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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210113T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210113T103000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T114651Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250305T210038Z
UID:10000903-1610528400-1610533800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Quantum topology and new types of modularity
DESCRIPTION:Don Zagier (Max Planck Institute for Mathematics and International Centre for Theoretical Physics) \nTitle: Quantum topology and new types of modularity \nAbstract: The talk concerns two fundamental themes of modern 3-dimensional topology and their unexpected connection with a theme coming from number theory. A deep insight of William Thurston in the mid-1970s is that the vast majority of complements of knots in the 3-sphere\, or more generally of 3-manifolds\, have a unique metric structure as hyperbolic manifolds of constant curvature -1\, so that 3-dimensional topology is in some sense not really a branch of topology at all\, but of differential geometry. In a different direction\, the work of Vaughan Jones and Ed Witten in the late 1980s gave rise to the field of Quantum Topology\, in which new types of invariants of knot complements and 3-manifolds are introduced that have their origins in ideas coming from quantum field theory. These two themes then became linked by Kashaev’s famous Volume Conjecture\, now some 25 years old\, which says that the Kashaev invariant _N of a hyperbolic knot K (this is a quantum invariant defined for each positive integer N and whose values are algebraic numbers) grows exponentially as N tends to infinity with an exponent proportional to the hyperbolic volume of the knot complement. About 10 years ago\, I was led by numerical experiments to the discovery that Kashaev’s invariant could be upgraded to an invariant having rational numbers as its argument (with the original invariant being the value at 1/N) and that the Volume Conjecture then became part of a bigger story saying that the new invariant has some sort of strange transformation property under the action x -> (ax+b)/(cx+d) of the modular group SL(2\,Z) on the argument. This turned out to be only the beginning of a fascinating and multi-faceted story relating quantum invariants\, q-series\, modularity\, and many other topics. In the talk\, which is intended for a general mathematical audience\, I would like to recount some parts of this story\, which is joint work with Stavros Garoufalidis (and of course involving contributions from many other authors). The “new types of modularity” in the title refer to a specific byproduct of these investigations\, namely that there is a generalization of the classical notion of holomorphic modular form – which plays an absolutely central role in modern number theory – to a new class of holomorphic functions in the upper half-plane that no longer satisfy a transformation law under the action of the modular group\, but a weaker extendability property instead. This new class\, called “holomorphic quantum modular forms”\, turns out to contain many other functions of a more number-theoretical nature as well as the original examples coming from quantum invariants. \nTalk chair: Mark Kisin \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_zagier/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_-Zagier.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201204T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201204T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T114517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240216T211848Z
UID:10000902-1607068800-1607074200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Michael Atiyah: Geometry and Physics
DESCRIPTION:Nigel Hitchin (University of Oxford) \nTitle: Michael Atiyah: Geometry and Physics \nAbstract: In mid-career\, as an internationally renowned mathematician\, Michael Atiyah discovered that some problems in physics responded to current work in algebraic geometry and this set him on a path to develop an active interface between mathematics and physics which was formative in the links which are so active today. The talk will focus\, in a fairly basic fashion\, on some examples of this interaction\, which involved both applying physical ideas to solve mathematical problems and introducing mathematical ideas to physicists. \nTalk chair: Peter Kronheimer \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_hitchin/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Hitchin-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201202T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201202T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T114306Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250409T192441Z
UID:10000901-1606896000-1606901400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Is relativity compatible with quantum theory?
DESCRIPTION:Arthur Jaffe (Harvard University) \nTitle: Is relativity compatible with quantum theory? \nAbstract: We review the background\, mathematical progress\, and open questions in the effort to determine whether one can combine quantum mechanics\, special relativity\, and interaction together into one mathematical theory. This field of mathematics is known as “constructive quantum field theory.”  Physicists believe that such a theory describes experimental measurements made over a 70 year period and now refined to 13-decimal-point precision—the most accurate experiments ever performed. \nTalk chair: Zhengwei Liu \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_jaffe/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Jaffe-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201125T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201125T103000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T114042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200913Z
UID:10000900-1606294800-1606300200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Theorems of Torelli type
DESCRIPTION:Eduard Jacob Neven Looijenga (Tsinghua University & Utrecht University) \nTitle: Theorems of Torelli type \nAbstract: Given a closed manifold of even dimension 2n\, then Hodge showed around 1950 that a  kählerian complex structure on that manifold determines a decomposition of its complex cohomology. This decomposition\, which can potentially vary continuously with the complex structure\, extracts from a non-linear given\,  linear data. It can contain a lot of information. When there is essentially no loss of data in this process\, we say that the Torelli theorem holds.  We review the underlying theory and then survey some cases where this is the case. This will include the classical case n=1\, but the emphasis will be on K3 manifolds (n=2) and more generally\, on hyperkählerian manifolds. These cases stand out\, since one can then also tell which decompositions occur. \nTalk chair: Gerard van der Geer \nVideo 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_looijenga/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Looijenga-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201123T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201123T113000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T113517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200851Z
UID:10000898-1606125600-1606131000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Subfactors–in Memory of Vaughan Jones
DESCRIPTION:Zhengwei Liu (Tsinghua University) \nTitle: Subfactors–in Memory of Vaughan Jones \nAbstract: Jones initiated modern subfactor theory in the early 1980s and investigated this area for his whole academic life. Subfactor theory has both deep and broad connections with various areas in mathematics and physics. One well-known peak in the development of subfactor theory is the discovery of the Jones polynomial\, for which Jones won the Fields Medal in 1990. Let us travel back to the dark room at the beginning of the story\, to appreciate how radically our viewpoint has changed. \nTalk chair: Arthur Jaffe \nSlides | Video 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_liu/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Liu-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201123T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201123T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T113744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200904Z
UID:10000899-1606118400-1606123800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Noncommutative Geometry\, the Spectral Aspect
DESCRIPTION:Alain Connes (Collège de France) \nTitle: Noncommutative Geometry\, the Spectral Aspect \nAbstract: This talk will be a survey of the spectral side of noncommutative geometry\, presenting the new paradigm of spectral triples and showing its relevance for the fine structure of space-time\, its large scale structure and also in number theory in connection with the zeros of the Riemann zeta function. \nTalk chair: Peter Kronheimer \nVideo 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_connes/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Connes-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201120T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201120T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T113302Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200635Z
UID:10000897-1605859200-1605864600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Homotopy spectra and Diophantine equations
DESCRIPTION:Yuri Manin (Max Planck Institute for Mathematics) \nTitle: Homotopy spectra and Diophantine equations \nAbstract: For a long stretch of time in the history of mathematics\, Number Theory and Topology formed vast\, but disjoint domains of mathematical knowledge. Origins of number theory can be traced back to the Babylonian clay tablet Plimpton 322 (about 1800 BC)  that contained a list of integer solutions of the “Diophantine” equation $a^2+b^2=c^2$: archetypal theme of number theory\, named after Diophantus of Alexandria (about 250 BC). Topology was born much later\, but arguably\, its cousin — modern measure theory\, — goes back to Archimedes\, author of Psammites (“Sand Reckoner”)\, who was approximately a contemporary of Diophantus. In modern language\, Archimedes measures the volume of observable universe by counting the number of small grains of sand necessary to fill this volume. Of course\, many qualitative geometric models and quantitative estimates of the relevant distances precede his calculations. Moreover\, since the estimated numbers of grains of sand are quite large (about $10^{64}$)\, Archimedes had to invent and describe a system of notation for large numbers going far outside the possibilities of any of the standard ancient systems. The construction of the first bridge between number theory and topology was accomplished only about fifty years ago: it is the theory of spectra in stable homotopy theory. In particular\, it connects $Z$\, the initial object in the theory of commutative rings\, with the sphere spectrum $S$. This connection poses the challenge: discover a new information in number theory using the developed independently machinery of homotopy theory. In this talk based upon the authors’ (Yu. Manin and M. Marcolli) joint research project\, I suggest to apply homotopy spectra to the problem of distribution of rational points upon algebraic manifolds. \nTalk chair: Michael Hopkins \nSlides | Video
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_manin/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Manin-2-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201118T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201118T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T113020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T201157Z
UID:10000896-1605686400-1605691800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Log Calabi-Yau fibrations
DESCRIPTION:Caucher Birkar (University of Cambridge) \nTitle: Log Calabi-Yau fibrations \nAbstract: Fano and Calabi-Yau varieties play a fundamental role in algebraic geometry\, differential geometry\, arithmetic geometry\, mathematical physics\, etc. The notion of log Calabi-Yau fibration unifies Fano and Calabi-Yau varieties\, their fibrations\, as well as their local birational counterparts such as flips and singularities. Such fibrations can be examined from many different perspectives. The purpose of this talk is to introduce the theory of log Calabi-Yau fibrations\, to remind some known results\, and to state some open problems. \nVideo \n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_birkar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Birkar-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201116T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201116T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T112758Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200750Z
UID:10000895-1605513600-1605519000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Classical and quantum integrable systems in enumerative geometry
DESCRIPTION:Andrei Okounkov (Columbia University) \nTitle: Classical and quantum integrable systems in enumerative geometry \nAbstract: For more than a quarter of a century\, thanks to the ideas and questions originating in modern high-energy physics\, there has been a very fruitful interplay between enumerative geometry and integrable system\, both classical and quantum. While it is impossible to summarize even the most important aspects of this interplay in one talk\, I will try to highlight a few logical points with the goal to explain the place and the role of certain more recent developments. \nTalk chair: Cumrun Vafa \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_okounkov/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Okounkov-1-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201113T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201113T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T112548Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T201252Z
UID:10000145-1605254400-1605259800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Knot Invariants From Gauge Theory in Three\, Four\, and Five Dimensions
DESCRIPTION:Edward Witten (IAS) \nTitle: Knot Invariants From Gauge Theory in Three\, Four\, and Five Dimensions \nAbstract: I will explain connections between a sequence of theories in two\, three\, four\, and five dimensions and describe how these theories are related to the Jones polynomial of a knot and its categorification. \nTalk chair: Cliff Taubes \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_witten/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Witten-pdf.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201005T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201005T093000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T112316Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200738Z
UID:10000144-1601884800-1601890200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Kunihiko Kodaira and complex manifolds
DESCRIPTION:Yujiro Kawamata (University of Tokyo) \nTitle: Kunihiko Kodaira and complex manifolds \nAbstract: Kodaira’s motivation was to generalize the theory of Riemann surfaces in Weyl’s book to higher dimensions.  After quickly recalling the chronology of Kodaira\, I will review some of Kodaira’s works in three sections on topics of harmonic analysis\, deformation theory and compact complex surfaces.  Each topic corresponds to a volume of Kodaira’s collected works in three volumes\, of which I will cover only tiny parts. \nTalk chair: Baohua Fu \nVideo 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_kawamata/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Kawamata-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201002T104500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201002T121500
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T112042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200723Z
UID:10000143-1601635500-1601640900@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Birational geometry
DESCRIPTION:Vyacheslav V. Shokurov (Johns Hopkins University) \nTitle: Birational geometry \nAbstract: About main achievements in birational geometry during the last fifty years. \nTalk chair: Caucher Birkar \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_shokurov/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Shokurov-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200930T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200930T133000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T111821Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200713Z
UID:10000142-1601467200-1601472600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Immersions of manifolds and homotopy theory
DESCRIPTION:Ralph Cohen (Stanford University) \nTitle: Immersions of manifolds and homotopy theory \nAbstract: The interface between the study of the topology of differentiable manifolds and algebraic topology has been one of the richest areas of work in topology since the 1950’s. In this talk I will focus on one aspect of that interface: the problem of studying embeddings and immersions of manifolds using homotopy theoretic techniques. I will discuss the history of this problem\, going back to the pioneering work of Whitney\, Thom\, Pontrjagin\, Wu\, Smale\, Hirsch\, and others. I will discuss the historical applications of this homotopy theoretic perspective\, going back to Smale’s eversion of the 2-sphere in 3-space. I will then focus on the problems of finding the smallest dimension Euclidean space into which every n-manifold embeds or immerses. The embedding question is still very much unsolved\, and the immersion question was solved in the 1980’s. I will discuss the homotopy theoretic techniques involved in the solution of this problem\, and contributions in the 60’s\, 70’s and 80’s of Massey\, Brown\, Peterson\, and myself. I will also discuss questions regarding the best embedding and immersion dimensions of specific manifolds\, such has projective spaces. Finally\, I will end by discussing more modern approaches to studying spaces of embeddings due to Goodwillie\, Weiss\, and others. This talk will be geared toward a general mathematical audience. \nTalk chair: Michael Hopkins \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_cohen/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Cohen-pdf.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200928T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200928T140000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T111141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T201235Z
UID:10000141-1601296200-1601301600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: A personal story of the 4D Poincare conjecture
DESCRIPTION:Michael Freedman (Microsoft – Station Q) \nTitle: A personal story of the 4D Poincare conjecture \nAbstract:  The proof of PC4 involved the convergence of several historical streams.  To get started: high dimensional manifold topology (Smale)\, a new idea on how to study 4-manifolds (Casson)\, wild “Texas” topology (Bing). Once inside the proof: there are three submodules: Casson towers come to life (in the sense of reproduction)\, a very intricate explicit shrinking argument (provided by Edwards)\, and the “blind fold” shrinking argument (which in retrospect is in the linage of Brown’s proof of the Schoenflies theorem). Beyond those mentioned: Kirby\, Cannon\, Ancel\, Quinn\, and Starbird helped me understand my proof. I will discuss the main points and how they fit together. \nTalk Chair: Peter Kronheimer \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_freedman/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Freedman-1-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200928T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200928T121300
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T111622Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250409T192348Z
UID:10001223-1601283600-1601295180@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: From Deep Learning to Deep Understanding
DESCRIPTION:Harry Shum (Tsinghua University) \nTitle: From Deep Learning to Deep Understanding \nAbstract: In this talk I will discuss a couple of research directions for robust AI beyond deep neural networks. The first is the need to understand what we are learning\, by shifting the focus from targeting effects to understanding causes. The second is the need for a hybrid neural/symbolic approach that leverages both commonsense knowledge and massive amount of data. Specifically\, as an example\, I will present some latest work at Microsoft Research on building a pre-trained grounded text generator for task-oriented dialog. It is a hybrid architecture that employs a large-scale Transformer-based deep learning model\,  and symbol manipulation modules such as business databases\, knowledge graphs and commonsense rules. Unlike GPT or similar language models learnt from data\, it is a multi-turn decision making system which takes user input\, updates the belief state\, retrieved from the database via symbolic reasoning\, and decides how to complete the task with grounded response. \nTalk chair: Shing-Tung Yau \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_shum/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Shum-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200925T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200925T103000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230707T110951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T201132Z
UID:10000140-1601024400-1601029800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Area-minimizing integral currents and their regularity
DESCRIPTION:Camillo De Lellis (IAS) \nTitle: Area-minimizing integral currents and their regularity \nAbstract: Caccioppoli sets and integral currents (their generalization in higher codimension) were introduced in the late fifties and early sixties to give a general geometric approach to the existence of area-minimizing oriented surfaces spanning a given contour. These concepts started a whole new subject which has had tremendous impacts in several areas of mathematics: superficially through direct applications of the main theorems\, but more deeply because of the techniques which have been invented to deal with related analytical and geometrical challenges. In this lecture I will review the basic concepts\, the related existence theory of solutions of the Plateau problem\, and what is known about their regularity. I will also touch upon several fundamental open problems which still defy our understanding.  \nTalk Chair: William Minicozzi \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_delellis/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_DeLellis-pdf.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200923T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200930T090600
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230908T084412Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250305T173846Z
UID:10000139-1600851600-1601456760@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Hodge structures and the topology of algebraic varieties
DESCRIPTION:Claire Voisin (Collège de France) \nTitle: Hodge structures and the topology of algebraic varieties \nAbstract: We review the major progress made since the 50’s in our understanding of the topology of complex algebraic varieties. Most of the results  we will discuss  rely on Hodge theory\, which  has some analytic aspects giving the Hodge and Lefschetz decompositions\, and the Hodge-Riemann relations. We will see that a crucial ingredient\, the existence of a polarization\,  is missing in the general Kaehler context. We will also discuss some results and problems related to algebraic cycles and motives. \nTalk chair: Joe Harris \nVideo | Slides | Article
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_voisin93020/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Voisin-pdf.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200522T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200522T133000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T083128Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240209T054130Z
UID:10000136-1590150600-1590154200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Four-dimensional topology
DESCRIPTION:Ciprian Manolescu (Stanford) \nTitle: Four-dimensional topology \nAbstract: I will outline the history of four-dimensional topology. Some major events were the work of Donaldson and Freedman from 1982\, and the introduction of the Seiberg-Witten equations in 1994. I will discuss these\, and then move on to what has been done in the last 20 years\, when the focus shifted to four-manifolds with boundary and cobordisms. Floer homology has led to numerous applications\, and recently there have also been a few novel results (and proofs of old results) using Khovanov homology. The talk will be accessible to a general mathematical audience. \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_manolescu/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Manolescu-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200522T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200522T133000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T082921Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240227T091238Z
UID:10000135-1590150600-1590154200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: From string theory and Moonshine to vertex algebras
DESCRIPTION:Bong Lian (Brandeis) \nTitle: From string theory and Moonshine to vertex algebras \nAbstract: This is a brief survey of the early historical development of vertex algebras\, beginning in the seventies from Physics and Representation Theory. We shall also discuss some of the ideas that led to various early formulations of the theory’s foundation\, and their relationships\, as well as some of the subsequent and recent developments. The lecture is aimed at a general audience. \nSlides | Video
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_lian/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Lian-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200506T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200506T140000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T082607Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T201043Z
UID:10000134-1588770000-1588773600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: My life and times with the sporadic simple groups
DESCRIPTION:Robert Griess (University of Michigan) \nTitle: My life and times with the sporadic simple groups \nAbstract: Five sporadic simple groups were proposed in 19th century and 21 additional ones arose during the period 1965-1975. There were many discussions about the nature of finite simple groups and how sporadic groups are placed in mathematics. While in mathematics grad school at University of Chicago\,  I became fascinated with the unfolding story of sporadic simple groups. It involved theory\, detective work and experiments. During this lecture\, I will describe some of the people\, important ideas and evolution of thinking about sporadic simple groups. Most should be accessible to a general mathematical audience. \nVideo | Slides
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_griess/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Griess-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200505T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200505T120000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T082325Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240227T093025Z
UID:10000132-1588676400-1588680000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Black Hole Formation
DESCRIPTION:Lydia Bieri (University of Michigan) \nTitle: Black Hole Formation \nAbstract: Can black holes form through the focusing of gravitational waves? This was an outstanding question since the early days of general relativity. In his breakthrough result of 2008\, Demetrios Chrstodoulou answered this question with “Yes!” In order to investigate this result\, we will delve deeper into the dynamical mathematical structures of the Einstein equations. Black holes are related to the presence of trapped surfaces in the spacetime manifold. Christodoulou proved that in the regime of pure general relativity and for arbitrarily dispersed initial data\, trapped surfaces form through the focusing of gravitational waves provided the incoming energy is large enough in a precisely defined way. The proof combines new ideas from geometric analysis and nonlinear partial differential equations as well as it introduces new methods to solve large data problems. These methods have many applications beyond general relativity. D. Christodoulou’s result was generalized in various directions by many authors. It launched mathematical activities going into multiple fields in mathematics and physics. In this talk\, we will discuss the mathematical framework of the above question. Then we will outline the main ideas of Christodoulou’s result and its generalizations\, show relations to other questions and give an overview of implications in other fields. \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_bieri/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Bieri-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200504T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200504T160000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T081344Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240227T092426Z
UID:10000133-1588604400-1588608000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Quantum Groups
DESCRIPTION:Pavel Etingof (MIT) \nTitle: Quantum Groups \nAbstract: The theory of quantum groups developed in mid 1980s from attempts to construct and understand solutions of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation\, an important equation arising in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics. Since then\, it has grown into a vast subject with profound connections to many areas of mathematics\, such as representation theory\, the Langlands program\, low-dimensional topology\, category theory\, enumerative geometry\, quantum computation\, algebraic combinatorics\, conformal field theory\, integrable systems\, integrable probability\, and others. I will review some of the main ideas and examples of quantum groups and try to briefly describe some of the applications. \nVideo | Slides
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_etingof/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Etingof-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200504T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200504T140000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T081933Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250409T192434Z
UID:10000131-1588597200-1588600800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture:  Rationality questions in algebraic geometry
DESCRIPTION:Joe Harris (Harvard) \nTitle: Rationality questions in algebraic geometry \nAbstract: Over the course of the history of algebraic geometry\, rationality questions — motivated by both geometric and arithmetic problems — have often driven the subject forward. The rationality or irrationality of cubic hypersurfaces in particular have led to the development of abelian integrals (dimension one)\, birational geometry (dimension two) and Hodge theory (dimension 3). But there remained much we didn’t understand about the condition of rationality\, such as how it behaves in families. However\, there has been recent progress: work of Hassett\, Tschinkel\, Pirutka and others\, working with examples in dimension 4\, showed that it is in general neither an open condition nor a closed one\, but does behave well with respect to specialization. In this talk I’ll try to give an overview of the history of rationality and the current state of our knowledge. \nVideo
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_harris/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Harris_updated-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200415T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200415T090000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T081655Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231229T055314Z
UID:10000130-1586937600-1586941200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Why do some universities have separate departments of statistics?
DESCRIPTION:Donald Rubin (Harvard) \nTitle: Why do some universities have separate departments of statistics? And are they all anachronisms\, destined to follow the path of other dinosaurs? \nVideo | Slides
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_rubin/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture-Series-Don-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200404T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200404T160000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T081154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231229T054939Z
UID:10000129-1586012400-1586016000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: The ADHM construction of Yang-Mills instantons
DESCRIPTION:Simon Donaldson (Stony Brook) \nTitle: The ADHM construction of Yang-Mills instantons \nAbstract: In 1978 (Physics Letters 65A) Atiyah\, Hitchin\, Drinfeld and Manin (ADHM) described a construction of the general solution of the Yang-Mills instanton equations over the 4-sphere using linear algebra. This was a major landmark in the modern interaction between geometry and physics\,  and the construction has been the scene for much research activity up to the present day. In this lecture we will review the background and the original ADHM proof\,  using Penrose’s twistor theory and results on algebraic vector bundles over projective 3-space. As time permits\, we will also discuss some further developments\, for example\, the work of Nahm on monopoles and connections to Mukai duality for bundles over complex tori. \nVideo | Slides
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_donaldson/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Donaldson-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200313T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200313T150000
DTSTAMP:20260516T161438
CREATED:20230715T074115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240227T094116Z
UID:10000127-1584108000-1584111600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Shiing-Shen Chern as a Great Geometer of 20th Century
DESCRIPTION:Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard) \nTitle: Shiing-Shen Chern as a Great Geometer of 20th Century \nVideo | Slides | Article
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-math-science-literature-lecture_yau/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Yaulecture_Poster-pdf.jpeg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR