Thu, 25 Jun 2026
14:00

Temporal high-order structure-preserving parametric finite element methods for curvature flows

Chunmei Su
(Tsinghua University)
Abstract

The quality of the mesh is crucial for simulating curvature flows, as standard approaches may fail due to mesh distortion. We first present a series of high-order parametric finite element methods based on the Barrett-Garcke--Nurnberg formulation for solving various types of flows involving curves and surfaces. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate the anticipated high-order accuracy while maintaining favorable mesh quality throughout the evolution process. Secondly, for flows involving multiple geometric structures, such as surface diffusion—which reduces area while preserving volume—we propose a type of structure-preserving method that incorporates two scalar Lagrange multipliers along with two evolution equations related to area and volume, respectively. These schemes effectively preserve the geometric structure at a fully discrete level. Comprehensive numerical experiments illustrate that our methods achieve the desired temporal accuracy, while simultaneously preserving the geometric structure of the surface diffusion.
 

Modeling flying formations as flow-mediated matter
Mavroyiakoumou, C Wu, J Ristroph, L Physical Review Fluids volume 11 issue 6 (18 Jun 2026)
Thu, 05 Nov 2026
14:00

TBA

Sara Shashaani
(North Carolina State University)
Abstract

TBA; the speaker is visiting during term and this date can be flexible. 

Thick embeddings of graphs into symmetric spaces via coarse geometry
Barrett, B Hume, D Guth, L Portnoy, E Transactions of the American Mathematical Society volume 378 issue 2 885-909 (12 Dec 2024)
Asymptotic dimension for covers with controlled growth
Hume, D Mackay, J Tessera, R Journal of the London Mathematical Society volume 111 issue 1 (17 Jan 2025)

What you doing 2 July? Only,  do you fancy coming out for a drink? Maybe something to eat? There'll be a bunch of us.

Summer Party,  Thursday 2 July, 4 p.m. Common Room. 

Bring your family. Or someone else's.

Image: Norman Rockwell - First date - Home Late

You may be aware that best-selling science writer Simon Singh, author of books such as “Fermat’s Last Theorem”, visited the Mathematical Institute at the start of the academic year. He and his colleague, Junaid Mubeen run a maths excellence programme (Parallel) for state school students. As well as giving some insights into what constitutes good practice in writing, outreach and education, they gave a brief outline of their Parallel programme, which currently supports 1,000 talented maths students every week from Year 7 through to Year 11.

In 2022 Fantasy Premier League winner Josh Bull made his World Cup predictions. They were okay, but no cigar. However, in the intervening four years he has really honed his mathematical skills. Now he is 100% confident he's found the secret sauce.

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