Past

Quasimorphisms (QM) of groups to the reals are well studied and are linked to stable commutator length (scl) via Bavard Duality- Theorem. The notion of QM can be generalized to yield maps  between groups such that each QM from one group pulls back to a QM in the other.

We will give both a short overview of features of scl and investigate these generalized QMs with large scale properties of the commutator group. 

One of the peculiar features of quantum mechanics is
entanglement. It is known that entanglement is monogamous in the sense
that a quantum system can only be strongly entangled to one other
system. In this talk, I will show how this so-called monogamy of
entanglement can be captured and quantified by a "game". We show that,
in this particular game, the monogamy completely "cancels out" the
advantage of entanglement.
As an application of our analysis, we show that - in theory - the
standard BB84 quantum-key-distribution scheme is one-sided
device-independent, meaning that one of the parties, say Bob, does not
need to trust his quantum measurement device: security is guaranteed
even if his device is completely malicious.
The talk will be fully self-contained; no prior knowledge on quantum
mechanics/cryptography is necessary.

In 1924, James W. Alexander constructed a 2-sphere in R3 that is not ambiently homeomorphic to the standard 2-sphere, which demonstrated the failure of the Schoenflies theorem in higher dimensions. I will describe the construction of the Alexander horned sphere and the Antoine necklace and describe some of their properties.

Ever since the compilers of Euclid's Elements gave the "definitions" that "a point is that which has no part" and "a line is breadthless length", philosophers and mathematicians have worried that the basic concepts of geometry are too abstract and too idealized.  In the 20th century writers such as Husserl, Lesniewski, Whitehead, Tarski, Blumenthal, and von Neumann have proposed "pointless" approaches.  A problem more recent authors have emphasized it that there are difficulties in having a rich theory of a part-whole relationship without atoms and providing both size and geometric dimension as part of the theory.  A possible solution is proposed using the Boolean algebra of measurable sets modulo null sets along with relations derived from the group of rigid motions in Euclidean n-space. 

We consider a system of coupled second order integro-differential evolution equations in a Hilbert space, which is partially damped through memory effects. A global existence theorem regarding the solutions to its Cauchy problem is given, only under basic conditions that the memory kernels possess positive definite primitives but without nonnegative/decreasing assumptions. Following this, we find an approach to successfully obtain the stability of the system energy and various decay rates. Moreover, the abstract results are applied to several concrete systems in the real world, including the Timoshenko type. This is a joint work with Professor Ti-Jun Xiao (Fudan University) and Professor Jin Liang (Shanghai Jiaotong University)

Low-rank compression of matrices and tensors is a huge and growing business.  Closely related is low-rank compression of multivariate functions, a technique used in Chebfun2 and Chebfun3.  Not all functions can be compressed, so the question becomes, which ones?  Here we focus on two kinds of functions for which compression is effective: those with some alignment with the coordinate axes, and those dominated by small regions of localized complexity.

For any given graph H, we may define a natural corresponding functional ||.||_H. We then say that H is norming if ||.||_H is a semi-norm. A similar notion ||.||_{r(H)} is defined by || f ||_{r(H)}:=|| | f | ||_H and H is said to be weakly norming if ||.||_{r(H)} is a norm. Classical results show that weakly norming graphs are necessarily bipartite. In the other direction, Hatami showed that even cycles, complete bipartite graphs, and hypercubes are all weakly norming. Using results from the theory of finite reflection groups, we demonstrate that any graph which is edge-transitive under the action of a certain natural family of automorphisms is weakly norming. This result includes all previous examples of weakly norming graphs and adds many more. We also include several applications of our results. In particular, we define and compare a number of generalisations of Gowers' octahedral norms and we prove some new instances of Sidorenko's conjecture. Joint work with David Conlon.

We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for linear convergence of operator splitting methods for a general class of convex optimization problems where the associated fixed-point operator is averaged. We also provide a tight bound on the achievable convergence rate. Most existing results establishing linear convergence in such methods require restrictive assumptions regarding strong convexity and smoothness of the constituent functions in the optimization problem. However, there are several examples in the literature showing that linear convergence is possible even when these properties do not hold. We provide a unifying analysis method for establishing linear convergence based on linear regularity and show that many existing results are special cases of our approach.

Black holes are one of the few available laboratories for testing theoretical ideas in fundamental physics. Since Hawking's result that they radiate a thermal spectrum, black holes have been regarded as thermodynamic objects with associated temperature, entropy, etc. While this is an extremely beautiful picture it has also lead to numerous puzzles. In this talk I will describe the two-loop correction to scalar correlation functions due to \phi^{^4} interactions and explain why this might have implications for our current view of semi-classical black holes.
 

Given an integer $d$ such that $2 \leq d \leq 50$, we want to
answer the question: When is the sum of
$d$ consecutive cubes a perfect power? In other words, we want to find all
integer solutions to the equation
$(x+1)^3 + (x+2)^3 + \cdots + (x+d)^3 = y^p$. In this talk, we present some
of the techniques used to tackle such diophantine problems.

We explore a specific system in which geometry and loading conspire to generate fine-scale wrinkling. This system -- a twisted ribbon held with small tension -- was examined experimentally by Chopin and Kudrolli 
[Phys Rev Lett 111, 174302, 2013].

There is a regime where the ribbon wrinkles near its center. A recent paper by Chopin, D\'{e}mery, and Davidovitch models this regime using a von-K\'{a}rm\'{a}n-like 
variational framework [J Elasticity 119, 137-189, 2015]. Our contribution is to give upper and lower bounds for the minimum energy as the thickness tends to zero. Since the bounds differ by a thickness-independent prefactor, we have determined how the minimum energy scales with thickness. Along the way we find estimates on Sobolev norms of the minimizers, which provide some information on the character of the wrinkling. This is a joint work with  Robert V. Kohn in Courant Institute, NYU.

Part of the series 'What do historians of mathematics do?'

I'm currently working on a biography of Charles Hutton (1737–1823): pit lad, FRS, and professor of Mathematics. No-one much has heard of him today, but to his contemporaries he was "one of the greatest mathematicians in Europe". I'll give an outline of his remarkable story and say something about why he's worth my time.

In this talk we will give an overview of the recent research on global quantizations on spaces of different types: compact and nilpotent Lie groups, general locally compact groups, compact manifolds with boundary.

Motivated by work of Borel and Serre on arithmetic groups, Bestvina and Feighn defined a bordification of Outer space; this is an enlargement of Outer space which is highly-connected at infinity and on which the action of $Out(F_n)$ extends, with compact quotient. They conclude that $Out(F_n)$ satisfies a type of duality between homology and cohomology.  We show that Bestvina and Feighn’s  bordification can be realized as a deformation retract of Outer space instead of an extension, answering some questions left open by Bestvina and Feighn and considerably simplifying their proof that the bordification is highly connected at infinity.

We give a noncommutative analogue of Castelnuovo's classic theorem that (-1) lines on a smooth surface can be contracted, and show how this may be used to construct an explicit birational map between a noncommutative P^2 and a noncommutative quadric surface. This has applications to the classification of noncommutative projective surfaces, one of the major open problems in noncommutative algebraic geometry. We will not assume a background in noncommutative ring theory.  The talk is based on joint work with Rogalski and Staffor

The talk will focus on continuous time random walk with unbounded i.i.d. random conductances on the grid $\mathbb{Z}^d$  In the first place, in a joint work with Kumagai and Mathieu, we obtain Gaussian heat kernel bounds and also local CLT for bounded from above and not bounded from below conductances. The proof is given at first in a general framework, then it is specified in the case of plynomial lower tail conductances. It is essentially based on percolation and spectral analysis arguments, and Harnack inequalities. Then we will discuss the same questions for the same model with i.i.d. random conductances, bounded from below and with finite expectation.

Recently, there has been some progress in examining mirror symmetry beyond Calabi-Yau threefolds. I will discuss how this is related to flux vacua of type II supergravity on eight-dimensional manifolds equipped with SU(4)-structure. It will be shown that the natural framework to describe such vacua is generalized complex geometry. Two classes of type IIB solutions will be given, one of which is complex, the other symplectic, and I will describe in what sense these are mirror to one another.  

From the finite Fourier transform to topological quantum field theory -- Bruce Bartlett

Abstract: In 1979, Auslander and Tolimieri wrote the influential "Is computing with the finite Fourier transform pure or applied mathematics?".  It was a homage to the indivisibility of our two subjects, by demonstrating the interwoven nature of the finite Fourier transform, Gauss sums, and the finite Heisenberg group.  My talk is intended as a new chapter in this story. I will explain how all these topics come together yet again in 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory, namely Chern-Simons theory with gauge group U(1).

Defects in liquid crystals: mathematical approaches -- Giacomo Canevari

Abstract: Liquid crystals are matter in an intermediate state between liquids and crystalline solids.  They are composed by molecules which can flow, but retain some form of ordering.  For instance, in the so-called nematic phase the molecules tend to align along some locally preferred directions.  However, the ordering is not perfect, and defects are commonly observed.

The mathematical theory of defects in liquid crystals combines tools from different fields, ranging from topology - which provides a convenient language to describe the main properties of defects -to calculus of variations and partial differential equations.  I will compare a few mathematical approaches to defects in nematic liquid crystals, and discuss how they relate to each other via asymptotic analysis.

In this talk, I will present two different aspects of the ice flow modelling, including a theoretical part and an applied part. In the theoretical part, I will derive some "mechanical error estimators'', i.e. estimators that can measure the mechanical error between the most accurate ice flow model (Glen-Stokes) and some approximations based on shallowness assumption. To do so, I will follow residual techniques used to obtain a posteriori estimators of the numerical error in finite element methods for non-linear elliptic problems. In the applied part, I will present some simulations of the ice flow generated by the Rhone Glacier, Switzerland, during the last glacial maximum (~ 22 000 years ago), analyse the trajectories taken by erratic boulders of different origins, and compare these results to geomorphological observations. In particular, I will show that erratic boulders, whose origin is known, constitute valuable data to infer information about paleo-climate, which is the most uncertain input of any paleo ice sheet model. 

A holy grail of nano-technology is to create truly complex, multi-component structures by self assembly.
 

Most self-assembly has focused on the creation of `structural complexity'. In my talk, I will discuss `Addressable Complexity': the creation of structures that contain hundreds or thousands of
distinct building blocks that all have to find their place in a 3D structure.

In the first part of the talk I will review Bob Fernholz' theory of functionally generated portfolios. In the second part I will discuss questions related to the existence of short-term arbitrage opportunities.
This is joint work with Bob Fernholz and Ioannis Karatzas