One of the key objects in studying the Hilbert Scheme of points in the plane is a torus action of $(\mathbb{C}^*)^2$. The fixed points of this action correspond to monomial ideals in $\mathbb{C}[x,y]$, and this gives a connection between the geometry of Hilbert schemes and partition combinatorics. Using this connection, one can extract identities in partition combinatorics from algebro-geometric information and vice versa. I will give some examples of combinatorial identities where as yet the only proofs we have rely on the geometry of Hilbert schemes. If there is time, I will also sketch out a hope that such identities can also be seen by representations of appropriately chosen algebras.

One of the fundamental examples of geometric representation theory is the Springer correspondence which parameterises the irreducible representations of the Weyl group of a lie algebra in terms of nilpotent orbits of the lie algebra and irreducible representations of the equivariant fundamental group of said nilpotent orbits. If you don’t like geometry this may sound entirely mysterious. In this talk I will hopefully offer a gentle introduction to the subject and present a preprint by Lusztig (2020) which gives an entirely algebraic description of the springer correspondence.

A Real representation of a $C_2$-graded group $H < G$ ($H$ an index two subgroup) is a complex representation of $H$ with an action of the other coset $G \backslash H$ (“odd" elements) satisfying appropriate algebraic coherence conditions. In this talk I will present three such Real representation theories. In these, each odd element acts as an antilinear operator, a bilinear form or a sesquilinear form (equivalently a linear map to $V$ from the conjugate, the dual, or the conjugate dual of $V$) respectively. I will describe how these theories are related, how representations in each are classified, and how the first generalises the classical representation theory of $H$ over the real numbers - retaining much of its beauty and subtlety.

Let $k$ be a field and $A$ a $k$-algebra. The classical Quillen's Lemma states that if $A$ if is equipped with an exhaustive filtration such that the associated graded ring is commutative and finitely generated $k$-algebra then for any finitely generated $A$-module $M$, every element of the endomorphism ring of $M$ is algebraic over $k$. In particular, Quillen's Lemma may be applied to the enveloping algebra of a finite dimensional Lie algebra. I aim to present an affinoid version of Quillen's Lemma which strengthness a theorem proved by Ardakov and Wadsley. Depending on time, I will show how this leads to an (almost) classification of the primitive spectrum of the affinoid enveloping algebra of a semisimple Lie algebra.

The Schur functor and its inverses give an important connection between the representation theories of the symmetric group and the general linear group. Kleshchev and Nakano proved in 2001 that when the characteristic of the field is at least 5, the image of the Specht module under the inverse Schur functor is isomorphic to the dual Weyl module. In this talk I will address what happens in characteristics 2 and 3: in characteristic 3, the isomorphism holds, and I will give an elementary proof of this fact which covers also all characteristics other than 2; in characteristic 2, the isomorphism does not hold for all Specht modules, and I will classify those for which it does. Our approach is with Young tableaux, tabloids and Garnir relations.

Polynomial rings $R[X]$ are a fundamental construction in commutative algebra, under which Hilbert's basis theorem controls a finiteness property: being Noetherian. We will describe the picture for the non-commutative world; this leads us towards other interesting finiteness conditions.

In this session we discuss techniques to get the most out of your supervision sessions and tips on how to work with different personalities and use your supervisor's skills to your advantage. The session will be run by DPhil students and discussion among students during the session is encouraged.  

In this talk I will discuss relations between the low-energy expansions  of open- and closed string amplitudes. At genus zero, it has been shown that the single-valued map of MZVs maps open-string amplitudes to their closed-string counterparts. After reviewing this story, I will discuss recent work at genus one which aims to define a similar mapping from the open to the closed string. Our construction is driven by the differential equations and degeneration limits of certain generating functions of string integrals and suggests a pairing of integration cycles and forms at genus one - analogous to the duality between Parke-Taylor factors and disk boundaries at genus zero. Finally, I will discuss the impact of said mapping on the elliptic MZVs and modular graph forms which arise naturally upon solving these differential equations.