Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker 1: Max Hubner, CMSA Title: On Topological Structures in String Theory Abstract: Geometric engineering constructions in string theory often realize QFTs relative to an extra-dimensional geometry. This perspective parallels the symmetry TFT construction where a QFT is presented relative to its extra-dimensional symmetry quiche. Unsurprisingly, as we will discuss, […]
https://youtu.be/0FCgpyCfb4o New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Michael Borinsky, Perimeter Institute Title: Tropicalized quantum field theory Abstract: Quantum field theory (QFT) is one of the most accurate methods for making phenomenological predictions in physics, but it has a significant drawback: obtaining concrete predictions from it is computationally very demanding. The standard perturbative approach expands an […]
Differential Geometry and Physics Seminar Speaker: Valentino Tosatti, NYU Courant Institute Title: Special Kähler geometry and collapsing Abstract: Special Kähler geometry was first discovered in the context of N=2 supersymmetric 4D gauge theories, and it also plays a prominent role in mirror symmetry. A key observation of Donagi-Witten and Freed is that the base of every algebraic integrable system […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Saman Habibi Esfahani Title: Local Donaldson-Scaduto conjecture Abstract: This talk is based on joint works with Gora Bera and Yang Li. Motivated by collapsing Calabi-Yau 3-folds and G2-manifolds with Lefschetz K3 fibrations in the adiabatic setting, Donaldson and Scaduto conjectured the existence and uniqueness of a special Lagrangian pair-of-pants in the Calabi-Yau […]
Mathematical foundations of AI Date: October 6–10, 2025 Location: Harvard CMSA, Room G10, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA & via Zoom Artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved unprecedented advances, yet our theoretical understanding lags significantly behind. This gap poses a significant obstacle to improving AI’s safety and reliability. Since the classical tools of learning theory have proven […]
Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Kevin Costello (Perimeter Institute) Title: Non-perturbative aspects of self-dual gauge theory Abstract: Self-dual gauge theory is conformal in perturbation theory, but has a non-trivial beta-function when instanton effects are included. I will give two computations of this beta-function, one based on the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch formula and one using holography […]
Colloquium Speaker: Alexei Borodin, MIT Title: Geometry of dimer models Abstract: Random dimer coverings of large planar graphs are known to exhibit unusual and visually apparent asymptotic phenomena that include formation of frozen regions and various phases in the unfrozen ones. For a specific family of subgraphs of the (periodically weighted) square lattice known as the Aztec diamonds, the asymptotic behavior of dimers admits a precise description in […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speakers: Daniel Spiegel, Harvard Math Title: A Classifying Space for Phases of Matrix Product States Abstract: Alexei Kitaev has conjectured that there should be a loop spectrum consisting of spaces of gapped invertible quantum spin systems, indexed by spatial dimension d of the lattice. Motivated by Kitaev’s conjecture, I will […]
https://youtu.be/04E8r76TetQ New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Alex Damian, Harvard Title: Understanding Optimization in Deep Learning with Central Flows Abstract: Traditional theories of optimization cannot describe the dynamics of optimization in deep learning, even in the simple setting of deterministic training. The challenge is that optimizers typically operate in a complex, oscillatory regime called the "edge of […]
Algebra Seminar Speaker: David Treumann (Boston College) Title: Profinite tensor powers Abstract: I'll discuss the problem of defining a tensor product of profinitely many copies of a vector space V, and propose a definition $\bigotimes_X^{mcc} V$ in the special situation that (1) V is finite-dimensional over F_2, and (2) the profinite X indexing the tensor […]
https://youtu.be/vf3pIK9I9HI Differential Geometry and Physics Seminar Speaker: Xingyang Yu, Virginia Tech Title: Symmetries and Moduli Spaces: Baby Steps beyond Calabi-Yau Abstract: I will explore the interplay between symmetries and moduli spaces in string compactifications, starting from the familiar Calabi–Yau case and then taking some baby steps toward more general settings. A classical benchmark is the line […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Lorenzo Riva Title: The Rozansky-Witten field theory in the functorial TQFT formalism Abstract: This will be a broad talk about the topic of my PhD thesis. We will discuss a particular example of a 3D field theory from physics called Rozansky-Witten which is interesting from both a physical and a mathematical point […]