Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Ezra Getzler, Northwestern Title: The Moyal bracket and the BV cohomology of the spinning particle Abstract: The spinning particle is the one-dimensional reduction of the Neveu-Schwartz-Ramond superstring. It consists of a supersymmetric particle moving in a one-dimensional supergravity background, and its quantization is the Hilbert superspace of […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Sunghyuk Park, CMSA Title: Khovanov homology from KLRW algebras Abstract: This is the first in a four-part series, organized together with Vasily Krylov, Sebastian Haney, and Lorenzo Riva, aimed at understanding Aganagic's categorification of quantum link invariants through Coulomb branches and homological mirror symmetry. In this first talk, I will lay […]
Geometry Meets Physics: Finiteness, Tameness, and Complexity Dates: November 12–14, 2025 Location: CMSA G10, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138 (note: this event is in-person only) Finiteness is a fundamental property in consistent physical theories. From the earliest days of quantum field theory and string theory, the drive to eliminate unphysical infinities has been a […]
https://youtu.be/d23FICTAC1Y Date: November 12, 2025 Time: 5:00–6:00 pm Location: Harvard Science Center Hall D, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge MA Speaker: Pierre Deligne, Institute for Advanced Study Title: What is the Hodge conjecture? Abstract: The Hodge conjecture is about projective non-singular complex algebraic varieties. It characterizes the cohomology classes coming from algebraic cycles. I will […]
Freedman Seminar Speaker: Michael Freedman, Harvard CMSA Title: Sullivan’s work on Lipschitz structures Part II (but self-contained) Speaker: Bowen Yang, CMSA Title: Deligne and Sullivan's work on complex bundles with discrete structure group
Conference on Geometry and Statistics Dates: November 17–19, 2025 Location: CMSA G10, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA & via Zoom Speakers Charles Fefferman, Princeton University Stephan Huckemann, Georg-August Universität Göttingen Sungkyu Jung, Seoul National University Kei Kobayashi, Keio University Clément Levrard, Université de Rennes Ker-Chau Li, University of California, Los Angeles Rong Ma, Harvard […]
Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Justin Kulp, Stony Brook Title: BV and the ThimTFT Abstract: The SymTFT (or “quiche”) construction relates different global forms of d-dimensional QFTs with discrete symmetry: realizing different global forms as a (d+1)-dimensional TFT on an interval, with a common "physical" boundary condition on one side, and different […]
Colloquium Speaker: Zhigang Yao (National University of Singapore) Title: Interaction of Statistics and Geometry: A New Landscape for Data Science Abstract: Classical statistics views data as real numbers or vectors in Euclidean space, but modern challenges increasingly involve data with intrinsic geometric structures. A central problem in this direction is manifold fitting, with origins in H. Whitney’s […]
Algebra Seminar Speaker: Dawei Chen, Boston College Title: Differentials and Singularities Abstract: Given a holomorphic differential on a smooth algebraic curve, we associate to it a Gorenstein curve singularity with Gm-action. Conversely, we show that every isolated Gorenstein curve singularity with Gm-action appears in this way. This construction reveals a fascinating relation between differentials and […]
Differential Geometry and Physics Seminar Speaker: Andrés Franco Valiente, UC Berkeley Title: Tropical-Topological (Tropological) Sigma Models Abstract: Tropical geometry provides a powerful bridge between complex and combinatorial worlds, allowing certain curve-counting invariants to be computed in a piecewise-linear “tropical” limit. Building on Mikhalkin’s insight that Gromov–Witten invariants can be recovered from tropical curves, this talk revisits Mikhalkin's […]
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 […]