2012-2013 Seminars and Colloquia
department of mathematics
BC-MIT Number Theory Seminar
Organizers: Sol Friedberg and Ben Howard at BC, and Sug Woo Shin and Bjorn Poonen at MIT.
| October 16, 2012 at BC 9 Lake Street, room 100 Directions |
Jeff Hoffstein (Brown University) Title: Multiple Dirichlet series and shifted convolutions, with applications to number theory Sujatha Ramdorai (University of British Columbia) Title: Congruences and Noncommutative Iwasawa theory |
| November 13, 2012 at MIT, room 4-163 |
Jim Cogdell (Ohio State University) Title: The local Langlands correspondence for GL(n) and the symmetric and exterior square epsilon–factors Yuri Tschinkel (New York University) Title: Igusa integrals |
| December 4, 2012 at BC, McGuinn 521 |
Richard Taylor (Institute for Advanced Study) Title: Galois representations for regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic forms 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., McGuinn 521 Max Lieblich (University of Washington) Title: Recent results on supersingular K3 surfaces 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., McGuinn 521 |
| February 5, 2013 at MIT, room 10-250 |
Abhinav Kumar (MIT) Title: Real multiplication abelian surfaces with everywhere good reduction Felipe Voloch (University of Texas) Title: Local-global principles in the moduli space of abelian varieties and Galois representations |
| March 19, 2013 at BC, Fulton 220 |
Andrew Granville (Universite' de Montre'al) Title: A different way to use Perron's formula Michael Zieve (University of Michigan) Title: Polynomial mappings of number fields |
| April 9, 2013 at MIT, room 32-144 |
Frank Calegari (Northwestern) Title: The cohomology of congruence subgroups of SL_N(Z) for large N and algebraic K-theory Rachel Pries (Colorado State University) Title: The geometry of the p-rank stratification of the moduli space of curves |
BC Distinguished Lecturer in Mathematics series
Distinguished Lecturer: Dr. Bernd Sturmfels,
Professor of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley
Lecture 1: April 23, 2013
7:00 p.m. in Merkert 127
Title: Tropical Mathematics
Abstract: In tropical arithmetic, the sum of two numbers is their maximum and the product of two numbers is their usual sum. Many results familiar from algebra and geometry, including the Quadratic Formula and the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, continue to hold in the tropical world. In this lecture we learn how to draw tropical curves and why evolutionary biologists might care about this.
Lecture 2: April 24, 2013
4:30 p.m. in Fulton 115
Title: The Convex Hull of a Space Curve
Abstract: The boundary of the convex hull of a compact algebraic curve in real 3-space defines a real algebraic surface. For general curves, that boundary surface is reducible, consisting of tritangent planes and a scroll of stationary bisecants. We express the degree of this surface in terms of the degree, genus and singularities of the curve. We present methods for computing their defining polynomials, and we exhibit a wide range of examples. Most of these are innocent-looking trigonometic curves such as (cos(t),sin(2t),cos(3t)). This is joint work with Kristian Ranestad.
Lecture 3: April 25, 2013
4:30 p.m. in Fulton 145
Title: Non-negative Polynomials versus Sums of Squares
Abstract: We discuss the geometry underlying the difference between non-negative polynomials and sums of squares. The hypersurfaces that discriminate these two cones for ternary sextics and quaternary quartics are shown to be Noether-Lefschetz loci of K3 surfaces. The projective duals of these hypersurfaces are defined by rank constraints on Hankel matrices. We compute their degrees using numerical algebraic geometry, thereby verifying results due to Maulik and Pandharipande. The non-SOS extreme rays of the two cones of non-negative forms are parametrized respectively by the Severi variety of plane rational sextics and by the variety of quartic symmetroids. This lecture is based on work of Greg Blekherman, and a joint paper with Jonathan Hauenstein, John Christian Ottem and Kristian Ranestad.
BC Math Society/Mathematics Department Undergraduate Lectures
BCMS Careers in Mathematics Series
"Careers in Mathematics: A Panel Discussion
Tuesday, November 13, 5:30 p.m.
Location: 9 Lake Street, Room 100
January 30, 2013
Information Session on Summer REUs
Carney 309, 4:00 p.m.
March 14, 2013
Pi Day
Special Events, 12:00 noon, Carney 309
BCMS Careers in Mathematics Series
April 3, 2013, 5:00–6:00 pm., Stokes S117
Mike Brown (US Navy)
"Careers in Mathematics: Cybersecurity"
BC Geometry/Topology Seminar
Schedule for the BC Geometry/Topology Seminar
Organizers: Ian Biringer, Eli Grigsby, Joshua Greene
BC Number Theory/Algebraic Geometry Seminar
Schedule for the BC Number Theory/Algebraic Geometry Seminar
Organizers: Avner Ash, Dawei Chen, Marksym Fedorchuk, Sol Friedberg, Ben Howard, Dubi Kelmer
BC Colloquium Series
To be determined.
Boston Area Links
The Mathematical Gazette is published weekly by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Mathematical Sciences Department. It provides a list of mathematical seminars and colloquia in the Massachusetts area.