Tue, 30 Oct 2018

14:00 - 14:30
L5

A crash-course on persistent homology

Vidit Nanda
(Oxford)
Abstract

This talk features a self-contained introduction to persistent homology, which is the main ingredient of topological data analysis. 

Tue, 16 Oct 2018

14:30 - 15:00
L5

Purified Posteriors! A Sparsity Perspective to Speech Modelling

Vinayak Abrol
(Oxford)
Abstract

This work deals with exploiting the low-dimensional hierarchical structure of speech signals towards the  goal  of  improving  acoustic  modelling using deep neural networks (DNN).  To this aim the work employ tools from sparsity aware signal processing under novel frameworks to enrich  the  acoustic  information  present  in  DNN posterior features. 

Tue, 23 Oct 2018

14:30 - 15:00
L5

Numerical Analysis of Implicitly Constituted Fluids: Mixed Formulations

Alexei Gazca
(Oxford)
Abstract

In the classical theory of fluid mechanics, a linear relationship between the stress and rate of strain is often assumed. Even when this relationship is non-linear, it is typically formulated in terms of an explicit relation. Implicit constitutive theories provide a theoretical framework that generalises this, allowing a, possibly multi-valued, implicit constitutive relation. Since it is not possible to solve explicitly for the stress in the constitutive relation, a more natural approach would be to include the stress as a fundamental unknown in the formulation of the problem. In this talk I will present a formulation with this feature and a proof of convergence of the finite element approximations to a solution of the original problem.

Mon, 15 Oct 2018
12:45
L3

Modular graph functions as iterated Eisenstein integrals

Erik Panzer
(Oxford)
Abstract

Superstring scattering amplitudes in genus one have a low-energy expansion in terms of certain real analytic modular forms, called modular graph functions (D'Hoger, Green, Gürdogan and Vanhove). I will sketch the proof that these functions belong to a family of iterated integrals of modular forms (a generalization of Eichler integrals), recently introduced by Francis Brown, which explains many of their properties. The main tools are elliptic multiple polylogarithms (Brown and Levin), single-valued versions thereof, and elliptic multiple zeta values (Enriquez).

Tue, 16 Oct 2018
16:00
L5

On decidability in local and global fields

Jochen Koenigsmann
(Oxford)
Abstract

This is a survey on recent advances in classical decidability issues for local and global fields and for some canonical infinite extensions of those.

Mon, 08 Oct 2018
12:45
L3

Twisted indices of 3d N=4 theories and moduli space of quasi-maps

Heeyeon Kim
(Oxford)
Abstract

I will talk about the Witten index of supersymmetric quantum mechanics obtained from 3d gauge theories compacted on a Riemann surface. In particular, I will show that the twisted indices of 3d N=4 theories compute enumerative invariants of the moduli space, which can be identified as a space of quasi-maps to the Higgs branch. I will also discuss 3d mirror symmetry in this context which provides a non-trivial relation between a pair of generating functions of the invariants.

Tue, 09 Oct 2018

14:00 - 14:30
L5

Efficient white noise sampling and coupling for multilevel Monte Carlo

Matteo Croci
(Oxford)
Abstract

When solving stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) driven by additive spatial white noise the efficient sampling of white noise realizations can be challenging. In this talk we present a novel sampling technique that can be used to efficiently compute white noise samples in a finite element and multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) setting.
After discretization, the action of white noise on a test function yields a Gaussian vector with the FEM mass matrix as covariance. Sampling such a vector requires an expensive Cholesky factorization and for this reason P0 representations, for which the mass matrix is diagonal, are generally preferred in the literature. This however has other disadvantages. In this talk we introduce an alternative factorization that is naturally parallelizable and has linear cost and memory complexity (in the number of mesh elements).
Moreover, in a MLMC framework the white noise samples must be coupled between subsequent levels so as to respect the telescoping sum. We show how our technique can be used to enforce this coupling even in the case in which the hierarchy is non-nested via a supermesh construction. We conclude the talk with numerical experiments that demonstrate the efficacy of our method. We observe optimal convergence rates for the finite element solution of the elliptic SPDEs of interest. In a MLMC setting, a good coupling is enforced and the telescoping sum is respected.
 

Tue, 09 Oct 2018

14:30 - 15:00
L5

Drying of Colloid Suspension

Zhen Shao
(Oxford)
Abstract

The next generation emissive displays including quantum dot LED(QLED) and organic LED(OLED) could be efficiently manufactured by inkjet printing, where nano-scale droplets are injected in banked substrate and after evaporation they leave layers of thin film that forms pixels of a display. This novel manufacturing method would greatly reduce cost and improve reliability. However, it is observed in practice that the deposit becomes much thicker near the bank edge and emission is faint there. This motivated the project and in this talk, we will mathematically model the phenomeno, understand its origin and investigate ways of making more uniform deposit by means of simulation.

Tue, 20 Nov 2018

15:45 - 16:45
L4

A Steenrod-square-type operation for quantum cohomology and Floer theory

Nicholas Wilkins
(Oxford)
Abstract

The (total) Steenrod square is a ring homomorphism from the cohomology of a topological space to the Z/2-equivariant cohomology of this space, with the trivial Z/2-action. Given a closed monotone symplectic manifold, one can define a deformed notion of the Steenrod square for quantum cohomology, which will not in general be a ring homomorphism, and prove some properties of this operation that are analogous to properties of the classical Steenrod square. We will then link this, in a more general setting, to a definition by Seidel of a similar operation on Floer cohomology.
 

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