Speaker: Rob Leigh, UIUC Title: Edge Modes and Gravity Abstract:  In this talk I first review some of the many appearances of localized degrees of freedom — edge modes —  in a variety of physical systems. Edge modes are implicated for example in quantum entanglement and in various topological and holographic dualities. I then review recent […]

Speaker: Johannes Kleiner, LMU München Title: What is Mathematical Consciousness Science? Abstract: In the last three decades, the problem of consciousness – how and why physical systems such as the brain have conscious experiences – has received increasing attention among neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. Recently, a decidedly mathematical perspective has emerged as well, which is now […]

Abstract: The standard definition of symmetries of a structure given on a set S (in the sense of Bourbaki) is the group of bijective maps S to S, compatible with this structure. But in fact, symmetries of various structures related to storing and transmitting information (such as information spaces) are naturally embodied in various classes of loops […]

Speaker: Venkatesan Guruswami, UC Berkeley Title: Long common subsequences between bit-strings and the zero-rate threshold of deletion-correcting codes Abstract: Suppose we transmit n bits on a noisy channel that deletes some fraction of the bits arbitrarily. What’s the supremum p* of deletion fractions that can be corrected with a binary code of non-vanishing rate? Evidently p* is at […]