Mon, 09 Mar 2015

12:00 - 13:00
Fisher Room

The Coulomb branch of 3d N=4 theories

Tudor Dimofte
(IAS, Princeton)
Abstract
While the Higgs branch of a 3d N=4 gauge theory is protected from quantum corrections and its metric is easily computable, the Coulomb branch suffers both perturbative and nonperturbative corrections, and has long remained mysterious. I will present a construction of the Coulomb branch as a complex manifold, and (in principle) as a hyperkahler manifold. In particular, holomorphic functions on the Coulomb branch come from vevs of monopole operators in a chiral ring, and it turns out that this ring has a simple, quasi-abelian description. Applying the construction to linear quiver gauge theories, one finds new descriptions of singular monopole moduli spaces. I may also touch upon relations to equivariant vortex counting, geometric representation theory, and symplectic duality.
Tue, 10 Mar 2015

12:00 - 13:30
L5

Tropical Amplitudes

Piotr Tourkine
(University of Cambridge (DAMTP))
Abstract

A systematic understanding of the low energy limit of string theory scattering amplitudes is essential for conceptual and practical reasons. In this talk, I shall report on a work where this limit has been analyzed using tropical geometry. Our result is that the field theory amplitudes arising in the low energy limit of string theory are written in a very compact form as integrals over a single object, the tropical moduli space. This picture provides a general framework where the different aspects of the low energy limit of string theory scattering amplitudes are systematically encompassed; the Feynman graph structure and the ultraviolet regulation mechanism. I shall then give examples of application of the formalism, in particular at genus two, and discuss open issues.

No knowledge of tropical geometry will be assumed and the topic shall be introduced during the talk.

Wed, 04 Mar 2015

11:00 - 12:30
N3.12

Soluble Profinite Groups

Ged Corob Cook
(Royal Holloway)
Abstract

Soluble groups, and other classes of groups that can be built from simpler groups, are useful test cases for studying group properties. I will talk about techniques for building profinite groups from simpler ones, and how  to use these to investigate the cohomology of such groups and recover information about the group structure.

Thu, 05 Mar 2015

16:00 - 17:00
C2

Introduction to deformation quantization

Pavel Safronov
(Oxford)
Abstract

I will explain the basics of deformation quantization of Poisson
algebras (an important tool in mathematical physics). Roughly, it is a
family of associative algebras deforming the original commutative
algebra. Following Fedosov, I will describe a classification of
quantizations of (algebraic) symplectic manifolds.
 

Thu, 14 May 2015

16:00 - 17:00
L6

Equidistribution of Eisenstein series

Matthew Young
(Texas A&M University)
Abstract

I will discuss some recent results on the distribution of the real-analytic Eisenstein series on thin sets, such as a geodesic segment. These investigations are related to mean values of the Riemann zeta function, and have connections to quantum chaos.

Tue, 10 Mar 2015

14:30 - 15:00
L5

Automatic reformulation of higher order ODEs to coupled systems of first order equations

Asgeir Birkisson
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Many numerical solvers of ordinary differential equations require problems to be posed as a system of first order differential equations. This means that if one wishes to solve higher order problems, the system have to be rewritten, which is a cumbersome and error-prone process. This talk presents a technique for automatically doing such reformulations.

Tue, 10 Mar 2015

14:00 - 14:30
L5

Computing choreographies

Hadrien Montanelli
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Choreographies are periodic solutions of the n-body problem in which all of the bodies have unit masses, share a common orbit and are uniformly spread along it. In this talk, I will present an algorithm for numerical computation and stability analysis of choreographies.  It is based on approximations by trigonometric polynomials, minimization of the action functional using a closed-form expression of the gradient, quasi-Newton methods, automatic differentiation and Floquet stability analysis.

Wed, 25 Feb 2015

11:00 - 12:30

Derived Categories of Sheaves on Smooth Projective Varieties in S2.37

Jack Kelly
(Oxford)
Abstract

In this talk we will introduce the (bounded) derived category of coherent sheaves on a smooth projective variety X, and explain how the geometry of X endows this category with a very rigid structure. In particular we will give an overview of a theorem of Orlov which states that any sufficiently ‘nice’ functor between such categories must be Fourier-Mukai.

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