Wed, 29 May 2024

17:00 - 18:30
L4

More Pope-like than the Pope: modern mathematics movement in Czechoslovakia

Helena Durnová
(Masaryk University)
Abstract
Modern mathematics movement of the early 20th century found its way into the teaching of mathematics across the world in the early post-war period, with Georges Papy and André Lichnerowicz leading the way in Europe. In Czechoslovakia, this transformation of mathematics education is known as “set-theoretical approach”. Indeed set theory is at the core of Bourbakist transformation of the mathematical knowledge, as exemplified by their masterpiece Élements de Mathématique, which became mathematicians’ manifesto. In the educational setting, the adjectives “new” and “modern” were found more appropriate, but not so in Czechoslovakia. 
 
Dirk de Bock’s recent book on the topic (Modern Mathematics: An International Movement?, Springer 2023) covers a lot of Modern Math, but Czechoslovakia is missing, and here we are. Czechoslovakia is at the heart of Europe, perhaps the heart of Europe. Hence we connect to other countries: Poland, Hungary, Soviet Union, but also Belgium, France, Sweden (marginally), the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia as a very special case.
 
This seminar reports on a joint project of Helena Durnová, Petra Bušková (Masaryk University), Danny J. Beckers (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), and Snezana Lawrence (Middlesex University).
Tue, 11 Jun 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

Universality for transversal Hamilton cycles

Yani Pehova
(London School of Economics)
Abstract

An interesting twist on classical subgraph containment problems in graph theory is the following: given a graph $H$ and a collection $\{G_1, \dots , G_m\}$ of graphs on a common vertex set $[n]$, what conditions on $G_i$ guarantee a copy of $H$ using at most one edge from each $G_i$? Such a subgraph is called transversal, and the above problem is closely related to the study of temporal graphs in Network Theory. In 2020 Joos and Kim showed that if $\delta(G_i)\geq n/2$, the collection contains a transversal Hamilton cycle. We improve on their result by showing that it actually contains every transversal Hamilton cycle if $\delta(G_i)\geq (1/2+o(1))n$. That is, for every function $\chi:[n]\to[m]$, there is a Hamilton cycle whose $i$-th edge belongs to $G_{\chi(i)}$.

This is joint work with Candida Bowtell, Patrick Morris and Katherine Staden.

Tue, 28 May 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

Percolation through isoperimetry

Michael Krivelevich
(Tel Aviv University)
Abstract

Let $G$ be a $d$-regular graph of growing degree on $n$ vertices. Form a random subgraph $G_p$ of $G$ by retaining edge of $G$ independently with probability $p=p(d)$. Which conditions on $G$ suffice to observe a phase transition at $p=1/d$, similar to that in the binomial random graph $G(n,p)$, or, say, in a random subgraph of the binary hypercube $Q^d$?

We argue that in the supercritical regime $p=(1+\epsilon)/d$, $\epsilon>0$ a small constant, postulating that every vertex subset $S$ of $G$ of at most $n/2$ vertices has its edge boundary at least $C|S|$, for some large enough constant $C=C(\epsilon)>0$, suffices to guarantee likely appearance of the giant component in $G_p$. Moreover, its asymptotic order is equal to that in the random graph $G(n,(1+\epsilon)/n)$, and all other components are typically much smaller.

We also give examples demonstrating tightness of our main result in several key senses.

A joint work with Sahar Diskin, Joshua Erde and Mihyun Kang.

Tue, 14 May 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

The Erdös–Rényi random graph conditioned on being a cluster graph

Marc Noy
(Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya)
Abstract

A cluster graph is a disjoint union of complete graphs. We consider the random $G(n,p)$ graph on $n$ vertices with connection probability $p$, conditioned on the rare event of being a cluster graph. There are three main motivations for our study.

  1. For $p = 1/2$, each random cluster graph occurs with the same probability, resulting in the uniform distribution over set partitions. Interpreting such a partition as a graph adds additional structural information.
  2. To study how the law of a well-studied object like $G(n,p)$ changes when conditioned on a rare event; an evidence of this fact is that the conditioned random graph overcomes a phase transition at $p=1/2$ (not present in the dense $G(n,p)$ model).
  3. The original motivation was an application to community detection. Taking a random cluster graph as a model for a prior distribution of a partition into communities leads to significantly better community-detection performance.

This is joint work with Martijn Gösgens, Lukas Lüchtrath, Elena Magnanini and Élie de Panafieu.

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

The rainbow saturation number

Natalie Behague
(University of Warwick)
Abstract

The saturation number of a graph is a famous and well-studied counterpoint to the Turán number, and the rainbow saturation number is a generalisation of the saturation number to the setting of coloured graphs. Specifically, for a given graph $F$, an edge-coloured graph is $F$-rainbow saturated if it does not contain a rainbow copy of $F$, but the addition of any non-edge in any colour creates a rainbow copy of $F$. The rainbow saturation number of $F$ is the minimum number of edges in an $F$-rainbow saturated graph on $n$ vertices. Girão, Lewis, and Popielarz conjectured that, like the saturation number, for all $F$ the rainbow saturation number is linear in $n$. I will present our attractive and elementary proof of this conjecture, and finish with a discussion of related results and open questions.

Tue, 23 Apr 2024

14:00 - 15:00
L4

A (quasi)-polynomial Bogolyubov theorem for finite simple groups

Noam Lifshitz
(Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Abstract

We show that there exists $C>1$, such that if $A$ is a subset of a non-alternating finite simple group $G$ of density $|A|/|G|= \alpha$, then $AA^{-1}AA^{-1}$ contains a subgroup of density at least $\alpha^{C}$. We will also give a corresponding (slightly weaker) statement for alternating groups.

To prove our results we introduce new hypercontractive inequalities for simple groups. These allow us to show that the (non-abelian) Fourier spectrum of indicators of 'global' sets are concentrated on the high-dimensional irreducible representations. Here globalness is a pseudorandomness notion reminiscent of the notion of spreadness.

The talk is based on joint works with David Ellis, Shai Evra, Guy Kindler, Nathan Lindzey, and Peter Keevash, and Dor Minzer. No prior knowledge of representation theory will be assumed.

Mon, 22 Apr 2024
14:15
L4

Refined Harder-Narasimhan filtrations in moduli theory

Andres Ibanez-Nunez
(Oxford)
Abstract

We introduce a notion of refined Harder-Narasimhan filtration, defined abstractly for algebraic stacks satisfying natural conditions. Examples include moduli stacks of objects at the heart of a Bridgeland stability condition, moduli stacks of K-semistable Fano varieties, moduli of principal bundles on a curve, and quotient stacks. We will explain how refined Harder-Narasimhan filtrations are closely related both to stratifications and to the asymptotics of certain analytic flows, relating and expanding work of Kirwan and Haiden-Katzarkov-Kontsevich-Pandit, respectively. In the case of quotient stacks by the action of a torus, the refined Harder-Narasimhan filtration can be computed in terms of convex geometry.

Mon, 13 May 2024
14:15
L4

Quadratic Euler characteristics of singular varieties

Simon Pepin Lehalleur
(KdV Institute, Amsterdam)
Abstract

The quadratic Euler characteristic of an algebraic variety is a (virtual) symmetric bilinear form which refines the topological Euler characteristic and contains interesting arithmetic information when the base field is not algebraically closed. For smooth projective varieties, it has a quite concrete expression in terms of the cup product and Serre duality for Hodge cohomology. However, for singular varieties, it is defined abstractly (using either cut and paste relations or motivic homotopy theory) and is still rather mysterious. I will first introduce this invariant and place it in the broader context of quadratic enumerative geometry. I will then explain some progress on concrete computations, first for symmetric powers (joint with Lenny Taelman) and second for conductor formulas for hypersurface singularities (older results with Marc Levine and Vasudevan Srinivas on the one hand, and joint work in progress with Ran Azouri, Niels Feld, Yonathan Harpaz and Tasos Moulinos on the other).

Mon, 06 May 2024
14:15
L4

Singularities of fully nonlinear geometric flows

Stephen Lynch
((Imperial College)
Abstract
We will discuss the evolution of hypersurfaces by fully nonlinear geometric flows. These are cousins of the mean curvature flow which can be tailored to preserve different features of the underlying hypersurface geometry. Solutions often form singularities. I will present new classification results for blow-ups of singularities which confirm the expectation that these are highly symmetric and hence rigid. I will explain how this work fits into a broader program aimed at characterising Riemannian manifolds with positively curved boundaries.



 

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