Tue, 17 Feb 2026
15:30
L4

Descendent generating series for Pandharipande-Thomas stable pairs on Fano 3-folds

Reginald Anderson
(UC Irvine, California)
Abstract

We adapt Joyce's theory of wall-crossing for enumerative invariants of $\mathbb C$-linear additive categories to Pandharipande-Thomas stable pairs on smooth projective Fano 3-folds of "type C or D", and investigate implications for Pandharipande-Thomas generating functions with descendent insertions.

By analyzing the wall-crossing behavior from a stability condition where pairs are unstable to the standard stability condition for PT stable pairs, we derive an explicit formula expressing the PT stable pair invariants $[P_n(X,\beta)]^{virt}$ in terms of sheaf-theoretic invariants $[\mathcal M^{ss}_{(0,0,\beta_i, n_i - \beta_i.c_1/2)}(\tau_-)]_{\rm inv}$ for the moduli space of Gieseker semistable coherent sheaves on $X$ with Chern character $(0,0,\beta_i, n_i - \beta_i.c_1/2)$.

These enumerative invariants are defined as elements in the Lie algebra on the rational Betti homology of the piecewise-linear rigidified higher moduli stack of objects in the bounded derived category of X. Under tensoring by a line bundle, we exhibit a control over the periodicity of sheaf-theoretic invariants with respect to the Euler characteristic $n_i$, which we use to show that the sheaf-theoretic invariants form a quasi-polynomial in $n_i$ of degree $2$ with period given by the divisibility of $\beta_i$ in the lattice $H_2(X,\mathbb Z)/\text{torsion}$.

We use this periodicity in the sheaf-theoretic invariants to show that the descendent generating series for Pandharipande-Thomas stable pairs is the Laurent expansion of a rational function over $\mathbb Q$ in this setting, thus confirming a conjecture due to Pandharipande-Thomas from 2007. Furthermore, we construct a counterexample to a conjecture due to Pandharipande from 2017 on the location of the poles of the descendent generating series, and give a direct proof of a slightly modified conjecture on the location of these poles using wall-crossing techniques.

 

9 am, first day of term, first lecture for our first-year undergraduates in the company of James Munro. The only time they'll turn up (vaguely) on time.

[Firstday]

 

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On $U(1)^{n-2}$-Invariant Special Lagrangian $n$-Folds
Beard, M (23 Feb 2026)
Fri, 24 Oct 2025
13:00
L6

Generalized Persistent Laplacians and Their Spectral Properties

Arne Wolf
(Imperial College)
Abstract
Laplacian operators are classical objects that are fundamental in both pure and applied mathematics and are becoming increasingly prominent in modern computational and data science fields such as applied and computational topology and application areas such as machine learning and network science. In our recent paper, we introduce a unifying operator-theoretic framework of generalized Laplacians as invariants that encompasses and extends all existing constructions, from discrete combinatorial settings to de Rham complexes of smooth manifolds. Within this framework, we introduce and study a generalized notion of persistent Laplacians. While the classical persistent Laplacian fails to satisfy the desirable properties of monotonicity and stability - both crucial for robustness and interpretability - our framework allows to isolate and analyze these properties systematically.  We demonstrate that their component maps, the up- and down-persistent Laplacians, satisfy these properties individually. Moreover, we provide a condition for full monotonicity and show that the spectra of these separate components fully determine the spectra of the full Laplacians, making them not only preferable but sufficient for analysis. We study these questions comprehensively, in both the finite and infinite dimensional settings. Our work expands and strengthens the theoretical foundation of generalized Laplacian-based methods in pure, applied, and computational mathematics.


 

Tue, 04 Nov 2025
16:00

Automorphic L-functions, primon gases and quantum cosmology

Sean Hartnoll
(Cambridge University)
Abstract

I will review how the equations of general relativity near a spacetime singularity map onto an arithmetic hyperbolic billiard dynamics. The semiclassical quantum states for this dynamics are Maaβ cusp forms on fundamental domains of modular groups. For example, gravity in four spacetime dimensions leads to PSL(2,Z) while five dimensional gravity leads to PSL(2,Z[w]), with Z[w] the Eisenstein integers. The automorphic forms can be expressed, in a dilatation (Mellin transformed) basis as L-functions. The Euler product representation of these L-functions indicates that these quantum states admit a dual interpretation as a "primon gas" partition function. I will describe some physically motivated mathematical questions that arise from these observations.

Further Information

(Joint Seminar with Number Theory)

Tue, 28 Oct 2025
16:00
L6

A story of isomonodromic deformations on the torus

Harini Desiraju
(Mathematical Institute )
Abstract

In the first half of this talk, I will provide a brief introduction to Isomonodromic deformations with the one-point torus as my main example, and show the relation to the elliptic form of Painlevé VI equation as well as the Lamé equation. In the second half of this talk, I will present an overview of my results in the past few years concerning the associated tau-functions, conformal blocks, and accessory parameters. Finally, I will motivate how probabilistic methods in conformal field theory help us understand the data within Lamé type equations.

Persistent homology classifies parameter dependence of patterns in Turing systems
Spector, R Harrington, H Gaffney, E Bulletin of Mathematical Biology volume 88 issue 1 (24 Dec 2025)
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