All Seminars

Title: Perfect Cuboids and Magic Squares of Squares
Colloquium: Algebra
Speaker: Tony Várilly-Alvarado of Rice University
Contact: Andrew Kobin, ajkobin@emory.edu
Date: 2023-12-04 at 3:00PM
Venue: Atwood 240
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Abstract:
A perfect cuboid is a box such that the distance between any two corners is a positive integer. A magic square is a grid filled with distinct positive integers, whose rows, columns, and diagonals add up to the same number. To date, we don't know if there exists a perfect cuboid, or a 3 x 3 magic square whose entries are distinct squares. What do these problems have in common? Secretly, they are both problems about rational points on algebraic surfaces of general type with mild singularities. I believe there is no such thing as a perfect cuboid or a 3 x 3 magic square of squares, and I will try to convince you that geometry suggests this is so.
Title: Ascending subgraph decompositions
Seminar: Combinatorics
Speaker: Alexey Pokrovskiy of University College London
Contact: Liana Yepremyan, liana.yepremyan@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-29 at 4:00PM
Venue: Atwood 240
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Abstract:
A graph G has a decomposition into graphs H_1, ..., H_m, if the edges of G can be partitioned into edge-disjoint copies of each of H_1, ..., H_m. A typical theme for many well-known decomposition problems is to show that some obvious necessary conditions for decomposing a graph G into copies H_1, ..., H_m are also sufficient. One such problem was posed by Alavi, Boals, Chartrand, Erd?s, and Oellerman. They conjectured that the edges of every graph with {m+1 choose 2} edges can be decomposed into subgraphs H_1, ..., H_m such that each H_i has i edges and is isomorphic to a subgraph of H_{i+1}. This talk will be about a proof of this for sufficiently large n. Joint work with Kyriakos Katsamaktsis, Shoham Letzter, and Benny Sudakov.
Title: Bounds on the Torsion Subgroups of Second Cohomology
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Hyuk Jun Kweon of University of Georgia
Contact: Andrew Kobin, ajkobin@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-28 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
Let $X \hookrightarrow \mathbb{P}^r$ be a smooth projective variety defined by homogeneous polynomials of degree $\leq d$ over an algebraically closed field $k$. Let $\mathbf{Pic}\, X$ be the Picard scheme of $X$, and $\mathbf{Pic}\, ^0 X$ be the identity component of $\mathbf{Pic}\, X$. The N\'eron--Severi group scheme of $X$ is defined by $\mathbf{NS} X = (\mathbf{Pic}\, X)/(\mathbf{Pic}\, ^0 X)_{\mathrm{red}}$, and the N\'eron--Severi group of $X$ is defined by $\mathrm{NS}\, X = (\mathbf{NS} X)(k)$. We give an explicit upper bound on the order of the finite group $(\mathrm{NS}\, X)_{{\mathrm{tor}}}$ and the finite group scheme $(\mathbf{NS} X)_{{\mathrm{tor}}}$ in terms of $d$ and $r$. As a corollary, we give an upper bound on the order of the torsion subgroup of second cohomology groups of $X$ and the finite group $\pi^1_\mathrm{et}(X,x_0)^{\mathrm{ab}}_{\mathrm{tor}}$. We also show that $(\mathrm{NS}\, X)_{\mathrm{tor}}$ is generated by $(\deg X -1)(\deg X - 2)$ elements in various situations.
Title: Rigorous computations for linear response and sampling
Seminar: Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing
Speaker: Nisha Chandramoorthy of Georgia Tech
Contact: Matthias Chung, matthias.chung@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-17 at 11:00AM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
In this talk, we discuss new algorithms for two distinct computational problems, that of linear response and sampling. Linear response refers to the smooth change in the statistics of an observable in a dynamical system in response to a smooth parameter change in the dynamics. The computation of linear response in chaotic systems has been a challenge, despite work pioneered by Ruelle giving a rigorous formula in Anosov systems (mathematically idea chaotic systems). This is because typical linear perturbation-based methods are not applicable due to their instability in chaotic systems. Here, we give a new differentiable splitting of the parameter perturbation vector field, which leaves the resulting split Ruelle's formula amenable to efficient computation. A key ingredient of the overall algorithm, called space-split sensitivity, is a new recursive method to differentiate quantities along the unstable manifold. Of particular importance is the score -- gradient of log density -- of the conditional density of the physical measure, which we are differentiating, along the unstable manifold. This fast algorithm for the conditional scores motivates our attack of another longstanding computational challenge in high-dimensional statistics -- sampling from complex probability distributions, which we discuss in the second half of the talk. We present Score Operator Newton (SCONE) transport -- a novel approach to sample from a target probability distribution given its score. Transport maps are transformations between the sample space of a source (which is generally easy to sample) and a target (typically non-Gaussian) probability distribution. Our SCONE transport map is a constructive solution of an infinite-dimensional generalization of a Newton method to find the zero of a "score operator". We define such a score operator that gives the difference of the score of a transported distribution from the target score. The Newton iteration enjoys fast convergence under smoothness assumptions and does not make a parametric ansatz on the transport map.
Title: The Structural Szemerédi–Trotter problem
Seminar: Combinatorics
Speaker: Adam Sheffer of City University of New York
Contact: Liana Yepremyan, liana.yepremyan@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-15 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC E406
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Abstract:
The Szemerédi–Trotter theorem can be considered as the fundamental theorem of geometric incidences. This combinatorial theorem has an unusually wide variety of applications, in combinatorics, theoretical computer science, harmonic analysis, number theory, model theory, and more. Surprisingly, hardly anything is known about the structural question - characterizing the cases where the theorem is tight. In this talk, we will survey the status of the structural (or inverse) Szemerédi–Trotter problem, including several recent results. This is a basic survey talk and does not require previous knowledge of the field. Joint works with Shival Dasu, and Olivine Silier.
Title: Intersection of Ekedahl-Oort strata with the supersingular locus in unitary Shimura varieties of $sgn(q-2,2)$
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Sandra Nair of Colorado State University
Contact: Andrew Kobin, ajkobin@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-14 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
Unitary Shimura varieties are moduli spaces of abelian varieties in characteristic $p$ with certain extra structures, including CM by an imaginary quadratic field, of which we consider the case of signature $(q-2,2)$. A fruitful way to understand them is by stratifying these spaces. We focus on two such stratifications: the Ekedahl-Oort (EO) stratification, defined with respect to the p-torsion group scheme structure up to isomorphism; and the Newton stratification, defined with respect to the p-divisible group structure up to isogeny. We study the intersection of the supersingular Newton stratum with various E-O strata in some low signature cases. We present the main methods used to conduct this study. This is joint work with Deewang Bhamidipati, Maria Fox, Heidi Goodson, Steven Groen and Emerald Stacy.
Title: Numerical simulations for quantum many-body systems
Seminar: Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing
Speaker: Yao Wang of Emory University
Contact: Matthias Chung, matthias.chung@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-10 at 1:00PM
Venue: PAIS 230
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Abstract:
The rapidly evolving quantum science calls for profound understanding and predictive control of entangled quantum many-body systems, such as quantum materials, synthetic qubits, and correlated molecules. I will use this talk to give an introduction to the application of numerical linear algebra theory and techniques in quantum applications. I will start with an introduction to quantum many-body systems and their mathematical descriptions. A second-quantized quantum system can be mapped to variational and algebraic problems, whose popular solvers include exact diagonalization, matrix-product state, and a few other variational techniques. These techniques have been tightly embedded into high-performance computing hardware nowadays. Then, I will use three examples to show a few aspects of exotic phenomena in quantum many-body systems and their solutions through large-scale linear algebra. The first example is the entangled spin polaron states discovered in a material-relevant model called the Hubbard model; the second example is the unconventional spectral features in quantum materials, where I will also introduce typical methods for excited-state spectral simulations; the last example is the nonequilibrium dynamics and time-resolved x-ray theory for entanglement probe and control, where I will also introduce typical methods for time evolution simulations. This talk won’t cover all aspects where large-scale numerical linear algebra challenges existing intuitions and constructs new frameworks for quantum science, but is expected to stimulate discussions about possible collaborations.
Title: Monopoles and the Sen Conjecture
Seminar: Analysis and Differential Geometry
Speaker: Chris Kottke of New College of Florida
Contact: David Borthwick, dborthw@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-10 at 2:00PM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
Sen's 1994 conjecture for the L^2 cohomology of the moduli spaces of SU(2) monopoles is a test case for geometric analysis on non-compact spaces. The charge 2 moduli space, known as the Atiyah-Hitchin manifold, is well-understood as an example of a `fibered boundary' manifold, but for higher charges the moduli spaces are more complicated and admit an increasingly wide variety of different asymptotic regimes. I will report on a combination of joint projects which lead to a systematic understanding of these spaces as examples of `quasi-fibered boundary' (QFB) manifolds, and, through careful analysis of the decay of harmonic forms on such spaces, to a proof of Sen's conjecture in the new case of charge 3.
Title: Packing the largest trees in the tree packing conjecture
Seminar: Combinatorics
Speaker: Richard Montgomery of Warwick University
Contact: Liana Yepremyan, liana.yepremyan@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-08 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC E406
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Abstract:
The well-known tree packing conjecture of Gyárfás from 1976 says that, given any sequence of n trees in which the ith tree has i vertices, the trees can be packed edge-disjointly into the complete n-vertex graph. Packing even just the largest trees in such a sequence has proven difficult, with Bollobás drawing attention to this in 1995 by conjecturing that, for each k, if n is sufficiently large then the largest k trees in any such sequence can be packed. This has only been shown for k at most 5, by Zak, despite many partial results and much related work on the full tree packing conjecture. I will discuss a result which proves Bollobás's conjecture by showing that, moreover, a linear number of the largest trees can be packed in the tree packing conjecture. This is joint work with Barnabás Janzer.
Title: How do points on plane curves generate fields? Let me count the ways.
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Renee Bell of CUNY Lehman College
Contact: Andrew Kobin, ajkobin@emory.edu
Date: 2023-11-07 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
In their program on diophantine stability, Mazur and Rubin suggest studying a curve $C$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ by understanding the field extensions of generated by a single point of $C$; in particular, they ask to what extent the set of such field extensions determines the curve . A natural question in arithmetic statistics along these lines concerns the size of this set: for a smooth projective curve $C$ how many field extensions of $\mathbb{Q}$ — of given degree and bounded discriminant — arise from adjoining a point of $C$? Can we further count the number of such extensions with specified Galois group? Asymptotic lower bounds for these quantities have been found for elliptic curves by Lemke Oliver and Thorne, for hyperelliptic curves by Keyes, and for superelliptic curves by Beneish and Keyes. We discuss similar asymptotic lower bounds that hold for all smooth plane curves $C$, using tools such as geometry of numbers, Hilbert irreducibility, Newton polygons, and linear optimization.