Calendar

Posted September 4, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Alexander Betz, LSU
Actions of Fusion Category on Algebras

Fusion categories are rich mathematical objects that generalize finite groups and their representation categories. What does it mean for a fusion category to act on an algebra? Do these actions generalize group actions on algebras? In this talk, we will define an action of a fusion category on an algebra and show how it relates to group actions on algebras. Then, as an application of this theory, we will apply our results to study actions of fusion categories on path algebras.

Posted August 22, 2026
Last modified September 15, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Aniketh Sivakumar, Tulane University
Interpolation Problems and the Asymptotic Growth of Minimum Degrees

Interpolation problems study the hypersurfaces in projective space that pass through a given number of points under certain constraints. Among the main questions are determining the minimum degree of such a hypersurface and understanding the number of independent conditions imposed by the points on hypersurfaces of a fixed degree. In this talk, I will begin with the classical formulation of these interpolation problems and introduce some of the tools used to study them. We will then explore the setting where these points are assigned multiplicities and how this is encoded algebraically. This naturally leads us to the Demailly and Chudnovsky conjectures, which describe how the minimum degree grows asymptotically as the multiplicities grow. Finally, we will discuss recent proofs of these conjectures and their connection to containment problems in commutative algebra.

Event contact: Gene Kopp

Posted August 22, 2026
Last modified September 9, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Paresh Singh Arora, LSU
Reductions of Certain Well-Poised Hypergeometric Character Sums

Whipple’s classical reduction formulas express well-poised hypergeometric series either as products and quotients of gamma values or as gamma factors multiplied by hypergeometric functions, typically of smaller length. Building on work by Greene, McCarthy, and Li–Long–Tu, we establish finite field analogues of three very well-poised identities corresponding to $_4F_3(-1)$, $_5F_4(1)$, and $_6F_5(-1)$. We show that the associated $\ell$-adic Galois representations constructed by Katz and Beukers–Cohen–Mellit are reducible, explicitly identifying one of their constituents in a way that reflects the corresponding Whipple decompositions. As an application, we obtain new correspondences between well-poised hypergeometric data and modular forms.

Event contact: Gene Kopp

Posted September 20, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Murtadha Aljanabi, LSU
TBA

Posted September 28, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Yifeng Huang, Emory University
TBA

Posted August 22, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Isabella Negrini, University of Toronto
TBA

Event contact: Gene Kopp

Posted September 20, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Ngoc Trinh Le, Tulane University
TBA

Event contact: Gene Kopp