Colloquia/Fall18: Difference between revisions

From UW-Math Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
(48 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown)
Line 3: Line 3:
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 2018 ==
The calendar for spring 2019 can be found [[Colloquia/Spring2019|here]].
 
== Fall 2018 ==
 


{| cellpadding="8"
{| cellpadding="8"
Line 11: Line 14:
!align="left" | host(s)
!align="left" | host(s)
|-
|-
|January 29 (Monday)
|Sep 12    '''Room 911'''
| [http://www.math.columbia.edu/~chaoli/ Li Chao] (Columbia)
| [https://sites.math.washington.edu/~gunther/ Gunther Uhlmann] (Univ. of Washington) Distinguished Lecture series
|[[#January 29 Li Chao (Columbia)|  Elliptic curves and Goldfeld's conjecture  ]]
|[[#Sep 12: Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington)|  Harry Potter's Cloak via Transformation Optics ]]
| Jordan Ellenberg
| Li
|
|-
|February 2 (Room: 911)
| [https://scholar.harvard.edu/tfai/home Thomas Fai] (Harvard)
|[[#February 2 Thomas Fai (Harvard)|  The Lubricated Immersed Boundary Method ]]
| Spagnolie, Smith
|
|-
|February 5 (Monday, Room: 911)
| [http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~alexlub/ Alex Lubotzky] (Hebrew University)  
|[[#February 5 Alex Lubotzky (Hebrew University)| High dimensional expanders: From Ramanujan graphs to Ramanujan complexes ]]
| Ellenberg, Gurevitch
|
|-
|February 6 (Tuesday 2 pm, Room 911)
| [http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~alexlub/ Alex Lubotzky] (Hebrew University)
|[[#February 6 Alex Lubotzky (Hebrew University)|  Groups' approximation, stability and high dimensional expanders ]]
| Ellenberg, Gurevitch
|
|-
|February 9
| [http://www.math.cmu.edu/~wes/ Wes Pegden] (CMU)
|[[#February 9 Wes Pegden (CMU)| The fractal nature of the Abelian Sandpile ]]
| Roch
|
|-
|March 2
| [http://www.math.utah.edu/~bertram/ Aaron Bertram] (University of Utah)
|[[#March 2 Aaron Bertram (Utah)| Stability in Algebraic Geometry ]]
| Caldararu
|
|-
| March 16  (Room: 911)
|[https://math.dartmouth.edu/~annegelb/ Anne Gelb] (Dartmouth)
|[[#March 16 Anne Gelb (Dartmouth)| Reducing the effects of bad data measurements using variance based weighted joint sparsity ]]
| WIMAW
|
|
|-
|-
|April 5 (Thursday, Room: 911)
|Sep 14    '''Room 911'''
| [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/ John Baez] (UC Riverside)
| [https://sites.math.washington.edu/~gunther/ Gunther Uhlmann] (Univ. of Washington) Distinguished Lecture series
|[[#April 5 John Baez (UC Riverside)|  Monoidal categories of networks ]]
|[[#Sep 14: Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington) |  Journey to the Center of the Earth ]]
| Craciun
| Li
|
|
|-
|-
| April 6
|Sep 21    '''Room 911'''
| [https://www.math.purdue.edu/~egoins Edray Goins] (Purdue)
| [http://stuart.caltech.edu/ Andrew Stuart] (Caltech) LAA lecture
|[[# Edray GoinsToroidal Belyĭ Pairs, Toroidal Graphs, and their Monodromy Groups ]]
|[[#Sep 21: Andrew Stuart (Caltech) The Legacy of Rudolph Kalman ]]
| Melanie
| Jin
|
|
|-
|-
| April 13 (911 Van Vleck)
|Sep 28
| [https://www.math.brown.edu/~jpipher/ Jill Pipher] (Brown)
| [https://www.math.cmu.edu/~gautam/sj/index.html Gautam Iyer] (CMU)
|[[#April 13, Jill Pipher, Brown University| Mathematical ideas in cryptography  ]]
|[[#Sep 28: Gautam Iyer (CMU)| Stirring and Mixing ]]
| WIMAW
| Thiffeault
|
|
|-
|-
|April 16 (Monday)
|Oct 5
| [http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~cberkesc/ Christine Berkesch Zamaere ] (University of Minnesota)
| [http://www.personal.psu.edu/eus25/ Eyal Subag] (Penn State)
|[[#BerkeschFree complexes on smooth toric varieties ]]
|[[#Oct 5: Eyal Subag (Penn State)Symmetries of the hydrogen atom and algebraic families ]]
| Erman, Sam
| Gurevich
|
|
|-
|-
| April 25 (Wednesday)
|Oct 12
| [http://www.f.waseda.jp/hitoshi.ishii/ Hitoshi Ishii] (Waseda University) Wasow lecture
| [https://www.math.wisc.edu/~andreic/ Andrei Caldararu] (Madison)
|[[#Hitoshi Ishii | Asymptotic problems for Hamilton-Jacobi equations and weak KAM theory ]]
|[[#Oct 12: Andrei Caldararu (Madison) | Mirror symmetry and derived categories ]]
| Tran
| ...
|
|
|-
|-
| May 1 (Tuesday, 4:30pm, Room: B102 VV)
|Oct 19
| [https://math.uchicago.edu/~aneves/ Andre Neves] (University Chicago and Imperial College London) Distinguished lecture
| [https://teitelbaum.math.uconn.edu/# Jeremy Teitelbaum] (U Connecticut)
|[[# TBATBA ]]
|[[#Oct 19:  Jeremy Teitelbaum (U Connecticut)Lessons Learned and New Perspectives: From Dean and Provost to aspiring Data Scientist ]]
| Lu Wang
| Boston
|
|
|-
|-
| May 2 (Wednesday, 3pm, Room: B325 VV)
|Oct 26
| [https://math.uchicago.edu/~aneves/ Andre Neves] (University of Chicago and Imperial College London) Distinguished lecture
| Douglas Ulmer (Arizona)
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| Lu Wang
| Yang
|
|
|-
|-
| May 4
|Nov 2
| [http://math.mit.edu/~cohn/ Henry Cohn] (Microsoft Research and MIT)
| Reserved for job talk
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| Ellenberg
|
|-
|date
| person (institution)
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|date
| person (institution)
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
| hosting faculty
|
|
|-
|-
|date
|Nov 9
| person (institution)
| Reserved for job talk
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
| hosting faculty
|
|
|-
|-
|date
|Nov 16
| person (institution)
| Reserved for job talk
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
| hosting faculty
|
|
|-
|-
|date
|Nov 30
| person (institution)
| Reserved for job talk
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
| hosting faculty
|
|
|-
|-
|date
|Dec 7
| person (institution)
| Reserved for job talk
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|date
| person (institution)
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
|
|-
|date
| person (institution)
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
|[[# TBA|  TBA  ]]
| hosting faculty
| hosting faculty
Line 150: Line 93:
|}
|}


== Spring Abstracts ==
== Abstracts ==


=== Sep 12: Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington) ===
Harry Potter's Cloak via Transformation Optics


===January 29 Li Chao (Columbia)===
Can we make objects invisible? This has been a subject of human
fascination for millennia in Greek mythology, movies, science fiction,
etc. including the legend of Perseus versus Medusa and the more recent
Star Trek and Harry Potter. In the last fifteen years or so there have been
several scientific proposals to achieve invisibility. We will introduce in a non-technical fashion
one of them, the so-called "traansformation optics"
in a non-technical fashion n the so-called that has received the most attention in the
scientific literature.


Title: Elliptic curves and Goldfeld's conjecture
=== Sep 14: Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington) ===
Journey to the Center of the Earth


Abstract:
We will consider the inverse problem of determining the sound
An elliptic curve is a plane curve defined by a cubic equation. Determining whether such an equation has infinitely many rational solutions has been a central problem in number theory for centuries, which lead to the celebrated conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer. Within a family of elliptic curves (such as the Mordell curve family y^2=x^3-d), a conjecture of Goldfeld further predicts that there should be infinitely many rational solutions exactly half of the time. We will start with a history of this problem, discuss our recent work (with D. Kriz) towards Goldfeld's conjecture and illustrate the key ideas and ingredients behind these new progresses.
speed or index of refraction of a medium by measuring the travel times of
waves going through the medium. This problem arises in global seismology
in an attempt to determine the inner structure of the Earth by measuring
travel times of earthquakes. It has also several applications in optics
and medical imaging among others.


=== February 2 Thomas Fai (Harvard) ===
The problem can be recast as a geometric problem: Can one determine the
Riemannian metric of a Riemannian manifold with boundary by measuring
the distance function between boundary points? This is the boundary
rigidity problem. We will also consider the problem of determining
the metric from the scattering relation, the so-called lens rigidity
problem. The linearization of these problems involve the integration
of a tensor along geodesics, similar to the X-ray transform.


Title: The Lubricated Immersed Boundary Method
We will also describe some recent results, join with Plamen Stefanov
and Andras Vasy, on the partial data case, where you are making
measurements on a subset of the boundary. No previous knowledge of
Riemannian geometry will be assumed.


Abstract:
=== Sep 21: Andrew Stuart (Caltech) ===
Many real-world examples of fluid-structure interaction, including the transit of red blood cells through the narrow slits in the spleen, involve the near-contact of elastic structures separated by thin layers of fluid. The separation of length scales between these fine lubrication layers and the larger elastic objects poses significant computational challenges. Motivated by the challenge of resolving such multiscale problems, we introduce an immersed boundary method that uses elements of lubrication theory to resolve thin fluid layers between immersed boundaries. We apply this method to two-dimensional flows of increasing complexity, including eccentric rotating cylinders and elastic vesicles near walls in shear flow, to show its increased accuracy compared to the classical immersed boundary method. We present preliminary simulation results of cell suspensions, a problem in which near-contact occurs at multiple levels, such as cell-wall, cell-cell, and intracellular interactions, to highlight the importance of resolving thin fluid layers in order to obtain the correct overall dynamics.


===February 5 Alex Lubotzky (Hebrew University)===
The Legacy of Rudolph Kalman


Title:  High dimensional expanders: From Ramanujan graphs to Ramanujan complexes
In 1960 Rudolph Kalman published what is arguably the first paper to develop a systematic, principled approach to the use of data to improve the predictive capability of mathematical models. As our ability to gather data grows at an enormous rate, the importance of this work continues to grow too. The lecture will describe this paper, and developments that have stemmed from it, revolutionizing fields such space-craft control, weather prediction, oceanography and oil recovery, and with potential for use in new fields such as medical imaging and artificial intelligence. Some mathematical details will be also provided, but limited to simple concepts such as optimization, and iteration; the talk is designed to be broadly accessible to anyone with an interest in quantitative science.


Abstract:  
=== Sep 28: Gautam Iyer (CMU) ===


Expander graphs in general, and Ramanujan graphs , in particular,  have played a major role in  computer science in the last 5 decades  and more recently also in pure math. The first explicit construction of bounded degree expanding graphs was given by Margulis in the early 70's. In mid 80' Margulis and Lubotzky-Phillips-Sarnak provided Ramanujan graphs which are optimal such expanders.
Stirring and Mixing


In recent years a high dimensional theory of expanders is emerging. A notion of topological expanders was defined by Gromov in 2010 who proved that the complete d-dimensional simplical complexes are such. He raised the basic question of existence of such bounded degree complexes of dimension d>1.
Mixing is something one encounters often in everyday life (e.g. stirring cream into coffee). I will talk about two mathematical
aspects of mixing that arise in the context of fluid dynamics:


This question was answered recently affirmatively (by  T. Kaufman, D. Kazdhan and A. Lubotzky for d=2 and by S. Evra and T. Kaufman for general d) by showing that the d-skeleton of (d+1)-dimensional Ramanujan complexes provide such topological expanders. We will describe these developments and the general area of high dimensional expanders.  
1. How efficiently can stirring "mix"?


2. What is the interaction between diffusion and mixing.


===February 6 Alex Lubotzky (Hebrew University)===
Both these aspects are rich in open problems whose resolution involves tools from various different areas. I present a brief survey of existing
results, and talk about a few open problems.


Title: Groups' approximation, stability and high dimensional expanders
=== Oct 5: Eyal Subag (Penn State)===


Abstract:
Symmetries of the hydrogen atom and algebraic families


Several well-known open questions, such as: are all groups sofic or hyperlinear?,  have a common form: can all groups be approximated by asymptotic homomorphisms into the symmetric groups Sym(n) (in the sofic case) or the  unitary groups U(n) (in the hyperlinear case)? In the case of U(n), the question can be asked with respect to different metrics and norms.  We answer, for the first time, one of these versions, showing that there exist fintely presented groups which are not approximated by U(n) with respect to the Frobenius (=L_2) norm.
The hydrogen atom system is one of the most thoroughly studied examples of a quantum mechanical system. It can be fully solved, and the main reason why is its (hidden) symmetry.  In this talk I shall explain how the symmetries of the Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom, both visible and hidden, give rise to an example in the recently developed theory of algebraic families of Harish-Chandra modules.  I will show how the algebraic structure of these symmetries completely determines the spectrum of the Schrödinger operator and sheds new light on the quantum nature of the system. No prior knowledge on quantum mechanics or representation theory will be assumed.


The strategy is via the notion of "stability": some higher dimensional cohomology vanishing phenomena is proven to imply stability  and using  high dimensional expanders, it is shown that  some non-residually finite groups  (central extensions of some lattices in p-adic Lie groups) are Frobenious stable and hence cannot be Frobenius approximated.
=== Oct 12: Andrei Caldararu (Madison)===


All notions will be explained.      Joint work with M, De Chiffre, L. Glebsky and A. Thom.
Mirror symmetry and derived categories


===February 9 Wes Pegden (CMU)===
Mirror symmetry is a remarkable phenomenon, first discovered in physics. It relates two seemingly disparate areas of mathematics, symplectic and algebraic geometry. Its initial formulation was rather narrow, as a technique for computing enumerative invariants (so-called Gromov-Witten invariants) of symplectic varieties by solving certain differential equations describing the variation of Hodge structure of “mirror" varieties. Over the past 25 years this narrow view has expanded considerably, largely due to insights of M. Kontsevich who introduced techniques from derived categories into the subject. Nowadays mirror symmetry encompasses wide areas of mathematics, touching on subjects like birational geometry, number theory, homological algebra, etc.


Title: The fractal nature of the Abelian Sandpile
In my talk I shall survey some of the recent developments in mirror symmetry, and I will explain how my work fits in the general picture. In particular I will describe an example of derived equivalent but not birational Calabi-Yau three folds (joint work with Lev Borisov); and a recent computation of a categorical Gromov-Witten invariant of positive genus (work with my former student Junwu Tu).


Abstract: The Abelian Sandpile is a simple diffusion process on the integer lattice, in which configurations of chips disperse according to a simple rule: when a vertex has at least 4 chips, it can distribute one chip to each neighbor.
===  Oct 19:   Jeremy Teitelbaum (U Connecticut)===
Lessons Learned and New Perspectives:
From Dean and Provost to aspiring Data Scientist


Introduced in the statistical physics community in the 1980s, the Abelian sandpile exhibits striking fractal behavior which long resisted rigorous mathematical analysis (or even a plausible explanation).  We now have a relatively robust mathematical understanding of this fractal nature of the sandpile, which involves surprising connections between integer superharmonic functions on the lattice, discrete tilings of the plane, and Apollonian circle packings.  In this talk, we will survey our work in this area, and discuss avenues of current and future research.
After more than 10 years in administration, including 9 as Dean of
 
Arts and Sciences and 1 as interim Provost at UConn, I have returned
===March 2 Aaron Bertram (Utah)===
to my faculty position. I am spending a year as a visiting scientist
 
at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (JAX-GM) in Farmington,
Title: Stability in Algebraic Geometry
Connecticut, trying to get a grip on some of the mathematical problems
 
of interest to researchers in cancer genomics. In this talk, I will offer some personal
Abstract: Stability was originally introduced in algebraic geometry in the context of finding a projective quotient space for the action of an algebraic group on a projective manifold. This, in turn, led in the 1960s to a notion of slope-stability for vector bundles on a Riemann surface, which was an important tool in the classification of vector bundles. In the 1990s, mirror symmetry considerations led Michael Douglas to notions of stability for "D-branes" (on a higher-dimensional manifold) that corresponded to no previously known mathematical definition. We now understand each of these notions of stability as a distinct point of a complex "stability manifold" that is an important invariant of the (derived) category of complexes of vector bundles of a projective manifold. In this talk I want to give some examples to illustrate the various stabilities, and also to describe some current work in the area.
observations about being a mathematician and a high-level administrator, talk a bit about
 
the research environment at an independent research institute like JAX-GM, outline
===March 16 Anne Gelb (Dartmouth)===
a few problems that I've begun to learn about, and conclude with a
 
discussion of how these experiences have shaped my view of graduate training in mathematics.
Title: Reducing the effects of bad data measurements using variance based weighted joint sparsity
 
Abstract: We introduce the variance based joint sparsity (VBJS) method for sparse signal recovery and image reconstruction from multiple measurement vectors. Joint sparsity techniques employing $\ell_{2,1}$ minimization are typically used, but the algorithm is computationally intensive and requires fine tuning of parameters. The VBJS method uses a weighted $\ell_1$ joint sparsity algorithm, where the weights depend on the pixel-wise variance. The VBJS method is accurate, robust, cost efficient and also reduces the effects of false data.
 
 
 
 
===April 5 John Baez (UC Riverside)===
 
Title: Monoidal categories of networks
 
Abstract: Nature and the world of human technology are full of networks. People like to draw diagrams of networks: flow charts, electrical circuit diagrams, chemical reaction networks, signal-flow graphs, Bayesian networks, food webs, Feynman diagrams and the like. Far from mere informal tools, many of these diagrammatic languages fit into a rigorous framework: category theory. I will explain a bit of how this works and discuss some applications.
 
 
 
 
 
===April 6 Edray Goins (Purdue)===
 
Title: Toroidal Belyĭ  Pairs, Toroidal Graphs, and their Monodromy Groups
 
Abstract: A Bely&#301; map <math> \beta: \mathbb P^1(\mathbb C) \to \mathbb P^1(\mathbb C) </math> is a rational function with at most three critical values; we may assume these values are <math> \{ 0, \, 1, \, \infty \}. </math>  A Dessin d'Enfant is a planar bipartite graph obtained by considering the preimage of a path between two of these critical values, usually taken to be the line segment from 0 to 1.  Such graphs can be drawn on the sphere by composing with stereographic projection: <math> \beta^{-1} \bigl( [0,1] \bigr) \subseteq \mathbb P^1(\mathbb C) \simeq S^2(\mathbb R). </math>  Replacing <math> \mathbb P^1 </math> with an elliptic curve <math>E </math>, there is a similar definition of a Bely&#301; map <math> \beta: E(\mathbb C) \to \mathbb P^1(\mathbb C). </math>  Since <math> E(\mathbb C) \simeq \mathbb T^2(\mathbb R) </math> is a torus, we call <math> (E, \beta) </math> a toroidal Bely&#301; pair.  The corresponding Dessin d'Enfant can be drawn on the torus by composing with an elliptic logarithm: <math> \beta^{-1} \bigl( [0,1] \bigr) \subseteq E(\mathbb C) \simeq \mathbb T^2(\mathbb R). </math>
 
This project seeks to create a database of such Bely&#301; pairs, their corresponding Dessins d'Enfant, and their monodromy groups.  For each positive integer <math> N </math>, there are only finitely many toroidal Bely&#301; pairs <math> (E, \beta) </math> with <math> \deg \, \beta = N. </math>  Using the Hurwitz Genus formula, we can begin this database by considering all possible degree sequences <math> \mathcal D </math> on the ramification indices as multisets on three partitions of N.  For each degree sequence, we compute all possible monodromy groups <math> G = \text{im} \, \bigl[ \pi_1 \bigl( \mathbb P^1(\mathbb C) - \{ 0, \, 1, \, \infty \} \bigr) \to S_N \bigr]; </math> they are the ``Galois closure'' of the group of automorphisms of the graph.  Finally, for each possible monodromy group, we compute explicit formulas for Bely&#301; maps <math> \beta: E(\mathbb C) \to \mathbb P^1(\mathbb C) </math> associated to some elliptic curve <math> E: \ y^2 = x^3 + A \, x + B. </math>  We will discuss some of the challenges of determining the structure of these groups, and present visualizations of group actions on the torus.
 
This work is part of PRiME (Purdue Research in Mathematics Experience) with Chineze Christopher, Robert Dicks, Gina Ferolito, Joseph Sauder, and Danika Van Niel with assistance by Edray Goins and Abhishek Parab.
 
===April 13, Jill Pipher, Brown University===
 
Title:  Mathematical ideas in cryptography
 
Abstract:  This talk does not assume prior knowledge of public key crypto (PKC). I'll talk about the history of the subject and some current areas of research,
including homomorphic encryption.
 
===April 16 Christine Berkesch Zamaere (Minnesota)===
Title: Free complexes on smooth toric varieties
 
Abstract: Free resolutions have been a key part of using homological algebra to compute and characterize geometric invariants over projective space. Over more general smooth toric varieties, this is not the case. We will discuss the another family of complexes, called virtual resolutions, which appear to play the role of free resolutions in this setting. This is joint work with Daniel Erman and Gregory G. Smith.
 
 
===Hitoshi Ishii===
Title: Asymptotic problems for Hamilton-Jacobi equations and weak KAM theory
 
Abstract:  In the lecture, I discuss two asymptotic problems related to Hamilton-Jacobi equations. One concerns the long-time behavior of solutions of time evolutionary Hamilton-Jacobi equations and the other is the so-called vanishing discount problem for stationary Hamilton-Jacobi equations. The last two decades have seen a fundamental importance of weak KAM theory in the asymptotic analysis of Hamilton-Jacobi equations.  I explain briefly the Aubry sets and Mather measures from weak KAM theory and their use in the analysis of the two asymptotic problems above.
 
== Future Colloquia ==
[[Colloquia/Blank|Fall 2018]]


== Past Colloquia ==
== Past Colloquia ==


[[Colloquia/Blank|Blank]]
[[Colloquia/Blank|Blank]]
[[Colloquia/Spring2018|Spring 2018]]


[[Colloquia/Fall2017|Fall 2017]]
[[Colloquia/Fall2017|Fall 2017]]

Revision as of 16:50, 8 October 2018

Mathematics Colloquium

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

The calendar for spring 2019 can be found here.

Fall 2018

date speaker title host(s)
Sep 12 Room 911 Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington) Distinguished Lecture series Harry Potter's Cloak via Transformation Optics Li
Sep 14 Room 911 Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington) Distinguished Lecture series Journey to the Center of the Earth Li
Sep 21 Room 911 Andrew Stuart (Caltech) LAA lecture The Legacy of Rudolph Kalman Jin
Sep 28 Gautam Iyer (CMU) Stirring and Mixing Thiffeault
Oct 5 Eyal Subag (Penn State) Symmetries of the hydrogen atom and algebraic families Gurevich
Oct 12 Andrei Caldararu (Madison) Mirror symmetry and derived categories ...
Oct 19 Jeremy Teitelbaum (U Connecticut) Lessons Learned and New Perspectives: From Dean and Provost to aspiring Data Scientist Boston
Oct 26 Douglas Ulmer (Arizona) TBA Yang
Nov 2 Reserved for job talk TBA hosting faculty
Nov 9 Reserved for job talk TBA hosting faculty
Nov 16 Reserved for job talk TBA hosting faculty
Nov 30 Reserved for job talk TBA hosting faculty
Dec 7 Reserved for job talk TBA hosting faculty

Abstracts

Sep 12: Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington)

Harry Potter's Cloak via Transformation Optics

Can we make objects invisible? This has been a subject of human fascination for millennia in Greek mythology, movies, science fiction, etc. including the legend of Perseus versus Medusa and the more recent Star Trek and Harry Potter. In the last fifteen years or so there have been several scientific proposals to achieve invisibility. We will introduce in a non-technical fashion one of them, the so-called "traansformation optics" in a non-technical fashion n the so-called that has received the most attention in the scientific literature.

Sep 14: Gunther Uhlmann (Univ. of Washington)

Journey to the Center of the Earth

We will consider the inverse problem of determining the sound speed or index of refraction of a medium by measuring the travel times of waves going through the medium. This problem arises in global seismology in an attempt to determine the inner structure of the Earth by measuring travel times of earthquakes. It has also several applications in optics and medical imaging among others.

The problem can be recast as a geometric problem: Can one determine the Riemannian metric of a Riemannian manifold with boundary by measuring the distance function between boundary points? This is the boundary rigidity problem. We will also consider the problem of determining the metric from the scattering relation, the so-called lens rigidity problem. The linearization of these problems involve the integration of a tensor along geodesics, similar to the X-ray transform.

We will also describe some recent results, join with Plamen Stefanov and Andras Vasy, on the partial data case, where you are making measurements on a subset of the boundary. No previous knowledge of Riemannian geometry will be assumed.

Sep 21: Andrew Stuart (Caltech)

The Legacy of Rudolph Kalman

In 1960 Rudolph Kalman published what is arguably the first paper to develop a systematic, principled approach to the use of data to improve the predictive capability of mathematical models. As our ability to gather data grows at an enormous rate, the importance of this work continues to grow too. The lecture will describe this paper, and developments that have stemmed from it, revolutionizing fields such space-craft control, weather prediction, oceanography and oil recovery, and with potential for use in new fields such as medical imaging and artificial intelligence. Some mathematical details will be also provided, but limited to simple concepts such as optimization, and iteration; the talk is designed to be broadly accessible to anyone with an interest in quantitative science.

Sep 28: Gautam Iyer (CMU)

Stirring and Mixing

Mixing is something one encounters often in everyday life (e.g. stirring cream into coffee). I will talk about two mathematical aspects of mixing that arise in the context of fluid dynamics:

1. How efficiently can stirring "mix"?

2. What is the interaction between diffusion and mixing.

Both these aspects are rich in open problems whose resolution involves tools from various different areas. I present a brief survey of existing results, and talk about a few open problems.

Oct 5: Eyal Subag (Penn State)

Symmetries of the hydrogen atom and algebraic families

The hydrogen atom system is one of the most thoroughly studied examples of a quantum mechanical system. It can be fully solved, and the main reason why is its (hidden) symmetry. In this talk I shall explain how the symmetries of the Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom, both visible and hidden, give rise to an example in the recently developed theory of algebraic families of Harish-Chandra modules. I will show how the algebraic structure of these symmetries completely determines the spectrum of the Schrödinger operator and sheds new light on the quantum nature of the system. No prior knowledge on quantum mechanics or representation theory will be assumed.

Oct 12: Andrei Caldararu (Madison)

Mirror symmetry and derived categories

Mirror symmetry is a remarkable phenomenon, first discovered in physics. It relates two seemingly disparate areas of mathematics, symplectic and algebraic geometry. Its initial formulation was rather narrow, as a technique for computing enumerative invariants (so-called Gromov-Witten invariants) of symplectic varieties by solving certain differential equations describing the variation of Hodge structure of “mirror" varieties. Over the past 25 years this narrow view has expanded considerably, largely due to insights of M. Kontsevich who introduced techniques from derived categories into the subject. Nowadays mirror symmetry encompasses wide areas of mathematics, touching on subjects like birational geometry, number theory, homological algebra, etc.

In my talk I shall survey some of the recent developments in mirror symmetry, and I will explain how my work fits in the general picture. In particular I will describe an example of derived equivalent but not birational Calabi-Yau three folds (joint work with Lev Borisov); and a recent computation of a categorical Gromov-Witten invariant of positive genus (work with my former student Junwu Tu).

Oct 19: Jeremy Teitelbaum (U Connecticut)

Lessons Learned and New Perspectives: From Dean and Provost to aspiring Data Scientist

After more than 10 years in administration, including 9 as Dean of Arts and Sciences and 1 as interim Provost at UConn, I have returned to my faculty position. I am spending a year as a visiting scientist at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (JAX-GM) in Farmington, Connecticut, trying to get a grip on some of the mathematical problems of interest to researchers in cancer genomics. In this talk, I will offer some personal observations about being a mathematician and a high-level administrator, talk a bit about the research environment at an independent research institute like JAX-GM, outline a few problems that I've begun to learn about, and conclude with a discussion of how these experiences have shaped my view of graduate training in mathematics.

Past Colloquia

Blank

Spring 2018

Fall 2017

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

Spring 2016

Fall 2015

Spring 2015

Fall 2014

Spring 2014

Fall 2013

Spring 2013

Fall 2012