Past Seminars

Tue, 23/04
14:30 		Robert Leese (Smith Institute) Combinatorial Theory Seminar Add to calendar L3
Inside the 4G Spectrum Auction
The recently completed auction for 4G mobile spectrum was the most importantcombinatorial auction ever held in the UK.  In general, combinatorial auctions allow bidders to place individual bids on packages of items,instead of separate bids on individual items, and this feature has theoretical advantages for bidders and sellers alike.  The accompanying challenges of implementation have been the subject of intense work over the last few years, with the result that the advantages of combinatorial auctions can now be realised in practice on a large scale.  Nowhere has this work been more prominent than in auctions for radio spectrum.  The UK's 4G auction is the most recent of these and the publication by Ofcom (the UK's telecommunications regulator) of the auction's full bidding activity creates a valuable case study of combinatorial auctions in action.
Tue, 23/04
14:00 		Richard Rimanyi (University of North Carolina) Algebraic and Symplectic Geometry Seminar Add to calendar L1
Equivariant classes, COHA, and quantum dilogarithm identities for Dynkin quivers I
Consider non-negative integers assigned to the vertexes of an oriented graph. To this combinatorial data we associate a so-called quiver representation. We will study the geometry and the algebra of this representation, when the underlying un-oriented graph is of Dynkin type ADE. A remarkable object we will consider is Kazarian's equivariant cohomology spectral sequence. The edge homomorphism of this spectral sequence defines the so-called quiver polynomials. These polynomials are generalizations of remarkable polynomials in algebraic combinatorics (Giambelli-Thom-Porteous, Schur, Schubert, their double, universal, and quantum versions). Quiver polynomials measure degeneracy loci of maps among vector bundles over a common base space. We will present interpolation, residue, and (conjectured) positivity properties of these polynomials. The quiver polynomials are also encoded in the Cohomological Hall Algebra (COHA) associated with the oriented graph. This is a non-commutative algebra defined by Kontsevich and Soibelman in relation with Donaldson-Thomas invariants. The above mentioned spectral sequence has a structure identity expressing the fact that the sequence converges to explicit groups. We will show the role of this structure identity in understanding the structure of the COHA. The obtained identities are equivalent to Reineke's quantum dilogarithm identities associated to ADE quivers and certain stability conditions.
Tue, 23/04
12:00 		Philip Stamp (Vancouver) Quantum Field Theory Seminar Add to calendar L3
The search for Intrinsic Decoherence
              Conventional decoherence (usually called 'Environmental Decoherence') is supposed to be a result of correlations established between some quantum system and the environment. 'Intrinsic decoherence' is hypothesized as being an essential feature of Nature - its existence would entail a breakdown of quantum mechanics. A specific mechanism of some interest is 'gravitational decoherence', whereby gravity causes intrinsic decoherence. I will begin by discussing what is now known about the mechanisms of environmental decoherence, noting in particular that they can and do involve decoherence without dissipation (ie., pure phase decoherence). I will then briefly review the fundamental conflict between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, and several arguments that suggest how this might be resolved by the existence of some sort of 'gravitational decoherence'.  I then outline a theory of gravitational decoherence (the 'GR-Psi' theory) which attempts to give a quantitative discussion of gravitational decoherence, and which makes predictions for experiments. The weak field regime of this theory (relevant to experimental predictions) is discussed in detail, along with a more speculative discussion of the strong field regime.
Mon, 22/04
17:00 		Rolando Magnanini (Università degli Studi di Firenze) Partial Differential Equations Seminar Add to calendar Gibson 1st Floor SR
Time-invariant surfaces in evolution equations
A time-invariant level surface is a (codimension one) spatial surface on which, for every fixed time, the solution of an evolution equation equals a constant (depending on the time). A relevant and motivating case is that of the heat equation. The occurrence of one or more time-invariant surfaces forces the solution to have a certain degree of symmetry. In my talk, I shall present a set of results on this theme and sketch the main ideas involved, that intertwine a wide variety of old and new analytical and geometrical techniques.
Mon, 22/04
16:00 		Jan Vonk (Oxford) Junior Number Theory Seminar Add to calendar SR1
The eigencurve
Mon, 22/04
15:45 		MATTHIAS MEINERS (University Meunster) Stochastic Analysis Seminar Add to calendar Oxford-Man Institute
"Generalized equations of stability".
In many models of Applied Probability, the distributional limits of recursively defined quantities satisfy distributional identities that are reminiscent of equations of stability. Therefore, there is an interest in generalized concepts of equations of stability. One extension of this concept is that of random variables “stable by random weighted mean” (this notion is due to Liu). A random variable $ X $ taking values in $ \mathbb{R}^d $ is called “stable by random weighted mean” if it satisfies a recursive distributional equation of the following type: \begin{equation} \tag{1} \label{eq:1} X ~\stackrel{\mathcal{D}}{=}~ C + \sum_{j \geq 1} T_j X_j. \end{equation} Here, “$ \stackrel{\mathcal{D}}{=} $” denotes equality of the corresponding distributions, $ (C,T_1,T_2,\ldots) $ is a given sequence of real-valued random variables, and $ X_1, X_2, \ldots $ denotes a sequence of i.i.d.\;copies of the random variable $ X $ that are independent of $ (C,T_1,T_2,\ldots) $. The distributions $ P $ on $ \mathbb{R}^d $ such that \eqref{eq:1} holds when $ X $ has distribution $ P $ are called fixed points of the smoothing transform (associated with $ (C,T_1,T_2,\ldots) $). A particularly prominent instance of \eqref{eq:1} is the {\texttt Quicksort} equation, where $ T_1 = 1-T_2 = U \sim \mathrm{Unif}(0,1) $, $ T_j = 0 $ for all $ j \geq 3 $ and $ C = g(U) $ for some function $ g $. In this talk, I start with the {\texttt Quicksort} algorithm to motivate the study of \eqref{eq:1}. Then, I consider the problem of characterizing the set of all solutions to \eqref{eq:1} in a very general context. Special emphasis is put on endogenous solutions to \eqref{eq:1} since they play an important role in the given setting.
Mon, 22/04
15:45 		David Hume (Oxford) Topology Seminar Add to calendar L3
Metric Geometry of Mapping Class and Relatively Hyperbolic Groups
We prove that quasi-trees of spaces satisfying the axiomatisation given by Bestvina, Bromberg and Fujiwara are quasi-isometric to tree-graded spaces in the sense of Dru\c{t}u and Sapir. We then present a technique for obtaining `good' embeddings of such spaces into $ \ell^p $ spaces, and show how results of Bestvina-Bromberg-Fujiwara and Mackay-Sisto allow us to better understand the metric geometry of such groups.
Mon, 22/04
14:15 		DAVID KELLY (University of Warwick) Stochastic Analysis Seminar Add to calendar Oxford-Man Institute
Ito's formula via rough paths.

Abstract: Non-geometric rough paths arise
when one encounters stochastic integrals for which the the classical
integration by parts formula does not hold. We will introduce two notions of
non-geometric rough paths - one old (branched rough paths) and one new (quasi
geometric rough paths). The former (due to Gubinelli) assumes one knows nothing
about products of integrals, instead those products must be postulated as new
components of the rough path. The latter assumes one knows a bit about
products, namely that they satisfy a natural generalisation of the
"Ito" integration by parts formula. We will show why they are both
reasonable frameworks for a large class of integrals. Moreover, we will show
that Ito's formula can be derived in either framework and that this derivation
is completely algebraic. Finally, we will show that both types of non-geometric
rough path can be re-written as geometric rough paths living above an extended
version of the original path. This means that every non-geometric rough
differential equation can be re-written as a geometric rough differential
equation, hence generalising the Ito-Stratonovich correction formula.

Fri, 19/04
09:20 		Special Seminar Add to calendar
Deformation Week - Day 4

A workshop on different aspects of deformation theory in various fields
Thu, 18/04
14:00 		Professor Nick Trefethen (University of Oxford) Computational Mathematics and Applications Add to calendar Gibson Grd floor SR
The exponentially convergent trapezoid rule

It is well known that the trapezoid rule converges geometrically when applied to analytic functions on periodic intervals or the real line. The mathematics and history of this phenomenon are reviewed and it is shown that far from being a curiosity, it is linked with powerful algorithms all across scientific computing, including double exponential and Gauss quadrature, computation of inverse Laplace transforms, special functions, computational complex analysis, the computation of functions of matrices and operators, rational approximation, and the solution of partial differential equations.

This talk represents joint work with Andre Weideman of the University of Stellenbosch.
Thu, 18/04
10:00 		Special Seminar Add to calendar
Deformation Week - Day 3

A workshop on different aspects of deformation theory in various fields
Wed, 17/04
10:00 		Special Seminar Add to calendar
Deformation Week - Day 2

A workshop on different aspects of deformation theory in various fields
Tue, 16/04
11:00 		Special Seminar Add to calendar
Deformation Week - Day 1

A workshop on different aspects of deformation theory in various fields
Fri, 12/04
11:30 		Various OCCAM Special Seminar Add to calendar OCCAM Common Room (RI2.28)
OCCAM Group Meeting
  • Jen Pestana - Fast multipole method preconditioners for discretizations of elliptic PDEs
  • Derek Moulton - A tangled tale: hunt for the contactless trefoil
  • Thomas Lessines - Morphoelastic rods - growing rings, bilayers and bundles: foldable tents, shooting plants, slap bracelets & fibre reinforced tubes
Wed, 27/03
10:15 		Alan Newell (University of Arizona) OCCAM Wednesday Morning Event Add to calendar OCCAM Common Room (RI2.28)
Spiral phyllotaxis, pushed pattern fronts and optimal packing
To follow
Wed, 13/03
14:00 		Konstantinos Papafitsoros (University of Cambridge) OCCAM Wednesday Morning Event Add to calendar OCCAM Common Room (RI2.28)
Exact solutions to the total generalised variation minimisation problem

********** PLEASE NOTE THE SPECIAL TIME **********

Total generalised variation (TGV) was introduced by Bredies et al. as a high quality regulariser for variational problems arising in mathematical image processing like denoising and deblurring. The main advantage over the classical total variation regularisation is the elimination of the undesirable stairscasing effect. In this talk we will give a small introduction to TGV and provide some properties of the exact solutions to the L^{2}-TGV model in the one dimensional case.
Tue, 12/03
14:30 		Andrew Hodges (Oxford) Twistor Workshop Add to calendar Gibson 1st Floor SR
Twistor Diagrams
Tue, 12/03
12:00 		Donal O'Conell (Neils Bohr Institute) Relativity Seminar Add to calendar Gibson 1st Floor SR
Integrand oxidation: how to make one-loop BCJ numerators

For any corrections/updates to these listings, please contact seminars [-at-] maths [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk.

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