Seminars and Colloquiums
for the week of October 15, 2007
Speakers:
Dr. Jeffrey Weeks, MacArthur Fellow, Monday
Mr. James Ashe, Tuesday
Mr. Gerald Orick, Wednesday
Dr. Xia Chen, Thursday
Monday, October 15
JUNIOR COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:40 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 214
SPEAKER: Dr. Jeffrey Weeks, MacArthur Fellow
TITLE: Beginners’ Tour of Curved Space
ABSTRACT: How can one visualize curved space? Students will first construct physical models introducing the concept of a curved surface. Interactive 3D graphics will then extend the concept to curved 3-dimensional space. Finally we'll see how measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation are now placing limits on the curvature of the universe.
(For math and physics undergraduates, as well as graduate students and faculty. This lecture complements the evening presentation, with only a tiny overlap.)
EVENING PUBLIC LECTURE
TIME: 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
ROOM: 210 Alumni Memorial Building
SPEAKER: Dr. Jeffrey Weeks, MacArthur Fellow
TITLE: The Shape of Space
ABSTRACT: When we look out on a clear night, the Universe seems infinite. Yet this infinity might be an illusion. During the first half of the presentation, computer games will introduce the concept of a “multiconnected universe”. Interactive 3D graphics will then take the viewer on a tour of several possible shapes for space. Finally, we’ll see how recent satellite data provide tantalizing clues to the true shape of our Universe. The only prerequisites for this lecture are curiosity and imagination; the talk is intended for middle and high school students, and all people interested in astronomy.
Tuesday, October 16
ALGEBRA SEMINAR
TIME: 2:10 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres Hall 309B
SPEAKER: James Ashe, GTA
TITLE: Hilbert Rings and Pullbacks
Wednesday, October 17
ANALYSIS SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 – 4:25
ROOM: Ayres Hall 209A
SPEAKER: Gerald Orick, GTA
TITLE: A Linearized Circle Packing Algorithm
ABSTRACT: Circle packings serve as the discrete version of analytic functions. This talk presents an efficient method for constructing circle packings by iteratively solving a sparse linear system with parameters determined by the estimated radii at each stage.
Thursday, October 18
COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:40 p.m.
ROOM: 214 Ayres
SPEAKER: Dr. Xia Chen
TITLE: LARGE DEVIATIONS IN SAMPLE PATH INTERSECTIONS
ABSTRACT: This talk concerns the self intersection of a single random trajectory (run by a Brownian motion or by a random walk), and the mutual intersection of independent random trajectories.
The study of the large deviations for the quantities measuring intersections has its root on physics.
For example, the recent success in the large deviations for self-intersection local times leads to the solution of the critical temperature problem for self-attracting polymer models. Mathematically, the study of sample path intersections is important in understanding the geometrical structure of random curves. In this talk, I will describe some recent progress and list some unsolved problems and conjectures on the large deviations for the intersection local times and intersections of the ranges.
Part of the talk is based on the joint works with Richard Bass, Peter Mörters, Wenbo Li and Jay Rosen.
Previous Announcements:
Week of:
Seminars from 2006-2007 academic year