Wed, 01 May 2019
11:00
N3.12

The Kronecker-Weber theorem

Konstantinos Kartas
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

The Kronecker-Weber theorem states that every finite abelian extension of the rationals is contained in some cyclotomic field. I will present a proof that emphasizes the standard local-global philosophy by first proving it for the p-adics and then deducing the global case.

Mon, 13 May 2019

15:45 - 16:45
L3

Weak universality for the KPZ equation (and also others)

WEIJUN XU
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Many singular stochastic PDEs are expected to be universal objects that govern a wide range of microscopic models in different universality classes. Two notable examples are KPZ and \Phi^4_3. In these cases, one usually finds a parameter in the system, and tunes according to the space-time scale in such a way that the system rescales to the SPDE in the large-scale limit. We justify this belief for a large class of continuous microscopic growth models (for KPZ) and phase co-existence models (for Phi^4_3), allowing microscopic nonlinear mechanisms far beyond polynomials. Aside from the framework of regularity structures, the main new ingredient is a moment bound for general nonlinear functionals of Gaussians. This essentially allows one to reduce the problem of a general function to that of a polynomial. Based on a joint work with Martin Hairer, and another joint work in progress with Chenjie Fan and Jiawei Li. 

Tue, 21 May 2019

14:30 - 15:00
L5

A Model-Based Derivative-Free Approach to Black-Box Adversarial Examples in Deep Learning

Giuseppe Ughi
(Oxford)
Abstract

Neural Network algorithms have achieved unprecedented performance in image recognition over the past decade. However, their application in real world use-cases, such as self driving cars, raises the question of whether it is safe to rely on them.

We generally associate the robustness of these algorithms with how easy it is to generate an adversarial example: a tiny perturbation of an image which leads it to be misclassified by the Neural Net (which classifies the original image correctly). Neural Nets are strongly susceptible to such adversarial examples, but when the architecture of the target neural net is unknown to the attacker it becomes more difficult to generate these examples efficiently.

In this Black-Box setting, we frame the generation of an adversarial example as an optimisation problem solvable via derivative free optimisation methods. Thus, we introduce an algorithm based on the BOBYQA model-based method and compare this to the current state of the art algorithm.

Wed, 19 Jun 2019
16:00
C1

The spectrum of simplicial volume

Nicolaus Heuer
(Oxford University)
Abstract

Simplicial volume was first introduced by Gromov to study the minimal volume of manifolds. Since then it has emerged as an active research field with a wide range of applications. 

I will give an introduction to simplicial volume and describe a recent result with Clara Löh (University of Regensburg), showing that the set of simplicial volumes in higher dimensions is dense in $R^+$.

Wed, 15 May 2019
16:00
C1

Finite quotients of surface groups

Michal Buran
(Cambridge University)
Abstract


It is often fruitful to study an infinite discrete group via its finite quotients.  For this reason, conditions that guarantee many finite quotients can be useful.  One such notion is residual finiteness.
A group is residually finite if for any non-identity element g there is a homomorphism onto a finite group, which doesn’t map g to e. I will mention how this relates to topology, present an argument why the surface groups are residually finite and I’ll show that in this case it is enough to consider homomorphisms onto alternating groups.

Fri, 14 Jun 2019

10:00 - 11:00
L2

Robust Identification of Drones and UAVs in the Air Space for Improving Public Safety and Security

Jahangir Mohammed
(Thales (Aveillant))
Abstract

The disruptive drone activity at airports requires an early warning system and Aveillant make a radar system that can do the job. The main problem is telling the difference between birds and drones where there may be one or two drones and 10s or 100s of birds. There is plenty of data including time series for how the targets move and the aim is to improve the discrimination capability of tracker using machine learning.

Specifically, the challenge is to understand whether there can be sufficient separability between birds and drones based on different features, such as flight profiles, length of the track, their states, and their dominance/correlation in the overall discrimination. Along with conventional machine learning techniques, the challenge is to consider how different techniques, such as deep neural networks, may perform in the discrimination task.

Tue, 14 May 2019
15:30
L4

Categorification of the cluster algebra structure of the quantum unipotent coordinate ring via quiver Hecke algebras

Masaki Kashiwara
(Kyoto)
Abstract

The quantum unipotent coordinate ring has a cluster algebra structure. On the other hand, this ring is isomorphic to the Grothendieck ring of the module category of quiver Hecke algebras (QHA). We can prove that cluster monomials of the quantum unipotent coordinate ring correspondi to real simple modules. This is a joint work with Seok-Jin Kang, Myungho Kim and Se-jin Oh.

Tue, 02 Jul 2019

12:00 - 13:00
C4

Functional module detection through integration of single-cell RNA sequencing data with protein interaction networks

Florian Klimm
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

In recent years, much attention has been given to single-cell RNA sequencing techniques as they allow researchers to examine the functions and relationships of single cells inside a tissue. In this study, we combine single-cell RNA sequencing data with protein–protein interaction networks (PPINs) to detect active modules in cells of different transcriptional states. We achieve this by clustering single-cell RNA sequencing data, constructing node-weighted PPINs, and identifying the maximum-weight connected subgraphs with an exact Steiner-Tree approach. As a case study, we investigate RNA sequencing data from human liver spheroids but the techniques described here are applicable to other organisms and tissues. The benefits of our novel method are two-fold: First, it allows us to identify important proteins (e.g., receptors) which are not detected from a differential gene-expression analysis as they only interact with proteins that are transcribed in higher levels. Second, we find that different transcriptional states have different subnetworks of the PPIN significantly overexpressed. These subnetworks often reflect known biological pathways (e.g., lipid metabolism and stress response) and we obtain a nuanced picture of cellular function as we can associate them with a subset of all analysed cells.

Subscribe to