Thu, 23 May 2024
17:00
Lecture Theatre 1, Mathematical Institute, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, OX2 6GG

Infinite Jesters: what can philosophers learn from a puzzle involving infinitely many clowns? - Ofra Magidor and Alexander Kaiserman

Ofra Magidor and Alexander Kaiserman
(University of Oxford)
Further Information

Ofra and Alexander consider a simple but intriguing mathematical argument, which purports to show how infinitely many clowns appear to have some surprising powers. They'll discuss what conclusions philosophers can and cannot draw from this case, and connect the discussion to a number of key philosophical issues such as the problem of free will and the Grandfather Paradox for time travel.

Ofra Magidor is Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Magdalen College. Alex Kaiserman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and Fairfax Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Balliol College. While they are both philosophers, Ofra holds a BSc in Philosophy, Mathematics, and Computer Science and Alex holds an MPhysPhil in Physics and Philosophy, so they are no strangers to STEM subjects.

Please email @email to register to attend in person.

The lecture will be broadcast on the Oxford Mathematics YouTube Channel on Thursday 13 June at 5-6pm and any time after (no need to register for the online version).

The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.

Fri, 03 May 2024

12:00 - 13:00
Quillen Room

The canonical dimension of depth-zero supercuspidal representations

Mick Gielen
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Associated to a complex admissible representation of a p-adic group is an invariant known is the "canonical dimension". It is closely related to the more well-studied invariant called the "wavefront set". The advantage of the canonical dimension over the wavefront set is that it allows for a completely different approach in computing it compared to the known computational methods for the wavefront set. In this talk we illustrate this point by finding a lower bound for the canonical dimension of any depth-zero supercuspidal representation, which depends only on the group and so is independent of the representation itself. To compute this lower bound, we consider the geometry of the associated Bruhat-Tits building.

Wed, 12 Jun 2024

16:00 - 17:00
L6

TBA

Marco Linton
(University of Oxford)
Thu, 06 Jun 2024

11:00 - 12:00
C3

TBA

Tamar Bar-On
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 16 May 2024

11:00 - 12:00
C3

TBA

Michał Szachniewicz
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 09 May 2024

11:00 - 12:00
C3

TBA

Emmanuel Breuillard
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

TBA

Wed, 08 May 2024

16:00 - 17:00
L6

TBA

Davide Spriano
(University of Oxford)
Wed, 15 May 2024

16:00 - 17:00
L6

TBA

Naomi Andrew
(University of Oxford)
Wed, 01 May 2024

16:00 - 17:00
L6

ℓ²-Betti numbers of RFRS groups

Sam Fisher
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

RFRS groups were introduced by Ian Agol in connection with virtual fibering of 3-manifolds. Notably, the class of RFRS groups contains all compact special groups, which are groups with particularly nice cocompact actions on cube complexes. In this talk, I will give an introduction to ℓ²-Betti numbers from an algebraic perspective and discuss what group theoretic properties we can conclude from the (non)vanishing of the ℓ²-Betti numbers of a RFRS group.

Subscribe to University of Oxford