Forthcoming events in this series


Tue, 06 Nov 2012
17:00
L2

Group actions on rings and the Cech complex.

Peter Symonds
(Manchester)
Abstract

 We present a new, more conceptual proof of our result that, when a finite group acts on a polynomial ring, the regularity of the ring of invariants is at most zero, and hence one can write down bounds on the degrees of the generators and relations. This new proof considers the action of the group on the Cech complex and looks at when it splits over the group algebra. It also applies to a more general class of rings than just polynomial ones.

Tue, 30 Oct 2012
17:00
L2

A closed formula for the Kronecker coefficients.

Dr Chris Bowman
Abstract

The Kronecker coefficients describe the decomposition of the tensor product of two Specht modules for the symmetric group over the complex numbers. Surprisingly, until now, no closed formula was known to compute these coefficients. In this talk, I will report on joint work with M. De Visscher and R. Orellana where we use the Schur-Weyl duality between the symmetric group and the partition algebra to find such a formula.
Tue, 23 Oct 2012
17:00
L2

The width of a group

Nick Gill
(Open University)
Abstract

I describe recent work with Pyber, Short and Szabo in which we study the `width' of a finite simple group. Given a group G and a subset A of G, the `width of G with respect to A' - w(G,A) - is the smallest number k such that G can be written as the product of k conjugates of A. If G is finite and simple, and A is a set of size at least 2, then w(G,A) is well-defined; what is more Liebeck, Nikolov and Shalev have conjectured that in this situation there exists an absolute constant c such that w(G,A)\leq c log|G|/log|A|. 
I will present a partial proof of this conjecture as well as describing some interesting, and unexpected, connections between this work and classical additive combinatorics. In particular the notion of a normal K-approximate group will be introduced.

Tue, 16 Oct 2012
17:00
L2

Superrigidity for mapping class groups?

Prof Juan Souto
(British Columbia)
Abstract

There is a well-acknowledged analogy between mapping class
groups and lattices in higher rank groups. I will discuss to which
extent does Margulis's superrigidity hold for mapping class groups:
examples, very partial results and questions.

Tue, 09 Oct 2012
17:00
L2

Rank Gradient of Artin Groups and Relatives

Nikolay Nikolov
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

We prove that the rank gradient vanishes for mapping class groups, Aut(Fn) for all n, Out(Fn), n > 2 and any Artin group whose underlying graph is connected. We compute the rank gradient and verify that it is equal to the first L2-Betti number for some classes of Coxeter groups.

Tue, 05 Jun 2012
17:00
L2

Artin groups of large type: from geodesics to Baum-Connes

Professor S. Rees
(Newcastle)
Abstract

I’ll report on my recent work (with co-authors Holt and Ciobanu) on Artin

groups of large type, that is groups with presentations of the form

G = hx1, . . . , xn | xixjxi · · · = xjxixj · · · , 8i 3. (In fact, our results still hold when some, but not all

possible, relations with mij = 2 are allowed.)

Recently, Holt and I characterised the geodesic words in these groups, and

described an effective method to reduce any word to geodesic form. That

proves the groups shortlex automatic and gives an effective (at worst quadratic)

solution to the word problem. Using this characterisation of geodesics, Holt,

Ciobanu and I can derive the rapid decay property for most large type

groups, and hence deduce for most of these that the Baum-Connes conjec-

ture holds; this has various consequence, in particular that the Kadison-

Kaplansky conjecture holds for these groups, i.e. that the group ring CG

contains no non-trivial idempotents.

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Tue, 15 May 2012
17:00
L2

'More words on words'

Aner Shalev
(Jerusalem)
Abstract

In recent years there has been extensive interest in word maps on groups, and various results were obtained, with emphasis on simple groups. We shall focus on some new results on word maps for more general families of finite and infinite groups.

Tue, 01 May 2012
17:00
L2

Reflection group presentations arising from cluster algebras

Professor R. Marsh
(Leeds)
Abstract

 Finite reflection groups are often presented as Coxeter groups. We give a
presentation of finite crystallographic reflection group in terms of an
arbitrary seed in the corresponding cluster algebra of finite type for which
the Coxeter presentation is a special case. We interpret the presentation in
terms of companion bases in the associated root system. This is joint work with 
Michael Barot (UNAM, Mexico)
Tue, 06 Mar 2012
17:00
L2

Type theories and algebraic theories.

Dr Kobi Kremnitzer
(Oxford)
Abstract

By recent work of Voevodsky and others, type theories are now considered as a candidate

for a homotopical foundations of mathematics. I will explain what are type theories using the language

of (essentially) algebraic theories. This shows that type theories are in the same "family" of algebraic

concepts such as groups and categories. I will also explain what is homotopic in (intensional) type theories.

Tue, 28 Feb 2012
17:00
L2

"Tits alternatives for graph products of groups".

Ashot Minasyan
(University of Southampton)
Abstract

 Graph products of groups naturally generalize direct and free products and have a rich subgroup structure. Basic examples of graph products are right angled Coxeter and Artin groups. I will discuss various forms of Tits Alternative for subgroups and
their stability under graph products. The talk will be based on a joint work with Yago Antolin Pichel.

Tue, 31 Jan 2012
17:00
L2

"On the undecidability of profinite triviality"

Professor Martin Bridson
(Oxford)
Abstract

In this talk I'll describe recent work with Henry Wilton (UCL) in which

we prove that there does not exist an algorithm that can determine which

finitely presented groups have a non-trivial finite quotient.

Tue, 17 Jan 2012
17:00
L2

Representation Theoretic Patterns in Digital Signal Processing I: Computing the Matched Filter in Linear Time

Professor S Gurevich
(Wisconsin)
Abstract

In the digital radar problem we design a function (waveform) S(t) in the Hilbert space H=C(Z/p) of complex valued functions on Z/p={0,...,p-1}, the integers modulo a prime number p>>0. We transmit the function S(t) using the radar to the object that we want to detect. The wave S(t) hits the object, and is reflected back via the echo wave R(t) in H, which has the form

R(t) = exp{2πiωt/p}⋅S(t+τ) + W(t),

where W(t) in H is a white noise, and τ,ω in ℤ/p, encode the distance from, and velocity of, the object.

Problem (digital radar problem) Extract τ,ω from R and S.

I first introduce the classical matched filter (MF) algorithm that suggests the 'traditional' way (using fast Fourier transform) to solve the digital radar problem in order of p^2⋅log(p) operations. I will then explain how to use techniques from group representation theory to design (construct) waveforms S(t) which enable us to introduce a fast matched filter (FMF) algorithm, that we call the "flag algorithm", which solves the digital radar problem in a much faster way of order of p⋅log(p) operations. I will demonstrate additional applications to mobile communication, and global positioning system (GPS).

This is a joint work with A. Fish (Math, Madison), R. Hadani (Math, Austin), A. Sayeed (Electrical Engineering, Madison), and O. Schwartz (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Berkeley).

Tue, 29 Nov 2011
17:00
L2

tba

Tue, 08 Nov 2011
17:00
L2

"Biaffine geometries, amalgams and group recognition"

Dr Justin McInroy
(Oxford)
Abstract

A polar space $\Pi$ is a geometry whose elements are the totally isotropic subspaces of a vector space $V$ with respect to either an alternating, Hermitian, or quadratic form. We may form a new geometry $\Gamma$ by removing all elements contained in either a hyperplane $F$ of $\Pi$, or a hyperplane $H$ of the dual $\Pi^*$. This is a \emph{biaffine polar space}.

We will discuss two specific examples, one with automorphism group $q^6:SU_3(q)$ and the other $G_2(q)$. By considering the stabilisers of a maximal flag, we get an amalgam, or "glueing", of groups for each example. However, the two examples have "similar" amalgams - this leads to a group recognition result for their automorphism groups.