Events

Title: Continuous Quantum Walks on Graphs

Abstract:

A quantum walk is a (rather imperfect analog) of a random walk on a graph. They can be viewed as gadgets that might play a role in quantum computers, and have been used to produce algorithms that outperform corresponding classical procedures.

Title: P\'olya enumeration theorems in algebraic geometry

Abstract:

We will start by comparing Macdonald's formula of the generating function for the symmetric powers of a compact complex manifold and Grothendieck's formula of the zeta series of a projective variety over a finite field, an explicit version of Dwork's rationality result.

Title: Weighted Maximum Multicommodity Flows over time

Abstract:

In various applications, flow does not travel instantaneously through a network, and the amount of flow traveling on an edge may vary over time. This temporal dimension is not captured by the classic static network flow models but can be modeled using flows over time. 

Title: Data-Driven Sample-Average Approximation for Stochastic Optimization with Covariate Information

Abstract:

We consider optimization models for decision-making in which parameters within the optimization model are uncertain, but predictions of these parameters can be made using available covariate information.  We consider a data-driven setting in which we have observations of the uncertain parameters together with concurrently-observed covariates.  Given a new covariate observation, the goal is to choose a decision that minimizes the expected cost conditioned on this observation.  We investigate a data-driven framework in which the outputs from a machine learning prediction model are directly used to define a stochastic programming sample average approximation (SAA). 

Title: Decomposing discrete quantum walks into continuous quantum walks

Abstract:

The Grover walk is a discrete quantum walk inspired by Grover's search algorithm. It takes place on the arcs of a graph, and alternates between "coin flips" and "arc reversal". In this talk, I show that for a distance regular graph X with diameter d and intertible A(X), the Grover walk on X can be "decomposed" into at most d "commuting" continuous quantum walks.

Title: Abelian covering graphs and their properties

Abstract:

 A covering graph is a structure obtained from a graph by ‘replacing’ every vertex with a coclique of size $r$. The main focus of this talk is connections between (spectral) characteristic of a cover and properties such as being walk- or distance- regular.

Title: Counting the $c_2$ invariant on the circulant family of graphs

Abstract:

The algebro-geometric invariant on Feynman Diagrams called the $c_2$ invariant is a useful tool for detecting properties of Feynman periods. We present this identity on graphs that originate from the scalar $\phi_4$-theory with a purely combinatorial perspective and go over some strategies for computing it. We will further narrow our focus onto the circulant family of graphs and present some explicit results.

Title: Subdivergence-free gluings of trees

Abstract:

Motivated by questions in quantum field theory, we introduce a purely combinatorial problem of counting subdivergence-free gluings of trees. We present closed-form expressions counting subdivergence-free gluings for four different families of trees, as well as an algorithm to count subdivergence-free gluings of arbitrary pairs of trees. This is joint work with Clair Dai and Karen Yeats.

Title: What do graph planarity and homomorphism counts have to do with quantum mechanics?

Abstract:

I will introduce the notion of quantum isomorphisms of graphs. These are defined in terms of a game in which two cooperating players attempt to convince a referee that two given graphs are isomorphic.

Title: Constructing broken SIDH parameters: a tale of De Feo, Jao, and Plut's serendipity.

Abstract:

This talk is motivated by analyzing the security of the cryptographic key exchange protocol SIDH (Supersingular Isogeny Diffie-Hellman), introduced by 2011 by De Feo, Jao, and Plut. We will first recall some mathematical background as well as the protocol itself. The 'keys' in this protocol are elliptic curves, which are typically described by equations in x and y of the form y^2 = x^3 + ax + b. Of importance in this talk will be 'endomorphisms' associated to elliptic curves: these are functions that map an elliptic curve to itself which also satisfy some nice properties.