• Recent Advances in Probabilistically Checkable Proofs

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Colloquium Speaker: Dor Minzer (MIT) Title: Recent Advances in Probabilistically Checkable Proofs Abstract: The PCP Theorem is a cornerstone of computer science, with applications to hardness of approximation, verification, interactive protocols and more. It asserts a witness for the satisfiability of a given 3CNF formula can be encoded in a robust way that allows local checking.In this […]

  • Covers of curves, Ceresa cycles, and unlikely intersections

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Algebra Seminar Speaker: Padamavathi Srinivasan, Boston University Title: Covers of curves, Ceresa cycles, and unlikely intersections Abstract: The Ceresa cycle is a canonical homologically trivial algebraic cycle associated to a curve in its Jacobian. In his 1983 thesis, Ceresa showed that this cycle is algebraically nontrivial for a very general complex curve of genus at least […]

  • The active Young-Dupré Equation

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Colloquium Speaker: Julien Tailleur, MIT Title: The active Young-Dupré Equation Abstract: The Young-Dupré equation is a cornerstone of the equilibrium theory of capillary and wetting phenomena. In the biological world, interfacial phenomena are ubiquitous, from the spreading of bacterial colonies to tissue growth and flocking of birds, but the description of such active systems escapes […]