Mon, 04 Jun 2018

16:00 - 17:00
L4

Rates of convergence to equilibrium in a one-dimensional kinetic equation

David Seifert
(Oxford)
Abstract

We consider a collisionless kinetic equation describing the probability density of particles moving in a one-dimensional domain subject to partly diffusive reflection at the boundary. It was shown in 2017 by Mokhtar-Kharroubi and Rudnicki that for large times such systems either converge to an invariant density or, if no invariant density exists, exhibit a so-called “sweeping phenomenon” in which the mass concentrates near small velocities. This dichotomy is obtained by means of subtle arguments relying on the theory of positive operator semigroups. In this talk I shall review some of these results before discussing how, under suitable assumptions both on the boundary operators (which in particular ensure that an invariant density exists) and on the initial density, one may even obtain estimates on the rate at which the system converges to its equilibrium. This is joint work with Mustapha Mokhtar-Kharroubi (Besançon).

Tue, 06 Mar 2018
14:15
L4

Morita equivalence of Peter-Weyl Iwahori algebras

Allen Moy
(Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
Abstract

The Peter-Weyl idempotent of a parahoric subgroup is the sum of the idempotents of irreducible representations which have a nonzero Iwahori fixed vector. The associated convolution algebra is called a Peter-Weyl Iwahori algebra.  We show any Peter-Weyl Iwahori algebra is Morita equivalent to the Iwahori-Hecke algebra.  Both the Iwahori-Hecke algebra and a Peter-Weyl Iwahori algebra have a natural C*-algebra structure, and the Morita equivalence preserves irreducible hermitian and unitary modules.  Both algebras have another anti-involution denoted as •, and the Morita equivalence preserves irreducible and unitary modules for the • involution.   This work is joint with Dan Barbasch.
 

Tue, 05 Jun 2018

15:45 - 16:45
L4

Ordinary K3 surfaces over finite fields

Lenny Taelman
(University of Amsterdam)
Abstract

We give a description of the category of ordinary K3 surfaces over a finite field in terms of linear algebra data over Z. This gives an analogue for K3 surfaces of Deligne's description of the category of ordinary abelian varieties over a finite field, and refines earlier work by N.O. Nygaard and J.-D. Yu. Two important ingredients in the proof are integral p-adic Hodge theory, and a description of CM points on Shimura stacks in terms of associated Galois representations. References: arXiv:1711.09225, arXiv:1707.01236.

Wed, 07 Mar 2018

14:00 - 15:00
L4

Uniform energy distribution for a non-local isoperimetric problem

Katarína Bellová
(Universität Leipzig)
Abstract

For energy functionals composed of competing short- and long-range interactions, minimizers are often conjectured to form essentially periodic patterns on some intermediate lengthscale. However,  not many detailed structural results or proofs of periodicity are known in dimensions larger than 1. We study a functional composed of  the attractive, local interfacial energy of charges concentrated on a hyperplane and the energy of the electric field generated by these charges in the full space, which can be interpreted as a repulsive, non-local functional of the charges. We follow the approach of Alberti-Choksi-Otto and prove that the energy of minimizers of this functional is uniformly distributed  on cubes intersecting the hyperplane, which are sufficiently large with respect to the intrinsic lengthscale.

This is a joint work with A. Julia and F. Otto.

Tue, 01 May 2018

15:45 - 16:45
L4

Canonical reduction of stabilizers for stacks with good moduli spaces

David Rydh
(Stockholm)
Abstract

Some natural moduli problems give rise to stacks with infinite stabilizers. I will report on recent work with Dan Edidin where we give a canonical sequence of saturated blow-ups that makes the stabilizers finite. This generalizes earlier work in GIT by Kirwan and Reichstein, and on toric stacks by Edidin-More. Time permitting, I will also mention a recent application to generalized Donaldson-Thomas invariants by Kiem-Li-Savvas.

Tue, 24 Apr 2018

14:15 - 15:15
L4

Short Laws for Finite Groups and Residual Finiteness Growth

Henry Bradford
(Goettingen)
Abstract

 A law for a group G is a non-trivial equation satisfied by all tuples of elements in G. We study the length of the shortest law holding in a finite group. We produce new short laws holding (a) in finite simple groups of Lie type and (b) simultaneously in all finite groups of small order. As an application of the latter we obtain a new lower bound on the residual finiteness growth of free groups. This talk is based on joint work with Andreas Thom.

Wed, 30 May 2018
14:00
L4

Falcon: Compact lattice-based signatures based on the hash & sign paradigm

Thomas Prest
(Thales Communications & Security)
Abstract

Post-quantum cryptography has been one of the most active subfields of
cryptography in the last few years. This is especially true today as
standardization efforts are currently underway, with no less than 69
candidate cryptographic schemes proposed.

In this talk, I will present one of these schemes: Falcon, a signature
scheme based on the NTRU class of structured lattices. I will focus on
mathematical aspects of Falcon: for example how we take advantage of the
algebraic structure to speed up some operations, or how relying on the
most adequate probability divergence can go a long way in getting more
efficient parameters "for free". The talk will be concluded with a few
open problems.

Wed, 21 Feb 2018
15:00
L4

Full orbit sequences in affine spaces

Giacomo Micheli
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

Let n be a positive integer. In this talk we provide a recipe to 
construct full orbit sequences in the affine n-dimensional space over a 
finite field. For n=1 our construction covers the case of the well 
studied pseudorandom number generator ICG.

This is a joint work with Federico Amadio Guidi.

Tue, 30 Jan 2018

14:15 - 15:15
L4

2D problems in groups

Nikolay Nikolov
(Oxford University)
Abstract
I will discuss a conjecture about stabilisation of deficiency in finite index subgroups and relate it to the D2 Problem of C.T.C. Wall and the Relation Gap problem for group presentations.
We can prove the pro-$p$ version of the conjecture, as well as its higher dimensional abstract analogues. Key ingredients are, first a classic result of Wall on the existence of CW complexes with prescribed cellular chain complex, and second, a simple criterion for freeness of modules over group rings. This is joint work with Aditi Kar.
Tue, 23 Jan 2018

12:00 - 13:15
L4

T-duality from ambitwistor strings

Eduardo Casali
(Oxford)
Abstract

We study the winding mode sector of recently discovered string theories, which were, until now, believed to describe only conventional field theories in target space. We discover that upon compactification winding modes allows the string to acquire an oscillator spectrum giving rise to an infinite tower of massive higher-spin modes. We study the spectra, S-matrices, T-duality and high-energy behaviour of the bosonic and supersymmetric models. In the tensionless limit, we obtain formulae for amplitudes based on the scattering equations. The windings decouple from the scattering equations but remain in the integrands. The existence of this winding sector shows that these new theories do have stringy aspects and describe non-conventional field theories.  This talk is based on https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.01241.

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