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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210913T090000
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DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
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UID:10000053-1631523600-1652461200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Swampland Program
DESCRIPTION:During the 2021–2022 academic year\, the CMSA will host a program on the so-called “Swampland.” \nThe Swampland program aims to determine which low-energy effective field theories are consistent with nonperturbative quantum gravity considerations. Not everything is possible in String Theory\, and finding out what is and what is not strongly constrains the low energy physics. These constraints are naturally interesting for particle physics and cosmology\,  which has led to a great deal of activity in the field in the last years. \nThe Swampland is intrinsically interdisciplinary\, with ramifications in string compactifications\, holography\, black hole physics\, cosmology\, particle physics\, and even mathematics. \nThis program will include an extensive group of visitors and a slate of seminars. Additionally\, the CMSA will host a school oriented toward graduate students. \nMore information will be posted here. \nSeminars\nSwampland Seminar Series & Group Meetings \nProgram Visitors\n\nPieter Bomans\, Princeton\, 10/30/21 – 11/02/21\nIrene Valenzuela\, Instituto de Física Teórica\, 02/14/22 – 02/21/22\nMariana Grana\, CEA/Saclay\, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22\nHector Parra De Freitas\, IPHT Saclay\, 03/21/22 – 04/01/22\nTimo Weigand\, 03/21/22 – 03/28/22\nGary Shiu\, University of Wisconsin-Madison\, 04/03/22 – 04/10/22\nThomas van Riet\, Leuven University\, 04/03/22 – 04/09/22\nLars Aalsma\, University of Wisconsin-Madison\, 04/11/22 – 04/15/22\nSergio Cecotti\, 05/08/22 – 05/21/22\nTom Rudelius\, 05/09/22 – 05/13/22
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/swampland-program/
LOCATION:CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Programs
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210915T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220525T103000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20240213T112446Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T160729Z
UID:10002496-1631698200-1653474600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Colloquium 9/15/2021 - 5/25/2022
DESCRIPTION:During the 2021–22 academic year\, the CMSA will be hosting a Colloquium\, organized by Du Pei\, Changji Xu\, and Michael Simkin. It will take place on Wednesdays at 9:30am – 10:30am (Boston time). The meetings will take place virtually on Zoom. All CMSA postdocs/members are required to attend the weekly CMSA Members’ Seminars\, as well as the weekly CMSA Colloquium series. The schedule below will be updated as talks are confirmed. \nSpring 2022\n\n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n1/26/2022\nSamir Mathur (Ohio State University)\nTitle: The black hole information paradox \nAbstract: In 1975\, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes radiate away in a manner that violates quantum theory. Starting in 1997\, it was observed that black holes in string theory did not have the form expected from general relativity: in place of “empty space will all the mass at the center\,” one finds a “fuzzball” where the mass is distributed throughout the interior of the horizon. This resolves the paradox\, but opposition to this resolution came from groups who sought to extrapolate some ideas in holography. In 2009 it was shown\, using some theorems from quantum information theory\, that these extrapolations were incorrect\, and the fuzzball structure was essential for resolving the puzzle. Opposition continued along different lines\, with a postulate that information would leak out through wormholes. Recently\, it was shown that this wormhole idea had some basic flaws\, leaving the fuzzball paradigm as the natural resolution of Hawking’s puzzle. \nVideo\n\n\n2/2/2022\nAdam Smith (Boston University)\nTitle: Learning and inference from sensitive data \nAbstract: Consider an agency holding a large database of sensitive personal information—say\,  medical records\, census survey answers\, web searches\, or genetic data. The agency would like to discover and publicly release global characteristics of the data while protecting the privacy of individuals’ records. \nI will discuss recent (and not-so-recent) results on this problem with a focus on the release of statistical models. I will first explain some of the fundamental limitations on the release of machine learning models—specifically\, why such models must sometimes memorize training data points nearly completely. On the more positive side\, I will present differential privacy\, a rigorous definition of privacy in statistical databases that is now widely studied\, and increasingly used to analyze and design deployed systems. I will explain some of the challenges of sound statistical inference based on differentially private statistics\, and lay out directions for future investigation.\n\n\n2/8/2022\nWenbin Yan (Tsinghua University)\n(special time: 9:30 pm ET)\nTitle: Tetrahedron instantons and M-theory indices \nAbstract: We introduce and study tetrahedron instantons. Physically they capture instantons on $\mathbb{C}^{3}$ in the presence of the most general intersecting codimension-two supersymmetric defects. In this talk\, we will review instanton moduli spaces\, explain the construction\, moduli space and partition functions of tetrahedron instantons. We will also point out possible relations with M-theory index which could be a generalization of Gupakuma-Vafa theory. \nVideo\n\n\n2/16/2022\nTakuro Mochizuki (Kyoto University)\nTitle: Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondences for harmonic bundles and monopoles \nAbstract: In 1960’s\, Narasimhan and Seshadri discovered the equivalence\nbetween irreducible unitary flat bundles and stable bundles of degree $0$ on compact Riemann surfaces. In 1980’s\, Donaldson\, Uhlenbeck and Yau generalized it to the equivalence between irreducible Hermitian-Einstein bundles\nand stable bundles on smooth projective varieties. This is a surprising bridge connecting differential geometry and algebraic geometry. Since then\, many interesting generalizations have been studied. \nIn this talk\, we would like to review a stream in the study of such correspondences for Higgs bundles\, integrable connections\, $D$-modules and periodic monopoles.\n\n\n2/23/2022\nBartek Czech (Tsinghua University)\nTitle: Holographic Cone of Average Entropies and Universality of Black Holes \nAbstract:  In the AdS/CFT correspondence\, the holographic entropy cone\, which identifies von Neumann entropies of CFT regions that are consistent with a semiclassical bulk dual\, is currently known only up to n=5 regions. I explain that average\nentropies of p-partite subsystems can be checked for consistency with a semiclassical bulk dual far more easily\, for an arbitrary number of regions n. This analysis defines the “Holographic Cone of Average\nEntropies” (HCAE). I conjecture the exact form of HCAE\, and find that it has the following properties: (1) HCAE is the simplest it could be\, namely it is a simplicial cone. (2) Its extremal rays represent stages of thermalization (black hole formation). (3) In a time-reversed picture\, the extremal rays of HCAE represent stages of unitary black hole evaporation\, as stipulated by the island solution of the black hole information paradox. (4) HCAE is bound by a novel\, infinite family of holographic entropy inequalities. (5) HCAE is the simplest it could be also in its dependence on the number of regions n\, namely its bounding inequalities are n-independent. (6) In a precise sense I describe\, the bounding inequalities of HCAE unify (almost) all previously discovered holographic inequalities and strongly constrain future inequalities yet to be discovered. I also sketch an interpretation of HCAE in terms of error correction and the holographic Renormalization Group. The big lesson that HCAE seems to be teaching us is about the universality of black hole physics.\n\n\n3/2/2022\nRichard Kenyon (Yale University)\n\n\n\n3/9/2022\nRichard Tsai (UT Austin)\n\n\n\n3/23/2022\nJoel Cohen (University of Maryland)\n\n\n\n3/30/2022\nRob Leigh (UIUC)\n\n\n\n4/6/2022\nJohannes Kleiner (LMU München)\n\n\n\n4/13/2022\nYuri Manin (Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik)\n\n\n\n4/20/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n4/27/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/4/2022\nMelody Chan (Brown University)\n\n\n\n5/11/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/18/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/25/2022\nHeeyeon Kim (Rutgers University)\n\n\n\n\n\nFall 2021\n\n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n9/15/2021\nTian Yang\, Texas A&M\nTitle: Hyperbolic Geometry and Quantum Invariants \nAbstract: There are two very different approaches to 3-dimensional topology\, the hyperbolic geometry following the work of Thurston and the quantum invariants following the work of Jones and Witten. These two approaches are related by a sequence of problems called the Volume Conjectures. In this talk\, I will explain these conjectures and present some recent joint works with Ka Ho Wong related to or benefited from this relationship.\n\n\n9/29/2021\nDavid Jordan\, University of Edinburgh\nTitle: Langlands duality for 3 manifolds \nAbstract: Langlands duality began as a deep and still mysterious conjecture in number theory\, before branching into a similarly deep and mysterious conjecture of Beilinson and Drinfeld concerning the algebraic geometry of Riemann surfaces. In this guise it was given a physical explanation in the framework of 4-dimensional super symmetric quantum field theory by Kapustin and Witten.  However to this day the Hilbert space attached to 3-manifolds\, and hence the precise form of Langlands duality for them\, remains a mystery. \nIn this talk I will propose that so-called “skein modules” of 3-manifolds give natural candidates for these Hilbert spaces at generic twisting parameter Psi \, and I will explain a Langlands duality in this setting\, which we have conjectured with Ben-Zvi\, Gunningham and Safronov. \nIntriguingly\, the precise formulation of such a conjecture in the classical limit Psi=0 is still an open question\, beyond the scope of the talk.\n\n\n10/06/2021\nPiotr Sulkowski\, U Warsaw\nTitle: Strings\, knots and quivers \nAbstract: I will discuss a recently discovered relation between quivers and knots\, as well as – more generally – toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. In the context of knots this relation is referred to as the knots-quivers correspondence\, and it states that various invariants of a given knot are captured by characteristics of a certain quiver\, which can be associated to this knot. Among others\, this correspondence enables to prove integrality of LMOV invariants of a knot by relating them to motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants of the corresponding quiver\, it provides a new insight on knot categorification\, etc. This correspondence arises from string theory interpretation and engineering of knots in brane systems in the conifold geometry; replacing the conifold by other toric Calabi-Yau manifolds leads to analogous relations between such manifolds and quivers.\n\n\n10/13/2021\nAlexei Oblomkov\, University of Massachusetts\nTitle: Knot homology and sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of points on the plane. \nAbstract: The knot homology (defined by Khovavov\, Rozansky) provide us with a refinement of the knot polynomial knot invariant defined by Jones. However\, the knot homology are much harder to compute compared to the polynomial invariant of Jones. In my talk I present recent developments that allow us to use tools of algebraic geometry to compute the homology of torus knots and prove long-standing conjecture on the Poincare duality the knot homology. In more details\, using physics ideas of Kapustin-Rozansky-Saulina\, in the joint work with Rozansky\, we provide a mathematical construction that associates to a braid on n strands a complex of sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of n points on the plane.  The knot homology of the closure of the braid is a space of sections of this sheaf. The sheaf is also invariant with respect to the natural symmetry of the plane\, the symmetry is the geometric counter-part of the mentioned Poincare duality.\n\n\n10/20/2021\nPeng Shan\, Tsinghua U\nTitle: Categorification and applications \nAbstract: I will give a survey of the program of categorification for quantum groups\, some of its recent development and applications to representation theory.\n\n\n10/27/2021\nKarim Adiprasito\, Hebrew University and University of Copenhagen\nTitle: Anisotropy\, biased pairing theory and applications \nAbstract: Not so long ago\, the relations between algebraic geometry and combinatorics were strictly governed by the former party\, with results like log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of matroids shackled by intuitions and techniques from projective algebraic geometry\, specifically Hodge Theory. And so\, while we proved analogues for these results\, combinatorics felt subjugated to inspirations from outside of it.\nIn recent years\, a new powerful technique has emerged: Instead of following the geometric statements of Hodge theory about signature\, we use intuitions from the Hall marriage theorem\, translated to algebra: once there\, they are statements about self-pairings\, the non-degeneracy of pairings on subspaces to understand the global geometry of the pairing. This was used to establish Lefschetz type theorems far beyond the scope of algebraic geometry\, which in turn established solutions to long-standing conjectures in combinatorics. \nI will survey this theory\, called biased pairing theory\, and new developments within it\, as well as new applications to combinatorial problems. Reporting on joint work with Stavros Papadaki\, Vasiliki Petrotou and Johanna Steinmeyer.\n\n\n11/03/2021\nTamas Hausel\, IST Austria\nTitle: Hitchin map as spectrum of equivariant cohomology \nAbstract: We will explain how to model the Hitchin integrable system on a certain Lagrangian upward flow as the spectrum of equivariant cohomology of a Grassmannian.\n\n\n11/10/2021\nPeter Keevash\, Oxford\nTitle: Hypergraph decompositions and their applications \nAbstract: Many combinatorial objects can be thought of as a hypergraph decomposition\, i.e. a partition of (the edge set of) one hypergraph into (the edge sets of) copies of some other hypergraphs. For example\, a Steiner Triple System is equivalent to a decomposition of a complete graph into triangles. In general\, Steiner Systems are equivalent to decompositions of complete uniform hypergraphs into other complete uniform hypergraphs (of some specified sizes). The Existence Conjecture for Combinatorial Designs\, which I proved in 2014\, states that\, bar finitely many exceptions\, such decompositions exist whenever the necessary ‘divisibility conditions’ hold. I also obtained a generalisation to the quasirandom setting\, which implies an approximate formula for the number of designs; in particular\, this resolved Wilson’s Conjecture on the number of Steiner Triple Systems. A more general result that I proved in 2018 on decomposing lattice-valued vectors indexed by labelled complexes provides many further existence and counting results for a wide range of combinatorial objects\, such as resolvable designs (the generalised form of Kirkman’s Schoolgirl Problem)\, whist tournaments or generalised Sudoku squares. In this talk\, I plan to review this background and then describe some more recent and ongoing applications of these results and developments of the ideas behind them.\n\n\n11/17/2021\nAndrea Brini\, U Sheffield\nTitle: Curve counting on surfaces and topological strings \nAbstract: Enumerative geometry is a venerable subfield of Mathematics\, with roots dating back to Greek Antiquity and a present inextricably linked with developments in other domains. Since the early 90s\, in particular\, the interaction with String Theory has sent shockwaves through the subject\, giving both unexpected new perspectives and a remarkably powerful\, physics-motivated toolkit to tackle several traditionally hard questions in the field.\nI will survey some recent developments in this vein for the case of enumerative invariants associated to a pair (X\, D)\, with X a complex algebraic surface and D a singular anticanonical divisor in it. I will describe a surprising web of correspondences linking together several a priori distant classes of enumerative invariants associated to (X\, D)\, including the log Gromov-Witten invariants of the pair\, the Gromov-Witten invariants of an associated higher dimensional Calabi-Yau variety\, the open Gromov-Witten invariants of certain special Lagrangians in toric Calabi–Yau threefolds\, the Donaldson–Thomas theory of a class of symmetric quivers\, and certain open and closed Gopakumar-Vafa-type invariants. I will also discuss how these correspondences can be effectively used to provide a complete closed-form solution to the calculation of all these invariants.\n\n\n12/01/2021\nRichard Wentworth\, University of Maryland\nTitle: The Hitchin connection for parabolic G-bundles \nAbstract: For a simple and simply connected complex group G\, I will discuss some elements of the proof of the existence of a flat projective connection on the bundle of nonabelian theta functions on the moduli space of semistable parabolic G-bundles over families of smooth projective curves with marked points. Under the isomorphism with the bundle of conformal blocks\, this connection is equivalent to the one constructed by conformal field theory. This is joint work with Indranil Biswas and Swarnava Mukhopadhyay.\n\n\n12/08/2021\nMaria Chudnovsky\, Princeton\nTitle: Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions \nAbstract: Tree decompositions are a powerful tool in both structural\ngraph theory and graph algorithms. Many hard problems become tractable if the input graph is known to have a tree decomposition of bounded “width”. Exhibiting a particular kind of a tree decomposition is also a useful way to describe the structure of a graph. \nTree decompositions have traditionally been used in the context of forbidden graph minors; bringing them into the realm of forbidden induced subgraphs has until recently remained out of reach. Over the last couple of years we have made significant progress in this direction\, exploring both the classical notion of bounded tree-width\, and concepts of more structural flavor. This talk will survey some of these ideas and results.\n\n\n12/15/21\nConstantin Teleman (UC Berkeley)\nTitle: The Kapustin-Rozanski-Saulina “2-category” of a holomorphic integrable system \nAbstract: I will present a construction of the object in the title which\, applied to the classical Toda system\, controls the theory of categorical representations of compact Lie groups\, along with applications (some conjectural\, some rigorous) to gauged Gromov-Witten theory. Time permitting\, we will review applications to Coulomb branches and the categorified Weyl character formula.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-colloquium_2021-22/
LOCATION:CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220124T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220521T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20230904T083438Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T103430Z
UID:10000055-1643014800-1653152400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:General Relativity Program
DESCRIPTION:During the Spring 2022 semester\, the CMSA hosted a program on General Relativity. \nThis semester-long program included four minicourses\,  a conference\, and a workshop. \nGeneral Relativity Mincourses: March–May\, 2022 \nGeneral Relativity Conference: April 4–8\, 2022 \nGeneral Relativity Workshop: May 2–5\, 2022 \n  \nProgram Visitors \n\nDan Lee\, CMSA/CUNY\, 1/24/22 – 5/20/22\nStefan Czimek\, Brown\, 2/27/22 – 3/3/22\nLan-Hsuan Huang\, University of Connecticut\, 3/13/22 – 3/19/222\, 3/21/22 – 3/25/22\, 4/17 /22– 4/23/22\nMu-Tao Wang\, Columbia\, 3/21/22 – 3/25/22\, 5/7/22 – 5/9/22\nPo-Ning Chen\, University of California\, Riverside\, 3/21/22 – 3/25/22\,  5/7/22–5/9/22\nMarnie Smith\, Imperial College London\, 3/27/22 – 4/11/22\nChristopher Stith\, University of Michigan\, 3/27/22 – 4/23/22\nMartin Taylor\, Imperial College London\,  3/27/22 – 4/11/22\nMarcelo Disconzi\, Vanderbilt\, 5/9/22 – 5/21/22\nLydia Bieri\, University of Michigan\, 5/5/22 – 5/9/22\n\n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/general-relativity-program/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Event,Programs
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/GR-Program-Banner_800x450-2.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220301T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220517T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20240215T103842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T144509Z
UID:10002743-1646128800-1652792400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:General Relativity Program Minicourses
DESCRIPTION:Minicourses\nGeneral Relativity Program Minicourses \n\nDuring the Spring 2022 semester\, the CMSA hosted a program on General Relativity. \nThis semester-long program included four minicourses running in March\, April\, and May;  a conference April 4–8\, 2022;  and a workshop from May 2–5\, 2022. \n\n  \n\n\n\n\nSchedule\nSpeaker\nTitle\nAbstract\n\n\nMarch 1 – 3\, 2022\n10:00 am – 12:00 pm ET\, each dayLocation: Hybrid. CMSA main seminar room\, G-10.\nDr. Stefan Czimek\nCharacteristic Gluing for the Einstein Equations\nAbstract: This course serves as an introduction to characteristic gluing for the Einstein equations (developed by the lecturer in collaboration with S. Aretakis and I. Rodnianski). First we set up and analyze the characteristic gluing problem along one outgoing null hypersurface.  Then we turn to bifurcate characteristic gluing (i.e.  gluing along two null hypersurfaces bifurcating from a spacelike 2-sphere) and show how to localize characteristic initial data. Subsequently we turn to applications for spacelike initial data. Specifically\, we discuss in detail our alternative proofs of the celebrated Corvino-Schoen gluing to Kerr and the Carlotto-Schoen localization of spacelike initial data (with improved decay).\n\n\nMarch 22 – 25\, 2022\n22nd & 23rd\, 10:00 am – 11:30am ET\n24th & 25th\, 11:00 am – 12:30pm ETLocation: Hybrid. CMSA main seminar room\, G-10.\nProf. Lan-Hsuan Huang\nExistence of Static Metrics with Prescribed Bartnik Boundary Data\nAbstract: The study of static Riemannian metrics arises naturally in general relativity and differential geometry. A static metric produces a special Einstein manifold\, and it interconnects with scalar curvature deformation and gluing. The well-known Uniqueness Theorem of Static Black Holes says that an asymptotically flat\, static metric with black hole boundary must belong to the Schwarzschild family. In the same vein\, most efforts have been made to classify static metrics as known exact solutions. In contrast to the rigidity phenomena and classification efforts\, Robert Bartnik proposed the Static Vacuum Extension Conjecture (originating from his other conjectures about quasi-local masses in the 80’s) that there is always a unique\, asymptotically flat\, static vacuum metric with quite arbitrarily prescribed Bartnik boundary data. In this course\, I will discuss some recent progress confirming this conjecture for large classes of boundary data. The course is based on joint work with Zhongshan An\, and the tentative plan is \n1. The conjecture and an overview of the results\n2. Static regular: a sufficient condition for existence and local uniqueness\n3. Convex boundary\, isometric embedding\, and static regular\n4. Perturbations of any hypersurface are static regular \nVideo on Youtube: March 22\, 2022\n\n\nMarch 29 – April 1\, 2022 10:00am – 12:00pm ET\, each day \nLocation: Hybrid. CMSA main seminar room\, G-10.\nProf. Martin Taylor\nThe nonlinear stability of the Schwarzschild family of black holes\nAbstract: I will present aspects of a theorem\, joint with Mihalis Dafermos\, Gustav Holzegel and Igor Rodnianski\, on the full finite codimension nonlinear asymptotic stability of the Schwarzschild family of black holes.\n\n\nApril 19 & 21\, 2022\n10 am – 12 pm ET\, each dayZoom only\nProf. Håkan Andréasson\nTwo topics for the Einstein-Vlasov system: Gravitational collapse and properties of static and stationary solutions.\nAbstract: In these lectures I will discuss the Einstein-Vlasov system in the asymptotically flat case. I will focus on two topics; gravitational collapse and properties of static and stationary solutions. In the former case I will present results in the spherically symmetric case that give criteria on initial data which guarantee the formation of black holes in the evolution. I will also discuss the relation between gravitational collapse for the Einstein-Vlasov system and the Einstein-dust system. I will then discuss properties of static and stationary solutions in the spherically symmetric case and the axisymmetric case. In particular I will present a recent result on the existence of massless steady states surrounding a Schwarzschild black hole. \nVideo 4/19/2022 \nVideo 4/22/2022\n\n\nMay 16 – 17\, 2022\n10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET\, each dayLocation: Hybrid. CMSA main seminar room\, G-10.\nProf. Marcelo Disconzi\nA brief overview of recent developments in relativistic fluids\nAbstract: In this series of lectures\, we will discuss some recent developments in the field of relativistic fluids\, considering both the motion of relativistic fluids in a fixed background or coupled to Einstein’s equations. The topics to be discussed will include: the relativistic free-boundary Euler equations with a physical vacuum boundary\, a new formulation of the relativistic Euler equations tailored to applications to shock formation\, and formulations of relativistic fluids with viscosity. \n1. Set-up\, review of standard results\, physical motivation.\n2. The relativistic Euler equations: null structures and the problem of shocks.\n3. The free-boundary relativistic Euler equations with a physical vacuum boundary.\n4. Relativistic viscous fluids. \nVideo 5/16/2022 \nVideo 5/17/2022
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/grminicourses/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Workshop
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220502T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220505T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20230706T181102Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240109T213327Z
UID:10000100-1651482000-1651770000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:General Relativity Workshop
DESCRIPTION:General Relativity Workshop on scalar curvature\, minimal surfaces\, and initial data sets \nDates: May 2–5\, 2022 \nLocation: Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge MA 02138 and via Zoom webinar.\nAdvanced registration for in-person components is required. \nOrganizers: Dan Lee (CMSA/CUNY)\, Martin Lesourd (CMSA/BHI)\, and Lan-Hsuan Huang (University of Connecticut). \nSpeakers: \n\nZhongshan An\, University of Connecticut\nPaula Burkhardt-Guim\, NYU\nHyun Chul Jang\, University of Miami\nChao Li\, NYU\nChristos Mantoulidis\, Rice University\nRobin Neumayer\, Carnegie Mellon University\nAndre Neves\, University of Chicago\nTristan Ozuch\, MIT\nAnnachiara Piubello\, University of Miami\nAntoine Song\, UC Berkeley\nTin-Yau Tsang\, UC Irvine\nRyan Unger\, Princeton\nZhizhang Xie\, Texas A & M\nXin Zhou\, Cornell University\nJonathan Zhu\, Princeton University\n\nSchedule\nMonday\, May 2\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n9:30–10:30 am\nHyun Chul Jang\nTitle: Mass rigidity for asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds with boundary \nAbstract: Asymptotically locally hyperbolic (ALH) manifolds are a class of manifolds whose sectional curvature converges to −1 at infinity. If a given ALH manifold is asymptotic to a static reference manifold\, the Wang-Chruściel-Herzlich mass integrals are well-defined\, which is a geometric invariant that essentially measure the difference from the reference manifold. In this talk\, I will present the result that an ALH manifold which minimize the mass integrals admits a static potential. To show this\, we proved the scalar curvature map is locally surjective when it is defined on (1) the space of ALH metrics that coincide exponentially toward the boundary or (2) the space of ALH metrics with arbitrarily prescribed nearby Bartnik boundary data. And then\, we establish the rigidity of the known positive mass theorems by studying the static uniqueness. This talk is based on joint work with L.-H. Huang.\n\n\n10:40–11:40 am\nAnnachiara Piubello\nTitle: Estimates on the Bartnik mass and their geometric implications. \nAbstract: In this talk\, we will discuss some recent estimates on the Bartnik mass for data with non-negative Gauss curvature and positive mean curvature. In particular\, if the metric is round the estimate reduces to an estimate found by Miao and if the total mean curvature approaches 0\, the estimate tends to 1/2 the area radius\, which is the bound found by Mantoulidis and Schoen in the blackhole horizon case. We will then discuss some geometric implications. This is joint work with Pengzi Miao.\n\n\nLUNCH BREAK\n\n\n\n\n1:30–2:30 pm\nRyan Unger\nTitle: Density and positive mass theorems for black holes and incomplete manifolds \nAbstract: We generalize the density theorems for the Einstein constraint equations of Corvino-Schoen and Eichmair-Huang-Lee-Schoen to allow for marginally outer trapped boundaries (which correspond physically to apparent horizons). As an application\, we resolve the spacetime positive mass theorem in the presence of MOTS boundary in the non-spin case. This also has a surprising application to the Riemannian setting\, including a non-filling result for manifolds with negative mass. This is joint work with Martin Lesourd and Dan Lee.\n\n\n2:40–3:40 pm\nZhizhang Xie\nTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications I \nAbstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature\, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.\n\n\nTEA BREAK\n\n\n\n\n4:10–5:10 pm\nAntoine Song (virtual)\nTitle: The spherical Plateau problem \nAbstract: For any closed oriented manifold with fundamental group G\, or more generally any group homology class for a group G\, I will discuss an infinite codimension Plateau problem in a Hilbert classifying space for G. For instance\, for a closed oriented 3-manifold M\, the intrinsic geometry of any Plateau solution is given by the hyperbolic part of M.\n\n\n\n\nTuesday\, May 3\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n9:30–10:30 am\nChao Li\nTitle: Stable minimal hypersurfaces in 4-manifolds \nAbstract: There have been a classical theory for complete minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds\, including the stable Bernstein conjecture in R^3 and rigidity results in 3-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. In this talk\, I will discuss how one may extend these results in four dimensions. This leads to new comparison theorems for positively curved 4-manifolds.\n\n\n10:40–11:40 am\nRobin Neumayer\nTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds I \nAbstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question\, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge\, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course\, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces\, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.\n\n\nLUNCH BREAK\n\n\n\n\n1:30–2:30 pm\nZhongshan An\nTitle: Local existence and uniqueness of static vacuum extensions of Bartnik boundary data \nAbstract: The study of static vacuum Riemannian metrics arises naturally in differential geometry and general relativity. It plays an important role in scalar curvature deformation\, as well as in constructing Einstein spacetimes. Existence of static vacuum Riemannian metrics with prescribed Bartnik data — the induced metric and mean curvature of the boundary — is one of the most fundamental problems in Riemannian geometry related to general relativity. It is also a very interesting problem on the global solvability of a natural geometric boundary value problem. In this talk I will first discuss some basic properties of the nonlinear and linearized static vacuum equations and the geometric boundary conditions. Then I will present some recent progress towards the existence problem of static vacuum metrics based on joint works with Lan-Hsuan Huang.\n\n\n2:40–3:40 pm\nZhizhang Xie\nTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications II \nAbstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature\, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.\n\n\nTEA BREAK\n\n\n\n\n4:10–5:10 pm\nTin-Yau Tsang\nTitle: Dihedral rigidity\, fill-in and spacetime positive mass theorem \nAbstract: For compact manifolds with boundary\, to characterise the relation between scalar curvature and boundary geometry\, Gromov proposed dihedral rigidity conjecture and fill-in conjecture. In this talk\, we will see the role of spacetime positive mass theorem in answering the corresponding questions for initial data sets.\n\n\n\n\nSpeakers Banquet\n\n\n\n\nWednesday\, May 4\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n9:30–10:30 am\nTristan Ozuch\nTitle: Weighted versions of scalar curvature\, mass and spin geometry for Ricci flows \nAbstract: With A. Deruelle\, we define a Perelman-like functional for ALE metrics which lets us study the (in)stability of Ricci-flat ALE metrics. With J. Baldauf\, we extend some classical objects and formulas from the study of scalar curvature\, spin geometry and general relativity to manifolds with densities. We surprisingly find that the extension of ADM mass is the opposite of the above functional introduced with A. Deruelle. Through a weighted Witten’s formula\, this functional also equals a weighted spinorial Dirichlet energy on spin manifolds. Ricci flow is the gradient flow of all of these quantities.\n\n\n10:40–11:40 am\nRobin Neumayer\nTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds II \nAbstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question\, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge\, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course\, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces\, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.\n\n\nLUNCH BREAK\n\n\n\n\n1:30–2:30 pm\nChristos Mantoulidis\nTitle: Metrics with lambda_1(-Delta+kR) > 0 and applications to the Riemannian Penrose Inequality \nAbstract: On a closed n-dimensional manifold\, consider the space of all Riemannian metrics for which -Delta+kR is positive (nonnegative) definite\, where k > 0 and R is the scalar curvature. This spectral generalization of positive (nonnegative) scalar curvature arises naturally\, for different values of k\, in the study of scalar curvature in dimension n + 1 via minimal surfaces\, the Yamabe problem in dimension n\, and Perelman’s surgery for Ricci flow in dimension n = 3. We study these spaces in unison and generalize\, as appropriate\, scalar curvature results that we eventually apply to k = 1/2\, where the space above models apparent horizons in time-symmetric initial data sets to the Einstein equations and whose flexibility properties are intimately tied with the instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. This is joint work with Chao Li.\n\n\n2:40–3:40 pm\nZhizhang Xie\nTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications III \nAbstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature\, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.\n\n\nTEA BREAK\n\n\n\n\n4:10–5:10 pm\nXin Zhou\n(Virtual)\nTitle: Min-max minimal hypersurfaces with higher multiplicity \nAbstract: It is well known that minimal hypersurfaces produced by the Almgren-Pitts min-max theory are counted with integer multiplicities. For bumpy metrics (which form a generic set)\, the multiplicities are one thanks to the resolution of the Marques-Neves Multiplicity One Conjecture. In this talk\, we will exhibit a set of non-bumpy metrics on the standard (n+1)-sphere\, in which the min-max varifold associated with the second volume spectrum is a multiplicity two n-sphere. Such non-bumpy metrics form the first set of examples where the min-max theory must produce higher multiplicity minimal hypersurfaces. The talk is based on a joint work with Zhichao Wang (UBC).\n\n\n\n\nMay 5\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n9:00–10:00 am\nAndre Neves\nTitle: Metrics on spheres where all the equators are minimal \nAbstract: I will talk about joint work with Lucas Ambrozio and Fernando Marques where we study the space of metrics where all the equators are minimal.\n\n\n10:10–11:10 am\nRobin Neumayer\nTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds III \nAbstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question\, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge\, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course\, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces\, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.\n\n\n11:20–12:20 pm\nPaula Burkhardt-Guim\nTitle: Lower scalar curvature bounds for C^0 metrics: a Ricci flow approach \nAbstract: We describe some recent work that has been done to generalize the notion of lower scalar curvature bounds to C^0 metrics\, including a localized Ricci flow approach. In particular\, we show the following: that there is a Ricci flow definition which is stable under greater-than-second-order perturbation of the metric\, that there exists a reasonable notion of a Ricci flow starting from C^0 initial data which is smooth for positive times\, and that the weak lower scalar curvature bounds are preserved under evolution by the Ricci flow from C^0 initial data.\n\n\nLUNCH BREAK\n\n\n\n\n1:30–2:30 pm\nJonathan Zhu\nTitle: Widths\, minimal submanifolds and symplectic embeddings \nAbstract: Width or waist inequalities measure the size of a manifold with respect to measures of families of submanifolds. We’ll discuss related area estimates for minimal submanifolds\, as well as applications to quantitative symplectic camels.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/grworkshop/
LOCATION:CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Event,Workshop
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220503T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220503T103000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20240214T072025Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T055241Z
UID:10002557-1651570200-1651573800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The threshold for stacked triangulations
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Consider a bootstrap percolation process that starts with a set of `infected’ triangles $Y \subseteq \binom{[n]}3$\, and a new triangle f gets infected if there is a copy of K_4^3 (= the boundary of a tetrahedron) in which f is the only not-yet infected triangle.\nSuppose that every triangle is initially infected independently with probability p=p(n)\, what is the threshold probability for percolation — the event that all triangles get infected? How many new triangles do get infected in the subcritical regime? \nThis notion of percolation can be viewed as a simplification of simple-connectivity. Namely\, a stacked triangulation of a triangle is obtained by repeatedly subdividing an inner face into three faces.\nWe ask: for which $p$ does the random simplicial complex Y_2(n\,p) contain\, for every triple $xyz$\, the faces of a stacked triangulation of $xyz$ whose internal vertices are arbitrarily labeled in [n]. \nWe consider this problem in every dimension d>=2\, and our main result identifies a sharp probability threshold for percolation\, showing it is asymptotically (c_d*n)^(-1/d)\, where c_d is the growth rate of the Fuss–Catalan numbers of order d. \nThe proof hinges on a second moment argument in the supercritical regime\, and on Kalai’s algebraic shifting in the subcritical regime. \nJoint work with Eyal Lubetzky.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-3-2022-cmsa-combinatorics-physics-and-probability-seminar/
LOCATION:Hybrid
CATEGORIES:Combinatorics Physics and Probability
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220505T153600
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220505T173600
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20240214T084023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T102954Z
UID:10002592-1651764960-1651772160@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Qianfang: a type-safe and data-driven healthcare system starting from Traditional Chinese Medicine
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Although everyone talks about AI + healthcare\, many people were unaware of the fact that there are two possible outcomes of the collaboration\, due to the inherent dissimilarity between the two giant subjects. The first possibility is healthcare-leads\, and AI is for building new tools to make steps in healthcare easier\, better\, more effective or more accurate. The other possibility is AI-leads\, and therefore the protocols of healthcare can be redesigned or redefined to make sure that the whole infrastructure and pipelines are ideal for running AI algorithms. \nOur system Qianfang belongs to the second category. We have designed a new kind of clinic for the doctors and patients\, so that it will be able to collect high quality data for AI algorithms. Interestingly\, the clinic is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) instead of modern medicine\, because we believe that TCM is more suitable for AI algorithms as the starting point. \nIn this talk\, I will elaborate on how we convert TCM knowledge into a modern type-safe large-scale system\, the mini-language that we have designed for the doctors and patients\, the interpretability of AI decisions\, and our feedback loop for collecting data. \nOur project is still on-going\, not finished yet.Bio: Yang Yuan is now an assistant professor at IIIS\, Tsinghua. He finished his undergraduate study at Peking University in 2012. Afterwards\, he received his PhD at Cornell University in 2018\, advised by Professor Robert Kleinberg. During his PhD\, he was a visiting student at MIT/Microsoft New England (2014-2015) and Princeton University (2016 Fall). Before joining Tsinghua\, he spent one year at MIT Institute for Foundations of Data Science (MIFODS) as a postdoc researcher. He now works on AI+Healthcare\, AI Interpretability and AI system.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-5-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220506T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220508T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20230706T181343Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231227T080733Z
UID:10000104-1651831200-1652029200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2022 NSF FRG Workshop on Discrete Shapes
DESCRIPTION:On May 6–8\, 2022\, the CMSA  hosted a second NSF FRG Workshop. \nThis project brings together a community of researchers who develop theoretical and computational models to characterize shapes. Their combined interests span Mathematics (Geometry and Topology)\, Computer Science (Scientific Computing and Complexity Theory)\, and domain sciences\, from Data Sciences to Computational Biology. \nScientific research benefits from the development of an ever-growing number of sensors that are able to capture details of the world at increasingly fine resolutions. The seemingly unlimited breadth and depth of these sources provide the means to study complex systems in a more comprehensive way. At the same time\, however\, these sensors are generating a huge amount of data that comes with a high level of complexity and heterogeneity\, providing indirect measurements of hidden processes that provide keys to the systems under study. This has led to new challenges and opportunities in data analysis. Our focus is on image data and the shapes they represent. Advances in geometry and topology have led to powerful new tools that can be applied to geometric methods for representing\, searching\, simulating\, analyzing\, and comparing shapes. These methods and tools can be applied in a wide range of fields\, including computer vision\, biological imaging\, brain mapping\, target recognition\, and satellite image analysis. \nThis workshop is part of the NSF FRG project: Geometric and Topological Methods for Analyzing Shapes. \nThe workshop was held in room G10 of the CMSA\, located at 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA. \n\nWorkshop on Discrete Shapes\nMay 6–8\, 2022\nOrganizers: \n\nDavid Glickenstein (University of Arizona)\nJoel Hass (University of California\, Davis)\nPatrice Koehl (University of California\, Davis)\nFeng Luo (Rutgers University\, New Brunswick)\nMaria Trnkova (University of California\, Davis)\nShing-Tung Yau (Harvard)\n\nSpeakers: \n\nMiri Ben-Chen (Technion)\nAlexander Bobenko (TU Berlin)\nJohn Bowers (James Madison)\nSteven Gortler (Harvard)\nDavid Gu (Stony Brook)\nAnil Hirani (UIUC)\nYanwen Luo (Rutgers)\nPeter Schroeder (Caltech)\nJustin Solomon (MIT)\nTianqi Wu (Clark University)\n\nContributed Talk Speakers: \n\nOded Stein (MIT)\nBohan Zhou (Dartmouth)\n\nSchedule\nSchedule (PDF) \nFriday\, May 6\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n10:00–10:05 am\n\nWelcome Opening\n\n\n10:05–10:55 am\nAnil N. Hirani\nTitle: Discrete vector bundles with connection \nAbstract: We have recently initiated a generalization of discrete exterior calculus to differential forms with values in a vector bundle. A discrete vector bundle with connection over a simplicial complex has fibers at vertices and transport maps on edges\, just as in lattice gauge theory. The first part of this work involves defining and examining properties of a combinatorial exterior covariant derivative and wedge product. We find that these operators commute with pullback under simplicial maps of the base space. From these definitions emerges a combinatorial curvature. In the second part of this work we showed that the curvature behaves as one expects: it measures failure of parallel transport to be independent of the path\, and is the local obstruction to a trivialization. For a bundle with metric\, metric compatibility of the discrete connection is equivalent to a Leibniz rule.  Vanishing curvature is indeed equivalent to an appropriately defined discrete flat connection\, and curvature obstructs trivializability. In this talk I will focus on just the first part\, and talk about naturality of the discrete exterior covariant derivative and discrete wedge product using simple examples. Joint work with Daniel Berwick-Evans (UIUC) and Mark Schubel (Apple\, Inc.).\n\n\n11:10–12:00 pm\nDavid Gu\nTitle: Surface Quadrilateral Meshing Based on Abel-Jacobi Theory \nAbstract: Surface quadrilateral meshing plays an important role in many fields. For example\, in CAD (computer-aided design)\, all shapes are represented as Spline surfaces\, which requires structured quad-meshing; in CAE (computer-aided engineering)\, the surface tessellation greatly affects the accuracy and efficiency of numerical simulations. Although the research on mesh generation has a long history\, it remains a great challenge to automatically generate structured quad-meshes with high qualities. The key is to find the governing equation for the singularities of the global structured quad-meshes. \nIn this talk\, we introduce our recent discovery:  the singularities of a quad-mesh are governed by the Abel theorem. We show that each quad-mesh determines a conformal structure and a meromorphic quadratic differential\, the configuration of the mesh singularities can be described as the divisor of the differential. The quad-mesh divisor minus four times of the divisor of a holomorphic one-form is principal and satisfies the Abel theorem: its image under the Jacobi map is zero in the Jacobi variety. \nThis leads to a rigorous and efficient algorithm for surface structured quadrilateral meshing. After determining the singularities\, the metric induced by the quad-mesh can be computed using the discrete Yambe flow\, and the meromorphic quartic differential can be constructed\, the trajectories of the differentials give the quad-mesh. The method can be applied directly for geometric modeling and computational mechanics.\n\n\n12:00–2:00 pm\nLunch Break\n\n\n\n2:00–2:50 pm\n Justin Solomon\nTitle:  Geometry Processing with Volumes \nAbstract:  Many algorithms in geometry processing are restricted to two-dimensional surfaces represented as triangle meshes.  Drawing inspiration from simulation\, medical imaging\, and other application domains\, however\, there is a substantial demand for geometry processing algorithms targeted to volumes represented as tetrahedral meshes or grids.  In this talk\, I will summarize some efforts in our group to develop a geometry processing toolkit specifically for volumes.  Specifically\, I will cover our recent work on hexahedral remeshing via cuboid decomposition\, volumetric correspondence\, and minimal surface computation via geometric measure theory.\n\n\n3:00–3:20 pm\nOded Stein\nTitle: Optimization for flip-free parametrization \nAbstract: Parametrizations without flipped elements are desirable in a variety of applications such as UV mapping and surface/volume correspondence. Computing flip-free parametrizations can be challenging\, and there are many different approaches to the problem. In this talk we will look at multiple strategies for flip-free parametrizations that are based on the optimization of continuous energies. Due to the nature of the problem\, these energies are often nonconvex and unbounded\, which is a challenge for optimization methods. We will also take a closer look at our recently developed method for computing flip-free parametrizations using the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM).\n\n\n3:20–4:00 pm\nBreak\n\n\n\n4:00–4:50 pm\nJohn Bowers\nTitle: Koebe-Andre’ev-Thurston Packings via Flow \nAbstract: Recently\, Connelly and Gortler gave a novel proof of the circle packing theorem for tangency packings by introducing a hybrid combinatorial-geometric operation\, flip-and-flow\, that allows two tangency packings whose contact graphs differ by a combinatorial edge flip to be continuously deformed from one to the other while maintaining tangencies across all of their common edges. Starting from a canonical tangency circle packing with the desired number of circles a finite sequence of flip-and-flow operations may be applied to obtain a circle packing for any desired (proper) contact graph with the same number of circles. \nThe full Koebe-Andre’ev-Thurston theorem generalizes the circle packing theorem to allow for neighboring circles to overlap by angles up to $\pi/2$. In this talk I will show that the Connelly-Gortler method can be extended to allow for circles to overlap to angles up to $\pi/2$. This results in a new proof of the general Koebe-Andre’ev-Thurston theorem for disk patterns on $\mathbb{S}^2$ as well as a numerical algorithm for computing them. The proof involves generalizing a notion of convexity for circle polyhedra that was recently used to prove the global rigidity of certain circle packings\, which is then used to show that all convex circle polyhedra are infinitesimally rigid\, a result of independent interest.\n\n\n5:00–5:30 pm\nMovies\n “conform!” & ”Koebe polyhedra”\n\n\n\n\n  \nSaturday\, May 7\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n9:30–10:20 am\nAlexander Bobenko\nTitle: The Bonnet problem: Is a surface characterized by its metric and curvatures? \nAbstract: We consider a classical problem in differential geometry\, known as the Bonnet problem\, whether a surface is characterized by a metric and mean curvature function. Generically\, the answer is yes. Special cases when it is not the case are classified. In particular\, we explicitly construct a pair of immersed tori that are related by a mean curvature preserving isometry. This resolves a longstanding open problem on whether the metric and mean curvature function determine a unique compact surface. Discrete differential geometry is used to find crucial geometric properties of surfaces. This is a joint work with Tim Hoffmann and Andrew Sageman-Furnas\n\n\n10:20–11:00 am\nBreak\n\n\n\n11:00–11:50 am\nMiri Ben Chen\nTitle: Surface Multigrid via Intrinsic Prolongation \nAbstract: The solution of a linear system is a required ingredient in many geometry processing applications\, and multigrid methods are among the most efficient solution techniques. However\, due to the unstructured nature of triangle meshes\, mapping functions between different multigrid levels is challenging. In this talk I will present our recent work that uses an intrinsic prolongation operator as the main building block in a multigrid solver for curved triangle meshes. Our solver can be used as a black-box in any triangle-mesh based system that requires a linear solve\, and leads to order of magnitude time-efficiency improvement compared to direct solvers.\n\n\n12:00–2:00 pm\nLunch Break\n\n\n\n2:00–2:50 pm\nSteven Gortler\nTitle: Reconstructing configurations and graphs from unlabeled distance measurements \nAbstract: Place a configuration of n  points (vertices) generically in R^d. Measure the Euclidean lengths of m point-pairs (edges). When is the underlying graph determined by these $m$ numbers (up to isomorphism)? When is the point configuration determined by these $m$ numbers (up to congruence)? This question is motivated by a number of inverse problem applications. In this talk\, I will review what is known about this question.\n\n\n3:00–3:20 pm\nBohan Zhou\nTitle: Efficient and Exact Multimarginal Optimal Transport with Pairwise Costs \nAbstract: Optimal transport has profound and wide applications since its introduction in 1781 by Monge. Thanks to the Benamou-Brenier formulation\, it provides a meaningful functional in the image science like image and shape registrations. However\, exact computation through LP or PDE is in general not practical in large scale\, while the popular entropy-regularized method introduces additional diffusion noise\, deteriorating shapes and boundaries. Until the recent work [Jacobs and Leger\, A Fast Approach to Optimal Transport: the back-and-forth method\, Numerische Mathematik\, 2020]\, solving OT in a both accurate and fast fashion finally becomes possible. Multiple marginal optimal transport is a natural extension from OT but has its own interest and is in general more computationally expensive. The entropy method suffers from both diffusion noise and high dimensional computational issues. In this work with Matthew Parno\, we extend from two marginals to multiple marginals\, on a wide class of cost functions when those marginals have a graph structure. This new method is fast and does not introduce diffusion. As a result\, the new proposed method can be used in many fields those require sharp boundaries. If time allows\, we will illustrate by examples the faithful joint recover via MMOT of images with sharp boundaries\, with applications on sea ice prediction.\n\n\n3:20–4:00 pm\nBreak\n\n\n\n4:00–4:50 pm\nPeter Schroeder\nTitle: Constrained Willmore Surfaces \nAbstract: The Willmore energy of a surface is a canonical example of a squared curvature bending energy. Its minimizers are therefore of interest both in the theory of surfaces and in practical applications from physical and geometric modeling. Minimizing the bending energy alone however is insufficient. Taking a cue from univariate splines which incorporate an isometry constraint we consider Willmore minimizers subject to a conformality constraint. In this talk I will report on a numerical algorithm to find such constrained minimizers for triangle meshes. \nJoint work with Yousuf Soliman (Caltech)\, Olga Diamanti (UGraz)\, Albert Chern (UCSD)\, Felix Knöppel (TU Berlin)\, Ulrich Pinkall (TU Berlin).\n\n\n5:00–5:50 pm\n\nProblems and Application discussions\n\n\n\n\n  \nSunday\, May 8\, 2022 \n\n\n\n\n9:00–9:50 am\nTianqi Wu\nTitle: Convergence of discrete uniformizations \nAbstract: The theory of discrete conformality\, based on the notion of vertex scaling\, has been implemented in computing conformal maps or uniformizations of surfaces. We will show that if a Delaunay triangle mesh approximates a smooth surface\, then the related discrete uniformization will converge to the smooth uniformization\, with an error bounded linearly by the size of the triangles in the mesh.\n\n\n10:10–11:00 am\nYanwen Luo\nTitle:  Recent Progress in Spaces of Geodesic Triangulations of Surfaces\n\nAbstract: Spaces of geodesic triangulations of surfaces are natural discretization of the groups of surface diffeomorphisms isotopy to the identity. It has been conjectured that these spaces have the same homotopy type as their smooth counterparts. In this talk\, we will report the recent progress in this problem. The key ingredient is the idea in Tutte’s embedding theorem. We will explain how to use it to identify the homotopy types of spaces of geodesic triangulations. This is joint work with Tianqi Wu and Xiaoping Zhu.\n\n\n11:10–12:00 pm\n\nProblems and Application discussions\n\n\n12:00–1:00 pm\nMovie\n“The Discrete Charm of Geometry”
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/2022-nsf-frg-workshop/
LOCATION:CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Event,Workshop
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/FRG-Poster-1-791x1024-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220509T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220512T123000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000702
CREATED:20230706T181710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231227T082643Z
UID:10000107-1652086800-1652358600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Conference in Memory of Professor Masatake Kuranishi
DESCRIPTION:On May 9–12\, 2022\, the CMSA hosted the conference Deformations of structures and moduli in geometry and analysis: A Memorial in honor of Professor Masatake Kuranishi. \nOrganizers:  Tristan Collins (MIT) and Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard and Tsinghua) \nVideos are available on the conference playlist. \n  \nSpeakers: \nCharles Fefferman (Princeton University) \nTeng Fei (Rutgers University) \nRobert Friedman (Columbia University) \nKenji Fukaya (Simons Center\, Stony Brook) \nAkito Futaki (Tsinghua University) \nVictor Guillemin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) \nNigel Hitchin (Oxford University) \nBlaine Lawson (Stony Brook University) \nYu-Shen Lin (Boston University) \nMelissa C.C. Liu (Columbia University) \nTakeo Ohsawa (Nagoya University) \nDuong H. Phong (Columbia University) \nSebastien Picard (University of British Columbia) \nPaul Seidel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) \nGabor Szekelyhidi (University of Notre Dame) \nClaire Voisin (Institut de Mathematiques\, Jussieu\, France) \nShing-Tung Yau (Harvard University) \n  \n\n\n\nSchedule (download pdf) \n\nMonday\, May 9\, 2022 \n\n\n\n8:15 am\nLight breakfast & coffee/tea\n\n\n8:45–9:00 am\nOpening Remarks\n\n\n9:00–10:00 am\nKenji Fukaya\nTitle: Gromov Hausdorff convergence of filtered A infinity category \nAbstract: In mirror symmetry a mirror to a symplectic manifold is actually believed to be a family of complex manifold parametrized by a disk (of radius 0). The coordinate ring of the parameter space is a kind of formal power series ring the Novikov ring. Novikov ring is a coefficient ring of Floer homology. Most of the works on homological Mirror symmetry so far studies A infinity category over Novikov field\, which corresponds to the study of generic fiber. The study of A infinity category over Novikov ring is related to several interesting phenomenon of Hamiltonian dynamics. In this talk I will explain a notion which I believe is useful to study mirror symmetry. \nVideo\n\n\n10:15–11:15 am\nNigel Hitchin (Zoom)\nTitle: Deformations: A personal perspective \nAbstract: The talk\, largely historical\, will focus on different deformation complexes I have encountered in my work\, starting with instantons on 4-manifolds\, but also monopoles\, Higgs bundles and generalized complex structures. I will also discuss some speculative ideas related to surfaces of negative curvature. \nVideo\n\n\n11:30–12:30 pm\nH. Blaine Lawson\nTitle: Projective Hulls\, Projective Linking\, and Boundaries of Varieties \nAbstract: In 1958 John Wermer proved that the polynomial hull of a compact real analytic curve γ ⊂ Cn was a 1-dim’l complex subvariety of Cn − γ. This result engendered much subsequent activity\, and was related to Gelfand’s spectrum of a Banach algebra. In the early 2000’s Reese Harvey and I found a projective analogue of these concepts and wondered whether Wermer’s Theorem could be generalized to the projective setting. This question turned out to be more subtle and quite intriguing\, with unexpected consequences. We now know a great deal\, a highpoint of which s a result with Harvey and Wermer. It led to conjectures (for Cω-curves in P2C) which imply several results. One says\, roughly\, that a (2p − 1)-cycle Γ in Pn bounds a positive holomorphic p-chain of mass ≤ Λ ⇐⇒ its normalized linking number with all positive (n − p)-cycles in Pn − |Γ| is ≥ −Λ. Another says that a class τ ∈ H2p(Pn\,|Γ|;Z) with ∂τ = Γ contains a positive holomorphic p-chain ⇐⇒ τ•[Z]≥0 for all positive holomorphic (n−p)-cycles Z in Pn−|Γ| \nVideo\n\n\n12:30–2:30 pm\nLunch Break\n\n\n\n2:30–3:30 pm\nGabor Szekelyhidi\nTitle: Singularities along the Lagrangian mean curvature flow. \nAbstract: We study singularity formation along the Lagrangian mean curvature flow of surfaces. On the one hand we show that if a tangent flow at a singularity is the special Lagrangian union of two transverse planes\, then the flow undergoes a “neck pinch”\, and can be continued past the flow. This can be related to the Thomas-Yau conjecture on stability conditions along the Lagrangian mean curvature flow. In a different direction we show that ancient solutions of the flow\, whose blow-down is given by two planes meeting along a line\, must be translators. These are joint works with Jason Lotay and Felix Schulze. \nVideo\n\n\n3:30–4:00 pm\nCoffee Break\n \n\n\n4:00–5:00 pm\nTakeo Ohsawa\nTitle: Glimpses of embeddings and deformations of CR manifolds \nAbstract: Basic results on the embeddings and the deformations of CR manifolds will be reviewed with emphasis on the reminiscences of impressive moments with Kuranishi since his visit to Kyoto in 1975. \nVideo\n\n\n\n  \n  \n  \nTuesday\, May 10\, 2022 \n  \n\n\n\n8:15 am\nLight breakfast & coffee/tea\n\n\n9:00–10:00 am\nCharles Fefferman (Zoom)\nTitle: Interpolation of Data by Smooth Functions \nAbstract: Let X be your favorite Banach space of continuous functions on R^n. Given an (arbitrary) set E in R^n and an arbitrary function f:E->R\, we ask: How can we tell whether f extends to a function F \in X? If such an F exists\, then how small can we take its norm? What can we say about its derivatives (assuming functions in X have derivatives)? Can we take F to depend linearly on f? Suppose E is finite. Can we compute an F as above with norm nearly as small as possible? How many computer operations does it take? What if F is required to agree only approximately with f on E? What if we are allowed to discard a few data points (x\, f(x)) as “outliers”? Which points should we discard? \nThe results were obtained jointly with A. Israel\, B. Klartag\, G.K. Luli and P. Shvartsman over many years. \nVideo\n\n\n10:15–11:15 am\nClaire Voisin\nTitle: Deformations of K-trivial manifolds and applications to hyper-Kähler geometry \nSummary: I will explain the Ran approach via the T^1-lifting principle to the BTT theorem stating that deformations of K-trivial compact Kähler manifolds are unobstructed. I will explain a similar unobstructedness result for Lagrangian submanifolds of hyper-Kähler manifolds and I will describe important consequences on the topology and geometry of hyper-Kähler manifolds. \nVideo\n\n\n11:30– 2:30 pm\nVictor Guillemin\nTitle: Semi-Classical Functions of Isotropic Type \nAbstract: The world of semiclassical analysis is populated by objects of “Lagrangian type.” The topic of this talk however will be objects in semi-classical analysis that live instead on isotropic submanifolds. I will describe in my talk a lot of interesting examples of such objects. \nVideo\n\n\n12:30–2:30 pm\nLunch Break\n\n\n\n2:30–3:30 pm\nTeng Fei\nTitle: Symplectic deformations and the Type IIA flow \nAbstract: The equations of flux compactification of Type IIA superstrings were written down by Tomasiello and Tseng-Yau. To study these equations\, we introduce a natural geometric flow known as the Type IIA flow on symplectic Calabi-Yau 6-manifolds. We prove the wellposedness of this flow and establish the basic estimates. We show that the Type IIA flow can be applied to find optimal almost complex structures on certain symplectic manifolds. We prove the dynamical stability of the Type IIA flow\, which leads to a proof of stability of Kahler property for Calabi-Yau 3-folds under symplectic deformations. This is based on joint work with Phong\, Picard and Zhang. \nVideo\n\n\nSpeakers Banquet\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n  \n  \nWednesday\, May 11\, 2022 \n  \n\n\n\n8:15 am\nLight breakfast & coffee/tea\n\n\n9:00–10:00 am\nShing-Tung Yau (Zoom)\nTitle: Canonical metrics and stability in mirror symmetry \nAbstract: I will discuss the deformed Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation\, its role in mirror symmetry and its connections to notions of stability.  I will review what is known\, and pose some questions for the future. \nVideo\n\n\n10:15–11:15 am\nDuong H. Phong\nTitle: $L^\infty$ estimates for the Monge-Ampere and other fully non-linear equations in complex geometry \nAbstract: A priori estimates are essential for the understanding of partial differential equations\, and of these\, $L^\infty$ estimates are particularly important as they are also needed for other estimates. The key $L^\infty$ estimates were obtained by S.T. Yau in 1976 for the Monge-Ampere equation for the Calabi conjecture\, and sharp estimates obtained later in 1998 by Kolodziej using pluripotential theory. It had been a long-standing question whether a PDE proof of these estimates was possible. We provide a positive answer to this question\, and derive as a consequence sharp estimates for general classes of fully non-linear equations. This is joint work with B. Guo and F. Tong. \nVideo\n\n\n11:30–2:30 pm\nPaul Seidel\nTitle: The quantum connection: familiar yet puzzling \nAbstract: The small quantum connection on a Fano variety is possibly the most basic piece of enumerative geometry. In spite of being really easy to write down\, it is the subject of far-reaching conjectures (Dubrovin\, Galkin\, Iritani)\, which challenge our understanding of mirror symmetry. I will give a gentle introduction to the simplest of these questions. \nVideo\n\n\n12:30–2:30 pm\nLunch Break\n\n\n\n2:30–3:30 pm\nMelissa C.C. Liu\nTitle: Higgs-Coulumb correspondence for abelian gauged linear sigma models \nAbstract: The underlying geometry of a gauged linear sigma model (GLSM) consists of a GIT quotient of a complex vector space by the linear action of a reductive algebraic group G (the gauge group) and a polynomial function (the superpotential) on the GIT quotient. The Higgs-Coulomb correspondence relates (1) GLSM invariants which are virtual counts of curves in the critical locus of the superpotential (Higgs branch)\, and (2) Mellin-Barnes type integrals on the Lie algebra of G (Coulomb branch). In this talk\, I will describe the correspondence when G is an algebraic torus\, and explain how to use the correspondence to study dependence of GLSM invariants on the stability condition. This is based on joint work with Konstantin Aleshkin. \nVideo\n\n\n3:30–4:00 pm\nCoffee Break\n \n\n\n4:00–5:00 pm\nSebastien Picard\nTitle: Topological Transitions of Calabi-Yau Threefolds \nAbstract: Conifold transitions were proposed in the works of Clemens\, Reid and Friedman as a way to travel in the parameter space of Calabi-Yau threefolds with different Hodge numbers. This process may deform a Kahler Calabi-Yau threefold into a non-Kahler complex manifold with trivial canonical bundle. We will discuss the propagation of differential geometric structures such as balanced hermitian metrics\, Yang-Mills connections\, and special submanifolds through conifold transitions. This is joint work with T. Collins\, S. Gukov and S.-T. Yau. \nVideo\n\n\n\n  \n  \n  \nThursday\, May 12\, 2022 \n  \n\n\n\n8:15 am\nLight breakfast & coffee/tea\n\n\n9:00 am–10:00 am\nAkito Futaki (Zoom)\nTitle: Transverse coupled Kähler-Einstein metrics and volume minimization\n\nAbstract: We show that transverse coupled Kähler-Einstein metrics on toric Sasaki manifolds arise as a critical point of a volume functional. As a preparation for the proof\, we re-visit the transverse moment polytopes and contact moment polytopes under the change of Reeb vector fields. Then we apply it to a coupled version of the volume minimization by Martelli-Sparks-Yau. This is done assuming the Calabi-Yau condition of the Kählercone\, and the non-coupled case leads to a known existence result of a transverse Kähler-Einstein metric and a Sasaki-Einstein metric\, but the coupled case requires an assumption related to Minkowski sum to obtain transverse coupled Kähler-Einstein metrics.Video\n\n\n10:15 am–11:15 am\nYu-Shen Lin\nTitle: SYZ Mirror Symmetry of Log Calabi-Yau Surfaces \nAbstract: Strominger-Yau-Zaslow conjecture predicts Calabi-Yau manifolds admits special Lagrangian fibrations. The conjecture serves as one of the guiding principles in mirror symmetry. In this talk\, I will explain the existence of the special Lagrangian fibrations in some log Calabi-Yau surfaces and their dual fibrations in their expected mirrors. The journey leads us to the study of the moduli space of Ricci-flat metrics with certain asymptotics on these geometries and the discovery of new semi-flat metrics. If time permits\, I will explain the application to the Torelli theorem of ALH^* gravitational instantons. The talk is based on joint works with T. Collins and A. Jacob. \nVideo\n\n\n11:30 am – 12:30 pm\nRobert Friedman\nTitle: Deformations of singular Fano and Calabi-Yau varieties \nAbstract: This talk will describe recent joint work with Radu Laza on deformations of generalized Fano and Calabi-Yau varieties\, i.e. compact analytic spaces whose dualizing sheaves are either duals of ample line bundles or are trivial. Under the assumption of isolated hypersurface canonical singularities\, we extend results of Namikawa and Steenbrink in dimension three and discuss various generalizations to higher dimensions. \nVideo\n\n\n12:30 pm\nConcluding Remarks\n\n\n\n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/conference-in-memory-of-professor-masatake-kuranishi/
LOCATION:Science and Engineering Complex (SEC)\, 150 Western Ave\, Allston\, MA 02134\, MA
CATEGORIES:Conference,Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Kuranishi_Harvard_10x12-2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220509T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220509T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20230730T181939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240214T102113Z
UID:10001150-1652101200-1652104800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Inflation and light Dark Matter constraints from the Swampland
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: I will explore the interplay between Swampland conjectures and models of inflation and light Dark Matter. To that end\, I will briefly review the weak gravity conjecture (WGC) and the related Festina Lente (FL) bound. These have implications for light darkly and milli-charged particles and can disfavor a large portion of parameter space. The FL bound also implies strong restrictions on the field content of our universe during inflation and presents an opportunity for inflationary model building. At the same time\, it rules out some popular models like chromo-natural inflation and gauge-flation. Finally\, I will review  another Swampland conjecture related to Stückelberg photon masses and discuss its implications for astro-particle physics.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-9-2022-swampland-seminar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Swampland Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220511T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220511T120000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T100851Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240813T163022Z
UID:10002659-1652265000-1652270400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Cosmology from the vacuum
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: We are familiar with the idea that quantum gravity in AdS can holographically emerge from complex patterns of entanglement\, but can the physics of big bang cosmology emerge from a quantum many-body system? In this talk I will argue that standard tools of holography can be used to describe fully non-perturbative microscopic models of cosmology in which a period of accelerated expansion may result from the positive potential energy of time-dependent scalar fields evolving towards a region with negative potential. In these models\, the fundamental cosmological constant is negative\, and the universe eventually recollapses in a time-reversal symmetric way. The microscopic description naturally selects a special state for the cosmology. In this framework\, physics in the cosmological spacetime is dual to the vacuum physics in a static planar asymptotically AdS Lorentzian wormhole spacetime\, in the sense that the background spacetimes and observables are related by analytic continuation. The dual spacetime is weakly curved everywhere\, so any cosmological observables can be computed in the dual picture via effective field theory without detailed knowledge of the UV completion or the physics near the big bang. Based on 2203.11220 with S. Antonini\, P. Simidzija\, and M. Van Raamsdonk.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-11-2022-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics/
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-Seminar-05.11.22-1583x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220512T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220512T120000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T100601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240813T163153Z
UID:10002656-1652351400-1652356800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Oblique Lessons from the W Mass Measurement at CDF II
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: The CDF collaboration recently reported a new precise measurement of the W boson mass MW with a central value significantly larger than the SM prediction. We explore the effects of including this new measurement on a fit of the Standard Model (SM) to electroweak precision data. We characterize the tension of this new measurement with the SM and explore potential beyond the SM phenomena within the electroweak sector in terms of the oblique parameters S\, T and U. We show that the large MW value can be accommodated in the fit by a large\, nonzero value of U\, which is difficult to construct in explicit models. Assuming U = 0\, the electroweak fit strongly prefers large\, positive values of T. Finally\, we study how the preferred values of the oblique parameters may be generated in the context of models affecting the electroweak sector at tree- and loop-level. In particular\, we demonstrate that the preferred values of T and S can be generated with a real SU(2)L triplet scalar\, the humble swino\, which can be heavy enough to evade current collider constraints\, or by (multiple) species of a singlet-doublet fermion pair. We highlight challenges in constructing other simple models\, such as a dark photon\, for explaining a large MW value\, and several directions for further study.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-12-2022-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics/
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-Seminar-05.12.22-1583x2048-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220512T153800
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220512T173800
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T084325Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T102818Z
UID:10002594-1652369880-1652377080@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Geometric Models for Sets of Probability Measures
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Many statistical and computational tasks boil down to comparing probability measures expressed as density functions\, clouds of data points\, or generative models.  In this setting\, we often are unable to match individual data points but rather need to deduce relationships between entire weighted and unweighted point sets. In this talk\, I will summarize our team’s recent efforts to apply geometric techniques to problems in this space\, using tools from optimal transport and spectral geometry. Motivated by applications in dataset comparison\, time series analysis\, and robust learning\, our work reveals how to apply geometric reasoning to data expressed as probability measures without sacrificing computational efficiency.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-12-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-05.12.22-1583x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220513T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220513T110000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T084053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T105004Z
UID:10002593-1652434200-1652439600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Cobordism and Deformation Class of the Standard Model and Beyond: Proton Stability and Neutrino Mass
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Juven Wang \nTitle: Cobordism and Deformation Class of the Standard Model and Beyond: Proton Stability and Neutrino Mass \nAbstract: ‘t Hooft anomalies of quantum field theories (QFTs) with an invertible global symmetry G (including spacetime and internal symmetries) in a d-dim spacetime are known to be classified by a d+1-dim cobordism group TPd+1(G)\, whose group generator is a d+1-dim cobordism invariant written as a d+1-dim invertible topological field theory. Deformation class of QFT is recently proposed to be specified by its symmetry G and a d+1-dim invertible topological field theory. Seemly different QFTs of the same deformation class can be deformed to each other via quantum phase transitions. We ask which deformation class controls the 4d ungauged or gauged (SU(3)×SU(2)×U(1))/Zq Standard Model (SM) for q=1\,2\,3\,6 with a continuous or discrete (B−L) symmetry and with also a compatible discrete baryon plus lepton Z_{2Nf} B+L symmetry. (The Z_{2Nf} B+L is discrete due to the ABJ anomaly under the BPST instanton.) We explore a systematic classification of candidate perturbative local and nonperturbative global anomalies of the 4d SM\, including all these gauge and gravitational backgrounds\, via a cobordism theory\, which controls the SM’s deformation class. While many Grand Unified Theories violating the discrete B+L symmetry suffer from the proton decay\, the SM and some versions of Ultra Unification (constrained by Z_{16} class global anomaly that replaces sterile neutrinos with new exotic gapped/gapless topological or conformal sectors) can have a stable proton. Dictated by a Z_2 class global mixed gauge-gravitational anomaly\, there can be a gapless deconfined quantum critical region between Georgi-Glashow and Pati-Salam models — the Standard Model and beyond occur as neighbor phases. We will also comment on a new mechanism to give the neutrino mass via topological field theories and topological defects. Work based on arXiv:2112.14765\, arXiv:2204.08393\, arXiv:2202.13498 and references therein.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-13-2022-member-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220517T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220517T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20230706T181958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240229T102937Z
UID:10000146-1652778000-1652810400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:SMaSH: Symposium for Mathematical Sciences at Harvard
DESCRIPTION:SMaSH: Symposium for Mathematical Sciences at Harvard\nOn Tuesday\, May 17\, 2022\, from 9:00 am – 5:30 pm\, the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Harvard Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (CMSA) held a Symposium for Mathematical Sciences for the mathematical sciences community at Harvard. \nOrganizing Committee \n\nMichael Brenner\, Applied Mathematics (SEAS)\nMichael Desai\, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (FAS)\nSam Gershman\, Psychology (FAS)\nMichael Hopkins\, Mathematics (FAS)\nGary King\, Government (FAS)\nPeter Koellner\, Philosophy (FAS)\nScott Kominers\, Economics (FAS) & Entrepreneurial Management (HBS)\nXihong Lin\, Biostatistics (HSPH) & Statistics (FAS)\nYue Lu\, Electrical Engineering (SEAS)\nSusan Murphy\, Statistics (FAS) & Computer Science (SEAS)\nLisa Randall\, Physics (SEAS)\nEugene Shakhnovich\, Chemistry (FAS)\nSalil Vadhan\, Computer Science (SEAS)\nHorng-Tzer Yau\, Mathematics (FAS)\n\n\nThis event was held in-person at the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) at 150 Western Ave\, Allston\, MA 02134\, and streamed on Zoom. \nHarvard graduate students and postdocs presented Poster Sessions. \n\nVenue: Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) \n\nSpeakers\n\nAnurag Anshu\, Computer Science (SEAS)\nMorgane Austern\, Statistics (FAS)\nDemba Ba\, Electrical Engineering & Bioengineering (SEAS)\nMichael Brenner\, Applied Mathematics (SEAS)\nRui Duan\, Biostatistics (HSPH)\nYannai A. Gonczarowski\, Economics (FAS) & Computer Science (SEAS)\nKosuke Imai\, Government & Statistics (FAS)\nSham M. Kakade\, Computer Science (SEAS) & Statistics (FAS)\nSeth Neel\, Technology & Operations Management (HBS)\nMelanie Matchett Wood\, Mathematics (FAS)\n\nSchedule PDF \nSchedule\n\n\n\n\n9:00–9:30 am\nCoffee and Breakfast\nWest Atrium (ground floor of the SEC)\n\n\n9:30–10:30 am\nFaculty Talks\nWinokur Family Hall Classroom (Room 1.321) located just off of the West AtriumKosuke Imai\, Government & Statistics (FAS): Use of Simulation Algorithms for Legislative Redistricting Analysis and EvaluationYannai A. Gonczarowski\, Economics (FAS) & Computer Science (SEAS): The Sample Complexity of Up-to-ε Multi-Dimensional Revenue Maximization\n\n\n10:30–11:00 am\nCoffee Break\nWest Atrium (ground floor of the SEC)\n\n\n11:00–12:00 pm\nFaculty Talks\nWinokur Family Hall Classroom (Room 1.321) located just off of the West AtriumSeth Neel\, Technology & Operations Management (HBS): “Machine (Un)Learning” or Why Your Deployed Model Might Violate Existing Privacy LawDemba Ba\, Electrical Engineering & Bioengineering (SEAS): Geometry\, AI\, and the Brain\n\n\n12:00–1:00 pm\nLunch Break\nEngineering Yard Tent\n\n\n1:00–2:30 pm\nFaculty Talks\nWinokur Family Hall Classroom (Room 1.321) located just off of the West AtriumMelanie Matchett Wood\, Mathematics (FAS): Understanding distributions of algebraic structures through their momentsMorgane Austern\, Statistics (FAS): Limit theorems for structured random objectsAnurag Anshu\, Computer Science (SEAS): Operator-valued polynomial approximations and their use.\n\n\n2:30–3:00 pm\nCoffee Break\nWest Atrium (ground floor of the SEC)\n\n\n3:00–4:30 pm\nFaculty Talks\nWinokur Family Hall Classroom (Room 1.321) located just off of the West AtriumMichael Brenner\, Applied Mathematics (SEAS): Towards living synthetic materialsRui Duan\, Biostatistics (HSPH): Federated and transfer learning for healthcare data integrationSham M. Kakade\, Computer Science (SEAS) & Statistics (FAS): What is the Statistical Complexity of Reinforcement Learning?\n\n\n4:30–5:30 pm\nReception with Jazz musicians\n& Poster Session\nEngineering Yard Tent\n\n\n\n\n\nFaculty Talks\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker\nTitle / Abstract / Bio\n\n\nAnurag Anshu\, Computer Science (SEAS)\nTitle: Operator-valued polynomial approximations and their use. \nAbstract: Approximation of complicated functions with low degree polynomials is an indispensable tool in mathematics. This becomes particularly relevant in computer science\, where the complexity of interesting functions is often captured by the degree of the approximating polynomials. This talk concerns the approximation of operator-valued functions (such as the exponential of a hermitian matrix\, or the intersection of two projectors) with low-degree operator-valued polynomials. We will highlight the challenges that arise in achieving similarly good approximations as real-valued functions\, as well as recent methods to overcome them. We will discuss applications to the ground states in physics and quantum complexity theory: correlation lengths\, area laws and concentration bounds. \nBio: Anurag Anshu is an Assistant Professor of computer science at Harvard University. He spends a lot of time exploring the rich structure of quantum many-body systems from the viewpoint of quantum complexity theory\, quantum learning theory and quantum information theory. He held postdoctoral positions at University of California\, Berkeley and University of Waterloo and received his PhD from National University of Singapore\, focusing on quantum communication complexity.\n\n\nMorgane Austern\, Statistics (FAS)\nTitle: Limit theorems for structured random objects \nAbstract: Statistical inference relies on numerous tools from probability theory to study the properties of estimators. Some of the most central ones are the central limit theorem and the free central limit theorem. However\, these same tools are often inadequate to study modern machine problems that frequently involve structured data (e.g networks) or complicated dependence structures (e.g dependent random matrices). In this talk\, we extend universal limit theorems beyond the classical setting. We consider distributionally “structured’ and dependent random object i.e random objects whose distribution is invariant under the action of an amenable group. We show\, under mild moment and mixing conditions\, a series of universal second and third order limit theorems: central-limit theorems\, concentration inequalities\, Wigner semi-circular law and Berry-Esseen bounds. The utility of these will be illustrated by a series of examples in machine learning\, network and information theory. \nBio: Morgane Austern is an assistant professor in the Statistics Department of Harvard University. Broadly\, she is interested in developing probability tools for modern machine learning and in establishing the properties of learning algorithms in structured and dependent data contexts. She graduated with a PhD in statistics from Columbia University in 2019 where she worked in collaboration with Peter Orbanz and Arian Maleki on limit theorems for dependent and structured data. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research New England from 2019 to 2021.\n\n\nDemba Ba\, Electrical Engineering & Bioengineering (SEAS)\nTitle: Geometry\, AI\, and the Brain \nAbstract: A large body of experiments suggests that neural computations reflect\, in some sense\, the geometry of “the world”. How do artificial and neural systems learn representations of “the world” that reflect its geometry? How\, for instance\, do we\, as humans\, learn representations of objects\, e.g. fruits\, that reflect the geometry of object space? Developing artificial systems that can capture/understand the geometry of the data they process may enable them to learn representations useful in many different contexts and tasks. My talk will describe an artificial neural-network architecture that\, starting from a simple union-of-manifold model of data comprising objects from different categories\, mimics some aspects of how primates learn\, organize\, and retrieve concepts\, in a manner that respects the geometry of object space. \nBio: Demba Ba serves as an Associate Professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\, where he directs the CRISP group. Recently\, he has taken a keen interest in the connection between artificial neural networks and sparse signal processing. His group leverages this connection to solve data-driven unsupervised learning problems in neuroscience\, to understand the principles of hierarchical representations of sensory signals in the brain\, and to develop explainable AI. In 2016\, he received a Research Fellowship in Neuroscience from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In 2021\, Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences awarded him the Roslyn Abramson award for outstanding undergraduate teaching.\n\n\nMichael Brenner\, Applied Mathematics (SEAS)\nTitle: Towards living synthetic materials \nAbstract: Biological materials are much more complicated and functional than synthetic ones. Over the past several years we have been trying to figure out why. A sensible hypothesis is that biological materials are programmable. But we are very far from being able to program materials we create with this level of sophistication.  I will discuss our (largely unsuccessful) efforts to bridge this gap\, though as of today I’m somewhat optimistic that we are arriving at a set of theoretical models that is rich enough to produce relevant emergent behavior. \nBio: I’ve been at Harvard for a long time. My favorite part of Harvard is the students.\n\n\nRui Duan\, Biostatistics (HSPH)\nTitle: Federated and transfer learning for healthcare data integration \nAbstract: The growth of availability and variety of healthcare data sources has provided unique opportunities for data integration and evidence synthesis\, which can potentially accelerate knowledge discovery and improve clinical decision-making. However\, many practical and technical challenges\, such as data privacy\, high dimensionality\, and heterogeneity across different datasets\, remain to be addressed. In this talk\, I will introduce several methods for the effective and efficient integration of multiple healthcare datasets in order to train statistical or machine learning models with improved generalizability and transferability. Specifically\, we develop communication-efficient federated learning algorithms for jointly analyzing multiple datasets without the need of sharing patient-level data\, as well as transfer learning approaches that leverage shared knowledge learned across multiple datasets to improve the performance of statistical models in target populations of interest. We will discuss both the theoretical properties and examples of implementation of our methods in real-world research networks and data consortia. \nBio: Rui Duan is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in Biostatistics in May 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests focus on developing statistical\, machine learning\, and informatics tools for (1) efficient data integration in biomedical research\, (2) understanding and accounting for the heterogeneity of biomedical data\, and improving the generalizability and transferability of models across populations (3) advancing precision medicine research on rare diseases and underrepresented populations.\n\n\nYannai A. Gonczarowski\, Economics (FAS) & Computer Science (SEAS)\nTitle: The Sample Complexity of Up-to-ε Multi-Dimensional Revenue Maximization \nAbstract: We consider the sample complexity of revenue maximization for multiple bidders in unrestricted multi-dimensional settings. Specifically\, we study the standard model of n additive bidders whose values for m heterogeneous items are drawn independently. For any such instance and any ε > 0\, we show that it is possible to learn an ε-Bayesian Incentive Compatible auction whose expected revenue is within ε of the optimal ε-BIC auction from only polynomially many samples. \nOur fully nonparametric approach is based on ideas that hold quite generally\, and completely sidestep the difficulty of characterizing optimal (or near-optimal) auctions for these settings. Therefore\, our results easily extend to general multi-dimensional settings\, including valuations that are not necessarily even subadditive\, and arbitrary allocation constraints. For the cases of a single bidder and many goods\, or a single parameter (good) and many bidders\, our analysis yields exact incentive compatibility (and for the latter also computational efficiency). Although the single-parameter case is already well-understood\, our corollary for this case extends slightly the state-of-the-art. \nJoint work with S. Matthew Weinberg \nBio: Yannai A. Gonczarowski is an Assistant Professor of Economics and of Computer Science at Harvard University—the first faculty member at Harvard to have been appointed to both of these departments. Interested in both economic theory and theoretical computer science\, Yannai explores computer-science-inspired economics: he harnesses approaches\, aesthetics\, and techniques traditionally originating in computer science to derive economically meaningful insights. Yannai received his PhD from the Departments of Math and CS\, and the Center for the Study of Rationality\, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem\, where he was advised by Sergiu Hart and Noam Nisan. Yannai is also a professionally-trained opera singer\, having acquired a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Classical Singing at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Yannai’s doctoral dissertation was recognized with several awards\, including the 2018 Michael B. Maschler Prize of the Israeli Chapter of the Game Theory Society\, and the ACM SIGecom Doctoral Dissertation Award for 2018. For the design and implementation of the National Matching System for Gap-Year Programs in Israel\, he was awarded the Best Paper Award at MATCH-UP’19 and the inaugural INFORMS AMD Michael H. Rothkopf Junior Researcher Paper Prize (first place) for 2020. Yannai is also the recipient of the inaugural ACM SIGecom Award for Best Presentation by a Student or Postdoctoral Researcher at EC’18. His first textbook\, “Mathematical Logic through Python” (Gonczarowski and Nisan)\, which introduces a new approach to teaching the material of a basic Logic course to Computer Science students\, tailored to the unique intuitions and strengths of this cohort of students\, is forthcoming in Cambridge University Press.\n\n\nKosuke Imai\, Government & Statistics (FAS)\nTitle: Use of Simulation Algorithms for Legislative Redistricting Analysis and Evaluation \nAbstract: After the 2020 Census\, many states have been redrawing the boundaries of Congressional and state legislative districts. To evaluate the partisan and racial bias of redistricting plans\, scholars have developed Monte Carlo simulation algorithms. The idea is to generate a representative sample of redistricting plans under a specified set of criteria and conduct a statistical hypothesis test by comparing a proposed plan with these simulated plans. I will give a brief overview of these redistricting simulation algorithms and discuss how they are used in real-world court cases. \nBio: Kosuke Imai is Professor in the Department of Government and Department of Statistics at Harvard University. Before moving to Harvard in 2018\, Imai taught at Princeton University for 15 years where he was the founding director of the Program in Statistics and Machine Learning. Imai specializes in the development of statistical methods and machine learning algorithms and their applications to social science research. His areas of expertise include causal inference\, computational social science\, program evaluation\, and survey methodology.\n\n\nSham M. Kakade\, Computer Science (SEAS) & Statistics (FAS)\nTitle: What is the Statistical Complexity of Reinforcement Learning? \nAbstract: This talk will highlight much of the recent progress on the following fundamental question in the theory of reinforcement learning: what (representational or structural) conditions govern our ability to generalize and avoid the curse of dimensionality?  With regards to supervised learning\, these questions are reasonably well understood\, both practically and theoretically: practically\, we have overwhelming evidence on the value of representational learning (say through modern deep networks) as a means for sample efficient learning\, and\, theoretically\, there are well-known complexity measures (e.g. the VC dimension and Rademacher complexity) that govern the statistical complexity of learning.  Providing an analogous theory for reinforcement learning is far more challenging\, where even characterizing structural conditions which support sample efficient generalization has been far less well understood\, until recently. \nThis talk will survey recent advances towards characterizing when generalization is possible in RL\, focusing on both necessary and sufficient conditions. In particular\, we will introduce a new complexity measure\, the Decision-Estimation Coefficient\, that is proven to be necessary (and\, essentially\, sufficient) for sample-efficient interactive learning. \nBio: Sham Kakade is a professor at Harvard University and a co-director of the Kempner Institute for the Study of Artificial and Natural Intelligence.  He works on the mathematical foundations of machine learning and AI. Sham’s thesis helped lay the statistical foundations of reinforcement learning. With his collaborators\, his additional contributions include foundational results on: policy gradient methods in reinforcement learning; regret bounds for linear bandit and Gaussian process bandit models; the tensor and spectral methods for latent variable models; and a number of convergence analyses for convex and non-convex algorithms.  He is the recipient of the ICML Test of Time Award\, the IBM Pat Goldberg best paper award\, and INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Prize. He has been program chair for COLT 2011. \nSham was an undergraduate at Caltech\, where he studied physics and worked under the guidance of John Preskill in quantum computing. He completed his Ph.D. with Peter Dayan in computational neuroscience at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit. He was a postdoc with Michael Kearns at the University of Pennsylvania.\n\n\nSeth Neel\, Technology & Operations Management (HBS)\nTitle: “Machine (Un)Learning” or Why Your Deployed Model Might Violate Existing Privacy Law \nAbstract:  Businesses like Facebook and Google depend on training sophisticated models on user data. Increasingly—in part because of regulations like the European Union’s General Data Protection Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act—these organizations are receiving requests to delete the data of particular users. But what should that mean? It is straightforward to delete a customer’s data from a database and stop using it to train future models. But what about models that have already been trained using an individual’s data? These are not necessarily safe; it is known that individual training data can be exfiltrated from models trained in standard ways via model inversion attacks. In a series of papers we help formalize a rigorous notion of data-deletion and propose algorithms to efficiently delete user data from trained models with provable guarantees in both convex and non-convex settings. \nBio: Seth Neel is a first-year Assistant Professor in the TOM Unit at Harvard Business School\, and Co-PI of the SAFR ML Lab in the D3 Institute\, which develops methodology to incorporate privacy and fairness guarantees into techniques for machine learning and data analysis\, while balancing other critical considerations like accuracy\, efficiency\, and interpretability. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 where he was an NSF graduate fellow. His work has focused primarily on differential privacy\, notions of fairness in a variety of machine learning settings\, and adaptive data analysis.\n\n\nMelanie Matchett Wood\, Mathematics (FAS)\nTitle: Understanding distributions of algebraic structures through their moments \nAbstract: A classical tool of probability and analysis is to use the moments (mean\, variance\, etc.) of a distribution to recognize an unknown distribution of real numbers.  In recent work\, we are interested in distributions of algebraic structures that can’t be captured in a single number.  We will explain one example\, the fundamental group\, that captures something about the shapes of possibly complicated or high dimensional spaces.  We are developing a new theory of the moment problem for random algebraic structures which helps to to identify distributions of such\, such as fundamental groups of random three dimensional spaces.  This talk is based partly on joint work with Will Sawin. \nBio: Melanie Matchett Wood is a professor of mathematics at Harvard University and a Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.  Her work spans number theory\, algebraic geometry\, algebraic topology\, additive combinatorics\, and probability. Wood has been awarded a CAREER grant\, a Sloan Research Fellowship\, a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering\, and the AWM-Microsoft Research Prize in Algebra and Number Theory\, and she is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. In 2021\, Wood received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award\, the nation’s highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/smash-symposium-for-mathematical-sciences-at-harvard/
LOCATION:Science and Engineering Complex (SEC)\, 150 Western Ave\, Allston\, MA 02134\, MA
CATEGORIES:Conference,Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/SMaSH_2022-2.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220517T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220517T103000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T072604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T055019Z
UID:10002559-1652779800-1652783400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Hypergraph Matchings Avoiding Forbidden Submatchings
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:  In 1973\, Erdős conjectured the existence of high girth (n\,3\,2)-Steiner systems. Recently\, Glock\, Kühn\, Lo\, and Osthus and independently Bohman and Warnke proved the approximate version of Erdős’ conjecture. Just this year\, Kwan\, Sah\, Sawhney\, and Simkin proved Erdős’ conjecture. As for Steiner systems with more general parameters\, Glock\, Kühn\, Lo\, and Osthus conjectured the existence of high girth (n\,q\,r)-Steiner systems. We prove the approximate version of their conjecture.  This result follows from our general main results which concern finding perfect or almost perfect matchings in a hypergraph G avoiding a given set of submatchings (which we view as a hypergraph H where V(H)=E(G)). Our first main result is a common generalization of the classical theorems of Pippenger (for finding an almost perfect matching) and Ajtai\, Komlós\, Pintz\, Spencer\, and Szemerédi (for finding an independent set in girth five hypergraphs). More generally\, we prove this for coloring and even list coloring\, and also generalize this further to when H is a hypergraph with small codegrees (for which high girth designs is a specific instance). Indeed\, the coloring version of our result even yields an almost partition of K_n^r into approximate high girth (n\,q\,r)-Steiner systems.  If time permits\, I will explain some of the other applications of our main results such as to rainbow matchings.  This is joint work with Luke Postle.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-17-2022-combinatorics-physics-and-probability-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Combinatorics Physics and Probability
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220518T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220518T103000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T055948Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T151226Z
UID:10002547-1652866200-1652869800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Statistical Mechanics of Mutilated Sheets and Shells
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: David Nelson\, Harvard University \nTitle: Statistical Mechanics of Mutilated Sheets and Shells \nAbstract:  Understanding deformations of macroscopic thin plates and shells has a long and rich history\, culminating with the Foeppl-von Karman equations in 1904\, a precursor of general relativity characterized by a dimensionless coupling constant (the “Foeppl-von Karman number”) that can easily reach  vK = 10^7 in an ordinary sheet of writing paper.  However\, thermal fluctuations in thin elastic membranes fundamentally alter the long wavelength physics\, as exemplified by experiments that twist and bend individual atomically-thin free-standing graphene sheets (with vK = 10^13!)   A crumpling transition out of the flat phase for thermalized elastic membranes has been predicted when kT is large compared to the microscopic bending stiffness\, which could have interesting consequences for Dirac cones of electrons embedded in graphene.   It may be possible to lower the crumpling temperature for graphene to more readily accessible range by inserting a regular lattice of laser-cut perforations\, an expectation an confirmed by extensive molecular dynamics simulations.    We then move on to analyze the physics of sheets mutilated with puckers and stitches.   Puckers and stitches lead to Ising-like phase transitions riding on a background of flexural phonons\, as well as an anomalous coefficient of thermal expansion.  Finally\, we argue that thin membranes with a background curvature lead to thermalized spherical shells that must collapse beyond a critical size at room temperature\, even in the absence of an external pressure.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/statistical-mechanics-of-mutilated-sheets-and-shells/
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-05.18.22.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220518T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220518T173000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T095418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240813T163304Z
UID:10002651-1652889600-1652895000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The Generalized Landau Paradigm (a review of generalized symmetries in condensed matter)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Recent advances in our understanding of symmetry in quantum many-body systems offer the possibility of a generalized Landau paradigm that encompasses all equilibrium phases of matter. This talk will be an elementary review of some of these developments\, based on: https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.03045
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-18-2022-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-Seminar-05.18.22-1583x2048-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220518T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220518T173000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240215T101105Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240813T162341Z
UID:10002739-1652889600-1652895000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Boundary conditions and LSM anomalies of conformal field theories in 1+1 dimensions
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Linhao Li (ISSP\, U Tokyo) \nTitle: Boundary conditions and LSM anomalies of conformal field theories in 1+1 dimensions \nAbstract: In this talk\, we will study a relationship between conformally invariant boundary conditions and anomalies of conformal field theories (CFTs) in 1+1 dimensions. For a given CFT with a global symmetry\, we consider symmetric gapping potentials which are relevant perturbations to the CFT. If a gapping potential is introduced only in a subregion of the system\, it provides a certain boundary condition to the CFT. From this equivalence\, if there exists a Cardy boundary state which is invariant under a symmetry\, then the CFT can be gapped with a unique ground state by adding the corresponding gapping potential. This means that the symmetry of the CFT is anomaly free. Using this approach\, we will systematically deduce the anomaly-free conditions for various types of CFTs with several different symmetries. When the symmetry of the CFT is anomalous\, it implies a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis type ingappability of the system. Our results are consistent with\, where available\, known results in the literature. Moreover\, we extend the discussion to other symmetries including spin groups and generalized time-reversal symmetries. As an application\, we propose 1d LSM theorem involving magnetic space group symmetries on the lattice. The extended LSM theorems apply to systems with a broader class of spin interactions\, such as Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and chiral three-spin interactions.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-18-2022-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics-2/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-Seminar-05.18.22-1583x2048-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220519T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220519T100000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T084730Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T102658Z
UID:10002598-1652950800-1652954400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The geometry of conditional independence models with hidden variables
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Conditional independence (CI) is an important tool instatistical modeling\, as\, for example\, it gives a statistical interpretation to graphical models. In general\, given a list of dependencies among random variables\, it is difficult to say which constraints are implied by them. Moreover\, it is important to know what constraints on the random variables are caused by hidden variables. On the other hand\, such constraints are corresponding to some determinantal conditions on the tensor of joint probabilities of the observed random variables. Hence\, the inference question in statistics relates to understanding the algebraic and geometric properties of determinantal varieties such as their irreducible decompositions or determining their defining equations. I will explain some recent progress that arises by uncovering the link to point configurations in matroid theory and incidence geometry. This connection\, in particular\, leads to effective computational approaches for (1) giving a decomposition for each CI variety; (2) identifying each component in the decomposition as a matroid variety; (3) determining whether the variety has a real point or equivalently there is a statistical model satisfying a given collection of dependencies. The talk is based on joint works with Oliver Clarke\, Kevin Grace\, and Harshit Motwani. \nThe papers are available on arxiv: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.02450\nand https://arxiv.org/pdf/2103.16550.pdf
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-19-2022-cmsa-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220521T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220612T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20230706T182609Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240229T094452Z
UID:10000147-1653123600-1655053200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2022 Summer Introduction to Mathematical Research
DESCRIPTION:The Math Department and Harvard’s Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (CMSA) will be running a math program/course for mathematically minded undergraduates this summer. The course will be run by Dr. Yingying Wu from CMSA. Here is a description: \nSummer Introduction to Mathematical Research (sponsored by CMSA and the Harvard Math Department) \nIn this course\, we will start with an introduction to computer programming\, algorithms\, and scientific computing. Then we will discuss topics in topology\, classical geometry\, projective geometry\, and differential geometry\, and see how they can be applied to machine learning. We will go on to discuss fundamental concepts of deep learning\, different deep neural network models\, and mathematical interpretations of why deep neural networks are effective from a calculus viewpoint. We will conclude the course with a gentle introduction to cryptography\, introducing some of the iconic topics: Yao’s Millionaires’ problem\, zero-knowledge proof\, the multi-party computation algorithm\, and its proof. \nThe program hopes to provide several research mentors from various disciplines who will give some of the course lectures. Students will have the opportunity to work with one of the research mentors offered by the program. \nPrerequisites: Basic coding ability in some programming language (C/Python/Matlab or CS50 experience). Some background in calculus and linear algebra is needed too. If you wish to work with a research mentor on differential geometry\, more background in geometry such as from Math 132 or 136 will be useful. If you wish to work with a research mentor on computer science\, coding experience mentioned above will be very useful. If you wish to work with a medical scientist\, some background in life science or basic organic chemistry is recommended. \nThe course will meet 3 hours per week for 7 weeks via Zoom on days and times that will be scheduled for the convenience of the participants. There may be other times to be arranged for special events. \nThis program is only open to current Harvard undergraduates; both Mathematics concentrators and non-math concentrators are invited to apply. People already enrolled in a Math Department summer tutorial are welcome to partake in this program also. As with the summer tutorials\, there is no association with the Harvard Summer School; and neither Math concentration credit nor Harvard College credit will be given for completing this course. This course has no official Harvard status and enrollment does not qualify you for any Harvard-related perks (such as a place to live if you are in Boston over the summer.) \nHowever: As with the summer tutorials\, those enrolled are eligible* to receive a stipend of $700\, and if you are a Mathematics concentrator\, any written paper for the course can be submitted to fulfill the Math Concentration third-year paper requirement. (*The stipend is not available for people already receiving a stipend via the Math Department’s summer tutorial program\, nor is it available for PRISE participants or participants in the Herchel Smith program.) \nIf you wish to join this program\, please email Cliff Taubes (chtaubes@math.harvard.edu). The enrollment is limited\, so don’t wait too long to apply.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/2022-summer-introduction-to-mathematical-research/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Programs
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-2-600x338-1-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220525T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220525T120000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240215T101805Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T102153Z
UID:10002740-1653474600-1653480000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Oblique Lessons from the W Mass Measurement at CDF II
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Seth Koren (University of Chicago) \nTitle: Baryon Minus Lepton Number BF Theory for the Cosmological Lithium Problem \nAbstract: The cosmological lithium problem—that the observed primordial abundance is lower than theoretical expectations by order one—is perhaps the most statistically significant anomaly of SM+ ΛCDM\, and has resisted decades of attempts by cosmologists\, nuclear physicists\, and astronomers alike to root out systematics. We upgrade a discrete subgroup of the anomaly-free global symmetry of the SM to an infrared gauge symmetry\, and UV complete this at a scale Λ as the familiar U(1)_{B-N_cL} Abelian Higgs theory. The early universe phase transition forms cosmic strings which are charged under the emergent higher-form symmetry of the baryon minus lepton BF theory. These topological defects catalyze interactions which turn N_g baryons into N_g leptons at strong scale rates in an analogue of the Callan-Rubakov effect\, where N_g=3 is the number of SM generations. We write down a model in which baryon minus lepton strings superconduct bosonic global baryon plus lepton number currents and catalyze solely 3p^+ → 3e^+. We suggest that such cosmic strings have disintegrated O(1) of the lithium nuclei formed during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and estimate the rate\, with our benchmark model finding Λ ~ 10^8 GeV gives the right number density of strings.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/qm_51222/
LOCATION:Hybrid
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-Seminar-05.25.22.png
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220526T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220526T100000
DTSTAMP:20260411T000703
CREATED:20240214T085539Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T102538Z
UID:10002601-1653555600-1653559200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Extinction and coexistence for reaction-diffusion systems on metric graphs
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: In spatial population genetics\, it is important to understand the probability of extinction in multi-species interactions such as growing bacterial colonies\, cancer tumor evolution and human migration. This is because extinction probabilities are instrumental in determining the probability of coexistence and the genealogies of populations. A key challenge is the complication due to spatial effect and different sources of stochasticity. In this talk\, I will discuss about methods to compute the probability of extinction and other long-time behaviors for stochastic reaction-diffusion equations on metric graphs that flexibly parametrizes the underlying space. Based on recent joint work with Adrian Gonzalez-Casanova and Yifan (Johnny) Yang.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/5-26-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-05.26.2022-1583x2048-1.jpg
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