Member Seminar Speaker: Francesco Mori, CMSA Title: Optimal learning protocols via statistical physics and control theory Abstract: Behind the impressive performance of modern machine learning lies a toolkit of training tricks, from tuning learning rates to curating training data. These heuristics are powerful but hard to interpret and possibly suboptimal, leaving open the challenge of finding general […]
Colloquium Speaker: Thomas Grimm, Utrecht University Title: Geometric Simplicity in Quantum Field Theory and Gravity Abstract: In physics we attribute much value to the emergence of simplicity, both conceptually and for computations. Familiar examples include algebraic relations among Feynman amplitudes, the surprising descriptions arising in large-N or duality limits, and the central role played by […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker:Vasily Krylov, CMSA Title: Coulomb branches and KLRW algebras Abstract: I will introduce Coulomb branches associated to a pair of a reductive group G and its complex representation N. We will discuss their main geometric properties and examine explicit examples. I will also highlight the connection to the moduli space of monopoles. […]
Colloquium Speaker: Yue M. Lu, Harvard University Title: Asymptotic Theory of Attention: In-Context Learning and Sparse Token Detection Abstract: Attention-based architectures exhibit striking emergent abilities—from learning tasks directly from context to detecting rare, weak features in long sequences—yet a rigorous theory explaining these behaviors remains limited. In this talk, I will present two recent exactly solvable models that […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Sebastian Haney, Harvard Title: Homological mirror symmetry for Coulomb branches Abstract: I will describe a result of Aganagic, Danilenko, Li, Shende, and Zhou which constructs a embeddings of certain cylindrical KLRW categories into Fukaya-Seidel categories of multiplicative Coulomb branches. This can be thought of as a homological mirror symmetry statement relating the […]
New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Adam Zsolt Wagner, Google DeepMind Title: Machine learning tools for mathematical discovery Abstract: I will discuss various ML tools we can use today to try to find interesting constructions to various mathematical problems. I will briefly mention simple reinforcement learning setups and PatternBoost, but the talk will mainly focus […]
https://youtu.be/yeFaGFehc44 Pamphlet (pdf) Slides (pdf) Date: December 3, 2025 Time: 5:00–6:00 pm Location: Harvard Science Center Hall D, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge MA Speaker: Madhu Sudan, Harvard University Title: The P vs. NP problem: An Existential Question for Mathematics At the beginning of the twentieth century, in response to questions raised by Hilbert, illustrious mathematicians […]
Differential Geometry and Physics Seminar Speaker: Surya Raghavendran, Yale Title: Towards a Dolbeault AGT correspondence Abstract: The AGT correspondence and its extensions propose geometric constructions of vertex algebras and their modules from the cohomology of various moduli spaces of sheaves on surfaces. Physically, the correspondence is illuminated throgh the holomorphic–topological twist of the six-dimensional N=(2,0) superconformal field […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Houcine Ben Dali, Harvard CMSA Title: A combinatorial formula for interpolation Macdonald polynomials Abstract: In 1996, Knop and Sahi introduced a remarkable family of inhomogeneous symmetric polynomials, defined via vanishing conditions, whose top homogeneous parts are exactly the Macdonald polynomials. Like the Macdonald polynomials, these interpolation Macdonald polynomials are closely connected to […]
Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Max Meynig, University of Connecticut Title: Computing WKB periods Abstract: In one dimensional quantum mechanics, the all-orders WKB method leads to ‘quantum periods’ which are formal power series in \hbar whose coefficients are certain period integrals. These periods, which limelight in supersymmetric/string theories, have rich structure and can be […]
Colloquium Speaker: Dor Minzer (MIT) Title: Recent Advances in Probabilistically Checkable Proofs Abstract: The PCP Theorem is a cornerstone of computer science, with applications to hardness of approximation, verification, interactive protocols and more. It asserts a witness for the satisfiability of a given 3CNF formula can be encoded in a robust way that allows local checking.In this […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Lorenzo Riva, CMSA Title: Aganagic’s invariant is Khovanov homology Abstract: Webster computed the Khovanov homology of (the closure of) a braid in terms of the action of that braid on a certain KLRW category. Aganagic proposed that the same computation could be done in the Fukaya-Seidel category of the multiplicative Coulomb […]