Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Lorenzo Riva (Harvard CMSA) Title: Zigzags, adjoints, and bordisms Abstract: We will learn how to freely add adjoints to a category using a combinatorial procedure which involves drawing zigzags of squares. Peculiarly, we can use these to draw some bordisms. This is joint work with Martina Rovelli.
Joint Math/CMSA Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Ahsan Khan, Harvard CMSA Title: Introduction to A-infty categories Abstract: I will give a pedagogical account of A-infty categories and the various places they show up in mathematical physics.
https://youtu.be/91-jAKfUpRY CMSA/Tsinghua Math-Science Literature Lecture Date: April 22, 2026 Time: 9:00 - 10:30 am ET Location: via Zoom Webinar Speaker: Nicolai Reshetikhin, Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University Title: Asymptotic representation theory Abstract: Loosely speaking asymptotic representation theory studies representations of “large” groups or algebras. One of the first results in this direction is the study […]
Differential Geometry and Physics Seminar Speaker: François Greer, MSU Title: Boundedness for K-trivial varieties with fibrations Abstract: According to the Beauville-Bogomolov decomposition theorem, any smooth K-trivial variety admits a finite cover by a product of (1) abelian varieties, (2) strict Calabi-Yau varieties, and (3) irreducible holomorphic symplectic varieties (IHSV). In a fixed dimension, all abelian varieties […]
Sixth Annual Yip Lecture Date: April 23, 2026 Time: 4:00–5:00 pm ET Location: Harvard Science Center Hall A & via Zoom Webinar Speaker: Regina Barzilay, MIT Title: Can ML methods design drugs? Abstract: Today, life sciences are driven by prohibitively expensive wet lab experimentations, which limit the pace and scope of discovery. This talk focuses on […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Daniel Spiegel Title: The Intermingling of Symmetry and Parametrization in Matrix Product States Abstract: In the study of quantum spin systems, it is by now well-known that interesting phases of quantum matter can arise from gapped ground states when the system is invariant under a symmetry group G or when the system varies continuously […]
Freedman Seminar Speaker: Mike Freedman, Harvard CMSA Title: Compression Is All You Need: Modeling Mathematics Abstract: The talk will exposit a recent eponymous arXiv posting with coauthors Vitaly Aksenov, Eve Bodnia, and Mike Mulligan. The approach is to think like a physicist and model a seemingly complex bit of reality: mathematics, by a simple toy […]
Mathematics and Biology II: Mathematics and Science of Behavior Dates: April 27–30, 2026 Location: Harvard CMSA, Room G10, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA Schedule change: George Lauder (Harvard) will speak Thursday, April 30 at 4:00 pm This meeting will explore the emerging mathematics and science of embodied cognition—the idea that behavior arises not solely […]
Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Charles Young (University of Hertfordshire) Title: Higher current algebras and chiral algebras Abstract: Vertex algebras capture physicists' notion of OPEs in chiral CFTs, in complex dimension one. For various motivations, one would like to have analogs of vertex algebras in higher dimensions. Chiral algebras, in the sense of Beilinson-Drinfeld and Francis-Gaitsgory, provide a natural framework here, […]
Colloquium Speaker: Ofer Feinerman, Weizmann Institute of Science Title: Enacted collective cognition: Brainless problem-solving in weaver ants Abstract: Unlike most ants, weaver ants construct their nests by pulling together leaves. Because individual ants are small relative to the leaves, they assemble their bodies into temporary tools that bend the leaves into a hollow structure, later […]
Joint Math/CMSA Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Lorenzo Riva, Harvard CMSA Title: The classifying space of a Morse flow category Abstract: Following a paper of Calle and Liu we show that, under suitable tameness assumptions, the classifying space of the Morse category associated to a manifold M with a Morse function recovers the homotopy […]
Algebra Seminar Speaker: Sudipta Das, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Title: Transcendental Epsilon Multiplicity via Divisor Volumes Abstract: In this talk, our goal is to establish a structural bridge between asymptotic commutative algebra and transcendence theory to show that there exists an ideal in a Noetherian local ring whose epsilon multiplicity is transcendental. By equating the […]