Please note that the list below only shows forthcoming events, which may not include regular events that have not yet been entered for the forthcoming term. Please see the past events page for a list of all seminar series that the department has on offer.

 

Thu, 22 May 2025

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

When you truncate an infinite equation, what happens to the leftovers?

Geoff Vasil
(University of Edinburgh)
Abstract

Numerically solving PDEs typically requires compressing infinite information into a finite system of algebraic equations. Pragmatically, we usually follow a recipe: “Assume solutions of form X; substitute into PDE Y; discard terms by rule Z.” In contrast, Lanczos’s pioneering “tau method” prescribes modifying the PDE to form an exact finite system. Crucially, any recipe-based method can be viewed as adding a small equation correction, enabling us to compare multiple schemes independently of the solver. 

This talk also addresses a paradox: PDEs often admit infinitely many solutions, but finite systems produce only a finite set. When we include a “small” correction, the missing solutions are effectively hidden. I will discuss how tau methods frame this perspective and outline proposals for systematically studying and optimising various residuals.

Thu, 22 May 2025
16:00
C3

TBC

Michael Magee
(University of Durham)
Abstract

to follow

Thu, 22 May 2025
16:00
L5

Liquidity Competition Between Brokers and an Informed Trader

Ryan Donnelly
(King's College London)
Abstract

We study a multi-agent setting in which brokers transact with an informed trader. Through a sequential Stackelberg-type game, brokers manage trading costs and adverse selection with an informed trader. In particular, supplying liquidity to the informed traders allows the brokers to speculate based on the flow information. They simultaneously attempt to minimize inventory risk and trading costs with the lit market based on the informed order flow, also known as the internalization-externalization strategy. We solve in closed form for the trading strategy that the informed trader uses with each broker and propose a system of equations which classify the equilibrium strategies of the brokers. By solving these equations numerically we may study the resulting strategies in equilibrium. Finally, we formulate a competitive game between brokers in order to determine the liquidity prices subject to precommitment supplied to the informed trader and provide a numerical example in which the resulting equilibrium is not Pareto efficient.

Thu, 22 May 2025
16:00
Lecture Room 4

Mordell–Weil groups of elliptic curves — beyond ranks

Alex Bartel
(University of Glasgow)
Abstract

If $E/\mathbb{Q}$ is an elliptic curve, and $F/\mathbb{Q}$ is a finite Galois extension, then $E(F)$ is not merely a finitely generated abelian group, but also a Galois module. If we fix a finite group $G$, and let $F$ vary over all $G$-extensions, then what can we say about the statistical behaviour of $E(F)$ as a $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-module? In this talk I will report on joint work with Adam Morgan, in which we investigate the simplest non-trivial special case of this very general question. Our work has surprising connections to questions about frequency of failure of the Hasse principle for genus 1 hyperelliptic curves, and to work of Heath-Brown on 2-Selmer group distributions in quadratic twist families.

Fri, 23 May 2025

11:00 - 12:00
L4

Modelling infectious diseases within-host

Dr Ruth Bowness
(Dept. Maths Science, University of Bath)
Abstract

During the talk I will describe my research on host-pathogen interactions during lung infections. Various modelling approaches have been used, including a hybrid multiscale individual-based model that we have developed, which simulates pulmonary infection spread, immune response and treatment within in a section of human lung. The model contains discrete agents which model the spatio-temporal interactions (migration, binding, killing etc.) of the pathogen and immune cells. Cytokine and oxygen dynamics are also included, as well as Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic models, which are incorporated via PDEs. I will also describe ongoing work to develop a continuum model, comparing the spatial dynamics resulting from these different modelling approaches.  I will focus in the most part on two infectious diseases: Tuberculosis and COVID-19.

Fri, 23 May 2025

12:00 - 13:00
Quillen Room

TBD

Girish Vishwa
(University of Edinburgh)
Abstract

TBD

Fri, 23 May 2025

16:00 - 17:00
L1

From Physics-Informed Machine Learning to Physics-Informed Machine Intelligence: Quo Vadimus?

Prof. George Em Karniadakis
(Brown University)
Further Information

The Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor of Applied Mathematics, Brown University;
Also @MIT & Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 

https://sites.brown.edu/crunch-group/

 

George Karniadakis is from Crete. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow. He received his S.M. and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984/87). He was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and subsequently he joined the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford / Nasa Ames. 

He joined Princeton University as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and as Associate Faculty in the Program of Applied and Computational Mathematics. He was a Visiting Professor at Caltech in 1993 in the Aeronautics Department and joined Brown University as Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Center for Fluid Mechanics in 1994. After becoming a full professor in 1996, he continued to be a Visiting Professor and Senior Lecturer of Ocean/Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He is an AAAS Fellow (2018-), Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM, 2010-), Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS, 2004-), Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME, 2003-) and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA, 2006-). He received the SES GI Taylor Medal (2024), the SIAM/ACM Prize on Computational Science & Engineering (2021), the Alexander von Humboldt award in 2017, the SIAM Ralf E Kleinman award (2015), the J. Tinsley Oden Medal (2013), and the CFD award (2007) by the US Association in Computational Mechanics. His h-index is 150 and he has been cited over 130,000 times.

 

Abstract

We will review physics-informed neural networks (NNs) and summarize available extensions for applications in computational science and engineering. We will also introduce new NNs that learn functionals and nonlinear operators from functions and corresponding responses for system identification. 

These two key developments have formed the backbone of scientific machine learning that has disrupted the path of computational science and engineering and has created new opportunities for all scientific domains. We will discuss some of these opportunities in digital twins, autonomy, materials discovery, etc.

Moreover, we will discuss bio-inspired solutions, e.g., spiking neural networks and neuromorphic computing.

 

 

Mon, 26 May 2025

13:00 - 14:00

Mathematrix: Crafts and Chill

Abstract

It’s a busy and stressful term for a lot of us so come and take a break and do some colouring and origami with us. Venting is very much encouraged.

Mon, 26 May 2025
14:15
L5

Towards a gauge-theoretic approximation of codimension-three area

Alessandro Pigati
(Bocconi University)
Abstract

In the last three decades, a fruitful way to approximate the area functional in low codimension is to interpret submanifolds as the nodal sets of maps (or sections of vector bundles), critical for suitable physical energies or well-known lagrangians from gauge theory. Inspired by the situation in codimension two, where the abelian Higgs model has provided a successful framework, we look at the non-abelian SU(2) model as a natural candidate in codimension three. In this talk we will survey the new key difficulties and some recent partial results, including a joint work with D. Parise and D. Stern and another result by Y. Li.

Mon, 26 May 2025
15:30
L3

Transport of Gaussian measures under the flow of semilinear (S)PDEs: quasi-invariance and singularity.

Dr. Leonardo Tolomeo
(University of Edinburgh)
Abstract

In this talk, we consider the Cauchy problem for a number of semilinear PDEs, subject to initial data distributed according to a family of Gaussian measures.  

 

We first discuss how the flow of Hamiltonian equations transports these Gaussian measures. When the transported measure is absolutely continuous with respect to the initial measure, we say that the initial measure is quasi-invariant. 

 

In the high-dispersion regime, we exploit quasi-invariance to build a (unique) global flow for initial data with negative regularity, in a regime that cannot be replicated by the deterministic (pathwise) theory.  

 

In the 0-dispersion regime, we discuss the limits of this approach, and exhibit a sharp transition from quasi-invariance to singularity, depending on the regularity of the initial measure. 

 

We will also discuss how the same techniques can be used in the context of stochastic PDEs, and how they provide information on the invariant measures for their flow. 

 

This is based on joint works with  J. Coe (University of Edinburgh), J. Forlano (Monash University), and M. Hairer (EPFL).

Mon, 26 May 2025
16:00
L6

TBC

Vishal Gupta
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

TBC

Tue, 27 May 2025

10:30 - 17:30
L3

One-Day Meeting in Combinatorics

Multiple
Further Information

The speakers are Yuval Wigderson (ETH Zurich), Liana Yepremyan (Emory), Dan Kráľ (Leipzig University and MPI-MiS), Marthe Bonamy (Bordeaux), and Agelos Georgakopoulos (Warwick). Please see the event website for further details including titles, abstracts, and timings. Anyone interested is welcome to attend, and no registration is required.

Tue, 27 May 2025
14:00
L6

TBC

Jon Pridham
(Edinburgh University)
Abstract

to follow

Tue, 27 May 2025
16:00

TBA

Claudia Rella
(Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques)
Wed, 28 May 2025
11:00
L5

A central limit theorem and large deviations principle for the generalised Dean--Kawasaki equation with truncated noise on a bounded domain

Shyam Popat
(Mathematical Institute)
Abstract

We begin with motivation on how the study of SPDEs are relevant when interested in fluctuations of particle systems. 

We then present a law of large numbers, central limit theorem and large deviations principle for the generalised Dean--Kawasaki SPDE with truncated noise. 

Our main contribution is the ability to consider the equation on a general $C^2$-regular, bounded domain with Dirichlet boundary conditions. On the particle level the boundary condition corresponds to absorption and injection of particles at the boundary.

The work is based on discussions with Benjamin Fehrman and can be found at https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.17094 

 

Wed, 28 May 2025
16:00
L6

TBA

Alex Epelde Blanco
(Harvard University)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 29 May 2025

12:00 - 12:30
L4

TBA

Taejun Park
(Mathematical Institute (University of Oxford))
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 29 May 2025

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Pressure-driven fracture in elastic continuum materials

Peter Stewart
(University of Glasgow)

The join button will be published 30 minutes before the seminar starts (login required).

Further Information

Short Bio
Peter S. Stewart is a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Glasgow. His research applies continuum mechanics to physiological and industrial problems. He previously held postdoctoral positions at the University of Oxford and Northwestern University, and earned his PhD from the University of Nottingham with a thesis on flows in flexible channels and airways. http://www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~pstewart

Abstract
Experiments indicate that a monolayer of gas-liquid foam confined within a Hele-Shaw cell can exhibit brittle fracture when subject to an applied driving pressure. In this talk we characterise this brittle fracture mode by considering the propagation of an internally pressurised crack though a slab of elastic continuum material with low resistance to shear, extending the classical description of pressure-driven fracture in a linearly elastic material to a slab of finite-width. We employ a novel matched eigenfunction expansion approach to formulate the stress field, incorporating a global penalty term which we isolate by solving a Fredholm integral equation. We recover the well-known stress singularity in the neighbourhood of the crack tip, but demonstrate that the spatial extent of this stress field in the direction of the crack is set by the domain width irrespective of the shear modulus of the material. The versatility of this approach allows for considerable modifications in the physical properties of the fracturing material, including those characteristic of foams, where out-of-plane deflection of the structural elements and accompanying viscous resistance to motion over the plates of the Hele-Shaw cell are important. These modifications facilitate a solution of the continuum model in the limit of zero shear modulus, where the stress singularity is entirely absent and the lengthscale of the stress-field in the direction of the crack is instead set by the dissipation coefficients. We exploit this mis-match in lengthscales to construct an asymptotic description for a slender domain, analytically characterising the critical conditions for crack propagation as a function of the driving pressure and the domain width. Furthermore, we show that this outer asymptotic solution can be extended to describe materials with low but finite shear modulus, where the accompanying stress singularity around the crack tip is confined within a boundary layer adjacent to the crack surface.
 
 
 
 
Thu, 29 May 2025

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

On the data-sparsity of the solution of Riccati equations with quasiseparable coefficients

Stefano Massei
(Universita di Pisa)
Abstract

Solving large-scale continuous-time algebraic Riccati equations is a significant challenge in various control theory applications. 

This work demonstrates that when the matrix coefficients of the equation are quasiseparable, the solution also exhibits numerical quasiseparability. This property enables us to develop two efficient Riccati solvers. The first solver is applicable to the general quasiseparable case, while the second is tailored to the particular case of banded coefficients. Numerical experiments confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms on both synthetic examples and case studies from the control of partial differential equations and agent-based models. 

Thu, 29 May 2025
17:00
L3

The hierarchy of consistency strengths for membership in a computably enumerable set

Joel David Hamkins
(University of Notre Dame)
Abstract
For a given computably enumerable set W, consider the spectrum of assertions of the form n ∈ W. If W is c.e. but not computably decidable, it is easy to see that many of these statements will be independent of PA, for otherwise we could decide W by searching for proofs of n ∉ W. In this work, we investigate the possible hierarchies of consistency strengths that arise. For example, there is a c.e. set Q for which the consistency strengths of the assertions n ∈ Q are linearly ordered like the rational line. More generally, I shall prove that every computable preorder relation on the natural numbers is realized exactly as the hierarchy of consistency strength for the membership statements n∈W of some computably enumerable set W. After this, we shall consider the c.e. preorder relations. This is joint work with Atticus Stonestrom.
Fri, 30 May 2025

11:00 - 12:00
L4

Modelling the rheology of biological tissue

Professor Suzanne Fielding
(Dept of Physics Durham University)
Abstract

The rheological (deformation and flow) properties of biological tissues  are important in processes such as embryo development, wound healing and 
tumour invasion. Indeed, processes such as these spontaneously generate  stresses within living tissue via active process at the single cell level. 
Tissues are also continually subject to external stresses and deformations  from surrounding tissues and organs. The success of numerous physiological 
functions relies on the ability of cells to withstand stress under some conditions, yet to flow collectively under others. Biological tissue is 
furthermore inherently viscoelastic, with a slow time-dependent mechanics.  Despite this rich phenomenology, the mechanisms that govern the 
transmission of stress within biological tissue, and its response to bulk deformation, remain poorly understood to date.

This talk will describe three recent research projects in modelling the rheology of biological tissue. The first predicts a strain-induced 
stiffening transition in a sheared tissue [1]. The second elucidates the interplay of external deformations applied to a tissue as a whole with 
internal active stresses that arise locally at the cellular level, and shows how this interplay leads to a host of fascinating rheological 
phenomena such as yielding, shear thinning, and continuous or discontinuous shear thickening [2]. The third concerns the formulation of 
a continuum constitutive model that captures several of these linear and nonlinear rheological phenomena [3].

[1] J. Huang, J. O. Cochran, S. M. Fielding, M. C. Marchetti and D. Bi, 
Physical Review Letters 128 (2022) 178001

[2] M. J. Hertaeg, S. M. Fielding and D. Bi, Physical Review X 14 (2024) 
011017.

[3] S. M. Fielding, J. O. Cochran, J. Huang, D. Bi, M. C. Marchetti, 
Physical Review E (Letter) 108 (2023) L042602.

Fri, 30 May 2025

12:00 - 13:00
Quillen Room

TBD

Calle Sonne
(London School of Geometry & Number Theory)
Abstract

TBD

Mon, 02 Jun 2025

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

Sketchy finite elements

Prof Nick Polydorides
(Institute for Imaging, Data and Communications, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh)
Abstract

I will present some ongoing work on solving parametric linear systems arising from the application of the finite elements method on elliptic partial differential trial equations. The focus of the talk will be on leveraging randomised numerical linear algebra to solve these equations in high-dimensional parameter spaces with special emphasis on the multi-query context where optimal sampling is not practical. In this context I will discuss some ideas on choosing a suitable low-dimensional approximation of the solution, as well as reducing the variance of the sketched systems. This research aims at exploring the potential of randomisation as a probabilistic framework for model order reduction, with potential applications to online simulations, uncertainty quantification and inverse problems, via the research grant EPSRC EP/V028618/1

 

Bio: Nick Polydorides is a professor in computational engineering at the University of Edinburgh and has interests in randomised numerical linear algebra, inverse problems and edge computing. Previously, he was a faculty at the Cyprus Institute, and a postdoctoral fellow at MIT’s lab for Information and Decision Systems. He has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester.  

Mon, 02 Jun 2025
14:15
L5

Laplacian spectra of minimal submanifolds in the hyperbolic space

Gerasim Kokarev
(Leeds)
Abstract
I will describe an extremal problem for the fundamental tone of submanifolds in the hyperbolic space, and will show that singular minimal submanifolds occur as natural maximisers for it. I will also discuss a closely related rigidity phenomenon for the Laplacian spectra of minimal submanifolds.
Mon, 02 Jun 2025
16:00
L6

TBC

Anubhab Ghosal
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

TBC