Tue, 01 Jun 2010

15:45 - 16:45
L3

(HoRSe seminar) Realizations of motives

Denis-Charles Cisinski
(Paris 13)
Abstract

A categorification of cycle class maps consists to define

realization functors from constructible motivic sheaves to other

categories of coefficients (e.g. constructible $l$-adic sheaves), which are compatible with the six operations. Given a field $k$, we

will describe a systematic construction, which associates,

to any cohomology theory $E$, represented in $DM(k)$, a

triangulated category of constructible $E$-modules $D(X,E)$, for $X$

of finite type over $k$, endowed with a realization functor from

the triangulated category of constructible motivic sheaves over $X$.

In the case $E$ is either algebraic de Rham cohomology (with $char(k)=0$), or $E$ is $l$-adic cohomology, one recovers in this way the triangulated categories of $D$-modules or of $l$-adic sheaves. In the case $E$ is rigid cohomology (with $char(k)=p>0$), this construction provides a nice system of $p$-adic coefficients which is closed under the six operations.

Tue, 01 Jun 2010

14:30 - 15:30
L3

Subspaces in sumsets: a problem of Bourgain and Green

Tom Sanders
(Cambridge)
Abstract

Suppose that $A \subset \mathbb F_2^n$ has density $\Omega(1)$. How

large a subspace is $A+A:=\{a+a’:a,a’ \in A\}$ guaranteed to contain? We

discuss this problem and how the the result changes as the density

approaches $1/2$.

Tue, 01 Jun 2010

14:00 - 15:00
L2

(HoRSe seminar) Motivic sheaves over excellent schemes

Denis-Charles Cisinski
(Paris 13)
Abstract

Starting from Morel and Voevodsky's stable homotopy theory of schemes, one defines, for each noetherian scheme of finite dimension $X$, the triangulated category $DM(X)$ of motives over $X$ (with rational coefficients). These categories satisfy all the the expected functorialities (Grothendieck's six operations), from

which one deduces that $DM$ also satisfies cohomological proper

descent. Together with Gabber's weak local uniformisation theorem,

this allows to prove other expected properties (e.g. finiteness

theorems, duality theorems), at least for motivic sheaves over

excellent schemes.

Tue, 01 Jun 2010

13:15 - 13:45
DH 1st floor SR

Towards a Colonic Crypt Model with a Realistic, Deformable Geometry

Sara-Jane Dunn
(Oxford)
Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide, demanding a response from scientists and clinicians to understand its aetiology and develop effective treatment. CRC is thought to originate via genetic alterations that cause disruption to the cellular dynamics of the crypts of Lieberkűhn, test-tube shaped glands located in both the small and large intestine, which are lined with a monolayer of epithelial cells. It is believed that during colorectal carcinogenesis, dysplastic crypts accumulate mutations that destabilise cell-cell contacts, resulting in crypt buckling and fission. Once weakened, the corrupted structure allows mutated cells to migrate to neighbouring crypts, to break through to the underlying tissue and so aid the growth and malignancy of a tumour. To provide further insight into the tissue-level effects of these genetic mutations, a multi-scale model of the crypt with a realistic, deformable geometry is required. This talk concerns the progress and development of such a model, and its usefulness as a predictive tool to further the understanding of interactions across spatial scales within the context of colorectal cancer.

Mon, 31 May 2010

17:00 - 18:00
Gibson 1st Floor SR

Mathematical, Numerical and Physical Principles for Turbulent Mixing

James Glimm
(SUNY at Stony Brook)
Abstract
Numerical approximation of fluid equations are reviewed. We identify numerical mass diffusion as a characteristic problem in most simulation codes. This fact is illustrated by an analysis of fluid mixing flows. In these flows, numerical mass diffusion has the effect of over regularizing the solution. Simple mathematical theories explain this difficulty. A number of startling conclusions have recently been observed, related to numerical mass diffusion. For a flow accelerated by multiple shock waves, we observe an interface between the two fluids proportional to Delta x-1, that is occupying a constant fraction of the available mesh degrees of freedom. This result suggests
  • (a) nonconvergence for the unregularized mathematical problem or
  • (b) nonuniqueness of the limit if it exists, or
  • (c) limiting solutions only in the very weak form of a space time dependent probability distribution.
The cure for the pathology (a), (b) is a regularized solution, in other words inclusion of all physical regularizing effects, such as viscosity and physical mass diffusion. We do not regard (c) as a pathology, but an inherent feature of the equations.
In other words, the amount and type of regularization of an unstable flow is of central importance. Too much regularization, with a numerical origin, is bad, and too little, with respect to the physics, is also bad. For systems of equations, the balance of regularization between the distinct equations in the system is of central importance.
At the level of numerical modeling, the implication from this insight is to compute solutions of the Navier-Stokes, not the Euler equations. Resolution requirements for realistic problems make this solution impractical in most cases. Thus subgrid transport processes must be modeled, and for this we use dynamic models of the turbulence modeling community. In the process we combine and extend ideas of the capturing community (sharp interfaces or numerically steep gradients) with conventional turbulence models, usually applied to problems relatively smooth at a grid level.
The numerical strategy is verified with a careful study of a 2D Richtmyer-Meshkov unstable turbulent mixing problem. We obtain converged solutions for such molecular level mixing quantities as a chemical reaction rate. The strategy is validated (comparison to laboratory experiments) through the study of 3D Rayleigh-Taylor unstable flows.
Mon, 31 May 2010

16:00 - 17:00
SR1

Looking at Elliptic L-functions via Modular Symbols

James Maynard
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

We have seen that L-functions of elliptic curves of conductor N coincide exactly with L-functions of weight 2 newforms of level N from the Modularity Theorem. We will show how, using modular symbols, we can explicitly compute bases of newforms of a given level, and thus investigate L-functions of an elliptic curve of given conductor. In particular, such calculations allow us to numerically test the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.

Fri, 28 May 2010

09:50 - 14:00
DH 1st floor SR

Solar Energy

Various
Abstract

9:50am Welcome \\

10:00am Malcolm McCulloch (Engineering, Oxford), "Dual usage of land: Solar power and cattle grazing"; \\

10:45am Jonathan Moghal (Materials, Oxford), “Anti-reflectance coatings: ascertaining microstructure from optical properties”; \\

11:15am (approx) Coffee \\

11:45am Agnese Abrusci (Physics, Oxford), "P3HT based dye-sensitized solar cells"; \\

12:15pm Peter Foreman (Destertec UK), "Concentrating Solar Power and Financial Issues" \\

1:00pm Lunch.

Thu, 27 May 2010
17:00
L3

Recursive existentially closed dimension groups

Philip Scowcroft
(Wesleyan/Oxford)
Abstract

One may answer a question of Macintyre by showing that there are recursive existentially closed dimension groups.  One may build such groups having most of the currently known special properties of finitely generic dimension groups, though no finitely generic dimension group is arithmetic.

 

Thu, 27 May 2010
16:30
DH 1st floor SR

Stable Vortex-Bright Soliton Structures in Two-Component Bose Einstein Condensates

Kody Law
(University of Warwick)
Abstract

We report the numerical realization and demonstration of robustness of certain 2-component structures in Bose-Einstein Condensates in 2 and 3 spatial dimensions with non-trivial topological charge in one of the components. In particular, we identify a stable symbiotic state in which a higher-dimensional bright soliton exists even in a homogeneous setting with defocusing interactions, as a result of the effective potential created by a stable vortex in the other component. The resulting vortex-bright solitary waves, which naturally generalize the recently experimentally observed dark-bright solitons, are examined both in the homogeneous medium and in the presence of parabolic and periodic external confinement and are found to be very robust.

Thu, 27 May 2010

14:00 - 15:00
3WS SR

High-order surface integral algorithms for 3D computational electromagnetics

Prof Mahadevan Ganesh
(Colorado School of Mines)
Abstract

We discuss a class of high-order spectral-Galerkin surface integral algorithms with specific focus on simulating the scattering of electromagnetic waves by a collection of three dimensional deterministic and stochastic particles.

Thu, 27 May 2010
13:00
DH 1st floor SR

Studying Strategic Thinking Experimentally by Monitoring Search for Hidden Payoff Information

Vincent Crawford
(Economics)
Abstract

The talk concerns experiments that study strategic thinking by eliciting subjects’ initial responses to series of different but related games, while monitoring and analyzing the patterns of subjects’ searches for hidden but freely accessible payoff information along with their decisions.

Thu, 27 May 2010

12:00 - 13:00
SR1

Anabelian Geometry

Frank Gounelas
(Oxford)
Abstract

This talk will largely be a survey and so will gloss over technicalities. After introducing the basics of the theory of the étale fundamental group I will state the theorems and conjectures related to Grothendieck's famous "anabelian" letter to Faltings. The idea is that the geometry and arithmetic of certain varieties is in some sense governed by their non-abelian (anabelian) fundamental group. Time permitting I will discuss current work in this area, particularly the work of Minhyong Kim relating spaces of (Hodge, étale) path torsors to finiteness theorems for rational points on curves leading to a conjectural proof of Faltings' theorem which has been much discussed in recent years.

Thu, 27 May 2010
00:00
L3

tba

tba
Abstract

tba

Wed, 26 May 2010
17:00
L2

Editing the manuscripts of Évariste Galois (1811–1832)

Peter Neumann
(Oxford)
Abstract

What do historians of mathematics do? What sort of questions do they ask? What kinds of sources do they use? This series of four informal lectures will demonstrate some of the research on history of mathematics currently being done in Oxford. The subjects range from the late Renaissance mathematician Thomas Harriot (who studied at Oriel in 1577) to the varied and rapidly developing mathematics of the seventeenth century (as seen through the eyes of Savilian Professor John Wallis, and others) to the emergence of a new kind of algebra in Paris around 1830 in the work of the twenty-year old Évariste Galois.

Each lecture will last about 40 minutes, leaving time for questions and discussion. No previous knowledge is required: the lectures are open to anyone from the department or elsewhere, from undergraduates upwards.

Wed, 26 May 2010
14:00
L3

Topological duality and lattice expansions: canonial extensions via Stone duality

Drew Moshier
(Chapman University)
Abstract

Consider the following simple question:

Is there a subcategory of Top that is dually equivalent to Lat?

where Top is the category of topological spaces and continuous maps and Lat is the category

of bounded lattices and bounded lattice homomorphisms.

Of course, the question has been answered positively by specializing Lat, and (less

well-known) by generalizing Top.

The earliest examples are of the former sort: Tarski showed that every complete atomic

Boolean lattice is represented by a powerset (discrete topological space); Birkhoff showed

that every finite distributive lattice is represented by the lower sets of a finite partial order

(finite T0 space); Stone generalized Tarski and then Birkhoff, for arbitrary Boolean and

arbitrary bounded distributive lattices respectively. All of these results specialize Lat,

obtaining a (not necessarily full) subcategory of Top.

As a conceptual bridge, Priestley showed that distributive lattices can also be dually

represented in a category of certain topological spaces augmented with a partial order.

This is an example of the latter sort of result, namely, a duality between a category of

lattices and a subcategory of a generalization of Top.

Urquhart, Hartung and Hartonas developed dualities for arbitrary bounded lattices in

the spirit of Priestley duality, in that the duals are certain topological spaces equipped with

additional structure.

We take a different path via purely topological considerations. At the end, we obtain

an affirmative answer to the original question, plus a bit more, with no riders: the dual

categories to Lat and SLat (semilattices) are certain easily described subcategories of Top

simpliciter. This leads directly to a very natural topological characterization of canonical

extensions for arbitrary bounded lattices.

Building on the topological foundation, we consider lattices expanded with quasioperators,

i.e., operations that suitably generalize normal modal operatos, residuals, orthocomplements

and the like. This hinges on both the duality for lattices and for semilattices

in a natural way.

This talk is based on joint work with Peter Jipsen.

Date: May 2010.

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