Thu, 13 Feb 2025
16:00
Lecture Room 4

On the exceptional set in the abc conjecture

Joni Teräväinen
(University of Cambridge)
Abstract
The well known abc conjecture asserts that for any coprime triple of positive integers satisfying $a+b=c$, we have $c<K_{\varepsilon} \mathrm{rad}(abc)^{1+\varepsilon}$, where $\mathrm{rad}$ is the squarefree radical function. 
 
In this talk, I will discuss a proof giving the first power-saving improvement over the trivial bound for the number of exceptions to this conjecture. The proof is based on a combination of various methods for counting rational points on curves, and a combinatorial analysis to patch these cases together.
 
This is joint work with Tim Browning and Jared Lichtman.
Mon, 28 Oct 2024
16:00
C3

An introduction to modularity lifting

Dmitri Whitmore
(University of Cambridge)
Abstract
The (global) Langlands programme is a vast generalization of classical reciprocity laws. Roughly, it predicts a correspondence between:
1) modular forms (and their generalizations, automorphic forms)
2) representations of the Galois group of a number field.
While many constructions of Galois representations from automorphic forms exist, the converse direction is often harder to establish. The main tools to do so are modularity lifting theorems and are proved via the Taylor-Wiles method, originating from Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
 
I will introduce these ideas and their applications, focusing particularly on the problem of modularity of elliptic curves. I will then briefly discuss a generalization of the Taylor-Wiles method developed in my thesis which led to new modularity theorems in the setting of quadratic extensions of totally real fields by building of work of Boxer-Calegari-Gee-Pilloni.
Mon, 18 Nov 2024
16:00
C3

Heegner points and Euler systems

Andrew Graham
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Heegner points are a powerful tool for understanding the structure of the group of rational points on elliptic curves. In this talk, I will describe these points and the ideas surrounding their generalisation to other situations.

Wed, 23 Oct 2024
11:00
L4

Weak coupling limit for polynomial stochastic Burgers equations in $2d$

Da Li
(Mathematical Institute)
Abstract

We explore the weak coupling limit for stochastic Burgers type equation in critical dimension, and show that it is given by a Gaussian stochastic heat equation, with renormalised coefficient depending only on the second order Hermite polynomial of the nonlinearity. We use the approach of Cannizzaro, Gubinelli and Toninelli (2024), who treat the case of quadratic nonlinearities, and we extend it to polynomial nonlinearities. In that sense, we extend the weak universality of the KPZ equation shown by Hairer and Quastel (2018) to the two dimensional generalized stochastic Burgers equation. A key new ingredient is the graph notation for the generator. This enables us to obtain uniform estimates for the generator. This is joint work with Nicolas Perkowski.

Lattice Boltzmann formulation for 8-wave magnetohydrodynamics
Dellar, P

Mathematrix is the department's society for postgraduate minorities in mathematics. We run regular events in term time to help combat some of the loneliness experienced by minorities in maths and to also tackle some of the issues we face. 

Tue, 03 Dec 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

A Zarankiewicz problem in tripartite graphs

Freddie Illingworth
(University College London)
Abstract

In 1975, Bollobás, Erdős, and Szemerédi asked the following Zarankiewicz-type problem. What is the smallest $\tau$ such that an $n \times n \times n$ tripartite graph with minimum degree $n + \tau$ must contain $K_{t, t, t}$? They further conjectured that $\tau = O(n^{1/2})$ when $t = 2$.

I will discuss our proof that $\tau = O(n^{1 - 1/t})$ (confirming their conjecture) and an infinite family of extremal examples. The bound $O(n^{1 - 1/t})$ is best possible whenever the Kővári-Sós-Turán bound $\operatorname{ex}(n, K_{t, t}) = O(n^{2 - 1/t})$ is (which is widely-conjectured to be the case).

This is joint work with Francesco Di Braccio (LSE).

Tue, 19 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

Tight general bounds for the extremal number of 0-1 matrices

Oliver Janzer
(University of Cambridge)
Abstract

A zero-one matrix $M$ is said to contain another zero-one matrix $A$ if we can delete some rows and columns of $M$ and replace some 1-entries with 0-entries such that the resulting matrix is $A$. The extremal number of $A$, denoted $\operatorname{ex}(n,A)$, is the maximum number of 1-entries that an $n\times n$ zero-one matrix can have without containing $A$. The systematic study of this function for various patterns $A$ goes back to the work of Furedi and Hajnal from 1992, and the field has many connections to other areas of mathematics and theoretical computer science. The problem has been particularly extensively studied for so-called acyclic matrices, but very little is known about the general case (that is, the case where $A$ is not necessarily acyclic). We prove the first asymptotically tight general result by showing that if $A$ has at most $t$ 1-entries in every row, then $\operatorname{ex}(n,A)\leq n^{2-1/t+o(1)}$. This verifies a conjecture of Methuku and Tomon.

Our result also provides the first tight general bound for the extremal number of vertex-ordered graphs with interval chromatic number two, generalizing a celebrated result of Furedi, and Alon, Krivelevich and Sudakov about the (unordered) extremal number of bipartite graphs with maximum degree $t$ in one of the vertex classes.

Joint work with Barnabas Janzer, Van Magnan and Abhishek Methuku.

Tue, 05 Nov 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

Rainbow Hamilton cycles

Julia Böttcher
(London School of Economics)
Abstract

In a graph $H$ whose edges are coloured (not necessarily properly) a rainbow copy of a graph $G$ is a (not necessarily induced) subgraph of $H$ that is isomorphic to $G$ and whose edges are all coloured differently. In this talk I will explain why the problem of finding such rainbow copies is interesting, survey what we know, concentrating mainly on the case where $G$ is a Hamilton cycle, and then tell you a bit about a new result about finding rainbow Hamilton cycles resiliently in random graphs (which is joint work with Peter Allen and Liana Yepremyan).

Tue, 29 Oct 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

Lower tails for triangle counts in the critical window

Matthew Jenssen
(King's College London)
Abstract

The classical lower-tail problem for triangles in random graphs asks the following: given $\eta\in[0,1)$, what is the probability that $G(n,p)$ contains at most $\eta$ times the expected number of triangles?  When $p=o(n^{-1/2})$ or $p = \omega(n^{-1/2})$ the asymptotics of the logarithm of this probability are known via Janson's inequality in the former case and regularity or container methods in the latter case.

We prove for the first time asymptotic formulas for the logarithm of the lower tail probability when $p=c n^{-1/2}$ for $c$ constant.  Our results apply for all $c$ when $\eta \ge 1/2$ and for $c$  small enough when $\eta < 1/2$.  For the special case $\eta=0$ of triangle-freeness, our results prove that a phase transition occurs as $c$ varies (in the sense of a non-analyticity of the rate function), while for $\eta \ge 1/2$ we prove that no phase transition occurs.

Our method involves ingredients from algorithms and statistical physics including rapid mixing of Markov chains and the cluster expansion.  We complement our asymptotic formulas with efficient algorithms to approximately sample from $G(n,p)$ conditioned on the lower tail event.

Joint work with Will Perkins, Aditya Potukuchi and Michael Simkin.

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