Posted April 14, 2024
Combinatorics Seminar Questions or comments?
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Lockett Hall 233
Xingxing Yu, Georgia Institute of Technology
Planar Turan Number of Cycles
The planar Turan number of a graph $H$, $ex_P(n,H)$, is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex planar graph without $H$ as a subgraph. We discuss recent work on $ex_P(n,H)$, in particular when $H=C_k$ (cycle of length $k$), including our work on $ex_P(n,C_7)$. We prove an upper bound on $ex_P(n, C_k)$ for $k, n\ge 4$, establishing a conjecture of Cranston, Lidicky, Liu, and Shantanam. The discharging method and previous work on circumference of planar graphs are used.
Posted January 6, 2024
Last modified March 4, 2024
Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?
11:30 am – 12:20 pm Zoom (click here to join)
Madalena Chaves, Centre Inria d'Université Côte d'Azur
Coupling, Synchronization Dynamics, and Emergent Behavior in a Network of Biological Oscillators
Biological oscillators often involve a complex network of interactions, such as in the case of circadian rhythms or cell cycle. Mathematical modeling and especially model reduction help to understand the main mechanisms behind oscillatory behavior. In this context, we first study a two-gene oscillator using piecewise linear approximations to improve the performance and robustness of the oscillatory dynamics. Next, motivated by the synchronization of biological rhythms in a group of cells in an organ such as the liver, we then study a network of identical oscillators under diffusive coupling, interconnected according to different topologies. The piecewise linear formalism enables us to characterize the emergent dynamics of the network and show that a number of new steady states is generated in the network of oscillators. Finally, given two distinct oscillators mimicking the circadian clock and cell cycle, we analyze their interconnection to study the capacity for mutual period regulation and control between the two reduced oscillators. We are interested in characterizing the coupling parameter range for which the two systems play the roles "controller-follower".
Posted January 28, 2024
Last modified April 1, 2024
Mathematical Physics and Representation Theory Seminar
2:30 pm – 3:20 pm Lockett 233
Greg Parker, Stanford University
$\mathbb Z_2$-harmonic spinors as limiting objects in geometry and topology
$\mathbb Z_2$-harmonic spinors are singular solutions of Dirac-type equations that allow topological twisting around a submanifold of codimension 2. These objects arise as limits at the boundary of various moduli spaces in several distinct areas of low-dimensional topology, gauge/Floer theory, and enumerative geometry. The first part of this talk will introduce these objects, and discuss the various contexts in which they arise and the relationship between them. The second part of the talk will focus on the deformations of $\mathbb Z_2$-harmonic spinors when varying background parameters as a model for the novel analytic problems presented by these objects. In particular, the deformations of the singular submanifold play a role, giving the problem some characteristics similar to a free-boundary-value problem and leading to a hidden elliptic pseudo-differential operator that governs the geometry of the moduli spaces.
Posted February 21, 2024
Last modified April 12, 2024
Applied Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?
3:30 pm Lockett 232
Ben Seeger, The University of Texas at Austin
Equations on Wasserstein space and applications
The purpose of this talk is to give an overview of recent work involving differential equations posed on spaces of probability measures and their use in analyzing mean field limits of controlled multi-agent systems, which arise in applications coming from macroeconomics, social behavior, and telecommunications. Justifying this continuum description is often nontrivial and is sensitive to the type of stochastic noise influencing the population. We will describe settings for which the convergence to mean field stochastic control problems can be resolved through the analysis of the well-posedness for a certain Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation posed on Wasserstein spaces, and how this well-posedness allows for new convergence results for more general problems, for example, zero-sum stochastic differential games of mean-field type.
Posted January 18, 2024
Last modified April 17, 2024
Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?
1:30 pm Lockett 233, Zoom
Megan Fairchild, Louisiana State University
TBA
Posted January 31, 2024
Geometry and Topology Seminar Seminar website
3:30 pm Lockett 233
Morgan Weiler, Cornell University
TBA