Lihuang Ding

Date

Friday September 18, 2026
10:00 am - 11:00 am

Location

Jeffery Hall, Room 319

Dynamics, Geometry and Groups Seminar

Speaker: Lihuang Ding

Title: Word-Metric Counting Problems in Acylindrically Hyperbolic Groups

Abstract:
Counting in word-metric balls is a dynamical problem with a different sampling law from a random walk. For an isometric action $G$ on $X$, the orbit map and the stable translation length record the asymptotic motion of an element. This talk explains a counting analogue of linear progress for acylindrically hyperbolic groups: generic elements make linear progress in an auxiliary hyperbolic space and have almost maximal stable word and translation lengths. The geometric input contains an action with independent loxodromic WPD elements in the hyperbolic space. The translates of the axes are organized into a projection complex, a hyperbolic quasi-tree. Anchored word-length estimates then produce growth gaps. A linearly recurrence dichotomy then yields exponential genericity of WPD elements for every finite generating set. The talk then describes the consequences: infinite normal quotients have strictly smaller exponential growth and satisfy a strict cogrowth bound, while the number of conjugacy classes intersectinging a word ball is comparable to $|B_n|/n$. We explain the common geometric mechanism linking these results. This talk is based on joint work with Wenyuan Yang."

Joffre Decore, Jake Feldman, Braydon Hunter, Luke Jonker (Queen's University)

Date

Friday September 18, 2026
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Location

Jeffery Hall, Room 234

Department Colloquium

Speakers: Joffre Decore, Jake Feldman, Braydon Hunter, Luke Jonker (Lehigh University)

Title: Summer Undergraduate Projects Presentation

Antonio Nigro (Queen's University

Date

Tuesday September 15, 2026
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Location

Jeffery Hall, Room 422

Curves Seminar

Speaker: Antonio Nigro

Title: Abelian Categories

Abstract:
We begin this year's curves seminar with an introduction to the theory of abelian categories. We will discuss additive and K-linear categories, image composition, quotients and subobjects, and the analogue of being abelian from a representation-theoretic perspective. We review some basic homological results, and discuss the Jordan Holder and Krull Schmidt theorems, building up to locally-finite categories. We finish with a discussion of coalgebras.

Kamryn Spinelli (Queen's University)

Date

Thursday September 17, 2026
10:00 am - 11:30 am

Location

Jeffery Hall, Room 222

Calabi-Yau Manifolds Seminar

Speaker: Kamryn Spinelli

Title: Hypergeometric zeta functions of double sextic K3 surfaces, part 2

Abstract:
In this talk, we will continue our discussion of recent work by Satoshi Kumabe (Tokyo University of Science) on zeta functions of certain two-parameter families of double sextic K3 surfaces and their relationship to Appell hypergeometric functions. In particular, we will discuss the resolution of singularities for these families of K3 surfaces and its role in their zeta functions. Then, we will then sketch a potential framework for extending this result to multi-parameter families of double sextic K3 surfaces relating to work in progress with Noriko Yui.

Kamryn Spinelli (Queen's University)

Date

Thursday September 10, 2026
10:00 am - 11:30 am

Location

Jeffrey Hall, Room 222

Calabi-Yau Manifolds Seminar

Speaker: Kamryn Spinelli

Title: Hypergeometric zeta functions of double sextic K3 surfaces

Abstract:
In this talk, we will summarize some recent work of Satoshi Kumabe (Tokyo University of Science) on zeta functions of certain two-parameter families of double sextic K3 surfaces and their relationship to Appell hypergeometric functions. If time permits, we will then sketch a potential framework for extending this result to multi-parameter families of double sextic K3 surfaces relating to work in progress with Noriko Yui.

Rob Neel (Lehigh University)

Date

Friday September 11, 2026
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Location

Jeffery Hall, Room 234

Department Colloquium

Speaker: Rob Neel (Lehigh University)

Title: Coupling in geometry and sub-Riemannian diffusions

Abstract:
We recall the notion of a coupling of two stochastic processes and its application to showing convergence to equilibrium. We then describe the classical Markov couplings of Riemannian Brownian motions and how these natural constructions fail in sub-Riemannian geometry, even for the simplest case of the Heisenberg group. After reviewing the situation, we describe an improvement and extension of constructions of non-Markovian reflection couplings on sub-Riemannian model spaces by Banerjee-Gordina-Mariano and Bénéfice. Moreover, this construction is relatively simple and geometrically appealing, being based on global symmetries of the underlying spaces. This talk is based on joint work with Liangbing Luo.

Industry Day

Date

Tuesday October 27, 2026
10:30 am - 1:00 pm

Location

Dr. Ryan Lekivetz

Sponsored by ASA/SPES Marquardt Memorial Industrial Speaker Program, the Industry Day with Dr. Ryan Lekivetz, Director of Advance Analytics R&D at JMP Inc. will take place on Oct 27. 2026 in the Department of Mathematics and Statistcs at Queen's University.

Tentative schedule:

  • 10:30am - 11:30am: Seminar, location to be determined
  • 12:00pm - 13:00pm: Student lunch networking


Registration:

Microsoft Form