Un of Tenn | Math Department

Seminars and Colloquiums
for the week of October 15, 2012

Speakers:

Prof. Jerry Bona, UIC, Monday
Joe Hughes, Wednesday
Prof. Ken Stephenson, Wednesday
Mr. Cody Lorton and Mr. Tom Lewis, Wednesday
Prof. Remus Nicoara, Friday

Monday, October 15

COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:35 - 4:25 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 405
SPEAKER: Prof. Jerry Bona, UIC
TITLE: Mathematics and the ocean
ABSTRACT: The aim is to introduce some problems arising in trying to understand the dynamics of the ocean and show how mathematics can help understand the phenomena in question. We will start by introducing the physical problems, which are concerned with various aspects of large ocean waves. The mathematical theory of surface water waves then comes to the fore in an effort to understand important questions arising in the consideration of these phenomena. The derivation of model equations for water waves is sketched, including reference to some of the rigorous theory that underlies the formal derivations. These models are then engaged in an effort to sort out queries arising in the earlier discussion.

Wednesday, October 17

MATH BIOLOGY SEMINAR
TIME: 10:10 - 11:00 a.m.
ROOM: Dabney 488
SPEAKER: Joe Hughes
TITLE: Introduction to R and data (chapter 5 of Bolker's book)

ANALYSIS SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 - 4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 112
SPEAKER: Prof. Ken Stephenson
TITLE: Conformal Tilings
ABSTRACT: (Joint with Phil Bowers) Bowers and I introduced the notion of "conformal" tiling over 15 years ago. In the intervening years, the traditional tiling community, associated with the famous Penrose aperiodic tiling and the discovery of quasicrystals, has been taking huge strides. Motivated by a visit by Maria Ramirez-Solano from Denmark, Bowers and I are investigating conformal tiling to see what it might bring to the table. In this talk I will discuss the basics of tiling theory and illustrate the parallel conformal situation. In a later talk I will explain the tiling "hull" and dynamical system and, with luck, the associated C* algrebras.

COMP/APPLIED MATH SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35-4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 110
Two 20-minute talks:
SPEAKER: Mr. Cody Lorton
TITLE: Two-level Schwartz methods for non-symmetric and indefinite problems
SPEAKER: Mr. Tom Lewis
TITLE: Nonstandard local discontinuous Galerkin methods for fully nonlinear second order elliptic PDEs

Friday, October 19

COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:35 - 4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 405
SPEAKER: Prof. Remus Nicoara
TITLE: Subfactors and their symmetries
ABSTRACT: The theory of subfactors was initiated by V. Jones in the eighties, as a Galois theory for inclusions of von Neumann algebras. Subfactors can be used to capture the symmetries of various mathematical and physical objects. Part of this structure can be uncovered by computing the standard invariant of the subfactor. This is a group-like object naturally associated to the subfactor, consisting in a lattice of inclusions of finite dimensional matrix algebras. We discuss various finiteness results for standard invariants, which also lead to new constructions of subfactors. Applications to the theory of Hopf algebras and the classification of complex Hadamard matrices will also be presented.

Refreshments will be available at 3:15 p.m.

If you are interested in giving or arranging a talk for one of our seminars or colloquiums,
please review our calendar.

If you have questions, or a date you would like to confirm, please contact colloquium@math.utk.edu.

Past notices:

Seminars from 2011-2012 academic year

Seminars from 2010-2011 academic year

Seminars from 2009-2010 academic year

Seminars from 2008-2009 academic year