CMSA

4/13/2020 Math-Physics Seminar
2020-04-13 12:00 - 2020-04-22 13:00 (America/New_York)

CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Why do some universities have separate departments of statistics?
2020-04-15 08:00 - 09:00 | Virtual
Donald Rubin (Harvard)
Title: Why do some universities have separate departments of statistics? And are they all anachronisms, destined to follow the path of other dinosaurs?
Video | Slides

Stability of spacetimes with supersymmetric compactifications
2020-04-15 16:30 - 17:30 | Virtual
Speaker: Lars Andersson (Max-Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)
Title: Stability of spacetimes with supersymmetric compactifications
Abstract: Spacetimes with compact directions, which have special holonomy such as Calabi-Yau spaces, play an important role in supergravity and string theory. In this talk I will discuss the global, non-linear stability for the vacuum Einstein equations on a spacetime which is a cartesian product of a high dimensional Minkowski space with a compact Ricci flat internal space with special holonomy. I will start by giving a brief overview of related stability problems which have received a lot of attention recently, including the black hole stability problem. This is based on joint work with Pieter Blue, Zoe Wyatt, and Shing-Tung Yau.

4/16/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-04-16 10:30 - 12:00 | Virtual

4/20/2020 Math Physics Seminar
2020-04-20 00:00 - 13:00

4/22/2020 Quantum Matter Seminar
2020-04-22 10:30 - 12:00

4/22/2020 RM&PT Seminar
2020-04-22 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual

4/23/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-04-23 10:30 - 12:00

4/27/2020 Math-Physics Seminar
2020-04-27 00:00 - 13:00

4/29/2020 Quantum Matter Seminar
2020-04-29 10:30 - 12:00

4/29/2020 Random Matrix and Probability Theory Seminar
2020-04-29 14:00 - 15:00

4/30/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-04-30 10:30 - 12:00

5/4/2020 Mathematical Physics Seminar
2020-05-04 10:30 - 12:00

5/4/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-05-04 10:30 - 12:30

CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Rationality questions in algebraic geometry
2020-05-04 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
Joe Harris (Harvard)
Title: Rationality questions in algebraic geometry
Abstract: Over the course of the history of algebraic geometry, rationality questions — motivated by both geometric and arithmetic problems — have often driven the subject forward. The rationality or irrationality of cubic hypersurfaces in particular have led to the development of abelian integrals (dimension one), birational geometry (dimension two) and Hodge theory (dimension 3). But there remained much we didn’t understand about the condition of rationality, such as how it behaves in families. However, there has been recent progress: work of Hassett, Tschinkel, Pirutka and others, working with examples in dimension 4, showed that it is in general neither an open condition nor a closed one, but does behave well with respect to specialization. In this talk I’ll try to give an overview of the history of rationality and the current state of our knowledge.
Video

CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Quantum Groups
2020-05-04 15:00 - 16:00 | Virtual
Pavel Etingof (MIT)
Title: Quantum Groups
Abstract: The theory of quantum groups developed in mid 1980s from attempts to construct and understand solutions of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, an important equation arising in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics. Since then, it has grown into a vast subject with profound connections to many areas of mathematics, such as representation theory, the Langlands program, low-dimensional topology, category theory, enumerative geometry, quantum computation, algebraic combinatorics, conformal field theory, integrable systems, integrable probability, and others. I will review some of the main ideas and examples of quantum groups and try to briefly describe some of the applications.
Video | Slides

CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: Black Hole Formation
2020-05-05 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
Lydia Bieri (University of Michigan)
Title: Black Hole Formation
Abstract: Can black holes form through the focusing of gravitational waves? This was an outstanding question since the early days of general relativity. In his breakthrough result of 2008, Demetrios Chrstodoulou answered this question with “Yes!” In order to investigate this result, we will delve deeper into the dynamical mathematical structures of the Einstein equations. Black holes are related to the presence of trapped surfaces in the spacetime manifold. Christodoulou proved that in the regime of pure general relativity and for arbitrarily dispersed initial data, trapped surfaces form through the focusing of gravitational waves provided the incoming energy is large enough in a precisely defined way. The proof combines new ideas from geometric analysis and nonlinear partial differential equations as well as it introduces new methods to solve large data problems. These methods have many applications beyond general relativity. D. Christodoulou’s result was generalized in various directions by many authors. It launched mathematical activities going into multiple fields in mathematics and physics. In this talk, we will discuss the mathematical framework of the above question. Then we will outline the main ideas of Christodoulou’s result and its generalizations, show relations to other questions and give an overview of implications in other fields.
Video

5/6/2020 Quantum Matter Seminar
2020-05-06 10:30 - 12:00

CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture: My life and times with the sporadic simple groups
2020-05-06 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
Robert Griess (University of Michigan)
Title: My life and times with the sporadic simple groups
Abstract: Five sporadic simple groups were proposed in 19th century and 21 additional ones arose during the period 1965-1975. There were many discussions about the nature of finite simple groups and how sporadic groups are placed in mathematics. While in mathematics grad school at University of Chicago, I became fascinated with the unfolding story of sporadic simple groups. It involved theory, detective work and experiments. During this lecture, I will describe some of the people, important ideas and evolution of thinking about sporadic simple groups. Most should be accessible to a general mathematical audience.
Video | Slides

5/6/2020 Random Matrix and Probability Theory Seminar
2020-05-06 14:00 - 15:00

5/7/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-05-07 10:30 - 12:00

5/8/2020 General Relativity Seminar
2020-05-08 11:00

5/13/2020 Quantum Matter Seminar
2020-05-13 10:30 - 12:00

5/13/2020 Random Matrix and Probability Theory Seminar
2020-05-13 14:00 - 15:00

5/14/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-05-14 10:30 - 12:00

5/15/2020 General Relativity Seminar
2020-05-15 11:00

5/15/2020 Math Physics Seminar
2020-05-15 13:00 - 14:00

5/20/2020 Quantum Matter Seminar
2020-05-20 10:30 - 12:00

5/20/2020 Random Matrix and Probability Theory Seminar
2020-05-20 14:00 - 15:00

5/21/2020 Condensed Matter Seminar
2020-05-21 10:30 - 12:00
