Thu, 06 Feb 2025
16:00
L5

First-best implementation in dynamic adverse selection models with news

Jacco Thijssen
(University of York)
Abstract

This paper shows that a simple sale contract with a collection of options implements the full-information first-best allocation in a variety of continuous-time dynamic adverse selection settings with news. Our model includes as special cases most models in the literature. The implementation result holds regardless of whether news is public (i.e., contractible) or privately observed by the buyer, and it does not require deep pockets on either side of the market. It is an implication of our implementation result that, irrespective of the assumptions on the game played, no agent waits for news to trade in such models. The options here do not play a hedging role and are, thus, not priced using a no-arbitrage argument. Rather, they are priced using a game-theoretic approach.

Surface-tension-driven buckling of a thin viscous sheet
Ryan, N Breward, C Griffiths, I Howell, P Journal of Fluid Mechanics volume 1006 (10 Mar 2025)
Mon, 24 Feb 2025
14:15
L5

Tame fundamental groups of rigid spaces

Piotr Achinger
(Institute of Mathematics - Polish Academy of Sciences)
Abstract

The fundamental group of a complex variety is finitely presented. The talk will survey algebraic variants (in fact, distant corollaries) of this fact, in the context of variants of the etale fundamental group. We will then zoom in on "tame" etale fundamental groups of p-adic analytic spaces. Our main result is that it is (topologically) finitely generated (for a quasi-compact and quasi-separated rigid space over an algebraically closed field).  The proof uses logarithmic geometry beyond its usual scope of finitely generated monoids to (eventually) reduce the problem to the more classical one of finite generation of tame fundamental groups of algebraic varieties over the residue field. This is joint work with Katharina Hübner, Marcin Lara, and Jakob Stix.

Thu, 06 Mar 2025

12:00 - 12:30
Lecture room 5

How to warm-start your unfolding network

Vicky Kouni
(Mathematical Institute (University of Oxford))
Abstract

We present a new ensemble framework for boosting the performance of overparameterized unfolding networks solving the compressed sensing problem. We combine a state-of-the-art overparameterized unfolding network with a continuation technique, to warm-start a crucial quantity of the said network's architecture; we coin the resulting continued network C-DEC. Moreover, for training and evaluating C-DEC, we incorporate the log-cosh loss function, which enjoys both linear and quadratic behavior. Finally, we numerically assess C-DEC's performance on real-world images. Results showcase that the combination of continuation with the overparameterized unfolded architecture, trained and evaluated with the chosen loss function, yields smoother loss landscapes and improved reconstruction and generalization performance of C-DEC, consistently for all datasets.

Thu, 30 Jan 2025

12:00 - 12:30
Lecture Room 5

On Objective-Free High Order Methods

Sadok Jerad
(Mathematical Institute (University of Oxford))
Abstract

An adaptive regularization algorithm for unconstrained nonconvex optimization is presented in
which the objective function is never evaluated, but only derivatives are used and without prior knowledge of Lipschitz constant.  This algorithm belongs to the class of adaptive regularization methods, for which optimal worst-case complexity results are known for the standard framework where the objective function is evaluated. It is shown in this paper that these excellent complexity bounds are also valid for the new algorithm. Theoretical analysis of both exact and stochastic cases are discussed and  new probabilistic conditions on tensor derivatives are proposed.  Initial experiments on large binary classification highlight the merits of our method.

Mon, 02 Jun 2025
14:15
L5

Laplacian spectra of minimal submanifolds in the hyperbolic space

Gerasim Kokarev
(Leeds)
Abstract
I will describe an extremal problem for the fundamental tone of submanifolds in the hyperbolic space, and will show that singular minimal submanifolds occur as natural maximisers for it. I will also discuss a closely related rigidity phenomenon for the Laplacian spectra of minimal submanifolds.
Wed, 19 Feb 2025
16:00
L6

Graph manifolds and their Thurston norm

Alessandro Cigna
(King's College London)
Abstract

A classical approach to studying the topology of a manifold is through the analysis of its submanifolds. The realm of 3-manifolds is particularly rich and diverse, and we aim to explore the complexity of surfaces within a given 3-manifold. After reviewing the fundamental definitions of the Thurston norm, we will present a constructive method for computing it on Seifert fibered manifolds and extend this approach to graph manifolds. Finally, we will outline which norms can be realized as the Thurston norm of some graph manifold and examine their key properties.

Wed, 12 Feb 2025
16:00
L6

Rank-one symmetric spaces and their quasiisometries

Paula Heim
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

The hyperbolic plane and its higher-dimensional analogues are well-known
objects. They belong to a larger class of spaces, called rank-one
symmetric spaces, which include not only the hyperbolic spaces but also
their complex and quaternionic counterparts, and the octonionic
hyperbolic plane. By a result of Pansu, two of these families exhibit
strong rigidity properties with respect to their self-quasiisometries:
any self-quasiisometry of a quaternionic hyperbolic space or the
octonionic hyperbolic plane is at uniformly bounded distance from an
isometry. The goal of this talk is to give an overview of the rank-one
symmetric spaces and the tools used to prove Pansu's rigidity theorem,
such as the subRiemannian structure of their visual boundaries and the
analysis of quasiconformal maps.

Wed, 05 Feb 2025
16:00
L6

Semi-regular tilings and the d-chromatic number of the hyperbolic plane

Luke Waite
(University of Southampton)
Abstract

Originally posed in the 1950s, the Hadwiger-Nelson problem interrogates the ‘chromatic number of the plane’ via an infinite unit-distance graph. This question remains open today, known only to be 5,6, or 7. We may ask the same question of the hyperbolic plane; there the lack of homogeneous dilations leads to unique behaviour for each length scale d. This variance leads to other questions: is the d-chromatic number finite for all d>0? How does the d-chromatic number behave as d increases/decreases? In this talk, I will provide a summary of existing methods and results, before discussing improved bounds through the consideration of semi-regular tilings of the hyperbolic plane.

Wed, 29 Jan 2025
16:00
L6

Introduction to Congruence Subgroup Property

Adam Klukowski
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Congruence Subgroup Property is a characterisation of finite-index subgroups of automorphism groups. It first arose from the study of subgroups of linear groups. In this talk, I will show a few examples where it holds and where it fails, and give an overview of what is known about the family $SL_n\mathbb{Z}$, $Out(F_n)$, $MCG(\Sigma)$. Then I will describe some related results in the case of Mapping Class Groups, and explain their relation to profinite rigidity of 3-manifolds.

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