Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar Pre-talk Speaker: Rosie Shen (Harvard): 10:00-10:30 am Pre-talk Title: Introduction to the singularities of the MMP Speaker: Dori Bejleri (Harvard Math & CMSA) Title: Moduli of boundary polarized Calabi-Yau pairs Abstract: The theories of KSBA stability and K-stability furnish compact moduli spaces of general type pairs and Fano pairs […]
https://youtu.be/AKZ4O0ZUrPo Topological Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Ceren Dag, Harvard Title: Breaking ergodicity: quantum scars and regular eigenstates Abstract: Quantum many-body scars (QMBS) consist of a few low-entropy eigenstates in an otherwise chaotic many-body spectrum and can weakly break ergodicity resulting in robust oscillatory dynamics. The notion of QMBS follows the original single-particle scars introduced within the context of […]
Speaker: Joel D. Hamkins (Notre Dame and Oxford) Title: An exploration of infinite games—infinite Wordle and the Mastermind numbers Abstract: Let us explore the nature of strategic reasoning in infinite games, focusing on the cases of infinite Wordle and infinite Mastermind. The familiar game of Wordle extends naturally to longer words or even infinite words in an […]
https://youtu.be/UqrKDW6aJuc Topological Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Hart Goldman, University of Chicago Title: Composite fermions and the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect Abstract: Recent experiments have revealed evidence for fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) states at zero magnetic field in a growing number of moire materials. In this talk, I will argue that a composite fermion […]
https://youtu.be/M25cbX5do8Y New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Yuanzhi Li, CMU Dept. of Machine Learning and Microsoft Research Title: Physics of Language Models: Knowledge Storage, Extraction, and Manipulation Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) can memorize a massive amount of knowledge during pre-training, but can they effectively use this knowledge at inference time? In this work, we show several striking […]
Probability Seminar Speaker: Tomas Berggren (MIT) Title: Geometry of the doubly periodic Aztec dimer model Abstract: Random dimer models (or equivalently tiling models) have been a subject of extensive research in mathematics and physics for several decades. In this talk, we will discuss the doubly periodic Aztec diamond dimer model of growing size, with arbitrary […]
CMSA Director Dan Freed featured in Harvard Gazette "Center welcomes new director, a Harvard alum who will explore ‘beautiful, deep’ interactions between mathematics, science." Link to article. Story by Anne J. Manning, Harvard Staff Writer Photo courtesy of Niles Singer, Harvard University.
Member Seminar Speaker: Daniel Kapec (CMSA) Title: Black Holes as Quantum Systems Abstract: To an outside observer, a black hole appears to be an ordinary quantum mechanical system with finite entropy and highly chaotic internal dynamics. Nevertheless, the low-temperature thermodynamics of the Kerr black hole presents several puzzles. For instance, the leading order semiclassical approximation to the […]
Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar Speaker: David Favero, University of Minnesota Title: Gauged Linear Sigma Models and Cohomological Field Theories Abstract: This talk is dedicated to the memory of my friend and collaborator Bumsig Kim and based on joint work with Ciocan-Fontanine-Guere-Kim-Shoemaker. Gauged Linear Sigma Models (GLSMs) serve as a means of interpolating between […]
Speaker: Boaz Barak (Harvard) Title: On Provable Copyright Protection for Generative Model Abstract: There is a growing concern that learned conditional generative models may output samples that are substantially similar to some copyrighted data C that was in their training set. We give a formal definition of near access-freeness (NAF) and prove bounds on the probability that a […]
https://youtu.be/zG4xkY8JI1A General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Leo Stein (Mississippi) Title: Resolving memory in numerical relativity, and fixing BMS frames for modeling Abstract: Numerical relativity waveforms serve as ground truth for detection and parameter estimation of binary black hole mergers. Most NR waveforms to date miss memory effects, as they were extracted from simulations using an approximation called extrapolation. I […]
CMSA Q and A Seminar Speakers: Xi Yin (Harvard Physics) and Peter Kronheimer (Harvard Math) Topics: Xi Yin: What is string field theory? Peter Kronheimer: What is Seiberg-Witten theory?