Thu, 28 Nov 2024
17:00
L4

The Index of Constant Mean Curvature Surfaces in Three-Manifolds

Luca Seemungal
(University of Leeds)
Abstract
Constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces are special geometric variational objects, closely related to minimal surfaces. The key properties of a CMC surface are its area, mean curvature, genus, and index. The index of a CMC surface measures its stability: the index counts how many ways one can perturb the surface to decrease the area while keeping the enclosed volume constant. In this talk we discuss relationships between these key properties. In particular we present recent joint work with Ben Sharp, where we bound the index of CMC surfaces linearly from above by genus and the correct scale-invariant quantity involving mean curvature and area.

 
Thu, 28 Nov 2024
16:00
L4

Regurgitative Training in Finance: Generative Models for Portfolios

Adil Rengim Cetingoz
(Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne)
Further Information

Please join us for refreshments outside the lecture room from 15:30.

Abstract
Simulation methods have always been instrumental in finance, but data-driven methods with minimal model specification, commonly referred to as generative models, have attracted increasing attention, especially after the success of deep learning in a broad range of fields. However, the adoption of these models in practice has not kept pace with the growing interest, probably due to the unique complexities and challenges of financial markets. This paper aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the development, use and evaluation of generative models, particularly in portfolio and risk management. To this end, we begin by presenting theoretical results on the importance of initial sample size, and point out the potential pitfalls of generating far more data than originally available. We then highlight the inseparable nature of model development and the desired use case by touching on a very interesting paradox: that generic generative models inherently care less about what is important for constructing portfolios (at least the interesting ones, i.e. long-short). Based on these findings, we propose a pipeline for the generation of multivariate returns that meets conventional evaluation standards on a large universe of US equities while providing interesting insights into the stylized facts observed in asset returns and how a few statistical factors are responsible for their existence. Recognizing the need for more delicate evaluation methods, we suggest, through an example of mean-reversion strategies, a method designed to identify bad models for a given application based on regurgitative training, retraining the model using the data it has itself generated.
 

 
Thu, 28 Nov 2024
16:00
Lecture Room 3

Large sieve inequalities for exceptional Maass forms and applications

Alexandru Pascadi
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

A number of results on classical problems in analytic number theory rely on bounds for multilinear forms of Kloosterman sums, which in turn use deep inputs from the spectral theory of automorphic forms. We’ll discuss our recent work available at arxiv.org/abs/2404.04239, which uses this interplay between counting problems, exponential sums, and automorphic forms to improve results on the greatest prime factor of $n^2+1$, and on the exponents of distribution of primes and smooth numbers in arithmetic progressions.
The key ingredient in this work are certain “large sieve inequalities” for exceptional Maass forms, which improve classical results of Deshouillers-Iwaniec in special settings. These act as on-average substitutes for Selberg’s eigenvalue conjecture, narrowing (and sometimes completely closing) the gap between previous conditional and unconditional results.

Thu, 28 Nov 2024
16:00
C3

On the (Local) Lifting Property

Tatiana Shulman
(University of Gothenburg)
Abstract

The (Local) Lifting Property ((L)LP) is introduced by Kirchberg and deals with lifting completely positive maps. We will discuss various examples, characterizations, and closure properties of the (L)LP and, if time permits, connections with some other lifting properties of C*-algebras.  Joint work with Dominic Enders.

Thu, 28 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

Unleashing the Power of Deeper Layers in LLMs

Shiwei Liu
(Oxford University)
Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive achievements. However, recent research has shown that their deeper layers often contribute minimally, with effectiveness diminishing as layer depth increases. This pattern presents significant opportunities for model compression. 

In the first part of this seminar, we will explore how this phenomenon can be harnessed to improve the efficiency of LLM compression and parameter-efficient fine-tuning. Despite these opportunities, the underutilization of deeper layers leads to inefficiencies, wasting resources that could be better used to enhance model performance. 

The second part of the talk will address the root cause of this ineffectiveness in deeper layers and propose a solution. We identify the issue as stemming from the prevalent use of Pre-Layer Normalization (Pre-LN) and introduce Mix-Layer Normalization (Mix-LN) with combined Pre-LN and Post-LN as a new approach to mitigate this training deficiency.

Thu, 28 Nov 2024
12:00
C6

Magnetic Brunn-Minkowski and Borell-Brascamp-Lieb inequalities on Riemannian manifolds

Rotem Assouline
(The Weizmann Institute of Science)
Abstract

The Brunn-Minkowski inequality gives a lower bound on the volume of the set of midpoints of line segments joining two sets. On a Riemannian manifold, line segments are replaced by geodesic segments, and the Brunn-Minkowski inequality characterizes manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. I will present a generalization of the Riemannian Brunn-Minkowski inequality where geodesics are replaced by magnetic geodesics, which are minimizers of a functional given by length minus the integral of a fixed one-form on the manifold. The Brunn-Minkowski inequality is then equivalent to nonnegativity of a suitably defined magnetic Ricci curvature. More generally, I will present a magnetic version of the Borell-Brascamp-Lieb inequality of Cordero-Erausquin, McCann and Schmuckenschläger. The proof uses the needle decomposition technique.

Thu, 28 Nov 2024

12:00 - 12:30
Lecture Room 6

​​​​​Preconditioners for Multicomponent Flows

Kars Knook
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Multicomponent flows, i.e. mixtures, can be modeled effectively using the Onsager-Stefan-Maxwell (OSM) equations. The OSM equations can account for a wide variety of phenomena such as diffusive, convective, non-ideal mixing, thermal, pressure and electrochemical effects for steady and transient multicomponent flows. I will first introduce the general OSM framework and a finite element discretisation for multicomponent diffusion of ideal gasses. Then I will show two ways of preconditioning the multicomponent diffusion problem for various boundary conditions. Time permitting, I will also discuss how this can be extended to the non-ideal, thermal, and nonisobaric settings.

Thu, 28 Nov 2024

11:00 - 12:00
TCC VC

Probability logic

Ehud Hrushovski
(University of Oxford)
Wed, 27 Nov 2024

17:00 - 18:30
L5

Truth Be Told: How To Interpret Past Mathematicians

A.C. Paseau and Fabian Pregel
(Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford)
Abstract

How should we interpret past mathematicians who may use the same vocabulary as us but with different meanings, or whose philosophical outlooks differ from ours? Errors aside, it is often assumed that past mathematicians largely made true claims—but what exactly justifies that assumption?


In this talk, we will explore these questions through general philosophical considerations and three case studies: 19th-century analysis, 18th-century geometry, and 19th-century matricial algebra.  In each case, we encounter a significant challenge to supposing that the mathematicians in question made true claims. We will show how these challenges can be addressed and overcome.

Wed, 27 Nov 2024
16:00
L6

Floer Homology and Square Peg Problem

Soheil Azarpendar
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

In 1911, Otto Toeplitz posed the intriguing "Square Peg Problem," asking whether every Jordan curve admits an inscribed square. Despite over a century of study, the problem remains unsolved in its full generality. However, significant progress has been made over the years. In this talk, we explore recent advancements by Andrew Lobb and Joshua Greene, who approach the problem through the lens of Lagrangian Floer homology. Specifically, we outline a proof of their result: every smooth Jordan curve inscribes every rectangle up to similarity.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024
16:00
L6

Level repulsion and the Floquet quantum Ising model beyond integrability

Felix von Oppen
(Freie Universität Berlin)
Abstract

Motivated by a recent experiment on a superconducting quantum
information processor, I will discuss the Floquet quantum Ising model in
the presence of integrability- and symmetry-breaking random fields. The
talk will focus on the relation between boundary spin correlations,
spectral pairings, and effects of the random fields. If time permits, I
will also touch upon self-similarity in the dynamic phase diagram of
Fibonacci-driven quantum Ising models.
 

Tue, 26 Nov 2024
16:00
C3

Quantum expanders from quantum groups.

Mike Brannan
(University of Waterloo)
Abstract

I will give a light introduction to the concept of a quantum expander, which is an analogue of an expander graph that arises in quantum information theory.  Most examples of quantum expanders that appear in the quantum information literature are obtained by random matrix techniques.  I will explain another, more algebraic approach to constructing quantum expanders, which is based on using actions and representations of discrete quantum groups with Kazhdan's property (T).  This is joint work with Eric Culf (U Waterloo) and Matthijs Vernooij (TU Delft).   

Tue, 26 Nov 2024

15:30 - 16:30
Online

Optimizing the Campos-Griffiths-Morris-Sahasrabudhe upper bound on Ramsey numbers

Sergey Norin
(McGill University)
Further Information

Part of the Oxford Discrete Maths and Probability Seminar, held via Zoom. Please see the seminar website for details.

Abstract

In a recent breakthrough Campos, Griffiths, Morris and Sahasrabudhe obtained the first exponential improvement of the upper bound on the classical Ramsey numbers since 1935. I will outline a reinterpretation of their proof, replacing the underlying book algorithm with a simple inductive statement. In particular, I will present a complete proof of an improved upper bound on the off-diagonal Ramsey numbers and describe the main steps involved in improving their upper bound for the diagonal Ramsey numbers to $R(k,k)\le(3.8)^k$ for sufficiently large $k$.

Based on joint work with Parth Gupta, Ndiame Ndiaye, and Louis Wei.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024
15:00
L6

Embedding products of trees into higher rank

Oussama Bensaid
Abstract

I will present a joint work with Thang Nguyen where we show that there exists a quasi-isometric embedding of the product of n copies of the hyperbolic plane into any symmetric space of non-compact type of rank n, and there exists a bi-Lipschitz embedding of the product of n copies of the 3-regular tree into any thick Euclidean building of rank n. This extends a previous result of Fisher--Whyte. The proof is purely geometrical, and the result also applies to the non Bruhat--Tits buildings. I will start by describing the objects and the embeddings, and then give a detailed sketch of the proof in rank 2.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024
14:00
C3

Rohit Sahasrabuddhe: Concise network models from path data

Rohit Sahasrabuddhe
(Mathematical Institute (University of Oxford))
Abstract

Networks provide a powerful language to model and analyse interconnected systems. Their building blocks are  edges, which can  then be combined to form walks and paths, and thus define indirect relations between distant nodes and model flows across the system. In a traditional setting, network models are first-order, in the sense that flow across nodes is made of independent sequences of transitions. However, real-world systems often exhibit higher-order dependencies, requiring more sophisticated models. Here, we propose a variable-order network model that captures memory effects by interpolating between first- and second-order representations. Our method identifies latent modes that explain second-order behaviors, avoiding overfitting through a Bayesian prior. We introduce an interpretable measure to balance model size and description quality, allowing for efficient, scalable processing of large sequence data. We demonstrate that our model captures key memory effects with minimal state nodes, providing new insights beyond traditional first-order models and avoiding the computational costs of existing higher-order models.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
Online

Boundedness of discounted tree sums

Élie Aïdékon
(Fudan University)
Further Information

Part of the Oxford Discrete Maths and Probability Seminar, held via Zoom. Please see the seminar website for details.

Abstract

Let $(V(u))$ be a branching random walk and $(\eta(u))$ be i.i.d marks on the vertices. To each path $\xi$ of the tree, we associate the discounted sum $D(\xi)$ which is the sum of the $\exp(V(u))\eta_u$ along the path. We study conditions under which $\sup_\xi D(\xi)$ is finite, answering an open question of Aldous and Bandyopadhyay. We will see that this problem is related to the study of the local time process of the branching random walk along a path. It is a joint work with Yueyun Hu and Zhan Shi.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024
14:00
L6

Probabilistic laws on groups

Guy Blachar
(Weizmann Institute)
Abstract

Suppose a finite group satisfies the following property: If you take two random elements, then with probability bigger than 5/8 they commute. Then this group is commutative. 

Starting from this well-known result, it is natural to ask: Do similar results hold for other laws (p-groups, nilpotent groups...)? Are there analogous results for infinite groups? Are there phenomena specific to the infinite setup? 

We will survey known and new results in this area. New results are joint with Gideon Amir, Maria Gerasimova and Gady Kozma.

Tue, 26 Nov 2024
13:00
L2

Late time saturation of the Einstein-Rosen bridge dual to the Double Scaled SYK model

Vijay Balasubramanian
(UPenn and Oxford)
Abstract

In this talk I will explain how the size of the Einstein-Rosen (ER) bridge dual to the Double Scaled SYK (DSSYK) model saturates at late times because of finiteness of the underlying quantum Hilbert space.  I will extend recent work implying that the ER bridge size equals the spread complexity of the dual DSSYK theory with an appropriate initial state.  This work shows that the auxiliary "chord basis'' used to solve the DSSYK theory is the physical Krylov basis of the spreading quantum state.  The ER bridge saturation follows from the vanishing of the Lanczos spectrum, derived by methods from Random Matrix Theory (RMT).

Mon, 25 Nov 2024
16:30
L4

Infinite Dyson Brownian Motion as a Gradient Flow

Kohei Suzuki (Durham)
Abstract

The Dyson Brownian motion (DMB) is a system of interacting Brownian motions with logarithmic interaction potential, which was introduced by Freeman Dyson '62 in relation to the random matrix theory. In this talk, we discuss the case where the number of particles is infinite and show that the DBM induces a diffusion structure on the configuration space having the Bakry-Émery lower Ricci curvature bound. As an application, we show that the DBM can be realised as the unique Benamou-Brenier-type gradient flow of the Boltzmann-Shannon entropy associated with the sine_beta point process. 

Mon, 25 Nov 2024
16:00
C3

Gap distributions and the Metric Poissonian Property 

Sophie Maclean
(King's College London)
Abstract
When studying dilated arithmetic sequences, it is natural to wonder about their distribution. Whilst it is relatively achievable to ascertain whether the resulting sequence is equidistributed, is it much more difficult to say much about gap size between consecutive elements of the new set? In this talk I will explore the gap distributions in dilated arithmetic sequences modulo 1, including what it means for a sequence to have the metric poissonian property. I will also give an overview of the current progress and what I am aiming to discover in my own work.
 
 
Mon, 25 Nov 2024
15:30
L5

Frobenius categories and Homotopy Quantum Field Theories

Paul Großkopf
(Oxford University)
Abstract

Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFTs) have been studied as mathematical toy models for quantum field theories in physics and are described by a functor out of some bordism category. In dimension 2, TQFTs are fully classified by Frobenius algebras. Homotopy Quantum Field Theories (HQFTs), introduced by Turaev, consider additional homotopy data to some target space X on the bordism categories. For homotopy 1-types Turaev also gives a classification via crossed G-Frobenius algebras, where G denotes the fundamental group of X.
In this talk we will introduce a multi-object generalization of Frobenius algebras called Frobenius categories and give a version of this classification theorem involving the fundamental groupoid. Further, we will give a classification theorem for HQFTs with target homotopy 2-types by considering crossed modules (joint work with Alexis Virelizier).
 

Mon, 25 Nov 2024
15:30
L3

Stochastic quantization of fractional $\Phi^4_3$ model of Euclidean quantum field theory

Dr Paweł Duch
(Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne)
Abstract

The construction of the measure of the $\Phi^4_3$ model in the 1970s has been one of the major achievements of constructive quantum field theory. In the 1980s Parisi and Wu suggested an alternative way of constructing quantum field theory measures by viewing them as invariant measures of certain stochastic PDEs. However, the highly singular nature of these equations prevented their application in rigorous constructions until the breakthroughs in the area of singular stochastic PDEs in the past decade. After explaining the basic idea behind stochastic quantization proposed by Parisi and Wu I will show how to apply this technique to construct the measure of a certain quantum field theory model generalizing the $\Phi^4_3$ model called the fractional $\Phi^4$ model. The measure of this model is obtained as a perturbation of the Gaussian measure with covariance given by the inverse of a fractional Laplacian. Since the Gaussian measure is supported in the space of Schwartz distributions and the quartic interaction potential of the model involves pointwise products, to construct the measure it is necessary to solve the so-called renormalization problem. Based on joint work with M. Gubinelli and P. Rinaldi.

Mon, 25 Nov 2024
14:15
L4

CANCELLED

Simon Felten
(Oxford)
Abstract

A well-known problem in algebraic geometry is to construct smooth projective Calabi--Yau varieties $Y$. In the smoothing approach, we construct first a degenerate (reducible) Calabi--Yau scheme $V$ by gluing pieces. Then we aim to find a family $f\colon X \to C$ with special fiber $X_0 = f^{-1}(0) \cong V$ and smooth general fiber $X_t = f^{-1}(t)$. In this talk, we see how infinitesimal logarithmic deformation theory solves the second step of this approach: the construction of a family out of a degenerate fiber $V$. This is achieved via the logarithmic Bogomolov--Tian--Todorov theorem as well as its variant for pairs of a log Calabi--Yau space $f_0\colon X_0 \to S_0$ and a line bundle $\mathcal{L}_0$ on $X_0$.
 

Mon, 25 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

Ease-controlled Incremental Gradient- type Algorithm for nonconvex finite sum optimization

Laura Palagi
(Sapienza University of Rome)
Abstract

We consider minimizing the sum of a large number of smooth and possibly non-convex functions, which is the typical problem encountered in the training of deep neural networks on large-size datasets. 

Improving the Controlled Minibatch Algorithm (CMA) scheme proposed by Liuzzi et al. (2022), we propose CMALight, an ease-controlled incremental gradient (IG)-like method. The control of the IG iteration is performed by means of a costless watchdog rule and a derivative-free line search that activates only sporadically to guarantee convergence. The schemes also allow controlling the updating of the learning rate used in the main IG iteration, avoiding the use of preset rules, thus overcoming another tricky aspect in implementing online methods.

Convergence to a stationary point holds under the lonely assumption of Lipschitz continuity of the gradients of the component functions without knowing the Lipschitz constant or imposing any growth assumptions on the norm of the gradients.

We present two sets of computational tests. First, we compare CMALight against state-of-the-art mini-batch algorithms for training standard deep networks on large-size datasets, and deep convolutional neural networks and residual networks on standard image classification tasks on CIFAR10 and CIFAR100. 

Results shows that CMALight easily scales up to problem with order of millions  variables and has an advantage over its state-of-the-art competitors.

Finally, we present computational results on generative tasks, testing CMALight scaling capabilities on image generation with diffusion models (U-Net architecture). CMA Light achieves better test performances and is more efficient than standard SGD with weight decay, thus reducing the computational burden (and the carbon footprint of the training process).

Laura Palagi, @email

Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering,

Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

 

Joint work with 

Corrado Coppola, @email

Giampaolo Liuzzi, @email

Lorenzo Ciarpaglini, @email

 

 

Mon, 25 Nov 2024
13:30
C4

The Evaporation of Charged Black Holes

Clément Virally
Abstract

Since Hawking first discovered that black holes radiate, the evaporation of black holes has been a subject of great interest. In this talk, based on [2411.03447], we review some recent results about the evaporation of charged (Reissner-Nordström) black holes. We consider in particular the difference between neutral and charged particle emission, and explain how this drives the black hole near extremality, as well as how evaporation is then changed in that limit.

Fri, 22 Nov 2024
16:00
L1

Fridays@4 – Trading Options: Predicting the Future in More Ways Than One

Chris Horrobin
(Optiver)
Abstract

In the fast-paced world of trading, where exabytes of data and advanced mathematical models offer powerful insights, how do you harness these to anticipate market shifts and evolving prices? Numbers alone only tell part of the story. Beneath the surface lies the unpredictable force of human behaviour – the delicate balance of buyers and sellers shaping the market’s course. 

In this talk, we’ll uncover how these forces intertwine, revealing insights that not only harness data but challenge conventional thinking about the future of trading.

Speaker: Chris Horrobin (Head of European and US people development for Optiver)

 

Trading options: predicting the future in more ways than one. Fridays @4. AI generated image

 

Speaker bio

Chris Horrobin is Head of European and US people development for Optiver. Chris started his career trading US and German bond options, adding currency and European index options into the mix before moving to focus primarily on index options. Chris spent his first three years in Amsterdam before transferring to Sydney. 

During these years, Chris traded some of the biggest events of his career including Brexit and Trump (first time around) and before moving back to Europe led the positional team in his last year. Chris then moved out of trading and into our training team running our trading education space for four years, owning both the design and execution of our renowned internship and grad programs. 

The Education Team at Optiver is central to the Optiver culture and focus on growth both of employees and the company. Chris has now extended his remit to cover the professional development of hires throughout the business.

Fri, 22 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L1

Mathematics: past, present, future - "The theory of knots"

Prof. Marc Lackenby
Further Information
Knots are just simple closed curves in 3-dimensional space. They are some of the most basic objects in topology, but are surprisingly tricky to understand. Knot theory started in 19th century with knot tabulation, and has expanded into a huge subject with connections to many other areas of modern mathematics. I will give some of the history of knot theory and will describe some of its basic results. I will also present some fascinating unsolved problems in the field.
Fri, 22 Nov 2024

12:00 - 13:00
Quillen Room

Non-nilpotent graphs of groups

Radosław Żak
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

A non-nilpotent graph Γ(G) of a finite group G has elements of G as vertices, with x and y joined by an edge iff a subgroup generated by these two elements is non-nilpotent. During the talk we will prove several (often unrelated) properties of this construction; for instance, any simple graph can be found as an induced subgraph of Γ(G) for some (solvable) group G. The talk is based on my article "A few remarks on the theory of non-nilpotent graphs" (May 2023).

Fri, 22 Nov 2024
12:00
L2

C for Carroll

Saikat Mondal
(Kanpur)
Abstract

Physics beyond relativistic invariance and without Lorentz (or Poincaré) symmetry and the geometry underlying these non-Lorentzian structures have become very fashionable of late. This is primarily due to the discovery of uses of non-Lorentzian structures in various branches of physics, including condensed matter physics, classical and quantum gravity, fluid dynamics, cosmology, etc. In this talk, I will be talking about one such theory - Carrollian theory, where the Carroll group replaces the Poincare group as the symmetry group of interest. Interestingly, any null hypersurface is a Carroll manifold and the Killing vectors on the null manifold generate Carroll algebra. Historically, Carroll group was first obtained from the Poincaré group via a contraction by taking the speed of light going to zero limit as a “degenerate cousin of the Poincaré group”.  I will shed some light on Carrollian fermions, i.e. fermions defined on generic null surfaces. Due to the degenerate nature of the Carroll manifold, there exist two distinct Carroll Clifford algebras and, correspondingly, two different Carroll fermionic theories. I will discuss them in detail. Then, I will show some examples; when the dispersion relation becomes trivial, i.e. energy bands flatten out, there can be a possibility of the emergence of Carroll symmetry. 

Fri, 22 Nov 2024
11:00
L3

Joint seminar with Mathematical Biology and Ecology Seminar: Bifurcations, pattern formation and multi-stability in non-local models of interacting species

Dr Valeria Giunta
(Dept. of Maths, Swansea University)
Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms behind the spatial distribution, self-organisation and aggregation of organisms is a central issue in both ecology and cell biology. Since self-organisation at the population level is the cumulative effect of behaviours at the individual level, it requires a mathematical approach to be elucidated.
In nature, every individual, be it a cell or an animal, inspects its territory before moving. The process of acquiring information from the environment is typically non-local, i.e. individuals have the ability to inspect a portion of their territory. In recent years, a growing body of empirical research has shown that non-locality is a key aspect of movement processes, while mathematical models incorporating non-local interactions have received increasing attention for their ability to accurately describe how interactions between individuals and their environment can affect their movement, reproduction rate and well-being. In this talk, I will present a study of a class of advection-diffusion equations that model population movements generated by non-local species interactions. Using a combination of analytical and numerical tools, I will show that these models support a wide variety of spatio-temporal patterns that are able to reproduce segregation, aggregation and time-periodic behaviours commonly observed in real systems. I will also show the existence of parameter regions where multiple stable solutions coexist and hysteresis phenomena.
Overall, I will describe various methods for analysing bifurcations and pattern formation properties of these models, which represent an essential mathematical tool for addressing fundamental questions about the many aggregation phenomena observed in nature.

Fri, 22 Nov 2024

11:00 - 12:00
L5

Bifurcations, pattern formation and multi-stability in non-local models of interacting species

Dr Valeria Giunta
(Dept. of Maths, Swansea University)
Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms behind the spatial distribution, self-organisation and aggregation of organisms is a central issue in both ecology and cell biology. Since self-organisation at the population level is the cumulative effect of behaviours at the individual level, it requires a mathematical approach to be elucidated.
In nature, every individual, be it a cell or an animal, inspects its territory before moving. The process of acquiring information from the environment is typically non-local, i.e. individuals have the ability to inspect a portion of their territory. In recent years, a growing body of empirical research has shown that non-locality is a key aspect of movement processes, while mathematical models incorporating non-local interactions have received increasing attention for their ability to accurately describe how interactions between individuals and their environment can affect their movement, reproduction rate and well-being. In this talk, I will present a study of a class of advection-diffusion equations that model population movements generated by non-local species interactions. Using a combination of analytical and numerical tools, I will show that these models support a wide variety of spatio-temporal patterns that are able to reproduce segregation, aggregation and time-periodic behaviours commonly observed in real systems. I will also show the existence of parameter regions where multiple stable solutions coexist and hysteresis phenomena.
Overall, I will describe various methods for analysing bifurcations and pattern formation properties of these models, which represent an essential mathematical tool for addressing fundamental questions about the many aggregation phenomena observed in nature.
 

Thu, 21 Nov 2024
17:00

Generic differential automorphisms in positive characteristic

Omar León Sánchez
(University of Manchester)
Abstract

It is well known that the theory of differential-difference fields in characteristic zero has a model companion. Here by a differential-difference field I mean a field with a differential and a difference structure where the operators commute (in other words the difference structure is a differential-endomorphism). The theory DCFA_0 was studied in a series of papers by Bustamante. In this talk I will address the case of positive characteristic.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024
16:00
C3

C*-algebras coming from buildings and their K-theory.

Alina Vdovina
(CUNY)
Abstract
We consider cross-product algebras of continuous functions on the boundary of buildings with cocompact actions. The main tool is to view buildings as universal covers of certain CW-complexes. We will find the generators and relations of the cross-product algebras and compute their K-theory. We will show how our algebras could be considered as natural generalizations of Vaughan Jones' Pythagorean algebras.


 

Thu, 21 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

Tackling complexity in multiscale kinetic and mean-field equations

Lorenzo Pareschi
(Heriot Watt University)
Abstract

Kinetic and mean-field equations are central to understanding complex systems across fields such as classical physics, engineering, and the socio-economic sciences. Efficiently solving these equations remains a significant challenge due to their high dimensionality and the need to preserve key structural properties of the models. 

In this talk, we will focus on recent advancements in deterministic numerical methods, which provide an alternative to particle-based approaches (such as Monte Carlo or particle-in-cell methods) by avoiding stochastic fluctuations and offering higher accuracy. We will discuss strategies for designing these methods to reduce computational complexity while preserving fundamental physical properties and maintaining efficiency in stiff regimes. 
Special attention will be given to the role of these methods in addressing multi-scale problems in rarefied gas dynamics and plasma physics. Time permitting, we will also touch on emerging techniques for uncertainty quantification in these systems.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024
13:00
N3.12

Aspects of anomalies

Alice Lüscher
Abstract

Anomalies characterize the breaking of a classical symmetry at the quantum level. They play an important role in quantum field theories, and constitute robust observables which appear in various contexts from phenomenological particle physics to black hole microstates, or to classify phases of matter. The anomalies of a d-dimensional QFT are naturally encoded via descent equations into the so-called anomaly polynomial in (d+2)-dimensions. The aim of this seminar is to review the descent procedure, anomaly polynomial, anomaly inflow, and in particular their realisation in M-theory. While this is quite an old story, there has been some more recent developments involving holography that I'll describe if time permits. 

 

Junior Strings is a seminar series where DPhil students present topics of common interest that do not necessarily overlap with their own research area. This is primarily aimed at PhD students and post-docs but everyone is welcome.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024
12:00
C6

Failure of the Measure Contraction Property on the Martinet Flat Structure

Samuel Borza
(University of Vienna)
Abstract

The Martinet flat structure is one of the simplest sub-Riemannian manifolds that has many non-Riemannian features: it is not equiregular, it has abnormal geodesics, and the Carnot-Carathéodory sphere is not sub-analytic. I will review how the geometry of the Martinet flat structure is tied to the equations of the pendulum. Surprisingly, the Measure Contraction Property (a weak synthetic formulation of Ricci curvature bounds in non-smooth spaces) fails, and we will try to understand why. If time permits, I will also discuss how this can be generalised to some Carnot groups that have abnormal extremals. This is a joint work in progress with Luca Rizzi.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024

12:00 - 12:30
Lecture Room 6

Local convergence of adaptively regularized tensor methods

Karl Welzel
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Tensor methods are methods for unconstrained continuous optimization that can incorporate derivative information of up to order p > 2 by computing a step based on the pth-order Taylor expansion at each iteration. The most important among them are regularization-based tensor methods which have been shown to have optimal worst-case iteration complexity of finding an approximate minimizer. Moreover, as one might expect, this worst-case complexity improves as p increases, highlighting the potential advantage of tensor methods. Still, the global complexity results only guarantee pessimistic sublinear rates, so it is natural to ask how local rates depend on the order of the Taylor expansion p. In the case of strongly convex functions and a fixed regularization parameter, the answer is given in a paper by Doikov and Nesterov from 2022: we get pth-order local convergence of function values and gradient norms. 
The value of the regularization parameter in their analysis depends on the Lipschitz constant of the pth derivative. Since this constant is not usually known in advance, adaptive regularization methods are more practical. We extend the local convergence results to locally strongly convex functions and fully adaptive methods. 
We discuss how for p > 2 it becomes crucial to select the "right" minimizer of the regularized local model in each iteration to ensure all iterations are eventually successful. Counterexamples show that in particular the global minimizer of the subproblem is not suitable in general. If the right minimizer is used, the pth-order local convergence is preserved, otherwise the rate stays superlinear but with an exponent arbitrarily close to one depending on the algorithm parameters.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Tension-induced giant actuation in elastic sheets (Marc Sune) Deciphering Alzheimer's Disease: A Modelling Framework for In Silico Drug Trials (Georgia Brennan)

Dr Marc Suñé & Dr Georgia Brennan
(Mathematical Institute)
Abstract

Tension-induced giant actuation in elastic sheets

Dr. Marc Suñé

Buckling is normally associated with a compressive load applied to a slender structure; from railway tracks in extreme heat to microtubules in cytoplasm, axial compression is relieved by out-of-plane buckling. However, recent studies have demonstrated that tension applied to structured thin sheets leads to transverse motion that may be harnessed for novel applications, such as kirigami grippers, multi-stable `groovy-sheets', and elastic ribbed sheets that close into tubes. Qualitatively similar behaviour has also been observed in simulations of thermalized graphene sheets, where clamping along one edge leads to tilting in the transverse direction. I will discuss how this counter-intuitive behaviour is, in fact, generic for thin sheets that have a relatively low stretching modulus compared to the bending modulus, which allows `giant actuation' with moderate strain.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024

11:00 - 12:00
C3

Almost sure convergence to a constant for a mean-aggregated term language

Sam Adam-Day
(University of Oxford)
Abstract
With motivation coming from machine learning, we define a term language on graphs generalising many graph neural networks. Our main result is that the closed terms of this language converge almost surely to constants. This probabilistic result holds for Erdős–Rényi graphs for a variety of sparsity levels, as well as the Barabási–Albert preferential attachment graph distribution. The key technique is a kind of almost sure quantifier elimination. A natural extension of this language generalises first-order logic, and a similar convergence result can be obtained there.
 
Wed, 20 Nov 2024
17:00
Lecture Theatre 1, Mathematical Institute, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, OX2 6GG

Chance, luck, and ignorance: how to put our uncertainty into numbers - David Spiegelhalter

David Spiegelhalter
(University of Cambridge)
Further Information

We all have to live with uncertainty about what is going to happen, what has happened, and why things turned out how they did.  We attribute good and bad events as ‘due to chance’, label people as ‘lucky’, and (sometimes) admit our ignorance.  I will show how to use the theory of probability to take apart all these ideas, and demonstrate how you can put numbers on your ignorance, and then measure how good those numbers are. Along the way we will look at three types of luck, and judge whether Derren Brown was lucky or unlucky when he was filmed flipping ten Heads in a row.

David Spiegelhalter was Cambridge University's first Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk. He has appeared regularly on television and radio and is the author of several books, the latest of which is The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck (Penguin, September 2024).

Please email @email to register to attend in person.

The lecture will be broadcast on the Oxford Mathematics YouTube Channel on Wednesday 11 December 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.

Wed, 20 Nov 2024
16:00
L6

Division rings in the service of group theory

Pablo Sánchez-Peralta
(Universidad Autonoma de Madrid)
Abstract

Embedding the group algebra into a division ring has proven to be a powerful tool for detecting structural properties of the group, especially in relation to its homology. In this talk, we will show how division rings can be used to identify residual properties of groups, one-ended groups, and coherent groups. We will place special emphasis on the class of free-by-cyclic groups to provide a clear, explicit exposition.

Wed, 20 Nov 2024
11:00
L4

Quadratic and $p^\mathrm{th}$ variation of stochastic processes through Schauder expansions

Yuchen Fan
(University of Oxford)
Abstract
We present a class of stochastic processes which admit a unique quadratic variation along any sequence of partitions $(\pi^n)_{n\geq 1}$ with $\sum_{n\geq 1}|\pi^n|<\infty$, which generalizes the previous results for finitely refining partitions. This class of processes contains some signed Takagi-Landsberg functions with random coefficients and standard Brownian motions, and these processes admit $\frac{1}{4}$-Hölder continuous version. We study the quadratic and $p^\mathrm{th}$ variation of signed Takagi-Landsberg functions with random coefficients. Finally, we seek some generalizations and applications of our results.


 

Tue, 19 Nov 2024
16:00
C3

Residually finite dimensional C*-algebras arising in dynamical contexts

Adam Skalski
(University of Warsaw)
Abstract

A C*-algebra is said to be residually finite-dimensional (RFD) when it has `sufficiently many' finite-dimensional representations. The RFD property is an important, and still somewhat mysterious notion, with subtle connections to residual finiteness properties of groups. In this talk I will present certain characterisations of the RFD property for C*-algebras of amenable étale groupoids and for C*-algebraic crossed products by amenable actions of discrete groups, extending (and inspired by) earlier results of Bekka, Exel, and Loring. I will also explain the role of the amenability assumption and describe several consequences of our main theorems. Finally, I will discuss some examples, notably these related to semidirect products of groups.

Tue, 19 Nov 2024
16:00
L6

Will large economies be stable?

Jean-Philippe Bouchaud
(Ecole Normale Supérieure/Capital Fund Management)
Abstract

We study networks of firms in which inputs for production are not easily substitutable, as in several real-world supply chains. Building on Robert May's original argument for large ecosystems, we argue that such networks generically become dysfunctional when their size increases, when the heterogeneity between firms becomes too strong, or when substitutability of their production inputs is reduced. At marginal stability and for large heterogeneities, crises can be triggered by small idiosyncratic shocks, which lead to “avalanches” of defaults. This scenario would naturally explain the well-known “small shocks, large business cycles” puzzle, as anticipated long ago by Bak, Chen, Scheinkman, and Woodford. However, an out-of-equilibrium version of the model suggests that other scenarios are possible, in particular that of `turbulent economies’.

Tue, 19 Nov 2024
15:00
L6

Studying monoids that model concurrency

Sarah Rees
(University of Newcastle)
Abstract

I’ll discuss joint work of mine with with Ascencio-Martin, Britnell, Duncan, Francoeurs and Koutny to set up and study algebraic models of concurrent computation. 

Trace monoids were introduced by Mazurkiewicz as algebraic models of Petri nets, where some pairs of actions can be applied in either of two orders and have the same effect. Abstractly, a trace monoid is simply a right-angled Artin monoid. More recently Koutny et al. introduced the concept of a step trace monoid, which allows the additional possibility that a pair of actions may have the same effect performed simultaneously as sequentially. 

I shall introduce these monoids, discuss some problems we’d like to be able to solve, and the methods with which we are trying to solve them. In particular I’ll discuss normal forms for traces, comtraces and step traces, and generalisations of Stallings folding techniques for finitely presented groups and monoids.

Tue, 19 Nov 2024
14:00
L5

Brennan Klein: Network Comparison and Graph Distances: A Primer and Open Questions

Brennan Klein
(Northeastern University Network Science Institute)
Further Information

Brennan Klein is an associate research scientist at the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, where he studies complex systems across nature and society using tools from network science and statistics. His research sits in two broad areas: First, he develops methods and theory for constructing, reconstructing, and comparing complex networks based on concepts from information theory and random graphs. Second, he uses an array of interdisciplinary approaches to document—and combat—emergent or systemic disparities across society, especially as they relate to public health and public safety. In addition to his role at Northeastern University, Brennan is the inaugural Data for Justice Fellow at the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety in the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Brennan received a PhD in Network Science from Northeastern University in 2020 and a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Swarthmore College in 2014. Website: brennanklein.com. Contact: @email; @jkbren.bsky.social.

Abstract
Quantifying dissimilarities between pairs of networks is a challenging and, at times, ill-posed problem. Nevertheless, we often need to compare the structural or functional differences between complex systems across a range of disciplines, from biology to sociology. These techniques form a family of graph distance measures, and over the last few decades, the number and sophistication of these techniques have increased drastically. In this talk, I offer a framework for categorizing and benchmarking graph distance measures in general: the within-ensemble graph distance (WEGD), a measure that leverages known properties of random graphs to evaluate the effectiveness of a given distance measure. In doing so, I hope to offer an invitation for the development of new graph distances, which have the potential to be more informative and more efficient than the tools we have today. I close by offering a roadmap for identifying and addressing open problems in the world of graph distance measures, with applications in neuroscience, material design, and infrastructure networks.