16:00
16:00
Structure Formation and Particle Physics
Pyramid Ricci Flow
Abstract
In joint work with Peter Topping we introduce pyramid Ricci flows, defined throughout uniform regions of spacetime that are not simply parabolic cylinders, and enjoying curvature estimates that are not required to remain spatially constant throughout the domain of definition. This weakened notion of Ricci flow may be run in situations ill-suited to the classical theory. As an application of pyramid Ricci flows, we obtain global regularity results for three-dimensional Ricci limit spaces (extending results of Miles Simon and Peter Topping) and for higher dimensional PIC1 limit spaces (extending not only the results of Richard Bamler, Esther Cabezas-Rivas and Burkhard Wilking, but also the subsequent refinements by Yi Lai).
Linear characters of Sylow subgroups of the symmetric group
Abstract
Let $p$ be an odd prime and $n$ a natural number. We determine the irreducible constituents of the permutation module induced by the action of the symmetric group $S_n$ on the cosets of a Sylow $p$-subgroup $P_n$. In the course of this work, we also prove a symmetric group analogue of a well-known result of Navarro for $p$-solvable groups on a conjugacy action of $N_G(P)$. Before describing some consequences of these results, we will give an overview of the background and recent related results in the area.
Careers beyond academia
Abstract
A panel discussion on non-academic careers for mathematicians with PhDs, featuring Katia Babbar (AI Wealth Technologies & QuantBright), Jara Imbers (Risk Management Solutions) and Tom Hawes (Smith Institute).
Maths meets Zoology
Abstract
Aura Raulo (Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics) and Marie-Claire Koschowitz (Vertebrate Palaeobiology) discuss their work and its mathematical challenges.
Aura Raulo
" Aura Raulo is a graduate student in Zoology Department working on transmission of symbiotic bacteria in the social networks of their animal hosts"
Title: Heaps in networks - How we share our microbiota through kisses
Abstract: Humans, like all vertebrates have a microbiome, a diverse community of symbiotic bacteria that live in and on us and are crucial for our functioning. These bacteria help us digest food, regulate our mood and function as a key part of our immune system. Intriguingly, while they are part of us, they are, unlike our other cells, in constant flux between us, challenging the traditional definition of a biological individual. Many of these bacteria need intimate social contact to be transmitted from human to human, making social network analysis tools handy in explaining their community dynamics.What then is a recipe for a ``good microbiome”? Theories and evidence implies that the most healthy and immunologically robust microbiome composition is both diverse, semi-stable and somewhat synchronized among closely interacting individuals, but little is known about what kind of transmission landscapes determine these bacterial cocktails. In my talk, I will present humanmicrobiome as a network trait: a metacommunity of cells shaped by an equilibrium of isolation and contact among their hosts. I propose that we do notnecessarily need to think of levels of life (e.g. cells, individuals, populations) as being neatly nested inside of each other. Rather, aggregations of cooperating cells (both bacteria and human cells) can be considered as mere tighter clusters in their interaction network, dynamically creating de novo defined units of life. I will present a few game theoretical evolutionary dilemmas following from this perspective and highlight outstanding questions in mapping how network position of the host translates into community composition of bacteria in flux.
Marie Koschowitz
“Marie Koschowitz is a PhD student in the Department of Zoology and the Department of Earth Sciences, working on comparative physiology and large scale evolutionary patterns in reptiles such as crocodiles, birds and dinosaurs."
Title: Putting the maths into dinosaurs – A zoologist's perspective
Abstract: Contemporary palaeontology is a subject area that often deals with sparse data.Therefore, palaeontologists became rather inventive in pursuit of getting the most out of what is available. If we find a dinosaur’s skull that shows prominent, but puzzling, bony ridges without any apparent function, how can we make meaningful interpretations of its purpose in the living animal that was? If we are confronted with a variety of partially preserved bones from animals looking anatomically similar, but not quite alike, how can we infer relationships in the absence of genetic data?Some methods that resolve these questions, such as finite element analysis, were borrowed from engineering. Others, like comparative phylogenetics or MCMC generalised mixed effects models, are even more directly based on mathematical computations. All of these approaches help us to calculate things like a raptors bite-force and understand the ins and outsof their skulls anatomy, or why pterosaurs and plesiosaurs aren’t exactly dinosaurs. This talk aims to presents a selection of current approaches to applied mathematics which have been inspired by interdisciplinary research – and to foster awareness of all the ways how mathematicians can get involved in “dinosaur research”, if they feel inclined to do so.
Dealing with journals, editors and referees
Abstract
What actually happens when you submit an article to a journal? How does refereeing work in practice? How can you keep editors happy as an author or referee? How does one become a referee or editor? What does 'publication' mean with the internet and arXiv?
In this panel we'll discuss what happens between finishing writing a mathematical paper and its final (?) publication, looking at the various roles that people play and how they work best.
Featuring Helen Byrne, Rama Cont and Jonathan Pila.
Far from taking us down the road of unpredictability and chaos, randomness has the power to help us solve a fascinating range of problems. Join Julia Wolf on a mathematical journey from penalty shoot-outs to internet security and patterns in the primes.
Julia Wolf is University Lecturer in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at the University of Cambridge.
5-6pm
Mathematical Institute
Oxford
The dual approach to non-negative super-resolution: impact on primal reconstruction accuracy
Abstract
We study the problem of super-resolution using TV norm minimisation, where we recover the locations and weights of non-negative point sources from a few samples of their convolution with a Gaussian kernel. A practical approach is to solve the dual problem. In this talk, we study the stability of solutions with respect to the solutions to the dual problem. In particular, we establish a relationship between perturbations in the dual variable and the primal variables around the optimiser. This is achieved by applying a quantitative version of the implicit function theorem in a non-trivial way.