Previous Conferences & Workshops

Mar
15
2006

Joint IAS/Princeton University Number Theory Seminar

Freeman Dyson's "Challenge for the Future": The Mock Theta Functions
Kathrin Bringmann
2:00pm|Fine Hall 314, Princeton University

In his last letter to Hardy, Ramanujan defined 17 peculiar functions which are now referred to as his mock theta functions. Although these mysterious functions have been investigated by many mathematicians over the years, many of their most basic...

Mar
14
2006

Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar II

Group Theoretic Algorithms For Fast matrix Multiplication
Balazs Szedgedy
10:30am|S-101

In 1969 Strassen discovered the surprising fact that it is possible to multiply two 2x2 matrices by using only 7 multiplications. This leads to an algorithm which multiplies two nxn matrices with n^(2.81+o(1)) field operations. Coppersmith and...

Mar
13
2006

Members’ Seminar

Multivariable Mahler Measure and Regulators
4:00pm|S-101

The Mahler measure of an n-variable polynomial P is the integral of log|P| over the n-dimensional unit torus T^n with the Haar measure. For one-variable polynomials, this is a natural quantity that appears in different problems such as Lehmer's...

Mar
13
2006

Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar I

On the (Im)possibility of Basing One-Way Functions on NP-Hardness
11:15am|S-101

One-way functions (i.e., polynomial-time computable functions that are hard to invert on the average case) are the cornerstone of modern cryptography. The hardness condition on the task of inverting a one-way function is an *average-case* complexity...

Mar
08
2006

Special Mathematical Physics Seminar

Entanglement in $XY$ Spin Chain and the Asymptotic Analysis of the Block Toeplitz Matrices
Alexander Its
2:00pm|S-101

We consider the ground state of the $XY$ model of an infinite spin chain at zero temperature. Following C. Bennett, H. Bernstein, S. Popescu, and B. Schumacher, we use the von Neumann entropy of a sub-system as a measure of entanglement. G. Vidal, J...

Mar
07
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Asymptotics and Spectra of Cayley and Schreier Graphs of Branch Groups
Zoran Sunik
2:00pm|S-101

We provide calculations of growth and spectra of Cayley and Schreier graphs related to some branch groups. Among the examples, we present a class of groups of intermediate growth defined by primitive polynomials over finite fields (the original...

Mar
07
2006

Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar II

Strong Approximation in Random Towers of Graphs
10:30am|S-101

Random covers of graphs, and random group actions on rooted trees, are different languages, that describe the same phenomenon. The former were studied by Amit, Linial. Matousek, Bilu. The latter were studied by Abert and Virag. Let T(n) be a binary...

Mar
06
2006

Mathematical Physics Seminar

The Thermodynamics Pressure of a Dilute Fermi Gas
Robert Seiringer
2:00pm|S-101

We consider a gas of fermions with non-zero spin at positive temperature $T$. We show that if the range of the interparticle interaction is small compared to the mean particle distance, the thermodynamic pressure differs to leading order from the...