Past

Coisotropic submanifolds arise naturally in symplectic geometry as level sets of moment maps and in algebraic geometry in the context of normal crossing divisors. In examples, the Marsden-Weinstein quotient or (Fano) complete intersections are often uniruled. 
We show that under natural geometric assumptions on a coisotropic submanifold, the symplectic quotient of the coisotropic is always geometrically uniruled. 
I will explain how to assign a Lagrangian and a hypersurface to a fibered, stable coisotropic C. The Lagrangian inherits a fibre bundle structure from C, the hypersurface captures the generalised Reeb dynamics on C. To derive the result, we then adapt and apply techniques from Lagrangian Floer theory and symplectic field theory.
This is joint work with Jonny Evans.
 

Many extremal results on cycles use what may be called BFS method, where a breath first search tree is used as a skeleton to build desired structures. A well-known example is the Bondy-Simonovits theorem that every n-vertex graph with more than 100kn^{1+1/k} edges contains an even cycle of length 2k. The standard BFS method, however, is not easily applicable for supersaturation problems where one wishes to show the existence of many copies of a given  subgraph. The method is also not easily applicable in the hypergraph setting.

In this talk, we focus on some variants of the standard BFS method. We use one of these in conjunction with some useful general reduction theorems that we develop to establish the supersaturation of loose (linear) even cycles in linear hypergraphs. This extends Simonovits' supersaturation theorem on even cycles in graphs. This is joint work with Liana Yepremyan.

If time allows, we will also discuss another variant (joint with Jie Ma) used in the study of Berge cycles of consecutive lengths in hypergraphs.

Heckman introduced N operators on the space of polynomials in N variables, such that these operators form a covariant set relative to permutations of the operators and variables, and such that Jack symmetric polynomials are eigenfunctions of the power sums of these operators. We introduce the analogues of these N operators for Macdonald symmetric polynomials, by using Cherednik operators. The latter operators pairwise commute, and Macdonald polynomials are eigenfunctions of their power sums. We compute the limits of our operators at N → ∞ . These limits yield a Lax operator for Macdonald symmetric functions. This is a joint work with Evgeny Sklyanin.

What's the continuous analog of randn?  In recent months I've been exploring such questions with Abdul-Lateef Haji-Ali and other members of the Chebfun team, and Chebfun now has commands randnfun, randnfun2, randnfunsphere, and randnfundisk.  These are based on finite Fourier series with random coefficients, and interesting questions arise in the "white noise" limit as the lengths of the series approaches infinity and as random ODEs become stochastic DEs.    This work is at an early stage and we are grateful for input from stochastic experts at Oxford and elsewhere.

Multi-agent systems in nature oftentimes exhibit emergent behaviour, i.e. the formation of patterns in the absence of a leader or external stimuli such as light or food sources. We present a non-local two species crossinteraction model with cross-diffusion and explore its long-time behaviour. We observe a rich zoology of behaviours exhibiting phenomena such as mixing and/or segregation of both species and the formation of travelling pulses.

 Locality is not expected to be a fundamental aspect of a full theory of quantum gravity; it should be emergent in an appropriate semiclassical limit.  In the context of general holography, I'll define a new construct - the causal state - which provides a necessary and sufficient condition for a boundary state to have a holographic semiclassical dual causal geometry (and thus be "local").  This definition illuminates some general features of holographic quantum gravity: for instance, I'll show that the emergence of locality is "all or nothing" in the sense that it exhibits features of quantum error correction and quantum secret sharing.  In the special case of AdS/CFT, I'll also argue that the causal state is the natural boundary dual to the so-called causal wedge of a region. 

Part of the series "What do historians of mathematics do?"  
In the last year of 14th century, a French mathematician/geometer Jean Mignot, was called from Paris to help with the construction of the Cathedral of Milan. Thus was created one of the most famous stories about how mathematics literally supports great works of art, helping them stand the test of time. This talk will look at some patterns that begin to become apparent in the investigations of the relationship between architecture and mathematics and the creativity that is common to the pursuit of both. I will present the case on how this may matter to someone who is interested in the history of mathematics. To make this more intelligible, I will partly talk also of my personal journey in investigating this relationship and the issues I have researched and written about, and how these in turn changed my view of the nature of mathematics education. 

Various concepts of weak solution have been suggested for the fundamental equations of fluid dynamics over the last few decades. However, such weak solutions may be non-unique, or at least their uniqueness is unknown. Nevertheless, a conditional notion of uniqueness, the so-called weak-strong uniqueness, can be established in various situations. We present some recent results, both positive and negative, on weak-strong uniqueness in the realm of incompressible and compressible fluid dynamics. Applications to the convergence of numerical schemes will be indicated.

After giving an introduction to functorial field theories I will explain a natural generalization thereof, called "twisted" field theories by Stolz-Teichner. The definition uses the notion of lax or oplax natural transformations of strong functors of higher categories for which I will sketch a framework. I will discuss the fully extended case, which gives a comparison to Freed-Teleman's "relative" boundary field theories. Finally, I will explain some examples, one of which explicitly arises from factorization homology and whose target is the higher Morita category of E_n-algebras, bimodules, bimodules of bimodules etc.

In certain cases of (linear) partial differential equations random perturbations have been observed to cause regularizing effects, in some cases even producing the uniqueness of solutions. In view of the long-standing open problems of uniqueness of solutions for certain PDE arising in fluid dynamics such results are of particular interest. In this talk we will extend some known results concerning the well-posedness by noise for linear transport equations to the nonlinear case.

Recent work in regularity structures has provided a robust solution theory for a wide class of singular SPDEs. While much progress has been made on understanding the analytic and algebraic aspects of renormalisation of the driving signal, the action of the renormalisation group on the equation still needed to be performed by hand. In this talk, we aim to give a systematic description of the renormalisation procedure directly on the level of the PDE, which allows for explicit computation of the form of the renormalised equation. Joint work with Yvain Bruned, Ajay Chandra, and Martin Hairer.

The moduli space M(G) of Higgs bundles for a complex reductive group G on a compact Riemann surface carries a natural hyperkahler structure and it comes equipped with an algebraically completely integrable system through a flat projective morphism called the Hitchin map. Motivated by mirror symmetry, I will discuss certain complex Lagrangians (BAA-branes) in M(G) coming from real forms of G and give a proposal for the mirror (BBB-brane) in the moduli space of Higgs bundles for the Langlands dual group of G.  In this talk, I will focus on the real groups SU^*(2m), SO^*(4m) and Sp(m,m). The image under the Hitchin map of Higgs bundles for these groups is completely contained in the discriminant locus of the base and our analysis is carried out by describing the whole
(singular) fibres they intersect. These turn out to be certain subvarieties of the moduli space of rank 1 torsion-free sheaves on a non-reduced curve. If time permits we will also discuss another class of complex Lagrangians in M(G) which can be constructed from symplectic representations of G.

A heterotic $G_2$ system is a quadruple $([Y,\varphi], [V, A], [TY,\theta], H)$ where $Y$ is a seven dimensional manifold with an integrable <br /> $G_2$ structure $\varphi$, $V$ is a bundle on $Y$ with an instanton connection $A$, $TY$ is the tangent bundle with an instanton connection $\theta$ and $H$ is a three form on $Y$ determined uniquely by the $G_2$ structure on $Y$. Further, H  is constrained so that it satisfies a condition that involves the Chern-Simons forms of $A$ and $\theta$, thus mixing the geometry of $Y$ with that of the bundles (this is the so called anomaly cancelation condition).  In this talk I will describe the tangent space of the moduli space of these systems. We first prove that a heterotic system is equivalent to an exterior covariant derivative $\cal D$ on the bundle ${\cal Q} = T^*Y\oplus {\rm End}(V)\oplus {\rm End}(TY)$ which satisfies $\check{\cal D}^2 = 0$ for some appropriately defined projection of the operator $\cal D$.  Remarkably, this equivalence implies the (Bianchi identity of) the anomaly cancelation condition. We show that the infinitesimal moduli space is given by the cohomology group $H^1_{\check{\cal D}}(Y, {\cal Q})$ and therefore it is finite dimensional.   Our analysis leads to results that are of relevance to all orders in $\alpha’$.  Time permitting, I will comment on work in progress about the finite deformations of heterotic $G_2$ systems and the relation to differential graded Lie algebras.

Hinke Osinga, University of Auckland
joint work with: Bernd Krauskopf and Stefanie Hittmeyer (University of Auckland)

Dynamical systems of Lorenz type are similar to the famous Lorenz system of just three ordinary differential equations in a well-defined geometric sense. The behaviour of the Lorenz system is organised by a chaotic attractor, known as the butterfly attractor. Under certain conditions, the dynamics is such that a dimension reduction can be applied, which relates the behaviour to that of a one-dimensional non-invertible map. A lot of research has focussed on understanding the dynamics of this one-dimensional map. The study of what this means for the full three-dimensional system has only recently become possible through the use of advanced numerical methods based on the continuation of two-point boundary value problems. Did you know that the chaotic dynamics is organised by a space-filling pancake? We show how similar techniques can help to understand the dynamics of higher-dimensional Lorenz-type systems. Using a similar dimension-reduction technique, a two-dimensional non-invertible map describes the behaviour of five or more ordinary differential equations. Here, a new type of chaotic dynamics is possible, called wild chaos. 

For a prime number p, we will consider completed group algebras, or Iwasawa algebras, of the form kG, for G a complete p-valued group of finite rank, k a field of characteristic p. Classifying the ideal structure of Iwasawa algebras has been an ongoing project within non-commutative algebra and representation theory, and we will discuss ideas related to this topic based on previous work and try to extend it. An important concept in studying ideals of group algebras is the notion of controlling ideals, where we say a closed subgroup H of G controls a right ideal I of kG if I is generated by a subset of kH. It was proved by Konstantin Ardakov in 2012 that for G nilpotent, every faithful prime ideal of kG is controlled by the centre of G, and it follows that the prime spectrum of kG can be realised as the disjoint union of commutative strata. I am hoping to extend this to a more general case, perhaps to when G is solvable. A key step in the proof is to consider a faithful prime ideal P in kG, and an automorphism of G, trivial mod centre, that fixes P. By considering the Mahler expansion of the automorphism, and approximating the coefficients, we can examine sequences of bounded k-linear functions of kG, and study their convergence. If we find that they converge to an appropriate quantized divided power, we can find proper open subgroups of G that control P. I have extended this notion to larger classes of automorphisms, not necessarily trivial mod centre, using which this proof can be replicated, and in some cases extended to when G is abelian-by-procyclic. I will give some examples, for G with small rank, for which these ideas yield results.

I will explain the model theoretic notion of ampleness
and present the geometric context of recent constructions.

Symmetry has played a critical role both for composers and in the creation of musical instruments. From Bach’s Goldberg Variations to Schoenberg’s Twelve-tone rows, composers have exploited symmetry to create variations on a theme. But symmetry is also embedded in the very way instruments make sound. The lecture will culminate in a reconstruction of nineteenth-century scientist Ernst Chladni's exhibition that famously toured the courts of Europe to reveal extraordinary symmetrical shapes in the vibrations of a metal plate.

The lecture will be preceded by a demonstration of the Chladni plates with the audience encouraged to participate. Each of the 16 plates will have their own dials to explore the changing input and can accommodate 16 players at a time. Participants will be able to explore how these shapes might fit together into interesting tessellations of the plane. The ultimate idea is to create an aural dynamic version of the walls in the Alhambra.

The lecture will start at 5pm, but the demonstration will be available from 2.30pm.

Please email @email to register

The aim of this talk is to explain how to axiomatize Hilbert's Theorem 90, in the setting of (the cohomology with finite coefficients of) profinite groups. I shall first explain the general framework.  It includes, in particular, the use of divided power modules over Witt vectors; a process which appears to be of independent interest in the theory of modular representations. I shall then give several applications to Galois cohomology, notably to the problem of lifting mod p Galois representations (or more accurately: torsors under these) modulo higher powers of p. I'll also explain the connection with the Bloch-Kato conjecture in Galois cohomology, proved by Rost, Suslin and Voevodsky. This is joint work in progress with Charles De Clercq.

What can maths tell us about this topic? Do mathematicians even have a seat at the table, and should we? What do we know about directed networks and dynamical systems that can contribute to this?

We consider the implications of the mathematical modelling and analysis of neurone-to-neurone dynamical complex networks. We explain how the dynamical behaviour of relatively small scale strongly connected networks lead naturally to non-binary information processing and thus to multiple hypothesis decision making, even at the very lowest level of the brain’s architecture. This all looks a like a a loose  coupled array of  k-dimensional clocks. There are lots of challenges for maths here. We build on these ideas to address the "hard problem" of consciousness - which other disciplines say is beyond any mathematical explanation for ever! 

We discuss how a proposed “dual hierarchy model”, made up from both externally perceived, physical, elements of increasing complexity, and internally experienced, mental elements (which we argue are equivalent to feelings), may support a leaning and evolving consciousness. We introduce the idea that a human brain ought to be able to re-conjure subjective mental feelings at will. An immediate consequence of this model  is that finite human brains must always be learning and forgetting and that any possible subjective internal feeling that might be fully idealised only with a countable infinity of facets, could never be learned completely a priori by zombies or automata: it may be experienced more and more fully by an evolving human brain (yet never in totality, not even in a lifetime). 

We study risk-sharing equilibria with trading subject to small proportional transaction costs. We show that the frictionless equilibrium prices also form an "asymptotic equilibrium" in the small-cost limit. To wit, there exist asymptotically optimal policies for all agents and a split of the trading cost according to their risk aversions for which the frictionless equilibrium prices still clear the market. Starting from a frictionless equilibrium, this allows to study the interplay of volatility, liquidity, and trading volume.
(This is joint work with Johannes Muhle-Karbe, University of Michigan.)
 

We describe a convergence acceleration technique for generic optimization problems. Our scheme computes estimates of the optimum from a nonlinear average of the iterates produced by any optimization method. The weights in this average are computed via a simple linear system, whose solution can be updated online. This acceleration scheme runs in parallel to the base algorithm, providing improved estimates of the solution on the fly, while the original optimization method is running. Numerical experiments are detailed on classical classification problems.
 

TBA

The Robin-Schensted-Knuth insertion algorithm provides a bijection between non-negative integer matrices and pairs of semistandard Young tableau. However, by relaxing the conditions on the correspondence, it allows us to define the Poirer-Reutenauer bialgebra, which exactly describes the algebra of symmetric functions viewed as generated by the Schur polynomials. This gives an interesting combinatorial decomposition of symmetric products of Schur polynomials, called a Littlewood Richardson rule, which we will discuss. We will then power through as many generalisations as I have time for: Hecke insertion and stable Grothendieck polynomials, shifted insertion and Schur P-functions, and shifted Hecke insertion and weak shifted stable Grothendieck polynomials

Meteorologist Ed Lorenz was one of the founding fathers of chaos theory. In 1963, he showed with just three simple equations that the world around us could be both completely deterministic and yet practically unpredictable. More than this, Lorenz discovered that this behaviour arose from a beautiful fractal geometric structure residing in the so-called state space of these equations. In the 1990s, Lorenz’s work was popularised by science writer James Gleick. In his book Gleick used the phrase “The Butterfly Effect” to describe the unpredictability of Lorenz’s equations. The notion that the flap of a butterfly’s wings could change the course of future weather was an idea that Lorenz himself used in his outreach talks.

However, Lorenz used it to describe something much more radical than can be found in his three simple equations. Lorenz didn’t know whether the Butterfly Effect, as he understood it, was true or not. In fact, it lies at the heart of one of the Clay Mathematics Millennium Prize problems, and is still an open problem today. In this talk I will discuss Lorenz the man, his background and his work in the 1950s and 1960s, and will compare and contrast the meaning of the “Butterfly Effect" as most people understand it today, and as Lorenz himself intended it to mean. The implications of the “Real Butterfly Effect" for understanding the predictability of nonlinear multi-scale systems (such as weather and climate) will be discussed. No technical knowledge of the field is assumed. 

Please email @email to register

Further reading:
T.N.Palmer, A. Döring and G. Seregin (2014): The Real Butterfly Effect. Nonlinearity, 27, R123-R141.

We analyse the numerical approximation of functions using radial basis functions in the context of frames. Frames generalize the notion of a basis by allowing redundancy, while being restricted by a so-called frame condition. The theory of numerical frame approximations allows the study of ill-conditioning, inherently due to their redundancy, and suggests discretization techniques that still offer numerical stability to machine precision. We apply the theory to radial basis functions.

The joint spectral radius (JSR) of a set of matrices characterizes the maximum growth rate that can be achieved by multiplying them in arbitrary order. This concept, which essentially generalizes the notion of the "largest eigenvalue" from one matrix to many, was introduced by Rota and Strang in the early 60s and has since emerged in many areas of application such as stability of switched linear systems, computation of the capacity of codes, convergence of consensus algorithms, tracability of graphs, and many others. The JSR is a very difficult quantity to compute even for a pair of matrices. In this talk, we present optimization-based algorithms (e.g., via semidefinite programming or dynamic programming) that can either compute the JSR exactly in special cases or approximate it with arbitrary prescribed accuracy in the general case.

Based on joint work (in different subsets) with Raphael Jungers, Pablo Parrilo, and Mardavij Roozbehani.
 

We find a new duality  for form factors of lightlike Wilson loops
in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. The duality maps a form factor
involving a lightlike polygonal super-Wilson loop together with external
on-shell states, to the same type of object  but with the edges of the
Wilson loop and the external states swapping roles.  This relation can
essentially be seen graphically in Lorentz harmonic chiral (LHC) superspace
where it is equivalent to planar graph duality.

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

I will address this question by turning to another: "What is algebra?"  In answering this second question, and surveying the way that the answer changes as we move through the centuries, I will highlight some of the problems that face historians of mathematics when it comes to interpreting historical mathematics, and give a flavour of what it means to study the history of mathematics.

Results on the existence and stability of clustered spike patterns for biological reaction‐diffusion systems with two small diffusivities will be presented. In particular we consider a consumer chain model and the Gierer‐Meinhardt activator-inhibitor system with a precursor gradient. A clustered spike pattern consists of multiple spikes which all approach the same limiting point as the diffusivities tend to zero. We will present results on the asymptotic behaviour of the spikes including their shapes, positions and amplitudes. We will also compute the asymptotic behaviour of the eigenvalues of the system linearised around a clustered spike pattern. These systems and their solutions play an important role in biological modelling to account for the bridging of lengthscales, e.g. between genetic, nuclear, intra‐cellular, cellular and tissue levels, or for the time-hierarchy of biological processes, e.g. a large‐scale structure, which appears first, induces patterns on smaller scales. This is joint work with Juncheng Wei.
 

An efficient way to descibe binary operations which are associative only up to coherent homotopy is via simplicial spaces. 2-Segal spaces were introduced independently by Dyckerhoff--Kapranov and G\'alvez-Carrillo--Kock--Tonks to encode spaces carrying multivalued, coherently associative products. For example, the Waldhausen S-construction of an abelian category is a 2-Segal space. It describes a multivalued product on the space of objects given in terms of short exact sequences. 
The main motivation to study spaces carrying multivalued products is that they can be linearised, producing algebras in the usual sense of the word. For the preceding example, the linearisation yields the Hall algebra of the abelian category. One can also extract tensor categories using a categorical linearisation procedure.
In this talk I will discuss double 2-Segal spaces, that is, bisimplicial spaces which satisfy the 2-Segal condition in each variable. Such bisimplicial spaces give rise to multivalued bialgebras. The second iteration of the Waldhausen S-construction is a double 2-Segal space whose linearisation is the bialgebra structure given by Green's Theorem. The categorial linearisation produces categorifications of Zelevinsky's positive, self-adjoint Hopf algebras.
 

In this work we study a stochastic three-dimensional Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation perturbed by pure jump noise in the Marcus canonical form. We show existence of weak martingale solutions taking values in a two-dimensional sphere $\mathbb{S}^3$ and discuss certain regularity results. The construction of the solution is based on the classical Faedo-Galerkin approximation, the compactness method and the Jakubowski version of the Skorokhod Theorem for nonmetric spaces. This is a joint work with Utpal Manna (Triva

This talk will address a new link from stochastic differential equations (SDEs) to nonlinear parabolic PDEs. Starting from the necessary and sufficient condition of the path-independence of the density of Girsanov transform for SDEs, we derive characterisation by nonlinear parabolic equations of Burgers-KPZ type. Extensions to the case of SDEs on differential manifolds and the case od SDEs with jumps as well as to that of (infinite dimensional) SDEs on separable Hilbert spaces will be discussed. A perspective to stochastically deformed dynamical systems will be briefly considered.

The moduli space M_C of Higgs bundles over a complex curve X admits a hyperkaehler metric: a Riemannian metric which is Kaehler with respect to three different complex structures I, J, K, satisfying the quaternionic relations. If X admits an anti-holomorphic involution, then there is an induced involution on M_C which is anti-holomorphic with respect to I and J, and holomorphic with respect to K. The fixed point set of this involution, M_R, is therefore a real
Lagrangian submanifold with respect to I and J, and complex symplectic with respect to K, making it a so called AAB-brane. In this talk, I will explain how to compute the mod 2 Betti numbers of M_R using Morse theory. A key role in this calculation is played by the Abel-Jacobi map from symmetric products of X to the Jacobian of X.

The gauged linear sigma model (GLSM) is a supersymmetric gauge theory in two dimensions which captures information about Calabi-Yaus and their moduli spaces. Recent result in supersymmetric localization provide new tools for computing quantum corrections in string compactifications. This talk will focus on the hemisphere partition function in the GLSM which computes the quantum corrected central charge of B-type D-branes. Several concrete examples of GLSMs and the application of the hemisphere partition function in the context of transporting D-branes in the Kahler moduli space will be given.

Alan is the Head of Counselling at the University of Oxford.  He will talk about the importance of managing expectations and not having rigid expectations, about challenging perfectionism, and about building emotional resilience through adaptability and compassion.

In July 2011, the observation of a massive phytoplankton bloom underneath a sea ice–covered region of the Chukchi Sea shifted the scientific consensus that regions of the Arctic Ocean covered by sea ice were inhospitable to photosynthetic life. Although the impact of widespread phytoplankton blooms under sea ice on Arctic Ocean ecology and carbon fixation is potentially marked, the prevalence of these events in the modern Arctic and in the recent past is, to date, unknown. We investigate the timing, frequency, and evolution of these events over the past 30 years. Although sea ice strongly attenuates solar radiation, it has thinned significantly over the past 30 years. The thinner summertime Arctic sea ice is increasingly covered in melt ponds, which permit more light penetration than bare or snow-covered ice. We develop a simple mathematical model to investigate these physical mechanisms. Our model results indicate that the recent thinning of Arctic sea ice is the main cause of a marked increase in the prevalence of light conditions conducive to sub-ice blooms. We find that as little as 20 years ago, the conditions required for sub-ice blooms may have been uncommon, but their frequency has increased to the point that nearly 30% of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean in July permits sub-ice blooms. Recent climate change may have markedly altered the ecology of the Arctic Ocean.

All data intelligence processes are designed for processing a finite amount of data within a time period. In practice, they all encounter
some difficulties, such as the lack of adequate techniques for extracting meaningful information from raw data; incomplete, incorrect 
or noisy data; biases encoded in computer algorithms or biases of human analysts; lack of computational resources or human resources; urgency in 
making a decision; and so on. While there is a great enthusiasm to develop automated data intelligence processes, it is also known that
many of such processes may suffer from the phenomenon of data processing inequality, which places a fundamental doubt on the credibility of these 
processes. In this talk, the speaker will discuss the recent development of an information-theoretic measure (by Chen and Golan) for optimizing 
the cost-benefit ratio of a data intelligence process, and will illustrate its applicability using examples of data analysis and 
visualization processes including some in bioinformatics.

I will talk about a recent proof, joint with M. Gröchenig and D. Wyss, of a conjecture of Hausel and Thaddeus which predicts the equality of suitably defined Hodge numbers of moduli spaces of Higgs bundles with SL(n)- and PGL(n)-structure. The proof, inspired by an argument of Batyrev, proceeds by comparing the number of points of these moduli spaces over finite fields via p-adic integration. I will start with an introduction to Higgs bundles and their moduli spaces and then explain our argument.

Liquid crystals are classical examples of mesophases or materials that are intermediate in character between conventional solids and liquids. There are different classes of liquid crystals and we focus on the simplest and most widely used nematic liquid crystals. Nematic liquid crystals are simply put, anisotropic liquids with distinguished directions and are the working material of choice for the multi-billion dollar liquid crystal display industry. In this workshop, we briefly review the mathematical theories for nematic liquid crystals, the modelling framework and some recent work on modelling experiments on confined liquid crystalline systems conducted by the Aarts Group (Chemistry Oxford) and experiments on nematic microfluidics by Anupam Sengupta (ETH Zurich). This is joint work with Alexander Lewis, Peter Howell, Dirk Aarts, Ian Griffiths, Maria Crespo Moya and Angel Ramos.
We conclude with a brief overview of new experiments on smectic liquid crystals in the Aarts laboratory and questions related to the recycling of liquid crystal displays originating from informal discussions with Votechnik ( a company dealing with automated recycling technologies , http://votechnik.com/).
 

Networks of interacting oscillators give rise to collective dynamics such as localized frequency synchrony. In networks of neuronal oscillators, for example, the location of frequency synchrony could encode information. We discuss some recent persistence results for certain dynamically invariant sets called weak chimeras, which show localized frequency synchrony of oscillators. We then explore how the network structure and interaction allows for dynamic switching of the spatial location of frequency synchrony: these dynamics are induced by stable heteroclinic connections between weak chimeras. Part of this work is joined with Peter Ashwin (Exeter).

This  concerns recent work with P. Corvaja in which we relate the Hilbert Property for an algebraic variety (a kind of axiom linked with Hilbert Irreducibility, relevant e.g. for the Inverse Galois Problem)  with the fundamental group of the variety.
 In particular, this leads to new examples (of surfaces) of  failure of the Hilbert Property. We also prove the Hilbert Property for a non-rational surface (whereas all previous examples involved rational varieties).