Future students

Title: The results of a search for small association schemes with noncyclotomic eigenvalues

Abstract:

Title: On complete classes of valuated matroids

Abstract:

Valuated matroids were introduced by Dress and Wenzel in 1992. They are a central object in discrete convex analysis, and play important roles in other areas such as mathematical economics and tropical geometry. Finding a constructive characterization, i.e., showing that all valuated matroids can be derived from a simple class by some basic operations has been a natural question proposed in various contexts.

Title: State transfer on graphs with twin vertices

Abstract:

In this talk, we discuss algebraic and spectral properties of graphs with twin vertices that are important in quantum state transfer. We give a characterization of strong cospectrality between twin vertices, and characterize some types of state transfer that occur between them.

Title: Four families of polynomials in spectral graph theory

Abstract:

 In this talk we describe four families of polynomials related to the spectrum of a graph. First, some known main results involving such polynomials, such as the spectral excess theorem characterizing distance-regularity, are discussed. Second, some new results giving bounds for the $k$-independence number $\alpha_k$ of a graph are presented. In this context, we comment on some relationships between the inertia (Cvetkovi\`c) and ratio (Hoffman) bounds of $\alpha_k$.

Title: Induced subgraphs and treewidth

Abstract:

Treewidth, introduced by Robertson and Seymour in the graph minors series, is a fundamental measure of the complexity of a graph. While their results give an answer to the question, “what minors occur in graphs of large treewidth?,” the same question for induced subgraphs is still open. I will talk about some conjectures and recent results in this area.

Joint work with Tara Abrishami, Maria Chudnovsky, Cemil Dibek, Sepehr Hajebi, Pawel Rzazewski, Kristina Vuskovic.

Title: Structured (In)Feasibility: Nonmonotone Operator Splitting in Nonlinear Spaces

Abstract:

Several challenging optimization problems in power networks involve operational decisions, non-linear models of the underlying physics described by the network as well as uncertainty in the system parameters. However, these networks exhibit a nice structure. This talk provides an overview of approaches that combine recent advances in robust optimization and conic relaxations of polynomial optimization problems along with exploiting the structure of the underlying problem. These approaches are demonstrated on applications arising in power networks.

Title: Semidefinite Optimization Approaches for Reactive Optimal Power Flow Problems

Abstract:

The Reactive Optimal Power Flow (ROPF) problem consists in computing an optimal power generation dispatch for an alternating current transmission network that respects power flow equations and operational constraints. Some means of voltage control are modelled in ROPF such as the possible activation of shunts, and these controls are modelled using discrete variables. The ROPF problem belongs to the class of nonconvex MINLPs, which are NP-hard problems. We consider semidefinite optimization approaches for solving ROPF problems and their integration into a branch-and-bound algorithm.

Title: Newell-Littlewood numbers

Abstract:

The Newell-Littlewood numbers are defined in terms of the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. Both arise as tensor product multiplicities for a classical Lie group. A. Klyachko connected eigenvalues of sums of Hermitian matrices to the saturated LR-cone and established defining linear inequalities.

Title: Forcing Quasirandomness in Permutations

Abstract:

A striking result in graph theory is that the property of a graph being quasirandom (i.e. resembling a random graph) is characterized by the number of edges and the number of 4-cycles being close to the expected number in a random graph. Král’ and Pikhurko (2013) proved an analogous result for permutations; i.e. that quasirandom permutations are characterized by the densities of all permutations of length 4.

Title: Graph Continued Fractions

Abstract:

This talk is about a connection between matching polynomials and continued fractions. For the matching polynomials: we prove a refinement of a theorem by Ku and Wong, which extends the classical Gallai-Edmonds decomposition;