• Diagonalizing Transition Matrices of Card Shuffles

    Science Center 232 Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA 02138

    Probability Seminar Speaker: Evita Nestoridi (Stonybrook) Title: Diagonalizing Transition Matrices of Card Shuffles Abstract: In their seminal work, Diaconis and Shahshahani used representation theory of the symmetric group to diagonalize the transition matrix of random transpositions. More recently, Dieker and Saliola introduced another technique to diagonalize the random-to-random card shuffle. In this talk we will […]

  • Black hole collider physics

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

    Speaker: Julio Parra Martinez, Caltech Title: Black hole collider physics Abstract: Despite more than a century since the development of Einstein’s theory, the general relativistic two-body problem remains unsolved. A precise description of its solution is now essential, as it is necessary for understanding the strong-gravity dynamics of compact binaries observed at LIGO/VIRGO/KAGRA and in […]

  • A model of the cuprates: from the pseudogap metal to d-wave superconductivity and charge order

    Hybrid - G10

    Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Prof. Subir Sachdev (Harvard) Title: A model of the cuprates: from the pseudogap metal to d-wave superconductivity and charge order Abstract: Soon after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates, Anderson proposed a connection to quantum spin liquids. But observations since then have shown that the low-temperature phase diagram is […]

  • The Tameness of Quantum Field Theories 

    Jefferson 368

    Swampland Seminar Speaker: Thomas Grimm (Utrecht U.) Title: The Tameness of Quantum Field Theories Abstract: Tameness is a generalized notion of finiteness that is restricting the geometric complexity of sets and functions. The underlying mathematical foundation lies in tame geometry, which is built from o-minimal structures introduced in mathematical logic. In this talk I formalize the connection between quantum field theories and […]

  • Recent advances in scalar curvature and positive mass theorems

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

    https://youtu.be/kGpZ0nRcZRU General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Tin Yau Tsang, University of California Irvine Title: Recent advances in scalar curvature and positive mass theorems Abstract:  First, we have a review of classical tools for studying scalar curvature and positive mass theorem. Then we are going to discuss some advances and new perspectives on these tools which lead […]

  • On complete Calabi-Yau metrics and some related Monge-Ampere equations

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

    Member Seminar Speaker: Freid Tong Title: On complete Calabi-Yau metrics and some related Monge-Ampere equations Abstract: We will give a basic introduction to constructions for complete Calabi-Yau metrics. A systematic approach to construct such metrics using PDE methods was proposed in the work of Tian-Yau in the 90s and have attracted a lot of attention […]

  • Boundary behavior at classical and quantum phase transitions

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

    Speaker: Max Metlitski (MIT) Title: Boundary behavior at classical and quantum phase transitions Abstract: There has been a lot of recent interest in the boundary behavior of materials. This interest is driven in part by the field of topological states of quantum matter, where exotic protected boundary states are ubiquitous. In this talk, I'll ask: what happens […]

  • Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Tools

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/UID_oXuN-0Y New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Timo Schick, Meta AI Title: Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Tools Abstract: Language models exhibit remarkable abilities to solve new tasks from just a few examples or textual instructions, especially at scale. They also, paradoxically, struggle with basic functionality, such as arithmetic or factual lookup, where […]

  • Boundary current fluctuations for the half space ASEP

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

    Probability Seminar Speaker: Jimmy He (MIT) Title: Boundary current fluctuations for the half space ASEP Abstract: The half space asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) is an interacting particle system on the half line, with particles allowed to enter/exit at the boundary. I will discuss recent work on understanding fluctuations for the number of particles in the half space […]

  • The localized seed-to-solution method for the Einstein constraints

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/eGU1AQBcxNw General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Philippe G. LeFloch, Sorbonne University and CNRS Title: The localized seed-to-solution method for the Einstein constraints Abstract: I will discuss advances on asymptotically Euclidian initial data sets and the variational method introduced by J. Corvino and R. Schoen. This talk is based on joint papers with The-Cang Nguyen (Montpellier) and Bruno […]

  • Competition at the front of expanding populations

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

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Mehran Kardar, MIT Title: Competition at the front of expanding populations Abstract: When competing species grow into new territory, the population is dominated by descendants of successful ancestors at the expansion front. Successful ancestry depends on the reproductive advantage (fitness), as well as ability and opportunity to colonize new domains. (1) Based […]

  • Fracton Self-Statistics

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Title: Fracton Self-Statistics Speaker: Hao Song (ITP-CAS) Abstract: Fracton order describes novel quantum phases of matter that host quasiparticles with restricted mobility, and thus lies beyond the existing paradigm of topological order. In particular, excitations that cannot move without creating other excitations are called fractons. Here we address a fundamental open question […]