Speaker: David Zuckerman, Harvard CMSA/University of Texas at Austin Title: Explicit Ramsey Graphs and Two Source Extractors Abstract: Ramsey showed that any graph on N nodes contains a clique or independent set of size (log N)/2. Erdos showed that there exist graphs on N nodes with no clique or independent set of size 2 log N, […]
Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar Speaker: Nicolo Piazzalunga, Rutgers Title: The index of M-theory Abstract: I’ll introduce the higher-rank Donaldson-Thomas theory for toric Calabi-Yau threefolds, within the setting of equivariant K-theory. I’ll present a factorization conjecture motivated by Physics. As a byproduct, I’ll discuss some novel properties of equivariant volumes, as well as their generalizations to the […]
Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Sharad Ramanathan, Harvard Title: Attempts at understanding human axial elongation and patterning Abstract: Some of the most dramatic events during human development is the axial elongation of the embryo with concomitant changes in the geometry and composition of the underlying tissues. The posterior part of the embryo gives rise to the spinal cord, […]
https://youtu.be/tpmm618NjtE General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Sergei Dubovsky (New York University) Title: Love Symmetry of Black Holes Abstract: Perturbations of massless fields in the Kerr-Newman black hole background enjoy a ("Love") SL(2,ℝ) symmetry in the suitably defined near zone approximation. We show how the intricate behavior of black hole responses in four and higher dimensions can be […]
https://youtu.be/EYi-eu4ADl0 Topological Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Yizhuang You, UC San Diego Title: Symmetric Mass Generation Abstract: Symmetric mass generation (SMG) is a novel mechanism for massless fermions to acquire a mass via a strong-coupling non-perturbative interaction effect. In contrast to the conventional Higgs mechanism for fermion mass generation, the SMG mechanism does not condense any […]
New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Antonia Creswell, DeepMind Title: Towards Faithful Reasoning Using Language Models Abstract: Language models are showing impressive performance on many natural language tasks, including question-answering. However, language models – like most deep learning models – are black boxes. We cannot be sure how they obtain their answers. Do they reason […]
Colloquium Speaker: Patrick Lopatto (Brown) Title: The Mobility Edge of Lévy Matrices Abstract: Lévy matrices are symmetric random matrices whose entry distributions lie in the domain of attraction of an alpha-stable law; such distributions have infinite variance when alpha is less than 2. Due to the ubiquity of heavy-tailed randomness, these models have been broadly […]
Speaker: Leonid Rybnikov, Harvard CMSA/National Research University Higher School of Economics Title: Quantum magnet chains and Kashiwara crystals Abstract: Solutions of the algebraic Bethe ansatz for quantum magnet chains are, generally, multivalued functions of the parameters of the integrable system. I will explain how to compute some monodromies of solutions of Bethe ansatz for the Gaudin magnet […]
Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar Speaker: Daniel Pomerleano, UMass Boston Title: Singularities of the quantum connection on a Fano variety Abstract: The small quantum connection on a Fano variety is one of the simplest objects in enumerative geometry. Nevertheless, it is the subject of far-reaching conjectures known as the Dubrovin/Gamma conjectures. Traditionally, these conjectures are […]
Colloquium Speaker: James Cummings,Carnegie Mellon University Title: Complete disorder is impossible: Some topics in Ramsey theory Abstract: The classical infinite Ramsey theorem states that if we colour pairs of natural numbers using two colours, there is an infinite set all of whose pairs get the same colour. This is the beginning of a rich theory, […]
https://youtu.be/NbjuY80nWgM Topological Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Jennifer Cano (Stony Brook and Flatiron Institute) Title: Engineering topological phases with a superlattice potential Abstract: We propose an externally imposed superlattice potential as a platform for manipulating topological phases, which has both advantages and disadvantages compared to a moire superlattice. In the first example, we apply the superlattice […]
Swampland Seminar Speaker: Aasmund Folkestad (MIT) Title: The Penrose Inequality as a Constraint on Low Energy Quantum Gravity Abstract: In this talk, I argue that the Penrose inequality (PI) can be used to constrain low energy theories compatible AdS/CFT, and possibly also quantum gravity in flat space. Focusing on AdS/CFT, it is shown that the PI can be […]