To celebrate International Women in Mathematics Day (May 12), Mathematrix is hosting a pizza lunch where we will watch ‘Journeys of Women in Mathematics’, a powerful 20-minute film by the International Mathematical Union showcasing the experiences of women mathematicians worldwide. The film follows three mathematicians from India, Cameroon, and Brazil from their home institutions to the (WM)² international meeting, showing their research and what it’s like to be part of the global maths community.
The Anti-Racism Ally Network runs a range of events across the term as well as having a
The Knowledge Exchange Hub for the Mathematical Sciences has commissioned the award winning Active Bystander Training Company to deliver a focused, practical session designed to empower our community to challenge unacceptable behaviours — including those that may have become normalised over time.
Wednesday 20 May, 10:00 am - 11:30 am. Online and free
Science in the Age of Algorithms: Rethinking Discovery in the AI Era
Participants:
- Sendhil Mullainathan, Peter de Florez Professor of Economics & Computer Science, MIT (and Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professor, Oxford)
- Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Principal of Jesus College and Professor of Computer Science, Oxford
- Dr Raia Hadsell, VP of Research, Google DeepMind
- Chair: Professor Johannes Abeler, Professor & Head of Economics Department, Oxford
5 pm, 19 May, Andrew Wiles Building
Tue, 02 Jun 2026
14:45
14:45
Bernoulli flow and optimal delocalisation for Erdös-Rényi graphs
Joscha Henheik
Abstract
We present a new dynamical way of establishing local laws for sparse random matrices, the Bernoulli flow method. It is based on a Markovian jump process, where the entries of the matrix jump independently from 0 to 1 at rate one. As an application, we show optimal (up to a constant) isotropic delocalisation for bulk eigenvectors of Erdös-Rényi graphs with edge probability p \geq (log N)^2/N. In the same regime, we obtain a local law with optimal (up to a constant) error bounds. Joint work with Antti Knowles.
Congratulations to the following graduate students:
Jad Hamdan - for his contributions to the Random Matrix Theory group through supporting and welcoming visitors, organising social events, and helping foster a collegial and inclusive group culture. He has also been a dependable source of support for junior members and an active contributor to seminars, group dinners, and wider group life.
In our latest research case study, Harini introduces the concept of isomonodromic deformations and explain the role they play in the study of random curves.
Fri, 22 May 2026
12:00
12:00
L5
The exceptional holography of the M5-brane
Oscar Varela
(Utah State University)
Abstract
The characterisation of the physics of the M5-brane remains an important open problem in string theory. While the superconformal field theory that resides on a planar M5-brane in flat space is poorly understood, other configurations involving M5-branes wrapped on certain manifolds have well-known superconformal field theory descriptions, including class S field theories. In this talk, I will use new methods based on exceptional generalised geometry to describe the gravity duals of class S field theories, compute a universal sector of their light-operator spectrum, and provide, for the first time, a holographic match of their superconformal index.