Member Seminar Speaker: Ahsan Khan Title: Formality Theorem and Webs Abstract: The “formality theorem” of Kontsevich was a key result that implies that every Poisson manifold admits a deformation quantization. I will review the ideas behind the formality theorem and discuss a potentially novel viewpoint on it involving webs and twisted masses.
Freedman CMSA Seminar *Note: via Zoom only* 2:00-3:30 pm ET Speaker: Matt Hastings, Microsoft Quantum Program Title: Invertible Phases of Matter and Quantum Cellular Automata: Dimensions One to Three Abstract: A Quantum Cellular Automaton (QCA) is a *-automorphism of the algebra of local operators. While local quantum circuits provide one example of QCA, we are […]
Foundation Seminar (Joint Seminar with BHI) Location: BHI Title: Singularity Theorems, Part II Journal Club Discussion
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Ben Gammage, Harvard University Title: Boundaries and duality for 3d gauge theories Abstract: 3d N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory has a pair of topological twists, the A-model and B-model, the latter of which is also known as Rozansky-Witten theory. Conjecturally, boundary conditions for these TFTs ought to admit descriptions in […]
CMSA Q&A Seminar Speaker: Michael Freedman, Harvard CMSA Topic: Broad perspective on manifolds: all dimensions, all structures, classification and dynamics
Foundation Seminar (Joint Seminar with BHI) Location: BHI Speaker: Christoph Kehle (MIT) Title: On the cosmic censorship conjectures Abstract: I will present the modern formulations of the weak and strong cosmic censorship conjectures and discuss some recent developments in the context of gravitational collapse.
Colloquium Speaker: Martin Nowak (Harvard) Title: The mathematics of evolution Abstract: All living systems are guided by evolutionary dynamics. Evolution is a search process which occurs in populations of reproducing individuals. The three fundamental forces of evolution are mutation, selection and cooperation. I will present basic ideas in the mathematical description of evolutionary dynamics, including quasi-species theory, evolutionary […]
Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Dan Freed, Harvard University Title: Introduction to Factorization algebras
CMSA Q&A Seminar Speaker: Michael Douglas, Harvard CMSA Topic: What is Argyres-Douglas theory?
https://youtu.be/KOgh-FFDlvg New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Dylan Foster, Microsoft Research Title: Is Behavior Cloning All You Need? Understanding Horizon in Imitation Learning Abstract: Imitation learning (IL) aims to mimic the behavior of an expert in a sequential decision making task by learning from demonstrations, and has been widely applied to robotics, autonomous driving, and autoregressive language […]
Quantum Field Theory and Physical Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Victor Kac (MIT) Title: Representations of minimal W-algebras: unitarity and modular invariance Abstract: The minimal W-algebras, obtained by quantum Hamiltonian reduction from affina vertex algebras, form the most interesting class of vertex algebras, which includes all superconformal algebras: Virasoro, Neveu-Scharz, N=2, 3, 4, and big N=4. I will […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Vasily Krylov, CMSA Title: ADHM spaces and their quantizations Abstract: In their paper “Construction of Instantons,” Atiyah, Drinfeld, Hitchin, and Manin introduced an algebraic construction of the moduli space of instantons on R^4, now also known as the "ADHM space." This is a Poisson complex variety; it has been actively studied by both […]