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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230412T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230412T133000
DTSTAMP:20240215T103145Z
CREATED:20230817T182227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T103145Z
UID:10001281-1681302600-1681306200@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Unexpected Uses of Neural Networks: Field Theory and Metric Flows  
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: James Halverson (Northeastern University)\n \nTitle: Unexpected Uses of Neural Networks: Field Theory and Metric Flows\nAbstract:  We are now quite used to the idea that deep neural networks may be trained in a variety of ways to tackle cutting-edge problems in physics and mathematics\, sometimes leading to rigorous results. In this talk\, however\, I will argue that breakthroughs in deep learning theory are also useful for making progress\, focusing on applications to field theory and metric flows. Specifically\, I will introduce a neural network approach to field theory with a different statistical origin\, that exhibits generalized free field behavior at infinite width and interactions at finite width\, and that allows for the study of symmetries via the study of correlation functions in a different duality frame. Then\, I will review recent progress in approximating Calabi-Yau metrics as neural networks and cast that story into the language of neural tangent kernel theory\, yielding a theoretical understanding of neural network metric flows induced by gradient descent and recovering famous metric flows\, such as Perelman’s formulation of Ricci flow\, in particular limits.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/colloquium12523/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/02CMSA-Colloquium-04.12.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230411T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230411T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T070619Z
CREATED:20230817T171211Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T070619Z
UID:10001241-1681214400-1681218000@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Spectral gap and two-point functions in spin glasses
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Changji Xu \nTitle: Spectral gap and two-point functions in spin glasses \nAbstract: Many have worked on spin glass models over the past 50 years\, including physicists\, mathematicians\, and computers. A question that arises is whether computers yield dependable simulation results. In this talk\, I will discuss some recent mathematical progress on spectral gap and two-point functions in spin glasses models.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-41123/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230410T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230410T120000
DTSTAMP:20240215T101627Z
CREATED:20230730T190732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T101627Z
UID:10001161-1681124400-1681128000@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Swampland bounds on the abelian gauge sectors
DESCRIPTION:Swampland Seminar \nSpeaker: Seung-Joo Lee (IBS Daejeon)\n\nTitle: Swampland bounds on the abelian gauge sectors \nAbstract: In this talk we will derive various bounds on the 0-form and the 1-form abelian gauge sectors of gravitational effective theories in 6 dimensions with minimal supersymmetry. We will start by considering 6-dimensional F-theory vacua with at least one tensor multiplets\, to bound for them the number of the (0-form) U(1) gauge factors as well as the cyclic orders of the 1-form discrete gauge factors. While the two abelian gauge sectors may look rather independent\, we will observe that both are heavily constrained by the solitonic heterotic strings present in the spectrum\, which provide a common intuition for the derived bounds. Building upon the heterotic intuition\, we will also try extending the arena to address analogous bounds for all F-theory vacua in 6 dimensions and even beyond. If time permits\, several applications and future directions of research will be discussed at the end of the talk.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/swampland_41023/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Swampland Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Swampland-Seminar-04.10.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230407T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230407T130000
DTSTAMP:20240122T075759Z
CREATED:20230825T085705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240122T075759Z
UID:10001304-1680868800-1680872400@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Modular graph forms and iterated integrals in string amplitudes
DESCRIPTION:Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar \nSpeaker: Oliver Schlotterer (Uppsala University) \nTitle: Modular graph forms and iterated integrals in string amplitudes \nAbstract: I will discuss string amplitudes as a laboratory for special functions and period integrals that drive fruitful cross-talk with particle physicists and mathematicians. At genus zero\, integration over punctures on a disk or sphere worldsheet generates multiple zeta values in the low-energy expansion of open- and closed-string amplitudes. At genus one\, closed-string amplitudes introduce infinite families of non-holomorphic modular forms through the integration over torus punctures known as modular graph forms. The latter inspired Francis Brown’s alternative construction of non-holomorphic modular forms in the mathematics literature via iterated integrals\, and I will report on recent progress in clarifying their connection with modular graph forms.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/agst-4723/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230407T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230407T113000
DTSTAMP:20240110T071718Z
CREATED:20230802T170222Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240110T071718Z
UID:10001174-1680861600-1680867000@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Enhancing Detection of Topological Order by Local Error Correction
DESCRIPTION:Quantum Matter Seminar \nSpeaker: Nishad Maskara (Harvard) \nTitle: Enhancing Detection of Topological Order by Local Error Correction \nAbstract: The exploration of topologically-ordered states of matter is a long-standing goal at the interface of several subfields of the physical sciences. Such states feature intriguing physical properties such as long-range entanglement\, emergent gauge fields and non-local correlations\, and can aid in realization of scalable fault-tolerant quantum computation. However\, these same features also make creation\, detection\, and characterization of topologically-ordered states particularly challenging. Motivated by recent experimental demonstrations\, we introduce a new paradigm for quantifying topological states—locally error-corrected decoration (LED)—by combining methods of error correction with ideas of renormalization-group flow. Our approach allows for efficient and robust identification of topological order\, and is applicable in the presence of incoherent noise sources\, making it particularly suitable for realistic experiments. We demonstrate the power of LED using numerical simulations of the toric code under a variety of perturbations\, and we subsequently apply it to an experimental realization of a quantum spin liquid using a Rydberg-atom quantum simulator.  Finally\, we illustrate how LED can be applied to more general phases including non-abelian topological orders. \n 
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/qm_4723/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-QMMP-04.07.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230406T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230406T103000
DTSTAMP:20240119T051939Z
CREATED:20230818T042449Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240119T051939Z
UID:10001259-1680773400-1680777000@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Rough solutions of the relativistic Euler equations
DESCRIPTION:General Relativity Seminar \nSpeaker: Sifan Yu\, Vanderbilt University \nTitle: Rough solutions of the relativistic Euler equations \nAbstract: I will discuss recent works on the relativistic Euler equations with dynamic vorticity and entropy. We use a new formulation of the equations\, which has geo-analytic structures. In this geometric formulation\, we decompose the flow into geometric “sound-wave part” and “transport-div-curl part”. This allows us to derive sharp results about the dynamics\, including the existence of low-regularity solutions. Then\, I will discuss the results of rough solutions of the relativistic Euler equations and the role that nonlinear geometric optics plays in the framework. Our main result is that the Sobolev norm $H^{2+}$ of the variables in the “wave-part” and the H\”older norm $C^{0\,0+}$ of the variables in the “transport-part” can be controlled in terms of initial data for short times. We note that the Sobolev norm assumption $H^{2+}$ is the optimal result for the variables in the “wave-part.” This talk will include the main ideas of the proof\, as well as a comparison of the relativistic and non-relativistic scenarios.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/gr_4623/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:General Relativity Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230405T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230405T163000
DTSTAMP:20240111T070226Z
CREATED:20230807T173206Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240111T070226Z
UID:10001193-1680708600-1680712200@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Sampling from the SK and mixed p-spin measures with stochastic localization
DESCRIPTION:Probability Seminar \n\nSpeaker: Ahmed El Alaoui (Cornell) \nTitle: Sampling from the SK and mixed p-spin measures with stochastic localization \nAbstract: I will present an algorithm which efficiently samples from the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) measure with no external field at high temperature. The approach is based on the stochastic localization process of Eldan\, together with a subroutine for computing the mean vectors of a family of measures tilted by an appropriate external field. Conversely\, we show that no ‘stable’ algorithm can approximately sample from the SK measure at low temperature. Time permitting\, we discuss extensions to the p-spin model. This is based on a joint work with Andrea Montanari and Mark Sellke.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/probability-4523/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Probability Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Probability-Seminar-04.05.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230404T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230404T130000
DTSTAMP:20240228T092930Z
CREATED:20230817T171014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T092930Z
UID:10001240-1680609600-1680613200@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Optimal Dynamic Allocation: Simplicity through Information Design
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Faidra Monachou \nTitle: Optimal Dynamic Allocation: Simplicity through Information Design \nAbstract: We study dynamic nonmonetary markets where objects are allocated to unit-demand agents with private types. An agent’s value for an object is supermodular in her type and the quality of the object\, and her payoff is quasilinear in her waiting cost. The social planner’s objective is a linear combination of allocative efficiency (i.e.\, the sum of values) and welfare (i.e.\, the sum of payoffs). We identify the optimal mechanism in the class of direct-revelation mechanisms that elicit agents’ types and assign them to objects over time. We show that\, when the social planner can design the information disclosed to the agents about the objects\, the optimal mechanism has a simple implementation: a first-come first-served waitlist with deferrals. In this implementation\, the information disclosed about each object is an interval containing the object quality\, rather than the exact quality. These intervals partition the quality space. We also show that when the planner’s objective weight on welfare increases\, these intervals become coarser\, and optimal disclosure policies less informative. A direct corollary is that mechanisms that achieve higher welfare also induce lower distributional inequality\, in terms of the Lorenz order.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-4423/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230403T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230403T120000
DTSTAMP:20240122T052041Z
CREATED:20230817T181822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240122T052041Z
UID:10001280-1680519600-1680523200@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Black hole microstate counting from the gravitational path integral
DESCRIPTION:Colloquium \nSpeaker: Luca Iliesiu\, Stanford \nTitle: Black hole microstate counting from the gravitational path integral \nAbstract: Reproducing the integer count of black hole micro-states from the gravitational path integral is an important problem in quantum gravity. In the first part of the talk\, I will show that\, by using supersymmetric localization\, the gravitational path integral for 1/16-BPS black holes in supergravity can reproduce the index obtained in the string theory construction of such black holes. A more refined argument then shows that not only the black hole index but also the total number of black hole microstates within an energy window above extremality that is polynomially suppressed in the charges also matches this string theory index. In the second part of the talk\, I will present a second perspective on this state count and show how the BPS Hilbert space can be obtained by directly preparing states using the gravitational path integral. While such a preparation naively gives rise to a Hilbert space of BPS states whose dimension is much larger than expected\, I will explain how non-perturbative corrections in the overlap of such states are again responsible for reproducing the correct dimension of the Hilbert space.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/colloquium-4323/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Colloquium-04.03.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230330T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230330T140000
DTSTAMP:20240228T084556Z
CREATED:20230824T182516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T084556Z
UID:10002748-1680181200-1680184800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:The Role of Orientational Order in Development
DESCRIPTION:Active Matter Seminar\n\n\nSpeaker: Mark Bowick\, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics\, UCSB \nTitle: The Role of Orientational Order in Development \nAbstract: Morphogenesis\, the process through which genes generate form\, establishes tissue scale order as a template for constructing the complex shapes of the body plan. The extensive growth required to build these ordered substrates is fueled by cell proliferation\, which\, naively\, should disrupt order. Understanding how active morphogenetic mechanisms couple cellular and mechanical processes to generate order remains an outstanding question in animal development. I will review the statistical mechanics of orientational order and discuss the observation of a fourfold orientationally ordered phase (tetratic) in the model organism Parhyale hawaiensis. I will also discuss theoretical mechanisms for the formation of orientational order that require both motility and cell division\, with support from self-propelled vertex models of tissue. The aim is to uncover a robust\, active mechanism for generating global orientational order in a non-equilibrium system that then sets the stage for the development of shape and form.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/am-33023/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Active Matter Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Active-Matter-Seminar-03.30.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230330T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230330T223000
DTSTAMP:20240118T101402Z
CREATED:20230818T042141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T101402Z
UID:10001258-1680168600-1680215400@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Gravitational perturbations near to extreme Kerr
DESCRIPTION:General Relativity Seminar \nSpeaker: Alejandra Castro (University of Cambridge) \nTitle: Gravitational perturbations near to extreme Kerr \nAbstract: Gravitational perturbations of a black hole illustrate the invaluable synergy between theory\, experiment\, and numerical simulations in general relativity. A recent development in the theory side has been the identification of the relevant degrees of freedom describing the low energy physics driving a black hole away from extremality.  For simple cases\, this low energy sector determines important aspects of the gravitational backreaction\, and several properties that are key to our microscopic (quantum) understanding of black hole physics.\n\nIn this talk I will discuss these developments in the context of the (near-)extreme Kerr black hole. In particular\, I will revisit the spectrum of linear axisymmetric gravitational perturbations of this black hole. The aim is to characterise those perturbations that are responsible for the deviations away from extremality\, and to contrast them with the linearized perturbations treated in the Newman-Penrose formalism. I will show that for Kerr the low-lying mode sector is subtle and intricate—features that their charged spherical symmetric cousins do not display. This unveils new clues on how to decode a microscopic\, and holographic\, understanding of the Kerr black hole.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/gr_33023/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:General Relativity Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-GR-Seminar-03.30.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230329T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230329T133000
DTSTAMP:20240216T102824Z
CREATED:20230817T181436Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240216T102824Z
UID:10001279-1680093000-1680096600@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Ruth Britto (Trinity College Dublin) \nTitle: Scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory \nAbstract: Particle collider experiments require a detailed description of scattering events\, traditionally computed through sums of Feynman diagrams. However\, it is not practical to evaluate Feynman diagrams directly for all significant scattering processes. Moreover\, adding all diagrams reveals many cancellations: scattering amplitudes in theories such as QCD take remarkably simple forms. This simplicity is a clue that the perturbative theory is perhaps best understood without reference to Feynman diagrams. In fact\, it has recently become possible to explain some of this simplicity. I will show how to derive many amplitudes efficiently and elegantly\, and propose taming the remaining complexity with ideas drawn from combinatorics and geometry.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/collquium-32923/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Colloquium-03.29.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230328T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230328T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T070227Z
CREATED:20230817T170827Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T070227Z
UID:10001239-1680004800-1680008400@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Monotonicity of quasilocal mass for asymptotically flat Riemannian manifolds
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Jue Liu \nTitle: Monotonicity of quasilocal mass for asymptotically flat Riemannian manifolds \nAbstract: The study of quasilocal mass in general relativity has a long history. In previous papers by many authors we have a deep understanding of the properties of quasilocal mass such as positivity\, rigidity and asymptotics etc. In this talk I will focus on the monotonicity of quasilocal mass\, which means the quasilocal mass of a finite region is smaller than that of a larger region containing the previous region. Motivated by the definition of Bartnik mass and Brown-York mass\, we define a new quasilocal mass using the Hamilton method. With this definition\, we derive the sufficient condition such that the quasilocal mass is monotonic. As an application I will also discuss the relationship with the Bartnik conjecture\, that is under what conditions there will be a static extension to the given Bartnik data.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-32823/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230327T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230327T120000
DTSTAMP:20240215T101847Z
CREATED:20230730T190429Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T101847Z
UID:10001160-1679914800-1679918400@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Recent developments on the tidal Love numbers of black holes
DESCRIPTION:Swampland Seminar \nSpeaker: Valerio De Luca (UPenn)\n\nTitle: Recent developments on the tidal Love numbers of black holes \nAbstract: Tidal Love numbers describe the deformability of compact objects under the presence of external tidal perturbations\, and are found to be exactly zero for black holes in pure General Relativity. This property is however fragile\, since they receive corrections from higher-order derivative terms in the theory. We show that the tidal deformability of neutral black holes is constrained by the Weak Gravity Conjecture.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/swampland_32723/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Swampland Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Swampland-Seminar-03.27.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230323T133000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230323T143000
DTSTAMP:20240118T100327Z
CREATED:20230818T041454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T100327Z
UID:10001257-1679578200-1679581800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:New Phases of N=4 SYM
DESCRIPTION:General Relativity Seminar \nSpeaker: Prahar Mitra (University of Cambridge) \nTitle: New Phases of N=4 SYM \nAbstract: We construct new static solutions to gauged supergravity that\, via the AdS/CFT correspondence\, are dual to thermal phases in N=4 SYM at finite chemical potential. These solutions dominate the micro-canonical ensemble and are required to ultimately reproduce the microscopic entropy of AdS black holes. These are constructed in two distinct truncations of gauged supergravity and can be uplifted to solutions of type IIB supergravity. Together with the known phases of the truncation with three equal charges\, our findings permit a good understanding of the full phase space of SYM thermal states with three arbitrary chemical potentials. We will also discuss the status of hairy supersymmetric black hole solutions in this theory. \nBased on: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.07134.pdf [hep-th]
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/gr_32323/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:General Relativity Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-GR-Seminar-03.23.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230322T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230322T133000
DTSTAMP:20240216T104444Z
CREATED:20230817T181152Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240216T104444Z
UID:10001278-1679488200-1679491800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Synchronization in a Kuramoto Mean Field Game
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Mete Soner (Princeton University) \nTitle: Synchronization in a Kuramoto Mean Field Game \nAbstract:  Originally motivated by systems of chemical and biological oscillators\, the classical Kuramoto model has found an amazing range of applications from neuroscience to Josephson junctions in superconductors\, and has become a  key mathematical model to describe self organization in complex systems. These autonomous oscillators are coupled through a nonlinear interaction term which plays a central role in the long term behavior of the system. While the system is not synchronized when this term is not sufficiently strong\, fascinatingly\, they exhibit an abrupt transition to a full synchronization above a critical value of the interaction parameter.  We explore this system in the mean field formalism.  We treat the system of oscillators as an infinite particle system\, but instead of positing the dynamics of the particles\, we let the individual particles determine endogenously their behaviors by minimizing a cost functional and eventually\, settling in a Nash equilibrium.  The mean field game also exhibits a bifurcation from incoherence to self-organization.  This approach has found interesting applications including circadian rhythms and jet-lag recovery.  This is joint work with Rene Carmona of Princeton and Quentin Cormier of INRIA\, Paris.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/collquium-32223/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Colloquium-03.22.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230321T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230321T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T070105Z
CREATED:20230817T170644Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T070105Z
UID:10001238-1679400000-1679403600@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Quantum Gravity constraints beyond asymptotic regimes
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Max Wiesner \nTitle: Quantum Gravity constraints beyond asymptotic regimes \nAbstract: Not every effective field theory that is consistent in the absence of gravity can be completed to a consistent theory of quantum gravity. The goal of the Swampland program is to find general criteria that distinguish effective field theories\, that can be obtained as a low-energy approximation of quantum gravity\, from those that are inconsistent in the presence of gravity. These criteria are oftentimes motivated by patterns observed in explicit compactifications of perturbative string theory and have passed many non-trivial tests in asymptotic regions of the field space such as\, e.g.\, weak coupling limits. Still\, the Swampland criteria should equally apply to effective theories that do not arise in asymptotic regions of the field space of string theory compactifications. In this talk I will summarize some of my recent works that studies the interior of regions of the field space of string theory in the context of the Swampland program.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-32123/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230317T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230317T113000
DTSTAMP:20240228T091308Z
CREATED:20230802T165348Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T091308Z
UID:10001171-1679047200-1679052600@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Tensorial TQFT and disentangling modular Walker-Wang models
DESCRIPTION:Quantum Matter Seminar \nSpeaker: Andreas Bauer  (Freie Universität Berlin) \nTitle: Tensorial TQFT and disentangling modular Walker-Wang models \nAbstract: I will introduce simple “tensorial” definitions for many algebraic and categorical structures appearing in the classification of topological phases of matter. Such “tensorial TQFTs” will be defined as maps that associate tensors to geometric/topological objects of some type\, subject to gluing axioms. Tensorial TQFTs are very directly related to microscopic physical models in terms of discrete path integrals. I will use those tensorial definitions to construct invertible boundaries which disentangle modular Walker-Wang models. \n 
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/qm_31723/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230314T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230314T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T065025Z
CREATED:20230817T170402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T065025Z
UID:10001237-1678795200-1678798800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Randomized algorithms in combinatorics
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Michael Simkin \nTitle: Randomized algorithms in combinatorics \nAbstract: Randomized algorithms have been a computational workhorse for almost as long as there have been computers. Surprisingly\, such algorithms can also be used to attack problems that are neither algorithmic nor probabilistic. Time permitting I will discuss the following combintorial examples: \n\nEnumerative combinatorics and the n-queens problem: In how many ways can one place n queens on an n x n chessboard so that no queen threatens any other?\nConstructions of combinatorial designs and the Erdos high-girth Steiner triple system problem: An order-n Steiner triple system (STS) is a collection of triples on n vertices such that every pair of vertices is contained in exactly one triple. In 1973 Erdos conjectured that there exist STSs with arbitrary large girth (informally\, no small set of vertices spans many triples). I will discuss the use of randomized algorithms to prove this conjecture. Joint work with Kwan\, Sah\, and Sawhney.\nThresholds in random graphs and hypergraphs: I will discuss how randomized algorithms can be combined with the recent resolution of the Kahn–Kalai conjecture to determine thresholds in random (hyper) graph theory. Joint work with Pham\, Sah\, and Sawhney.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-31423/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230313T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230313T120000
DTSTAMP:20240215T102017Z
CREATED:20230730T190045Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T102017Z
UID:10001159-1678705200-1678708800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:String theory scalar potentials and their critical points
DESCRIPTION:Swampland Seminar \n\nSpeaker: David Andriot (Annecy\, LAPTH) \nTitle: String theory scalar potentials and their critical points \nAbstract: Positive scalar potentials in string effective theories could provide an origin to Dark Energy\, responsible for the accelerated expansion of our universe today or during inflation. It is thus crucial to characterize these scalar potentials\, namely their slope\, their critical points (de Sitter solutions) and the associated stability\, as also advocated by the Swampland Program. We will present such characterizations. Going further\, we will also discuss negative scalar potentials\, and make related observations on anti-de Sitter solutions\, in particular on a new mass bound\, as well as comments on scale separation.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/swampland_31323/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Swampland Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Swampland-Seminar-0.13.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230309T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230309T103000
DTSTAMP:20240228T091310Z
CREATED:20230817T185018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T091310Z
UID:10001256-1678354200-1678357800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Pseudospectrum and black hole quasinormal mode instability: An ultraviolet universality conjecture
DESCRIPTION:General Relativity Seminar \nSpeaker: Jose Luis Jaramillo (Bourgogne U.) \nTitle: Pseudospectrum and black hole quasinormal mode instability: an ultraviolet universality conjecture \nAbstract: Can we measure the ‘effective regularity’ of spacetime from the perturbation of quasi-normal mode (QNM) overtones? Black hole (BH) QNMs encode the resonant response of black holes under linear perturbations\, their associated complex frequencies providing an invariant probe into the background spacetime geometry. In the late nineties\, Nollert and Price found evidence of a BH QNM instability phenomenon\, according to which perturbed QNMs of Schwarzschild spacetime migrate to new perturbed branches of different qualitative behaviour and asymptotics. Here we revisit this BH QNM instability issue by adopting a pseudospectrum approach. Specifically\, we cast the QNM problem as an eigenvalue problem for a non-selfadjoint operator by adopting a hyperboloidal formulation of spacetime. Non-selfadjoint (more generally non-normal) operators suffer potentially of spectral instabilities\, the notion of pseudospectrum providing a tool suitable for their study. We find evidence that perturbed Nollert & Price BH QNMs track the pseudospectrum contour lines\, therefore probing the analytic structure of the resolvent\, showing the following (in)stability behaviour: i) the slowest decaying (fundamental) mode is stable\, whereas ii) (all) QNM overtones are ultraviolet unstable (for sufficiently high frequency). Building on recent work characterizing Burnett’s conjecture as a low-regularity problem in general relativity\, we conjecture that (in the infinite-frequency limit) generic ultraviolet spacetime perturbations make BH QNMs migrate to ‘Regge QNM branches’ with a precise universal logarithmic pattern. This is a classical general relativity (effective) low-regularity phenomenon\, agnostic to possible detailed (quantum) descriptions of gravity at higher-energies and potentially observationally accessible.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/gr_3923/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:General Relativity Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-GR-Seminar-03.09.23.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230308T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230308T150000
DTSTAMP:20240223T154858Z
CREATED:20230808T190051Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240223T154858Z
UID:10001812-1678284000-1678287600@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:How to steer foundation models?
DESCRIPTION:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar \nSpeaker: Jimmy Ba\, University of Toronto \nTitle: How to steer foundation models? \nAbstract: By conditioning on natural language instructions\, foundation models and large language models (LLMs) have displayed impressive capabilities as general-purpose computers. However\, task performance depends significantly on the quality of the prompt used to steer the model. Due to the lack of knowledge of how foundation models work\, most effective prompts have been handcrafted by humans through a demanding trial-and-error process. To reduce the human effort in this alignment process\, I will discuss a few approaches to steer these powerful models to excel in various downstream language and image tasks. \n 
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/nt-3823/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/03.08.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230308T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230308T133000
DTSTAMP:20240228T111406Z
CREATED:20230817T180824Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T111406Z
UID:10001277-1678278600-1678282200@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Conformal symmetry\, Optimization algorithms and the Critical Phenomena
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Ning Su\, University of Pisa \nTitle: Conformal symmetry\, Optimization algorithms and the Critical Phenomena \nAbstract: In the phase diagram of many substances\, the critical points have emergent conformal symmetry and are described by conformal field theories. Traditionally\, physical quantities near the critical point can be computed by perturbative field theory method\, where conformal symmetry is not fully utilized. In this talk\, I will explain how conformal symmetry can be used to determine certain physical quantities\, without even knowing the fine details of the microscopic structure. To compute the observables precisely\, one needs to develop powerful numerical techniques. In the last few years\, we have invented many computational tools and algorithms\, and predicted critical exponents of Helium-4 superfluid phase transition and Heisenberg magnet to very high precision.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/collquium-3823/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/02CMSA-Colloquium-03.08.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230307T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230307T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T064352Z
CREATED:20230817T170153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T064352Z
UID:10001236-1678190400-1678194000@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Categorical Symmetry of the Standard Model from Gravitational Anomaly 
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Juven Wang \nTitle: Categorical Symmetry of the Standard Model from Gravitational Anomaly \nAbstract: In the Standard Model\, the total “sterile right-handed” neutrino number n_{νR} is not equal to the family number Nf. The anomaly index (-Nf+n_{νR}) had been advocated to play an important role in our previous work on Cobordism and Deformation Class of the Standard Model [2112.14765\, 2204.08393] and Ultra Unification [2012.15860] in order to predict new highly entangled sectors beyond the Standard Model. Moreover\, the invertible baryon minus lepton number B−L symmetry current conservation can be violated quantum mechanically by gravitational backgrounds such as gravitational instantons. In specific\, we show that a noninvertible categorical counterpart of the B−L symmetry still survives in gravitational backgrounds. In general\, we propose a construction of noninvertible symmetry charge operators as topological defects derived from invertible anomalous symmetries that suffer from mixed gravitational anomalies. Examples include the perturbative local and nonperturbative global anomalies classified by ℤ and ℤ16 respectively. For this construction\, we utilize the anomaly inflow concept and the 3d Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev-type topological quantum field theory corresponding to a 2d rational conformal field theory with an appropriate chiral central charge\, or the 3d boundary topological order of 4d ℤTF4-time-reversal symmetric topological superconductor [2302.14862].
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-3723/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230302T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230302T170000
DTSTAMP:20240216T085143Z
CREATED:20230817T180503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240216T085143Z
UID:10001276-1677772800-1677776400@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:The string/black hole transition in anti de Sitter space
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Erez Urbach\, Weizmann Institute of Science \nTitle: The string/black hole transition in anti de Sitter space \nAbstract: String stars\, or Horowitz-Polchinski solutions\, are string theory saddles with normalizable condensates of thermal-winding strings. In the past\, string stars were offered as a possible description of stringy (Euclidean) black holes in asymptotically flat spacetime\, close to the Hagedorn temperature. I will discuss the thermodynamic properties of string stars in asymptotically (thermal) anti-de Sitter background (including AdS3 with NS-NS flux)\, their possible connection to small black holes in AdS\, and their implications for holography. I will also present new “winding-string gas” saddles for confining holographic backgrounds such as the Witten model\, and their relation to the deconfined phase of 3+1 pure Yang-Mills.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/collquium-3223/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/02CMSA-Colloquium-03.02.2023.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230302T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230302T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T052933Z
CREATED:20230817T165840Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T052933Z
UID:10001235-1677758400-1677762000@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:New bounds on lattice covering volumes\, and nearly uniform covers
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Barak Weiss   \nTitle: New bounds on lattice covering volumes\, and nearly uniform covers \nAbstract: Let L be a lattice in R^n and let K be a convex body. The covering volume of L with respect to K is the minimal volume of a dilate rK\, such that L+rK = R^n\, normalized by the covolume of L. Pairs (L\,K) with small covering volume correspond to efficient coverings of space by translates of K\, where the translates lie in a lattice. Finding upper bounds on the covering volume as the dimension n grows is a well studied problem\, with connections to practical questions arising in computer science and electrical engineering. In a recent paper with Or Ordentlich (EE\, Hebrew University) and Oded Regev (CS\, NYU) we obtain substantial improvements to bounds of Rogers from the 1950s. In another recent paper\, we obtain bounds on the minimal volume of nearly uniform covers (to be defined in the talk). The key to these results are recent breakthroughs by Dvir and others regarding the discrete Kakeya problem. I will give an overview of the questions and results.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-3223/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230227T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230301T173000
DTSTAMP:20241212T162829Z
CREATED:20230705T053135Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T162829Z
UID:10000064-1677488400-1677691800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Conference on Geometry and Statistics
DESCRIPTION:On Feb 27-March 1\, 2023 the CMSA will host a Conference on Geometry and Statistics. \nLocation: G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge MA 02138 \nOrganizing Committee:\nStephan Huckemann (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)\nEzra Miller (Duke University)\nZhigang Yao (Harvard CMSA and Committee Chair) \nScientific Advisors:\nHorng-Tzer Yau (Harvard CMSA)\nShing-Tung Yau (Harvard CMSA) \nSpeakers: \n\nTamara Broderick (MIT)\nDavid Donoho (Stanford)\nIan Dryden (Florida International University in Miami)\nDavid Dunson (Duke)\nCharles Fefferman (Princeton)\nStefanie Jegelka (MIT)\nSebastian Kurtek (OSU)\nLizhen Lin (Notre Dame)\nSteve Marron (U North Carolina)\nEzra Miller (Duke)\nHans-Georg Mueller (UC Davis)\nNicolai Reshetikhin (UC Berkeley)\nWolfgang Polonik (UC Davis)\nAmit Singer (Princeton)\nZhigang Yao (Harvard CMSA)\nBin Yu (Berkeley)\n\nModerator: Michael Simkin (Harvard CMSA) \n  \nSCHEDULE\nMonday\, Feb. 27\, 2023 (Eastern Time) \n\n\n\n8:30 am\nBreakfast\n\n\n8:45–8:55 am\nZhigang Yao\nWelcome Remarks\n\n\n8:55–9:00 am\nShing-Tung Yau*\nRemarks\n\n\n\nMorning Session Chair: Zhigang Yao\n\n\n9:00–10:00 am\nDavid Donoho\nTitle: ScreeNOT: Exact MSE-Optimal Singular Value Thresholding in Correlated Noise \nAbstract: Truncation of the singular value decomposition is a true scientific workhorse. But where to Truncate? \nFor 55 years the answer\, for many scientists\, has been to eyeball the scree plot\, an approach which still generates hundreds of papers per year. \nI will describe ScreeNOT\, a mathematically solid alternative deriving from the many advances in Random Matrix Theory over those 55 years. Assuming a model of low-rank signal plus possibly correlated noise\, and adopting an asymptotic viewpoint with number of rows proportional to the number of columns\, we show that ScreeNOT has a surprising oracle property. \nIt typically achieves exactly\, in large finite samples\, the lowest possible MSE for matrix recovery\, on each given problem instance – i.e. the specific threshold it selects gives exactly the smallest achievable MSE loss among all possible threshold choices for that noisy dataset and that unknown underlying true low rank model. The method is computationally efficient and robust against perturbations of the underlying covariance structure. \nThe talk is based on joint work with Matan Gavish and Elad Romanov\, Hebrew University.\n\n\n10:00–10:10 am\nBreak\n\n\n10:10–11:10 am\nSteve Marron\nTitle: Modes of Variation in Non-Euclidean Spaces \nAbstract: Modes of Variation provide an intuitive means of understanding variation in populations\, especially in the case of data objects that naturally lie in non-Euclidean spaces. A variety of useful approaches to finding useful modes of variation are considered in several non-Euclidean contexts\, including shapes as data objects\, vectors of directional data\, amplitude and phase variation and compositional data.\n\n\n11:10–11:20 am\nBreak\n\n\n11:20 am–12:20 pm\nZhigang Yao\nTitle: Manifold fitting: an invitation to statistics \nAbstract: While classical statistics has dealt with observations which are real numbers or elements of a real vector space\, nowadays many statistical problems of high interest in the sciences deal with the analysis of data which consist of more complex objects\, taking values in spaces which are naturally not (Euclidean) vector spaces but which still feature some geometric structure. This manifold fitting problem can go back to H. Whitney’s work in the early 1930s (Whitney (1992))\, and finally has been answered in recent years by C. Fefferman’s works (Fefferman\, 2006\, 2005). The solution to the Whitney extension problem leads to new insights for data interpolation and inspires the formulation of the Geometric Whitney Problems (Fefferman et al. (2020\, 2021a)): Assume that we are given a set $Y \subset \mathbb{R}^D$. When can we construct a smooth $d$-dimensional submanifold $\widehat{M} \subset \mathbb{R}^D$ to approximate $Y$\, and how well can $\widehat{M}$ estimate $Y$ in terms of distance and smoothness? To address these problems\, various mathematical approaches have been proposed (see Fefferman et al. (2016\, 2018\, 2021b)). However\, many of these methods rely on restrictive assumptions\, making extending them to efficient and workable algorithms challenging. As the manifold hypothesis (non-Euclidean structure exploration) continues to be a foundational element in statistics\, the manifold fitting Problem\, merits further exploration and discussion within the modern statistical community. The talk will be partially based on a recent work Yao and Xia (2019) along with some on-going progress. Relevant reference:https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.10228\n\n\n 12:20–1:50 pm\n12:20 pm Group Photo \nfollowed by Lunch\n\n\n\nAfternoon Session Chair: Stephan Huckemann\n\n\n1:50–2:50 pm\nBin Yu*\nTitle: Interpreting Deep Neural Networks towards Trustworthiness \nAbstract: Recent deep learning models have achieved impressive predictive performance by learning complex functions of many variables\, often at the cost of interpretability. This lecture first defines interpretable machine learning in general and introduces the agglomerative contextual decomposition (ACD) method to interpret neural networks. Extending ACD to the scientifically meaningful frequency domain\, an adaptive wavelet distillation (AWD) interpretation method is developed. AWD is shown to be both outperforming deep neural networks and interpretable in two prediction problems from cosmology and cell biology. Finally\, a quality-controlled data science life cycle is advocated for building any model for trustworthy interpretation and introduce a Predictability Computability Stability (PCS) framework for such a data science life cycle.\n\n\n2:50–3:00 pm\nBreak\n\n\n3:00-4:00 pm\nHans-Georg Mueller\nTitle: Exploration of Random Objects with Depth Profiles and Fréchet Regression \nAbstract: Random objects\, i.e.\, random variables that take values in a separable metric space\, pose many challenges for statistical analysis\, as vector operations are not available in general metric spaces. Examples include random variables that take values in the space of distributions\, covariance matrices or surfaces\, graph Laplacians to represent networks\, trees and in other spaces. The increasing prevalence of samples of random objects has stimulated the development of metric statistics\, an emerging collection of statistical tools to characterize\, infer and relate samples of random objects. Recent developments include depth profiles\, which are useful for the exploration of random objects. The depth profile for any given object is the distribution of distances to all other objects (with P. Dubey\, Y. Chen 2022). \nThese distributions can then be subjected to statistical analysis. Their mutual transports lead to notions of transport ranks\, quantiles and centrality. Another useful tool is global or local Fréchet regression (with A. Petersen 2019) where random objects are responses and scalars or vectors are predictors and one aims at modeling conditional Fréchet means. Recent theoretical advances for local Fréchet regression provide a basis for object time warping (with Y. Chen 2022). These approaches are illustrated with distributional and other data.\n\n\n4:00-4:10 pm\nBreak\n\n\n4:10-5:10 pm\nStefanie Jegelka\nTitle: Some benefits of machine learning with invariances \nAbstract: In many applications\, especially in the sciences\, data and tasks have known invariances. Encoding such invariances directly into a machine learning model can improve learning outcomes\, while it also poses challenges on efficient model design. In the first part of the talk\, we will focus on the invariances relevant to eigenvectors and eigenspaces being inputs to a neural network. Such inputs are important\, for instance\, for graph representation learning. We will discuss targeted architectures that can universally express functions with the relevant invariances – sign flips and changes of basis – and their theoretical and empirical benefits. \nSecond\, we will take a broader\, theoretical perspective. Empirically\, it is known that encoding invariances into the machine learning model can reduce sample complexity. For the simplified setting of kernel ridge regression or random features\, we will discuss new bounds that illustrate two ways in which invariances can reduce sample complexity. Our results hold for learning on manifolds and for invariances to (almost) any group action\, and use tools from differential geometry. \nThis is joint work with Derek Lim\, Joshua Robinson\, Behrooz Tahmasebi\, Lingxiao Zhao\, Tess Smidt\, Suvrit Sra\, and Haggai Maron.\n\n\n\n  \n  \n  \nTuesday\, Feb. 28\, 2023 (Eastern Time) \n\n\n\n8:30-9:00 am\nBreakfast\n\n\n\nMorning Session Chair: Zhigang Yao\n\n\n9:00-10:00 am\nCharles Fefferman*\nTitle: Lipschitz Selection on Metric Spaces \nAbstract: The talk concerns the problem of finding a Lipschitz map F from a given metric space X into R^D\, subject to the constraint that F(x) must lie in a given compact convex “target” K(x) for each point x in X. Joint work with Pavel Shvartsman and with Bernat Guillen Pegueroles.\n\n\n10:00-10:10 am\nBreak\n\n\n10:10-11:10 am\nDavid Dunson\nTitle: Inferring manifolds from noisy data using Gaussian processes \nAbstract: In analyzing complex datasets\, it is often of interest to infer lower dimensional structure underlying the higher dimensional observations. As a flexible class of nonlinear structures\, it is common to focus on Riemannian manifolds. Most existing manifold learning algorithms replace the original data with lower dimensional coordinates without providing an estimate of the manifold in the observation space or using the manifold to denoise the original data. This article proposes a new methodology for addressing these problems\, allowing interpolation of the estimated manifold between fitted data points. The proposed approach is motivated by novel theoretical properties of local covariance matrices constructed from noisy samples on a manifold. Our results enable us to turn a global manifold reconstruction problem into a local regression problem\, allowing application of Gaussian processes for probabilistic manifold reconstruction. In addition to theory justifying the algorithm\, we provide simulated and real data examples to illustrate the performance. Joint work with Nan Wu – see https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.07478\n\n\n11:10-11:20 am\nBreak\n\n\n11:20 am-12:20 pm\nWolfgang Polonik\nTitle: Inference in topological data analysis \nAbstract: Topological data analysis has seen a huge increase in popularity finding applications in numerous scientific fields. This motivates the importance of developing a deeper understanding of benefits and limitations of such methods. Using this angle\, we will present and discuss some recent results on large sample inference in topological data analysis\, including bootstrap for Betti numbers and the Euler characteristics process.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n12:20–1:50 pm\nLunch\n\n\n\nAfternoon Session Chair: Stephan Huckemann\n\n\n1:50-2:50 pm\nEzra Miller\nTitle: Geometric central limit theorems on non-smooth spaces \nAbstract: The central limit theorem (CLT) is commonly thought of as occurring on the real line\, or in multivariate form on a real vector space. Motivated by statistical applications involving nonlinear data\, such as angles or phylogenetic trees\, the past twenty years have seen CLTs proved for Fréchet means on manifolds and on certain examples of singular spaces built from flat pieces glued together in combinatorial ways. These CLTs reduce to the linear case by tangent space approximation or by gluing. What should a CLT look like on general non-smooth spaces\, where tangent spaces are not linear and no combinatorial gluing or flat pieces are available? Answering this question involves figuring out appropriate classes of spaces and measures\, correct analogues of Gaussian random variables\, and how the geometry of the space (think “curvature”) is reflected in the limiting distribution. This talk provides an overview of these answers\, starting with a review of the usual linear CLT and its generalization to smooth manifolds\, viewed through a lens that casts the singular CLT as a natural outgrowth\, and concluding with how this investigation opens gateways to further advances in geometric probability\, topology\, and statistics. Joint work with Jonathan Mattingly and Do Tran.\n\n\n2:50-3:00 pm\nBreak\n\n\n3:00-4:00 pm\nLizhen Lin\nTitle: Statistical foundations of deep generative models \nAbstract: Deep generative models are probabilistic generative models where the generator is parameterized by a deep neural network. They are popular models for modeling high-dimensional data such as texts\, images and speeches\, and have achieved impressive empirical success. Despite demonstrated success in empirical performance\, theoretical understanding of such models is largely lacking. We investigate statistical properties of deep generative models from a nonparametric distribution estimation viewpoint. In the considered model\, data are assumed to be observed in some high-dimensional ambient space but concentrate around some low-dimensional structure such as a lower-dimensional manifold structure. Estimating the distribution supported on this low-dimensional structure is challenging due to its singularity with respect to the Lebesgue measure in the ambient space. We obtain convergence rates with respect to the Wasserstein metric of distribution estimators based on two methods: a sieve MLE based on the perturbed data and a GAN type estimator. Such an analysis provides insights into i) how deep generative models can avoid the curse of dimensionality and outperform classical nonparametric estimates\, and ii) how likelihood approaches work for singular distribution estimation\, especially in adapting to the intrinsic geometry of the data.\n\n\n4:00-4:10 pm\nBreak\n\n\n4:10-5:10 pm\nConversation session\n\n\n\n  \n  \n  \nWednesday\, March 1\, 2023 (Eastern Time) \n\n\n\n8:30-9:00 am\nBreakfast\n\n\n\nMorning Session Chair: Ezra Miller\n\n\n9:00-10:00 am\nAmit Singer*\nTitle: Heterogeneity analysis in cryo-EM by covariance estimation and manifold learning \nAbstract: In cryo-EM\, the 3-D molecular structure needs to be determined from many noisy 2-D tomographic projection images of randomly oriented and positioned molecules. A key assumption in classical reconstruction procedures for cryo-EM is that the sample consists of identical molecules. However\, many molecules of interest exist in more than one conformational state. These structural variations are of great interest to biologists\, as they provide insight into the functioning of the molecule. Determining the structural variability from a set of cryo-EM images is known as the heterogeneity problem\, widely recognized as one of the most challenging and important computational problem in the field. Due to high level of noise in cryo-EM images\, heterogeneity studies typically involve hundreds of thousands of images\, sometimes even a few millions. Covariance estimation is one of the earliest methods proposed for heterogeneity analysis in cryo-EM. It relies on computing the covariance of the conformations directly from projection images and extracting the optimal linear subspace of conformations through an eigendecomposition. Unfortunately\, the standard formulation is plagued by the exorbitant cost of computing the N^3 x N^3 covariance matrix. In the first part of the talk\, we present a new low-rank estimation method that requires computing only a small subset of the columns of the covariance while still providing an approximation for the entire matrix. This scheme allows us to estimate tens of principal components of real datasets in a few minutes at medium resolutions and under 30 minutes at high resolutions. In the second part of the talk\, we discuss a manifold learning approach based on the graph Laplacian and the diffusion maps framework for learning the manifold of conformations. If time permits\, we will also discuss the potential application of optimal transportation to heterogeneity analysis. Based on joint works with Joakim Andén\, Marc Gilles\, Amit Halevi\, Eugene Katsevich\, Joe Kileel\, Amit Moscovich\, and Nathan Zelesko.\n\n\n10:00-10:10 am\nBreak\n\n\n10:10-11:10 am\nIan Dryden\nTitle: Statistical shape analysis of molecule data \nAbstract: Molecular shape data arise in many applications\, for example high dimension low sample size cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) data and large temporal sequences of peptides from molecular dynamics simulations. In both applications it is of interest to summarize the shape evolution of the molecules in a succinct\, low-dimensional representation. However\, Euclidean techniques such as principal components analysis (PCA) can be problematic as the data may lie far from in a flat manifold. Principal nested spheres gives a fundamentally different decomposition of data from the usual Euclidean subspace based PCA. Subspaces of successively lower dimension are fitted to the data in a backwards manner with the aim of retaining signal and dispensing with noise at each stage. We adapt the methodology to 3D sub-shape spaces and provide some practical fitting algorithms. The methodology is applied to cryo-EM data of a large sliding clamp multi-protein complex and to cluster analysis of peptides\, where different states of the molecules can be identified. Further molecular modeling tasks include resolution matching\, where coarse resolution models are back-mapped into high resolution (atomistic) structures. This is joint work with Kwang-Rae Kim\, Charles Laughton and Huiling Le.\n\n\n11:10-11:20 am\nBreak\n\n\n11:20 am-12:20 pm\nTamara Broderick\nTitle: An Automatic Finite-Sample Robustness Metric: Can Dropping a Little Data Change Conclusions? \nAbstract: One hopes that data analyses will be used to make beneficial decisions regarding people’s health\, finances\, and well-being. But the data fed to an analysis may systematically differ from the data where these decisions are ultimately applied. For instance\, suppose we analyze data in one country and conclude that microcredit is effective at alleviating poverty; based on this analysis\, we decide to distribute microcredit in other locations and in future years. We might then ask: can we trust our conclusion to apply under new conditions? If we found that a very small percentage of the original data was instrumental in determining the original conclusion\, we might not be confident in the stability of the conclusion under new conditions. So we propose a method to assess the sensitivity of data analyses to the removal of a very small fraction of the data set. Analyzing all possible data subsets of a certain size is computationally prohibitive\, so we provide an approximation. We call our resulting method the Approximate Maximum Influence Perturbation. Our approximation is automatically computable\, theoretically supported\, and works for common estimators. We show that any non-robustness our method finds is conclusive. Empirics demonstrate that while some applications are robust\, in others the sign of a treatment effect can be changed by dropping less than 0.1% of the data — even in simple models and even when standard errors are small.\n\n\n 12:20-1:50 pm\nLunch\n\n\n\nAfternoon Session Chair: Ezra Miller\n\n\n1:50-2:50 pm\nNicolai Reshetikhin*\nTitle: Random surfaces in exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics. \nAbstract: In the first part of the talk I will be an overview of a few models in statistical mechanics where a random variable is a geometric object such as a random surface or a random curve. The second part will be focused on the behavior of such random surfaces in the thermodynamic limit and on the formation of the so-called “limit shapes”.\n\n\n2:50-3:00 pm\nBreak\n\n\n3:00-4:00 pm\nSebastian Kurtek\nTitle: Robust Persistent Homology Using Elastic Functional Data Analysis \nAbstract: Persistence landscapes are functional summaries of persistence diagrams designed to enable analysis of the diagrams using tools from functional data analysis. They comprise a collection of scalar functions such that birth and death times of topological features in persistence diagrams map to extrema of functions and intervals where they are non-zero. As a consequence\, variation in persistence diagrams is encoded in both amplitude and phase components of persistence landscapes. Through functional data analysis of persistence landscapes\, under an elastic Riemannian metric\, we show how meaningful statistical summaries of persistence landscapes (e.g.\, mean\, dominant directions of variation) can be obtained by decoupling their amplitude and phase variations. This decoupling is achieved via optimal alignment\, with respect to the elastic metric\, of the persistence landscapes. The estimated phase functions are tied to the resolution parameter that determines the filtration of simplicial complexes used to construct persistence diagrams. For a dataset obtained under geometric\, scale and sampling variabilities\, the phase function prescribes an optimal rate of increase of the resolution parameter for enhancing the topological signal in a persistence diagram. The proposed approach adds to the statistical analysis of data objects with rich structure compared to past studies. In particular\, we focus on two sets of data that have been analyzed in the past\, brain artery trees and images of prostate cancer cells\, and show that separation of amplitude and phase of persistence landscapes is beneficial in both settings. This is joint work with Dr. James Matuk (Duke University) and Dr. Karthik Bharath (University of Nottingham).\n\n\n4:00-4:10 pm\nBreak\n\n\n4:10-5:10 pm\nConversation session\n\n\n5:10-5:20 pm\nStephan Huckemann\, Ezra Miller\, Zhigang Yao\nClosing Remarks\n\n\n\n* Virtual Presentation \n\n 
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/geometry-and-statistics/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Conference,Event
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230224T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230224T100000
DTSTAMP:20240228T100712Z
CREATED:20230825T085233Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T100712Z
UID:10001302-1677229200-1677232800@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:On the convexity of general inverse $\sigma_k$ equations and some applications
DESCRIPTION:Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar \nSpeaker: Chao-Ming Lin (University of California\, Irvine) \nTitle: On the convexity of general inverse $\sigma_k$ equations and some applications \nAbstract: In this talk\, I will show my recent work on general inverse $\sigma_k$ equations and the deformed Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation (hereinafter the dHYM equation). First\, I will show my recent results. This result states that if a level set of a general inverse $\sigma_k$ equation (after translation if needed) is contained in the positive orthant\, then this level set is convex. As an application\, this result justifies the convexity of the Monge-Ampère equation\, the J-equation\, the dHYM equation\, the special Lagrangian equation\, etc. Second\, I will introduce some semialgebraic sets and a special class of univariate polynomials and give a Positivstellensatz type result. These give a numerical criterion to verify whether the level set will be contained in the positive orthant. Last\, as an application\, I will prove one of the conjectures by Collins-Jacob-Yau when the dimension equals four. This conjecture states that under the supercritical phase assumption\, if there exists a C-subsolution to the dHYM equation\, then the dHYM equation is solvable.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/agst-22423/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/CMSA-Algebraic-Geometry-in-String-Theory-02.24.2023.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230222T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230222T133000
DTSTAMP:20240215T111058Z
CREATED:20230817T180053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T111058Z
UID:10001275-1677069000-1677072600@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:The Black Hole Information Paradox: A Resolution on the Horizon?
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Netta Engelhardt (MIT) \nTitle: The Black Hole Information Paradox: A Resolution on the Horizon? \nAbstract: The black hole information paradox — whether information escapes an evaporating black hole or not — remains one of the most longstanding mysteries of theoretical physics. The apparent conflict between validity of semiclassical gravity at low energies and unitarity of quantum mechanics has long been expected to find its resolution in a complete quantum theory of gravity. Recent developments in the holographic dictionary\, and in particular its application to entanglement and complexity\, however\, have shown that a semiclassical analysis of gravitational physics can reproduce a hallmark feature of unitary evolution. I will describe this recent progress and discuss some promising indications of a full resolution of the information paradox.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/collquium-22223/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/media/02CMSA-Colloquium-02.22.2023.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230221T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230221T130000
DTSTAMP:20240118T052804Z
CREATED:20230817T165641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240118T052804Z
UID:10001234-1676980800-1676984400@live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io
SUMMARY:Hints of Flat Space Holography
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Dan Kapec \nTitle: Hints of Flat Space Holography \nAbstract: Despite our detailed understanding of holography in Anti-de Sitter space\, flat space holography remains somewhat mysterious. “Celestial CFT” is a formalism which attempts to recast quantum gravity in (d+2)-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes in terms of a d-dimensional Euclidean conformal field theory residing at the conformal boundary. I will discuss certain universal aspects of this correspondence. As in Anti-de Sitter space\, bulk gravitons produce a boundary stress tensor\, and bulk gluons furnish boundary-conserved currents. I will also show that continuous spaces of vacua in the bulk map directly onto the conformal manifold of the boundary CFT. This correspondence provides a new perspective on the role of the BMS group in flat space holography and offers a new interpretation of the antisymmetric double-soft gluon theorem in terms of the curvature of an infinite-dimensional vacuum manifold.
URL:https://live-hu-cmsa-222.pantheonsite.io/event/member-seminar-22123/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
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END:VCALENDAR