Contact Info
Pure MathematicsUniversity of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
N2L 3G1
Departmental office: MC 5304
Phone: 519 888 4567 x43484
Fax: 519 725 0160
Email: puremath@uwaterloo.ca
Jason Lotay, Oxford University
"Minimal Lagrangians and where to find them"
A classical problem going back to ancient Greece is to find the shortest curve in the plane enclosing a given area: the isoperimetric problem. A similar question is whether a curve on a surface can be deformed to a shortest one. Whilst the solutions to these classical problems are well-known, natural generalizations in higher dimensions are mostly unsolved. I will explain how this leads us to the study of minimal Lagrangians and the question of how to find them, which will take us to the interface between symplectic topology, Riemannian geometry and analysis of nonlinear PDEs, with links to theoretical physics.
MC 5501
Departmental office: MC 5304
Phone: 519 888 4567 x43484
Fax: 519 725 0160
Email: puremath@uwaterloo.ca
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.