Calendar

Posted January 9, 2026
Last modified January 21, 2026

Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?

Maganizo Kapita, Louisiana State University
Statistical Learning of Stochastic Reaction Networks from Event-Time Data

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Posted January 15, 2026
Last modified January 20, 2026

Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?

Nilangshu Bhattacharyya, Louisiana State University
From Khovanov homology to its stable homotopy refinement

Khovanov homology assigns a knot or a link to a bigraded homology theory that categorifies the Jones polynomial. It has concrete applications, for instance Rasmussen’s $s$-invariant, extracted from Lee’s deformation, which gives a lower bound on the smooth slice genus. At the same time, while the theory is very combinatorial and closely tied to the representation theory of $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$, it can be hard to see the underlying geometric picture directly from the homology groups. The stable homotopy refinement, introduced by Lipshitz and Sarkar, upgrades Khovanov homology to a space level invariant: a spectrum whose cohomology recovers Khovanov homology while supporting additional structure that is invisible in homology. In this talk, I will start with the construction of Khovanov homology and then gradually move toward its stable homotopy refinement. My work uses this viewpoint to build and study stable homotopy types beyond classical links, including planar trivalent graphs with perfect matchings, and to connect these refinements with themes from contact geometry and Floer theoretic settings.

Posted December 1, 2025
Last modified January 9, 2026

Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?

Jameson Graber, Baylor University NSF CAREER Awardee
Remarks on Potential Mean Field Games

Mean field games were introduced about 20 years ago to model the limit of N-player differential games as N goes to infinity. There are many applications to economics, finance, social sciences and biology. In many interesting cases the Nash equilibrium turns out to be a critical point for a functional, called the potential, in which case the game itself is called potential. In this case I will present several mathematical results on potential mean field games, which are directly connected to the theory of optimal control of PDE. For related work, see https://doi.org/10.1007/s40687-024-00494-3.

Posted November 15, 2025
Last modified January 21, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

Olivia Beckwith, Tulane University
Polyharmonic Maass forms and Hecke series for real quadratic fields

We study polyharmonic Maass forms and show that they are related to ray class extensions of real quadratic fields. In particular, we generalize work of Lagarias and Rhoades to give a basis for the space of polyharmonic Maass forms for $\Gamma(N)$. Modifying an argument of Hecke, we show that twisted traces of cycle integrals of certain depth 2 polyharmonic Maass forms are leading coefficients of Hecke $L$-series of real quadratic fields. This is ongoing joint work with Gene Kopp.

Event contact: Gene Kopp

Posted January 15, 2026

Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?

To Be Filled In