16:00
Quantitative bounds for a weighted version of Chowla's conjecture
Abstract
The Liouville function $\lambda(n)$ is defined to be $+1$ if $n$ is a product of an even number of primes, and $-1$ otherwise. The statistical behaviour of $\lambda$ is intimately connected to the distribution of prime numbers. In many aspects, the Liouville function is expected to behave like a random sequence of $+1$'s and $-1$'s. For example, the two-point Chowla conjecture predicts that the average of $\lambda(n)\lambda(n+1)$ over $n < x$ tends to zero as $x$ goes to infinity. In this talk, I will discuss quantitative bounds for a logarithmic version of this problem.
16:00
Computing Tangent Spaces to Eigenvarieties
Abstract
Many congruences between modular forms (or at least their q-expansions) can be explained by the theory of $p$-adic families of modular forms. In this talk, I will discuss properties of eigenvarieties, a geometric interpretation of the idea of $p$-adic families. In particular, focusing initially on the well-understood case of (elliptic) modular forms, before delving into the considerably murkier world of Bianchi modular forms. In this second case, this work gives numerical verification of a couple of conjectures, including BSD by work of Loeffler and Zerbes.
16:00
A friendly introduction to Shimura curves
Abstract
Modular curves play a key role in the Langlands programme, being the simplest example of so-called Shimura varieties. Their less famous cousins, Shimura curves, are also very interesting, and very concrete.
In this talk I will give a gentle introduction to the arithmetic of Shimura curves, with lots of explicit examples. Time permitting, I will say something about recent work about intersection numbers of geodesics on Shimura curves.