# Seminars & Events for 2014-2015

December 4, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Level raising mod 2 and arbitrary 2-Selmer ranks
###### Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar

We prove a level raising mod p=2 theorem for elliptic curves over Q, generalizing theorems of Ribet and Diamond-Taylor. As an application, we show that the 2-Selmer rank can be arbitrary in level raising families. We will begin by explaining our motivation from W. Zhang's approach to the p-part of the BSD conjecture.

Speaker: Chao Li , Harvard University
Location:
IAS Room S-101
December 4, 2014
4:30pm - 6:00pm
##### Interface Singularities for the Euler Equations
###### Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics

The fluid interface  splash'' singularity was introduced by Castro, C\'{o}rdoba,  Fefferman, Gancedo, \& G\'{o}mez-Serrano.  A splash singularity occurs when a fluid interface remains locally smooth but self-intersects in finite time.   In this talk, I will very briefly discuss how we construct splash singularities for the one-phase 3-D Euler and Navier-Stokes equations.  I will then disc

Speaker: Steve Shkoller , UC Davis
Location:
Fine Hall 322
December 4, 2014
5:45pm - 6:45pm
##### Geometry of the space of probability measures
###### Joint Princeton Rutgers Geometric PDEs Seminar

The space of probability measures, on a compact Riemannian manifold, carries the Wasserstein metric coming from optimal transport. Otto found a remarkable formal Riemannian metric on this infinite-dimensional space. It is a challenge to make rigorous sense of the ensuing formal calculations, within the framework of metric geometry.

Speaker: John Lott, University of California, Berkeley
Location:
Fine Hall 214
December 4, 2014
8:00pm - 9:00pm
##### Belief Propagation Algorithms: From Matching Problems to Network Discovery in Cancer Genomics
###### PACM/Applied Mathematics Colloquium

This is a PACM Distinguished Lecture.   We review a certain class of algorithms, belief propagation algorithms, inspired by the study of phase transitions in computationally difficult problems. We show how these algorithms can be used both in the mathematical analysis of relatively simple problems like matching, and in the heuristic analysis of more complex problems.

Speaker: Jennifer Chayes, Microsoft
Location:
McDonnell Hall A01
December 5, 2014
1:30pm - 2:30pm
##### Gauged linear $\sigma$-model and gauged Witten equation
###### Joint PU/IAS Symplectic Geometry Seminar

This is a joint work with Gang Tian. I will talk about the analytical properties of the classical equation of motion in gauged linear $\sigma$-model, which we call the gauged Witten equation. This is a generalization of the Witten equation in Landau-Ginzburg A-model (Fan-Jarvis-Ruan, Witten) and the symplectic vortex equation (Mundet, Cieliebak-Gaio-Salamon).

Speaker: Guangbo Xu , UCI
Location:
Fine Hall 322
December 5, 2014
2:00pm - 3:00pm
##### From Newton's dynamics to the heat equation
###### Analysis Seminar

This is a joint Analysis - Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics seminar.   The goal of this lecture is to show how the brownian motion can be derived rigorously from a deterministic system of hard spheres in the limit where the number of particles $N$ tends to infinity, and their diameter simultaneously converges to 0.

Speaker: Laure Saint-Raymond , ENS, France
Location:
Fine Hall 214
December 5, 2014
2:00pm - 3:00pm
##### TBA - Saint-Raymond
###### Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics

This is a joint Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics - Analysis seminar.

Speaker: Laure Saint-Raymond , ENS, France
Location:
Fine Hall 214
December 5, 2014
3:00pm - 4:00pm
##### Pluriclosed flow and generalized Kahler geometry
###### Differential Geometry & Geometric Analysis Seminar

In joint work with G.

Speaker: Jeff Streets, University of California Irvine
Location:
Fine Hall 314
December 5, 2014
4:00pm - 5:30pm
##### Interface dynamics for incompressible flows
###### Minerva mini-course

The goal of these lectures is to present the main ideas and arguments of recent results concerning global solutions and finite time singularities for interface dynamics. In particular those contour dynamics that are given by basic fluid mechanics systems; Euler´s equation, Darcy´s law and the Quasi-geostrophic equation.

Speaker: Diego Cordoba Gazolaz, Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 110
December 8, 2014
3:15pm - 4:30pm
##### Heat kernel on affine buildings
###### Analysis Seminar

Let $\mathscr{X}$ be a thick affine building of rank $r+1$. We consider a finite range isotropic random walk on vertices of $\mathscr{X}$.

Speaker: Bartosz Trojan , Uniwersytet Wroclawski, Poland
Location:
Fine Hall 314
December 9, 2014
4:30am - 5:30pm
##### The Euclidean Distance Degree
###### Operations Research and Financial Engineering

The nearest point map of a real algebraic variety with respect to Euclidean distance is
an algebraic function. The Euclidean distance degree is the number of critical points for
this optimization problem. We focus on varieties seen in engineering applications, and
we discuss tools for exact computation. Our guiding example is the Eckart-Young Theorem

Speaker: Bernd Sturmfels, U.C. Berkeley
Location:
Sherrerd Hall 101
December 9, 2014
11:16am - 11:16am
##### Finding Rational Curves

Rational curves are one of the most basic objects to look at on an algebraic variety, but they have a large impact on the geometric structure of the variety in which they sit. In this talk we will talk about what are rational curves, why they are useful, and how they are found.

Speaker: Charlie Stibitz , Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
December 9, 2014
4:30pm - 5:50pm
##### Stochastic higher spin vertex models on the line
###### Mathematical Physics Seminar

We show how transfer matrices of higher spin vertex models (generalizing the six-vertex model) can be conjugated into stochastic matrices describing interacting particle systems. Bethe ansatz produces eigenfunctions and we prove their completeness on the line. This, along with a self duality of the transfer matrices, provides a means to study the long time behavior of these stochastic systems.

Speaker: Ivan Corwin, Columbia University
Location:
December 9, 2014
5:00pm - 6:30pm
##### Interface dynamics for incompressible flows
###### Minerva mini-course

The goal of these lectures is to present the main ideas and arguments of recent results concerning global solutions and finite time singularities for interface dynamics. In particular those contour dynamics that are given by basic fluid mechanics systems; Euler´s equation, Darcy´s law and the Quasi-geostrophic equation.

Speaker: Diego Cordoba Gazolaz, Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 110
December 10, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Knot invariants via the cotangent bundle
###### Department Colloquium

In recent years, symplectic geometry has emerged as a key tool in the study of low-dimensional topology. One approach, championed by Arnol'd, is to study the topology of a smooth manifold through the symplectic geometry of its cotangent bundle, building on the familiar concept of phase space from classical mechanics.

Speaker: Lenny Ng, Duke University
Location:
Fine Hall 314
December 11, 2014
1:30pm - 2:30pm
##### The polynomial method
###### Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar

In 2008, Zeev Dvir gave a surprisingly short proof of the Kakeya conjecture over finite fields:  a finite subset of F_q^n containing a line in every direction has cardinality at least c_n q^n.  The "polynomial method" introduced by Dvir has led to a wave of activity in applications of algebraic and arithmetic geometry to extremal problems in combinatorial geometry, including a theme sem

Speaker: Jordan Ellenberg , University of Wisconsin - Madison
Location:
Fine Hall 214
December 11, 2014
2:00pm - 3:30pm
##### Quantum unique ergodicity and arithmetic Fuchsian group
###### Ergodic Theory & Statistical Mechanics

Quantum unique ergodicity conjecture discusses the limiting behavior of eigenfunctions of Laplacian on compact negatively curved manifolds. Results so far have connected the research areas of number theory, spectral theory and ergodic theory.

Speaker: Wen-Liang Tseng , National Taiwan University
Location:
Fine Hall 601
December 11, 2014
3:00pm - 4:00pm
##### TBA - Parzanchevski
###### Discrete Mathematics Seminar
Speaker: Ori Parzanchevski, IAS
Location:
Fine Hall 224
December 11, 2014
4:30pm - 5:30pm
##### Selmer groups, automorphic periods, and Bloch-Kato Conjecture
###### Princeton University/IAS Number Theory Seminar

Double-header seminars:  actual time to be determined.  The Bloch-Kato Conjecture, which generalizes the B-SD Conjecture to higher dimensional varieties, predicts a relation between certain Selmer group and L-function. The famous works of Gross-Zagier and Kolyvagin give results for elliptic curves when the analytic rank is at most 1.

Speaker: Yifeng Liu , MIT
Location:
Fine Hall 214
December 11, 2014
4:30pm - 6:00pm
##### On the stability of Prandtl boundary layer expansions of Navier-Stokes in the inviscid limit
###### Analysis of Fluids and Related Topics

I will present two recent results concerning the stability of boundary layer asymptotic expansions of solutions of Navier-Stokes with small viscosity. First, we show that the linearization around an arbitrary stationary shear flow (other than the Couette flow) admits an unstable eigenfunction with small wave number, when viscosity is sufficiently small.

Speaker: Toan Nguyen , Penn State
Location:
Fine Hall 322