Thu, 22 May 2025

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Accelerating Predictions of Turbulent Combustion and Nonequilibrium Flows Using Solver-Embedded Deep Learning

Jonathan MacArt
(Univ. of Notre Dame)
Further Information

Short Bio
Jonathan MacArt leads the Reacting Turbulence Lab, where he and his team develop high-performance computational tools to study how flow physics interact with phenomena like chemical heat release and plasma kinetics. Their work includes large-scale DNS, LES, RANS simulations, and physics-informed machine learning, with applications ranging from gas turbines to hypersonic propulsion systems.

Abstract

Predictions of complex flows remain a significant challenge for engineering systems. Computationally affordable predictions of turbulent flows generally require Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations and Large-Eddy Simulation (LES), the predictive accuracy of which can be insufficient due to non-Boussinesq turbulence and/or unresolved multiphysics that preclude qualitative fidelity in certain regimes. For example, in turbulent combustion, flame–turbulence interactions can lead to inverse-cascade energy transfer, which violates the assumptions of many RANS and LES closures. We present an adjoint-based, solver-embedded data assimilation method to augment the RANS and LES equations using trusted data. This is accomplished using Python-native flow solvers that leverage differentiable programming techniques to construct the adjoint equations needed for optimization. We present applications to shock-tube ignition delay predictions, turbulent premixed jet flames, and shock-dominated nonequilibrium flows and discuss the potential of adjoint-based approaches for future machine learning applications.

 

Thu, 08 May 2025

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Low-rank methods for discovering structure in data tensors in neuroscience

Alex Cayco-Gajic
(École Normale Supérieure Paris)
Further Information

Short Bio

Alex Cayco Gajic is a Junior Professor in the Department of Cognitive Studies at ENS, with a background in applied mathematics and a PhD from the University of Washington. Her research bridges computational modelling and data analysis to study cerebellar function, exploring its roles beyond motor control in collaboration with experimental neuroscientists.

Abstract

A fundamental question in neuroscience is to understand how information is represented in the activity of  tens of thousands of neurons in the brain. Towards this end, low-rank matrix and tensor decompositions are commonly used to identify correlates of behavior in high-dimensional neural data. In this talk I will first present a novel tensor decomposition based on the slice rank which is able to disentangle mixed modes of covarying patterns in data tensors. Second, to compliment this statistical approach, I will present our recent dynamical systems modelling of neural activity over learning. Rather than factorizing data tensors themselves, we instead fit a dynamical system to the data, while constraining the tensor of parameters to be low rank. Together these projects highlight how applications in neural data can inspire new classes of low-rank models.

Thu, 01 May 2025

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Do Plants Know Math?: Adventures of a Mathematician in Science Writing

Christophe Golé
(Smith College)
Further Information

Short Bio
Christophe Golé is a mathematician originally from France, with academic positions held at institutions including ETH Zurich and UC Santa Cruz. He is the author of Symplectic Twist Maps, a book on dynamical systems, and coined the term “ghost tori” in this context. His recent work focuses on mathematical biology, particularly plant pattern formation (phyllotaxis) and the occurrence of Fibonacci numbers in nature. He co-founded the NSF-funded 4 College Biomath Consortium, which led to the Five College Biomathematical Sciences Certificate Program.

Abstract

"Do Plants Know Math?" is the title of a book I co-authored with physicist Stéphane Douady, biologist Jacques Dumais, and writer Nancy Pick. Written for a general audience with a historical perspective, the book primarily explores phyllotaxis—the arrangement of leaves and other organs around plant stems—while also examining plant fractals, kirigami models of leaf formation, and related phenomena.

To our knowledge, phyllotaxis represents the first historical intersection of biological and mathematical research. Delving into its history uncovers remarkable treasures: phyllotaxis studies led to the first formulation of renormalization (van Iterson, 1907) and inspired one of the earliest computer programs (developed by Turing in the last years of his life).

In this talk, I will highlight several of these hidden historical gems while discussing the productive symbiosis between our scientific research on phyllotaxis and the creation of our book.

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Mon, 09 Jun 2025
15:30
L3

Well-Posedness and Regularity of SDEs in the Plane with Non-Smooth Drift

Prof. Olivier Menoukeu Pamen
(University of Liverpool)
Abstract

Keywords: SDE on the plane, Brownian sheet, path by path uniqueness, space time local time integral, Malliavin calculus

 

In this talk, we discuss the existence, uniqueness, and regularisation by noise for stochastic differential equations (SDEs) on the plane. These equations can also be interpreted as quasi-linear hyperbolic stochastic partial differential equations (HSPDEs). More specifically, we address path-by-path uniqueness for multidimensional SDEs on the plane, under the assumption that the drift coefficient satisfies a spatial linear growth condition and is componentwise non-decreasing. In the case where the drift is only measurable and uniformly bounded, we show that the corresponding additive HSPDE on the plane admits a unique strong solution that is Malliavin differentiable. Our approach combines tools from Malliavin calculus with variational techniques originally introduced by Davie (2007), which we non-trivially extend to the setting of SDEs on the plane.


This talk is based on a joint works with A. M. Bogso, M. Dieye and F. Proske.

Mon, 26 May 2025
15:30
L3

Transport of Gaussian measures under the flow of semilinear (S)PDEs: quasi-invariance and singularity.

Dr. Leonardo Tolomeo
(University of Edinburgh)
Abstract

In this talk, we consider the Cauchy problem for a number of semilinear PDEs, subject to initial data distributed according to a family of Gaussian measures.  

We first discuss how the flow of Hamiltonian equations transports these Gaussian measures. When the transported measure is absolutely continuous with respect to the initial measure, we say that the initial measure is quasi-invariant. 

In the high-dispersion regime, we exploit quasi-invariance to build a (unique) global flow for initial data with negative regularity, in a regime that cannot be replicated by the deterministic (pathwise) theory.  

In the 0-dispersion regime, we discuss the limits of this approach, and exhibit a sharp transition from quasi-invariance to singularity, depending on the regularity of the initial measure. 

We will also discuss how the same techniques can be used in the context of stochastic PDEs, and how they provide information on the invariant measures for their flow. 

This is based on joint works with  J. Coe (University of Edinburgh), J. Forlano (Monash University), and M. Hairer (EPFL).

Tue, 11 Mar 2025
14:00
L3

Hodge Learning on Higher-Order Networks

Vincent Grande
(RWTH Aachen University)
Abstract

The discrete Hodge Laplacian offers a way to extract network topology and geometry from higher-ordered networks. The operator is inspired by concepts from algebraic topology and differential geometry and generalises the graph Laplacian. In particular, it allows to relate global structure of networks to the local properties of nodes. In my talk, I will talk about some general behaviour of the Hodge Laplacian and then continue to show how to use the extracted information to a) to use trajectory data infer the topology of the underlying network while simultaneously classifying the trajectories and b) to extract cell differentiation trees from single-cell data, an exciting new application in computational genomics.    

Thu, 13 Mar 2025
17:00
L3

Non-expanding polynomials

Tingxiang Zou
(University of Bonn)
Abstract

Let F(x,y) be a polynomial over the complex numbers. The Elekes-Ronyai theorem says that if F(x,y) is not essentially addition or multiplication, then F(x,y) exhibits expansion: for any finite subset A, B of complex numbers of size n, the size of F(A,B)={F(a,b):a in A, b in B} will be much larger than n. In fact, it is proved that |F(A,B)|>Cn^{4/3} for some constant C. In this talk, I will present a recent joint work with Martin Bays, which is an asymmetric and higher dimensional version of the Elekes-Rónyai theorem, where A and B can be taken to be of different sizes and y a tuple. This result is achieved via a generalisation of the Elekes-Szabó theorem.

Thu, 06 Mar 2025

17:00 - 18:00
L3

Orthogonal types to the value group and descent

Mariana Vicaria
(University of Münster)
Abstract
First, I will present a simplified proof of descent for stably dominated types in ACVF. I will also state a more general version of descent for stably dominated types in any theory, dropping the hypothesis of the existence of invariant extensions. This first part is joint work with Pierre Simon.
 
In the second part, motivated by the study of the space of definable types orthogonal to the value group in a henselian valued field and their cohomology; I will present a theorem that states that over an algebraically closed base of imaginary elements,  a global invariant type is residually dominated (essentially controlled by the residue field) if and only if it is orthogonal to the value group , if and only if its reduct in ACVF is stably dominated. This is joint work with Pablo Cubides and Silvain Rideau- Kikuchi. The result extend to some valued fields with operators.
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