other problems,
such as the multireference alignment problem in signal processing,
this remains a fascinating open problem.
 
===February 6:  Morris Hirsch (UC Berkeley and UW Madison)===
 
====Fixed points of  Lie transformation group,  and zeros of Lie algebras of vector fields====
 
The following questions will be considered:
When  a connected Lie group G acts effectively on a manifold M,  what  general conditions on G,  M and the action  ensure that the action has a fixed point? 
If  g is a Lie algebra of  vector fields on M, what general conditions on g and M  ensure that g has a zero?
Old and new results will be discussed.  For example:
Theorem: If G is nilpotent and M is a  compact surface of nonzero Euler characteristic, there is a fixed point.
Theorem:  Suppose G is supersoluble and M is as above.  Then every analytic action of G on M has a fixed point, but this is false for continuous actions, and for groups that are merely solvable.
Theorem:  Suppose M is a real or complex manifold that is 2-dimensional over the ground field, and g is a Lie algebra of analytic vector fields on M.  Assume  some element X in g spans a 1-dimensional ideal.  If  the zero set K of X is compact and the Poincar'e-Hopf index of X at K is nonzero,  then g vanishes at some point of K.
No special knowledge of Lie groups will be assumed.
 
===February 13:  Mihai Putinar (UC Santa Barbara)===
 
====Quillen’s property of real algebraic varieties====
 
A famous observation discovered by Fejer and Riesz a century ago
is the quintessential algebraic component of every spectral decomposition
result. It asserts that every non-negative polynomial on the unit circle is a
hermitian square. About half a century ago, Quillen proved that a positive polynomial
on an odd dimensional sphere is a sum of hermitian squares. Fact independently
rediscovered much later by D’Angelo and Catlin, respectively Athavale. The main subject of
the talk will be: on which real algebraic sub varieties of <math>\mathbb{C}^n</math> is Quillen theorem valid?
An interlace between real algebraic geometry, quantization techniques and complex
hermitian geometry will provide an answer to the above question, and more.
Based a recent work with Claus Scheiderer and John D’Angelo.
 
===February 20: David Zureick-Brown (Emory University)===
 
====Diophantine and tropical geometry====


Diophantine geometry is the study of integral solutions to a polynomial equation. For instance, for integers
[[Colloquia/Blank|Blank Colloquia]]
<math>a,b,c \geq 2</math> satisfying <math>\tfrac1a + \tfrac1b + \tfrac1c > 1</math>, Darmon and Granville proved that the individual generalized Fermat equation <math>x^a + y^b = z^c</math> has only finitely many coprime integer solutions. Conjecturally something stronger is true: for <math>a,b,c \geq 3</math> there are no non-trivial solutions.


I'll discuss various other Diophantine problems, with a focus on the underlying intuition and conjectural framework. I will especially focus on the uniformity conjecture, and will explain new ideas from tropical geometry and our recent partial proof of the uniformity conjecture.
[[Colloquia/Fall2017|Fall 2017]]


[[Colloquia/Spring2017|Spring 2017]]


===February 27: Allan Greenleaf (University of Rochester)===
[[Archived Fall 2016 Colloquia|Fall 2016]]


====Erdos-Falconer Configuration Problems====
[[Colloquia/Spring2016|Spring 2016]]


In discrete geometry, there is a large collection of problems due
[[Colloquia/Fall2015|Fall 2015]]
to Erdos and various coauthors starting in the 1940s, which have the
following general form: Given a large finite set P of N points
in d-dimensional Euclidean space, and a geometric configuration (a line
segment of a given length, a triangle with given angles or a given area,
etc.), is there a lower bound on how many times that configuration must
occur among the points of P? Relatedly, is there an upper bound
on the number of times any single configuration can occur? One of the most
celebrated problems of this type, the Erdos distinct distances problem
in the plane, was essentially solved in 2010 by Guth and Katz, but for many
problems of this type only partial results are known.


In continuous geometry, there are analogous problems due to Falconer and
[[Colloquia/Spring2014|Spring 2015]]
others. Here, one looks for results that say that if a set A is large enough (in
terms of a lower bound on its Hausdorff dimension, say), then the set of
configurations of a given type generated by the points of A  is large (has
positive measure, say).
I will describe work on Falconer-type problems using some techniques from
harmonic analysis, including estimate for multilinear operators. In some
cases, these results can be discretized to obtain at least partial results
on Erdos-type problems.
 
 
 
===March 6:  Larry Guth (MIT)===
 
====Introduction to incidence geometry====
 
Incidence geometry is a branch of combinatorics that studies the possible intersection patterns of lines, circles, and other simple shapes.  For example, suppose that we have a set of L lines in the plane.  An r-rich point is a point that lies in at least r of these lines.  For a given L, r, how many r-rich points can we make?  This is a typical question in the field, and there are many variations.  What if we replace lines with circles?  What happens in higher dimensions?  We will give an introduction to this field, describing some of the important results, tools, and open problems.
 
We will discuss two important tools used in the area.  One tool is to apply topology to the problem.  This tool allows us to prove results in R^2 that are stronger than what happens over finite fields.  The second tool is to look for algebraic structure in the problem by studying low-degree polynomials that vanish on the points we are studying.  We will also discuss some of the (many) open problems in the field and try to describe the nature of the difficulties in approaching them.
 
== Past Colloquia ==


[[Colloquia/Fall2014|Fall 2014]]
[[Colloquia/Fall2014|Fall 2014]]

Revision as of 15:53, 8 January 2018

Mathematics Colloquium

All colloquia are on Fridays at 4:00 pm in Van Vleck B239, unless otherwise indicated.

Spring 2018

date speaker title host(s)
January 30 Li Chao (Columbia) TBA Jordan Ellenberg
February 2 Thomas Fai (Harvard) TBA Spagnolie, Smith
March 16 Anne Gelb (Dartmouth) TBA WIMAW
April 4 (Wednesday) John Baez (UC Riverside) TBA Craciun
April 6 Reserved TBA Melanie
April 13 Jill Pipher (Brown) TBA WIMAW
April 25 (Wednesday) Hitoshi Ishii (Waseda University) Wasow lecture TBA Tran
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty
date person (institution) TBA hosting faculty


Spring Abstracts

<DATE>: <PERSON> (INSTITUTION) Title: <TITLE>

Abstract: <ABSTRACT>

Past Colloquia

Blank Colloquia

Fall 2017

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

Spring 2016

Fall 2015

Spring 2015

Fall 2014

Spring 2014

Fall 2013

Spring 2013

Fall 2012