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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260427T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260427T173000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260324T172426Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T154505Z
UID:10003924-1777307400-1777311000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Enacted collective cognition: Brainless problem-solving in weaver ants
DESCRIPTION:Colloquium \nSpeaker: Ofer Feinerman\, Weizmann Institute of Science \nTitle: Enacted collective cognition: Brainless problem-solving in weaver ants \nAbstract: Unlike most ants\, weaver ants construct their nests by pulling together leaves. Because individual ants are small relative to the leaves\, they assemble their bodies into temporary tools that bend the leaves into a hollow structure\, later stabilized with larval silk. Remarkably\, they achieve functional nests across a wide range of leaf shapes and configurations\, suggesting that this distributed system is capable of solving complex\, open-ended problems.\nTo understand how this is possible\, we performed laboratory experiments using controlled leaf configurations. In simple cases\, we show that ants can rely on a zipping heuristic that produces closed nests\, and we use differential geometry to demonstrate how flexible leaves are transformed into rigid structures. Crucially\, this zipping behavior forms a feedback loop in which ants continuously read and modify the evolving structure. In this sense\, the nest itself functions as a shared physical information system.\nThis suggests that cognition in this system is not located within individual ants\, but is enacted through the co-dynamics of the colony and the structure it builds. We present preliminary experiments with more complex leaf configurations\, showing that this process can solve increasingly challenging construction problems. Together\, these results point to a distributed\, brainless\, and enactive form of cognition. \n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/colloquium-42726/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-4.27.2026-scaled.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260428T161500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260428T180000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260410T145217Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260427T173936Z
UID:10003932-1777392900-1777399200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The classifying space of a Morse flow category
DESCRIPTION:Joint Math/CMSA Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar \nSpeaker: Lorenzo Riva\, Harvard CMSA \nTitle: The classifying space of a Morse flow category\n\nAbstract: Following a paper of Calle and Liu we show that\, under suitable tameness assumptions\, the classifying space of the Morse category associated to a manifold M with a Morse function recovers the homotopy type of M\, thereby addressing a gap in a preprint of Cohen-Jones-Segal. We also give a counterexample when those assumptions are not satisfied.\n\n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/quantumgeo_42826/
LOCATION:Science Center 507\, 1 Oxford Street\, Cambridge\, 02138
CATEGORIES:Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Geometry-and-Quantum-Theory-Seminar-04.28.26.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260430T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260430T170000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260302T145226Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T151731Z
UID:10003913-1777564800-1777568400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Transcendental Epsilon Multiplicity via Divisor Volumes
DESCRIPTION:Algebra Seminar \nSpeaker: Sudipta Das\, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research \nTitle: Transcendental Epsilon Multiplicity via Divisor Volumes \nAbstract:  In this talk\, our goal is to establish a structural bridge between asymptotic commutative algebra and transcendence theory to show that there exists an ideal in a Noetherian local ring whose epsilon multiplicity is transcendental. By equating the local-cohomological definition of epsilon multiplicity to a global divisorial volume integral on a projective bundle\, we apply Baker’s theorem on linear forms in logarithms to prove that the resulting arithmetic invariant falls strictly outside the field of algebraic numbers. This talk is based on collaborative work with Vinh Pham and Stephen Landsittel. \n\nnote room change to G02\n\n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/algebra-seminar_43026/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G02\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138
CATEGORIES:Algebra Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Algebra-Seminar-4.30.26.G02.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260501T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260501T130000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260212T190507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T140830Z
UID:10003908-1777636800-1777640400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Lifting F-split surfaces to the Witt vectors
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Iacopo Brivio\, CMSA \nTitle: Lifting F-split surfaces to the Witt vectors\n\nAbstract: Algebraic varieties in positive characteristic are ill behaved compared to characteristic zero ones. Several important tools available over the complex numbers\, such as the Hodge decomposition theorem\, are either not available or straight-away false. There are two important classes of positive characteristic varieties which have better behavior: Witt liftable varieties and Frobenius split varieties. A folklore conjecture predicts that the latter class is contained in the former. In a joint work with Bernasconi\, Kawakami and Witaszek we proved that this is the case for surfaces. I will give an overview of this result as well as some applications thereof.\n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/member-seminar-5126/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Member-Seminar-5.1.26.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260504T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260504T160000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260126T190454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T170629Z
UID:10003880-1777906800-1777910400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Twisted D-branes and TQFTs valued in Calabi-Yau categories
DESCRIPTION:Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar \nSpeaker: Surya Raghavendran\, Yale University \nTitle: Twisted D-branes and TQFTs valued in Calabi-Yau categories \nAbstract: Recently\, Bozec–Calaque–Scherotzke have articulated a noncommutative version of the AKSZ construction\, which associates to a smooth Calabi–Yau category a fully extended TQFT valued in a category of iterated Calabi–Yau cospans. In this talk\, I will study a class of examples of such theories which arise in the context of conjectures of Costello and Li\, which describe Type II strings in certain Ramond–Ramond backgrounds as topological strings. These TQFTs capture structural features of the BPS physics of D-branes that are universal in Chan–Paton factors. Conjecturally commutative limits of the values of such theories on closed manifolds can sometimes be geometrically quantized to yield algebraic structures with Hall-type products. Examples of this paradigm include CoHAs associated to complex 3-folds\, CoHAs attached to local systems on 3-manifolds\, and the categorified Hall algebras of Porta–Sala.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/qft_5426/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QFT-and-Physical-Mathematics-5.4.26.docx.edit_-scaled.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260504T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260504T173000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260323T160718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260421T135719Z
UID:10003923-1777912200-1777915800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Dynamics as intersection problem
DESCRIPTION:Colloquium \nSpeaker: Nikita Nekrasov\, Simons Center \nTitle: Dynamics as intersection problem \nAbstract: Most classical and quantum field theories are based on an action principle. However\, there are important exceptions to this — hydrodynamics and the theory of self-dual fields. In this talk we formulate the covariant relativistic fluid dynamics\, with or without magnetic fields\, as well as the theory of chiral boson in 1+1 dimensions\, self-dual tensor in 1+5 dimensions\, and self-dual four-form of IIB supergravity\, in terms of intersection theory of an auxiliary phase space. This provides a common covariant geometric framework for systems without a conventional action\, while at the same time laying the groundwork for quantization via the Kontsevich approach. Joint work with Paul Wiegmann. \n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/colloquium-5426/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-5.4.2026.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T150000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260421T144955Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260421T150144Z
UID:10003935-1778076000-1778079600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:New directions in synthetic data
DESCRIPTION:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar \nSpeaker: Tatsunori Hashimoto\, Stanford \nTitle: New directions in synthetic data \nAbstract: Synthetic data has been an effective\, if boring set of techniques: prompt some language model to restructure your corpus to match some downstream task\, with occasionally some distillation. In this talk\, we will take a more expansive view of synthetic data as a general algorithmic tool for generative modeling\, arguing that the design space and possibilities of synthetic data are much bigger than it might seem. Through a few recent works\, we will show that synthetic data has major benefits beyond transforming the data – improving in-domain perplexities\, and enabling unique algorithmic primitives\, such as neighborhood smoothing and concatenated ‘mega’ documents. With this broader view\, we will point towards a nascent but interesting possibility of treating data itself as an algorithmic object to be engineered and optimized end-to-end. \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/newtech_5626/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-NTM-Seminar-5.6.2026.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T130000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260506T194023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T203007Z
UID:10003943-1778241600-1778245200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:From Poincaré/Koszul duality to (twisted) AdS/CFT correspondence
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Keyou Zeng \nTitle: From Poincaré/Koszul duality to (twisted) AdS/CFT correspondence \nAbstract: Poincaré duality is a fundamental result in the (co)homology theory of manifolds. It has many applications in topology and vast generalizations to other types of “spaces\,” such as singular/stratified spaces and schemes. In this talk\, I will discuss a variant of Poincaré duality for factorization algebras\, also known as Koszul duality. At the end of the talk\, I will relate this notion to a mathematical formulation of what physicists call the AdS/CFT correspondence\, as proposed by Costello and Li. \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/member-seminar-5826/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Member-Seminar-5.8.26.1.docx-scaled.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260511T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260511T160000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260409T140454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T201809Z
UID:10003931-1778511600-1778515200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:When do anomalous finite symmetries in (3+1)d enforce gaplessness?
DESCRIPTION:Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar \nSpeaker: Matthew Yu (University of Oxford) \nTitle: When do anomalous finite symmetries in (3+1)d enforce gaplessness? \nAbstract: I will explain a comprehensive framework for characterizing the infrared (IR) phases of a fermionic QFTs in (3+1)d\, based on their quantum anomalies associated with a finite symmetry. We uncover a fundamental dichotomy among these anomalies: the first class of anomalies can always be realized by symmetric gapped states\, while the second class can never be realized by gapped states without breaking the given symmetry\, establishing the phenomenon of symmetry-enforced gaplessness in these settings. Using the construction of symmetry extension afforded to us by new developments in fusion 2-categories\, we construct the candidate gapped states that theories with the first class of anomalies can flow to in the IR. As an application\, I will provide examples of concrete predictions for the candidate IR phases of (3+1)d gauge theories based on our results. \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/qft_51126/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QFT-and-Physical-Mathematics-5.11.26.docx-1-scaled.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260511T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260511T173000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20251223T190403Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T200727Z
UID:10003848-1778517000-1778520600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Statistical Shape Analysis of Complex Natural Structures
DESCRIPTION:Colloquium \nSpeaker: Anuj Srivastava\, Johns Hopkins University \nTitle: Statistical Shape Analysis of Complex Natural Structures \nAbstract: Statistical modeling and analysis of structured data is a fast-growing field in Statistics and Data Science. Rapid advances in imaging techniques have led to tremendous amounts of data for analyzing imaged objects across several scientific disciplines. Examples include shapes of cancer cells\, botanical trees\, human biometrics\, 3D genome\, brain anatomical structures\, crowd videos\, nano-manufacturing\, and so on. Shapes are relevant even in non-imaging data contexts\, e.g.\, the shapes of COVID rate curves or the shapes of activity cycles in lifestyle data. Imposing statistical models and inferences on shapes seems daunting because the shape is an abstract notion and one requires precise mathematical representations to quantify shapes. This talk has two parts. In the first part\, I will present some recent developments in “elastic representations” of structures such as functions\, curves\, surfaces\, and graphs. In the second part\, I will focus on statistical analyses: computing shape summaries\, estimation under shape constraints\, hypothesis testing\, time-series models\, and regression models involving shapes. \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/colloquium-51126/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-5.11.2026.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T170000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260330T154547Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260502T220412Z
UID:10003926-1778774400-1778778000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Polynomial invariants of conjugation over finite fields
DESCRIPTION:Algebra Seminar \nSpeaker: Aryaman Maithani\, University of Utah \nTitle: Polynomial invariants of conjugation over finite fields\n\nAbstract: Consider the conjugation action of GL₂(K) on the polynomial ring K[X₂ₓ₂].\nWhen K is an infinite field\, the ring of invariants is a polynomial ring generated by the trace and the determinant.\nWe describe the ring of invariants when K is a finite field\, and show that it is a hypersurface.\n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/algebra-seminar_51426/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Algebra Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Algebra-Seminar-5.14.26.2.docx-scaled.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T160000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260413T151244Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260514T185707Z
UID:10003933-1779116400-1779120000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Abelian duality via derived geometry
DESCRIPTION:Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar \nSpeaker: Owen Gwilliam\, UMass Amherst \nTitle: Abelian duality via derived geometry \nAbstract: We discuss how to synthesize differential cohomology and the BV formalism to describe generalized Maxwell theories (or abelian p-form gauge theories)\, and how this framework allows a succinct formulation of abelian duality. Given time\, we will discuss how these methods apply to the 6d self-dual 2-form gauge theory that appears as part of the 6d N=(1\,0) and (2\,0) superconformal theories known as abelian tensor multiplets. This is joint work in progress with Chris Elliott\, Ingmar Saberi\, and Brian Williams. \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/qft_51826/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G02\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138
CATEGORIES:Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QFT-and-Physical-Mathematics-5.18.26.docx-scaled.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260519T161500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260519T180000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260511T180006Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260511T180006Z
UID:10003944-1779207300-1779213600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Joint Math/CMSA Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar \nSpeaker: Vasily Krylov\, Harvard
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/quantumgeo_51926/
LOCATION:Science Center 507\, 1 Oxford Street\, Cambridge\, 02138
CATEGORIES:Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260520T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260520T150000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260429T133019Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260429T143145Z
UID:10003942-1779285600-1779289200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Separation of timescales controls feature learning and overfitting in large neural networks
DESCRIPTION:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar \nSpeaker: Pierfrancesco Urbani\, Universite Paris-Saclay\, CNRS\, CEA\, Institut de physique theorique \nTitle: Separation of timescales controls feature learning and overfitting in large neural networks \nAbstract: To understand the inductive bias and generalization capabilities of large\, overparameterized machine learning models\, it is essential to analyze the dynamics of their training algorithms. Using dynamical mean field theory we investigate the learning dynamics of large two-layer neural networks. Our findings reveal that\, for networks with a large width\, the training process exhibits a separation of timescales phenomenon. This leads to several key observations:\n1. The emergence of a slow timescale linked to the growth in Gaussian/Rademacher complexity of the network;\n2. An inductive bias favoring low complexity when the initial model complexity is sufficiently small;\n3. A dynamical decoupling between feature learning and overfitting phases;\n4. A non-monotonic trend in test error\, characterized by a “feature unlearning” regime at later stages of training.\nJoint work with Andrea Montanari. \n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/newtech_52026/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-NTM-Seminar-5.20.2026.docx.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260923T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260923T130000
DTSTAMP:20260520T031341
CREATED:20260423T161606Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260518T134620Z
UID:10003939-1790164800-1790168400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Q&A Seminar: Hugh Woodin\, Harvard
DESCRIPTION:CMSA Q&A Seminar \nSpeaker: Hugh Woodin\, Harvard \nTitle: Truth\, proof\, and AI \n  \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsaqa_92326/
LOCATION:Common Room\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:CMSA Q&A Seminar
END:VEVENT
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