Events - September 2019

Title: Chord diagrams, generating functions, and qft

Abstract:

I'll talk about some joint work with Julien Courtiel where some nice enumerative combinatorics tells us something about how gauge theories are such special quantum field theories.

Title: Improving Implementations of CSIDH

Abstract: 

I will present on some papers related to implementations of CSIDH [1].

Title: The sparsest matroids omitting an independent flat

Abstract:

Given integers $k,r \ge 1$, what is the smallest a rank-$r$ matroid can be that does not contain a $k$-element independent set that is also a flat? I will answer this question, characterize the extremal examples, and draw parallels with a problem in graph theory.

Title: Orthogonal Polynomials and the Addition Formula

Abstract:

Many questions about designs and codes in the unit sphere can be reduced to questions about members of a family of orthogonal polynomials, the so-called Gegenbauer polynomials.

Title: Combinatorial questions motivated by Invariant Theory

Abstract:

We begin the talk by discussing a question in Invariant Theory: given a representation $V$ of a Lie group $G$, when if the invariant ring $k[V]^G$ a polynomial ring? We give a conjectural answer which we have verified for $SL_n$ and discuss some combinatorial questions motivated by the proof. This is joint work with Dan Edidin.

Title: Approximation Algorithms for Minimum-Norm Optimization Problems

Abstract:

In many optimization problems, a feasible solution induces a multidimensional cost vector. For example, in k-clustering, opening k facilities induces an assignment-cost vector indexed by the clients; in load-balancing, a schedule induces a load vector across the machines.