Previous Conferences & Workshops

Nov
14
2011

Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar I

Polynomial Time Algorithms for Multi-Type Branching Processes and Stochastic Context-Free Grammars
Mihalis Yannakakis
11:15am|S-101

We show that one can approximate the least fixed point solution for a multivariate system of monotone probabilistic polynomial equations in time polynomial in both the encoding size of the system of equations and in log(1/epsilon), where epsilon > 0...

Nov
11
2011

Joint IAS/Princeton University Symplectic Geometry Seminar

Orientability and Open Gromov-Witten Invariants
Penka Georgieva
4:30pm|West Building Lecture Hall

I will first discuss the orientability of the moduli spaces of J-holomorphic maps with Lagrangian boundary conditions. It is known that these spaces are not always orientable and I will explain what the obstruction depends on. Then, in the presence...

Nov
11
2011

Geometry Seminar

Bilinearized Legendrian Contact Homology
Frederic Bourgeois
1:30pm|S-101

Legendrian contact homology (LCH) is a powerful holomorphic curves invariant for Legendrian submanifolds in contact manifolds. It is defined via a differential graded algebra (DGA), but the computation of its homology is often too difficult...

Nov
10
2011

Joint IAS/Princeton University Number Theory Seminar

Subtle Invariants and Traverso's Conjectures for p-Divisible Groups
4:30pm|Fine Hall -- 214

Let D be a p-divisible group over an algebraically closed field k of positive characteristic p. We will first define several subtle invariants of D which have been introduced recently and which are crucial for any strong, refined classification of D...

Nov
10
2011

Analysis Seminar

Around the Davenport-Heilbronn Function
3:00pm|S-101

The Davenport-Heilbronn function (introduced by Titchmarsh) is a linear combination of the two L-functions with a complex character mod 5, with a functional equation of L-function type but for which the analogue of the Riemann hypothesis fails. In...

Nov
08
2011

Joint IAS/Princeton University Mathematical Physics Seminar

A Simplified Proof of the Relation Between Scaling Exponents in First-Passage Percolation
Michael Damron
4:30pm|A-06 Jadwin Hall, PU

In first passage percolation, we place i.i.d. non-negative weights on the nearest-neighbor edges of Z^d and study the induced random metric. A long-standing conjecture gives a relation between two "scaling exponents": one describes the variance of...

Nov
08
2011

Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar II

Vertex Sparsification: An Introduction, Connections and Applications
10:30am|S-101

The notion of exactly (or approximately) representing certain combinatorial properties of a graph $G$ on a simpler graph is ubiquitous in combinatorial optimization. In this talk, I will introduce the notion of vertex sparsification. Here we are...