Seminars & Events for 2012-2013

February 15, 2013
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Contact Non-Squeezing and Rabinowitz Floer Homology
Joint PU/IAS Symplectic Geometry Seminar

We will present joint work with Will Merry. Using spectral invariants in Rabinowitz Floer homology we present an abstract contact non-squeezing theorem for periodic contact manifolds. We then exemplify this in concrete examples. Finally we explain connections to the existence of a biinvariant metric on contactomorphism groups.

Speaker: Peter Albers , Universität Münster
Location:
IAS Room S-101
February 15, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Embedded constant mean curvature surfaces in Euclidean three space
Differential Geometry & Geometric Analysis Seminar

Constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces are critical points to the area functional with an enclosed volume constraint. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Christine Breiner, Columbia University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 18, 2013
3:15pm - 4:15pm
Global dynamics beyond the ground state for the energy critical Schrodinger equation
Analysis Seminar
Speaker: Kenji Nakanishi , Kyoto University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 18, 2013
4:30pm - 5:30pm
What is a degree distribution?
PACM/Applied Mathematics Colloquium

The most studied aspect of statistical network models is their degree structure, reflecting the propensity of nodes within a network to form connections with other nodes. PLEASE CLICK ON COLLOQUIUM TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Sofia Olhede, University College London
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 19, 2013
4:30pm - 6:00pm
A divisor with non-closed diminished base locus
Algebraic Geometry Seminar

I will explain the construction of a pseudoeffective R-divisor on the blow-up of P3 at nine very general points which has negative intersections with an infinite set of curves, whose union is Zariski dense.

Speaker: John Lesieutre , Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 19, 2013
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Quantum Information Functionals
Mathematical Physics Seminar

Quantum information functionals and their algebraic properties play an important role in quantum information theory. Recent developments in the theory of operator monotone and operator convex functions and related topics have simplified earlier results and also led to new insights. One example is the convexity of chi-square divergences.

Speaker: Frank Hansen, Tohoku University
Location:
February 20, 2013
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Hidden structures in large matrices
Department Colloquium

Consider the problem of estimating the entries of a large matrix, when most of the entries are either hidden from us or blurred by noise. Of course, one needs to assume that the matrix has some structure for this estimation to be possible. PLEASE CLICK ON COLLOQUIUM TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Sourav Chatterjee , Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 21, 2013
12:30pm - 1:30pm
The Gauss-Bonnet Theorem

The Gauss-Bonnet Theorem states that a certain integral of a two-dimensional Riemannian manifold's curvature is equal to the manifold's Euler characteristic.  I shall prove this theorem in three (or maybe more) ways, using three different definitions of curvature, and three different definitions of the Euler characteristic.  But are these "really" all the same definition?  And are these "really

Speaker: Heather Macbeth , Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 21, 2013
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Entropy and the localization of eigenfunctions on negatively curved manifolds - II
Ergodic Theory & Statistical Mechanics

We are interested in the behaviour of laplacian eigenfunctions on negatively curved manifolds, in the high frequency limit. The Quantum Unique Ergodicity conjecture predicts that they should become uniformly distributed over phase space, and the Shnirelman theorem states that this is true if we allow ourselves to possibly drop a negligible'' family of eigenfunctions.

Speaker: Nalini Anantharaman, IAS
Location:
Fine Hall 601
February 21, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Wedge operations and torus symmetries
Algebraic Topology Seminar

A fundamental result of toric geometry is that there is a bijection between toric varieties and fans. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Suyoung Choi, Ajou University, Korea
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 21, 2013
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Discrepancy of graphs and hypergraphs
Discrete Mathematics Seminar

How uniformly is it possible to distribute edges in a graph? For instance, is there a graph of density 1/2 in which every induced subgraph has approximately the same number of edges as nonedges?

Speaker: Alex Scott, Oxford University
Location:
Fine Hall 224
February 21, 2013
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Compactifications of PEL-type Shimura varieties and Kuga families with ordinary loci
Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar

I will report on the construction of p-integral models of various algebraic compactifications of PEL-type Shimura varieties and Kuga families, allowing ramification (including deep levels) at p, with good behaviors over the loci where certain (multiplicative) ordinary level structures are defined.  (We know almost nothing about the non-ordinary loci when p is ramified, but this theory is still

Speaker: Kai-Wen Lan , University of Minnesota
Location:
IAS Room S-101
February 21, 2013
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Root systems of torus graphs and automorphism groups of torus manifolds
Topology Seminar

A torus manifold is a compact oriented 2n-dimensional T^n-manifold with fixed points. We can define a labelled graph from given torus manifold as follows: vertices are fixed points; edges are invariant 2-spheres; edges are labelled by tangential representations around fixed points. THIS IS A JOINT TOPOLOGY / ALGEBRAIC TOPOLOGY SEMINAR.

Speaker: Shintaro Kuroki , University of Toronto
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 22, 2013
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Symplectic cohomology and loop homology
Joint PU/IAS Symplectic Geometry Seminar

The string topology of Chas-Sullivan produces operations on the homology of the free loop space of orientable manifolds, and analogous structures are known to exist on the symplectic cohomology of their cotangent bundles. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Mohammed Abouzaid, Columbia University
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 22, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
On equations with drift and diffusion.
Differential Geometry & Geometric Analysis Seminar

An drift-diffusion equation is like the heat equation with an extra first order term. In some cases, the Laplacian is replaced by a fractional Laplacian. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Luis Silvestre , University of Chicago
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 25, 2013
2:30pm - 3:30pm
Algebraic Geometry of K-stability and its application to Moduli varieties
Algebraic Geometry Seminar

K-stability is a stability for varieties (Tian, Donaldson), a modification of classical stability (Mumford). While it has been known for several decades that classically stability does not work in higher dimensions moduli construction, the author explains how the K-stability fits into recent construction of compact moduli of general type varieties by KSBA (Koll\'ar-Shepherd-Barron, Alexeev) theory. CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.
(PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL DAY AND TIME.)

Speaker: Yuji Odaka , Kyoto University
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 25, 2013
3:15pm - 4:15pm
The Boltzmann equation, Besov spaces, and optimal decay rates in R^n
Analysis Seminar

In this talk, we will study the large-time convergence to the global Maxwellian of perturbative classical solutions to the Boltzmann equation on R^n, for n geq 3, without the angular cut-off assumption. We prove convergence of the k-th order derivatives in the norm L^r_x(L^2_v), for any 2 leq r leq infinity, with optimal decay rates, in the sense that they are equal to the rates which one obtains for the corresponding linear equation. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Vedran Sohinger , University of Pennsylvania
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 25, 2013
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Physical Reproduction of Materials with Specified Reflectance and Scattering
PACM/Applied Mathematics Colloquium

Although real-world surfaces can exhibit significant variation in materials - glossy, diffuse, metallic, translucent, etc. - printers are usually used to reproduce color or gray-scale images. PLEASE CLICK ON COLLOQUIUM TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Szymon Rusinkiewicz, Princeton University, Computer Science
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 26, 2013
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Big cycles and volume functions
Algebraic Geometry Seminar

The volume of a divisor is an important invariant measuring the "positivity" of its numerical class. I will discuss an analogous construction for cycles of arbitrary codimension. In particular, this yields geometric characterizations of big cycle classes modeled on the well-known criteria for divisor and curve classes.

Speaker: Brian Lehmann , Rice University
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 27, 2013
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Hydrodynamic turbulence as a problem in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics
Department Colloquium

The problem of hydrodynamic turbulence is reformulated as a heat flow problem along a chain of mechanical systems which describe units of fluid of smaller and smaller spatial extent. PLEASE CLICK ON COLLOQUIUM TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: David Ruelle, Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies (IHES), Paris
Location:
Fine Hall 314