# Seminars & Events for 2013-2014

February 6, 2014
12:30pm - 1:30pm
##### The Van der Corput lemma and equations in Physics

I will prove the Van der Corput lemma and then describe how it applies to partial differential equations arising in Physics. It will provide intuition for a number of qualitative properties of non-relativistic/relativistic massive particles and massless particles. For example, a single picture will show that relativistic massive particles have rest mass and cannot reach the speed of light.

Speaker: John Stogin , Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 6, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Low-lying Fundamental Geodesics
###### Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar

It is classical that an element of the class group of a real quadratic field corresponds to a closed geodesic on the modular surface, but not every closed geodesic arises this way; we call those that do "fundamental." Given a fixed compact subset W of (the unit tangent bundle of) the modular surface, we say a closed geodesic is "low-lying" if it is contained in W; in particular, it does not ent

Speaker: Alex Kontorovich , Yale University and IAS
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 6, 2014
4:30pm - 6:00pm
##### Polynomial bounds for the grid-minor theorem
###### Discrete Mathematics Seminar

One of the key results in Robertson and Seymour's seminal work on graph minors is the grid-minor theorem, that every graph of sufficiently large treewidth contains any fixed grid as a minor. This theorem has found many applications in graph theory and algorithms. Let f(k) be maximum such that every graph of treewidth at least k contains a grid minor of size f(k).

Speaker: Julia Chuzhoy , TTI Chicago
Location:
Fine Hall 224
February 6, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### On the well-posedness of an interface damped free boundary fluid-structure model
###### Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics

We address a fluid-structure system which consists of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and a damped linear wave equation defined on two dynamic domains. The equations are coupled through transmission boundary conditions and additional boundary stabilization effects imposed on the free moving interface separating the two domains.

Speaker: Igor Kukavica , USC
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 7, 2014
1:30pm - 2:30pm
##### Cylindrical contact homology as a well-defined homology?
###### Joint PU/IAS Symplectic Geometry Seminar

In this talk I will explain how the heuristic arguments sketched in literature since 1999 fail to define a homology theory. These issues will be made clear with concrete examples and we will explore what stronger conditions are necessary to develop a theory without the use of virtual chains or polyfolds in 3 dimensions.

Speaker: Jo Nelson, IAS
Location:
IAS - Simonyi Hall Seminar Room SH-101
February 7, 2014
2:45pm - 3:45pm
##### The hyperbolic Ax-Lindemann conjecture
###### Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar

Please note special day, time and location.  The hyperbolic Ax Lindemann conjecture is a functional transcendental statement which describes the closure of "algebraic flows" on Shimura varieties. We will describe the proof of this conjecture and its consequences for the André-Oort conjecture. This is a joint work with Bruno Klingler and Andrei Yafaev.

Speaker: Emmanuel Ullmo , Université Paris-Sud
Location:
IAS - Simonyi Hall Seminar Room SH-101
February 7, 2014
4:30pm - 6:00pm
##### Quantum groups and quantum cohomology
###### Minerva mini-course

Quantum groups, which originated in mathematical physics in the study of solvable 1+1 dimensional models, are noncocommutative Hopf algebra deformations of the universal enveloping of a Lie algebra. PLEASE CLICK ON LECTURE TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Andrei Okounkov (Professor, Columbia University), Minerva Distinguished Visitor, Princeton Univeristy
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 10, 2014
3:15pm - 4:15pm
##### Local well-posedness for the equation of minimal hypersurface in Minkowski space
###### Analysis Seminar

A timelike minimal hypersurface in Minkowski space satisfies a quasilinear wave equation. I will explain how the minimal hypersurface equation exhibits a null structure and how to utilize the null structure in order to lower the regularity requirements on the initial data for the Cauchy problem.

Speaker: Boris Ettinger , Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 10, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Fast Direct Solvers for Elliptic PDEs
###### PACM/Applied Mathematics Colloquium

That the linear systems arising upon the discretization of elliptic PDEs can be solved very efficiently is well-known, and many successful iterative solvers with linear complexity have been constructed (multigrid, Krylov methods, etc).

Speaker: Gunnar Martinsson, University of Colorado - Applied Mathematics
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 11, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Physical Principles Underlying the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
###### Mathematical Physics Seminar

PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT. I review an approach to the theory of the Quantum Hall Effect (QHE) somewhat analogous to Landau's theory of phase transitions

Speaker: Juerg Froehlich, IAS
Location:
February 11, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### The geometric genus of normal surface singularities
###### Algebraic Geometry Seminar

We discuss several topological characterizations of the geometric genus of a complex normal surface singularity under certain topological and analytic restrictions. The `classical' cases include the rational and elliptic singularities.

Speaker: András Némethi , Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 12, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Universal spaces for birational invariants
###### Department Colloquium

Anabelian geometry techniques allow the construction of explicit universal spaces which capture birational properties of algebraic varieties. I will describe this theory and its applications (joint with F. Bogomolov).

Speaker: Yuri Tschinkel, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 13, 2014
12:30pm - 1:30pm
##### Curry-Howard Correspondence

The Curry-Howard correspondence relates formal proofs in logic and computer programs in a typed functional programming language. It is the underlying theory behind Coq, one of the major systems today for verifying correctness of proofs using computers. The theory is further extended by Vladimir Voevodsky in the univalent foundations program.

Speaker: Bohua Zhan , Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 13, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Virtual domination of $3$-manifolds
###### Topology Seminar

For any closed oriented hyperbolic $3$-manifold $M$, and any closed oriented $3$-manifold $N$, we will show that $M$ admits a finite cover $M'$, such that there exists a degree-$2$ map $f: M' \rightarrow N$.

Speaker: Hongbin Sun, Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
February 13, 2014
4:30pm - 6:00pm
##### Hypergraphs of bounded disjointness
###### Discrete Mathematics Seminar

A k-uniform hypergraph is said to be intersecting if no pair of edges is disjoint. The maximal size of an intersecting k-uniform hypergraph with a given groundset is given by the beautiful and well-known theorem of Erdos, Ko and Rado. A k-uniform hypergraph is s-almost intersecting if every edge is disjoint from exactly s other edges.

Speaker: Alex Scott , Oxford University
Location:
Fine Hall 224
February 13, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Remarks on the cohomology of the Lubin-Tate tower
###### Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar
Speaker: Peter Scholze , University of Bonn
Location:
IAS Room S-101
February 13, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### The 2D Magnetohydrodynamic Equations with Partial Dissipation
###### Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations model electrically conducting fluids such as plasmas and are important in understanding many natural phenomena such as solar flares and the formation of Northern Lights. Mathematically the MHD equations can be difficult to analyze due to the nonlinear coupling between the induction equation and the Navier-Stokes equations with the Lorentz force.

Speaker: Jiahong Wu , Oklahoma State University
Location:
Fine Hall 322
February 14, 2014
1:30pm - 2:30pm
##### On Floer cohomology and non-archimedian geometry
###### Joint PU/IAS Symplectic Geometry Seminar

Ideas of Kontsevich-Soibelman and Fukaya indicate that there is a natural rigid analytic space (the mirror) associated to a symplectic manifold equipped with a Lagrangian torus fibration. I will explain a construction which associates to a Lagrangian submanifold a sheaf on this space, and explain how this should be the mirror functor.

Speaker: Mohammed Abouzaid, Columbia University
Location:
IAS - Simonyi Hall Seminar Room SH-101
February 14, 2014
5:00pm - 6:30pm
##### Quantum groups and quantum cohomology - second lecture
###### Minerva mini-course

This lecture is #2 in a series of 10 lectures:  Quantum groups, which originated in mathematical physics in the study of solvable 1+1 dimensional models, are noncocommutative Hopf algebra deformations of the universal enveloping of a Lie algebra.The adjective "quantum" in quantum cohomology has a very different meaning and origin.

Speaker: Andrei Okounkov, Minerva Distinguished Visitor, Columbia University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 17, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### New Stable Periodic Solutions to the n-Body Problem
###### PACM/Applied Mathematics Colloquium

Recently, some new surprisingly-elegant stable periodic solutions to the 4-body problem were discovered.  I will review the current state-of-the-art for finding periodic solutions to the n-body problem and I will describethe interesting new ones that have been found.  I will also discuss the key question of the stability of these orbits.

Speaker: Robert Vanderbei , Princeton University - ORFE
Location:
Fine Hall 214