Colloquium Speaker: Ariel Procaccia, Harvard University Title: Thinking Outside the Ballot Box Abstract: How should one design unprecedented democratic processes capable of handling enormous sets of alternatives like all possible policies, bills, or statements? I argue that this challenge can be addressed through a framework called generative social choice, which fuses the rigor of social choice theory […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar
Mathematical Physics and Algebraic Geometry Seminar Speaker: Zhenping Gui, Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences Title: Residues and homotopy Lie algebras Abstract: I will introduce the notion of a chiral operad for any compact Riemann surface. This operad consists of compositions of residue operations, which give rise to the Chevalley-Cousin complex and lead to the […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Sergiy Verstyuk, Harvard CMSA Title: Asset pricing with heterogeneous agents Abstract: This talk will introduce the basics of continuous-time finance, discuss important existing theories and models, as well as present some new asset pricing results in a setting with many heterogeneous investors. (Joint work with Puskar Mondal.)
Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Nikita Sopenko, IAS Title: An index for 2d invertible phases of quantum many-body systems
Colloquium Speaker: Anna Seigal, Harvard University Title: Factorizations for data analysis Abstract: We can find structure in data by factoring it into building blocks, which should be interpretable for the context at hand. A classical example is principal component analysis (PCA), which uses the eigendecomposition of the covariance matrix to find axes of variation in a dataset. Starting from […]
Conference Reports Speaker: Hugo Cui, Harvard CMSA Title: Report on the Perimeter Institute Theory+AI Workshop Abstract: I will give a survey and brief summary of some of the talks given at the Theory+AI Workshop: Theoretical Physics for AI event organized by Perimeter Institute in April, on approaches to machine learning theory inspired from physics. Link : https://events.perimeterinstitute.ca/event/993/
Mathematical Physics and Algebraic Geometry Seminar Speaker: Claudia Rella (IHES) Title: Resurgence, number theory, and quantum mirror curves Abstract: Resurgence provides a powerful toolbox to access the non-perturbative sectors hidden within the divergent asymptotic series of quantum theories. Under some special assumptions, the non-perturbative data extracted via resurgent methods possess intrinsic number-theoretic properties that are deeply […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Samy Jelassi, CMSA Title: Echo Chamber: RL Post-training Amplifies Behaviors Learned in Pretraining Abstract: Reinforcement Learning has become a crucial step in training state-of-the-art language models such as DeepSeek-R1 for solving mathematical problems. In this talk, I will first review the mechanisms of Reinforcement Learning fine-tuning. Then, I will present a systematic end-to-end […]
Mathematical Physics and Algebraic Geometry Seminar Speaker: Joaquin Liniado, Instituto de Física La Plata Title: Higher Gauge Theory and Integrability Abstract: Integrable field theories are remarkable for possessing an infinite number of conserved quantities, which often allow for their exact solvability. In two dimensions, this structure is elegantly captured by the existence of a Lax […]
Summer School in Total Positivity and Quantum Field Theory Dates: June 2–4, 2025 Location: CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA In the past decade, there has been a great deal of interest and progress in the study of algebro-combinatorial and geometric structures appearing across diverse areas of physics, from particle physics to cosmology. As these […]
Workshop on Quantum Field Theory and Topological Phases via Homotopy Theory and Operator Algebras Dates: June 30 - July 11, 2025 Location: CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA and Max Planck Institute for Mathematics, Bonn, Germany This event is a twinned workshop at the CMSA (Harvard) and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (Bonn). Lectures will alternate […]