Professor Stewart notes that Dr. Xiao's prize-winning paper addresses a fundamental question in number theory, one that has been studied by some of the most talented number theorists of the last 50 years, such as Browning, Erdös, Granville, Heath-Brown, Helfgott, Hooley, Murty and Poonen. It has applications to questions about elliptic curves and algebraic number fields. Dr. Xiao had to work with a number of sophisticated notions from algebraic geometry in order to prove his result, "and it is a testament to his technical power that he is able to successfully establish his proof."
The Murray Martin Prize winning paper is selected by the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics Research Advisory Committee. The Prize, valued at $5,000, is presented annually to a graduate student or team of students enrolled in the Faculty of Mathematics who has authored or co-authored an outstanding research paper as of January 31 each year. Students must be nominated by their supervisor.
This fund is made possible by a donation from Pitney Bowes Inc. to honour Murray Martin, their retired chair, president, CEO and director whose continuous investment in research and development has ensured its industry leadership.
Dr. Xiao defended his thesis in August 2016 and is currently at the University of Oxford on an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship. He is working under the supervision of the Waynflete Professor of Mathematics, Ben Green, and Professor Roger Heath-Brown.