Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Friday, September 21st, 2018

Time: 2:30 p.m.  Place: Jeffery Hall 234

Speaker: Boris Levit (Queen's University)

Title: Optimal Cardinal Interpolation in Approximation Theory, Nonparametric Regression, and Optimal Design

Abstract: For the Hardy classes of functions analytic in the strip around real axis of a size $2\beta$, an optimal method of cardinal interpolation has been proposed within the framework of Optimal Recovery. It will be shown that this method, based on the Jacobi elliptic functions, is also optimal according to the criteria of Nonparametric Regression and Optimal Design. In a stochastic non-asymptotic setting, the maximal mean squared error of the optimal interpolant is evaluated explicitly, for all noise levels away from $0$. A pivotal role is played by the interference effect, in which the oscillations exhibited by the interpolant's bias and variance mutually cancel each other. In the limiting case $\beta \rightarrow \infty $, the optimal interpolant converges to the well known Nyquist-Shannon cardinal sampling series.

Thursday, September 20th, 2018

Time: 11:30 a.m - 12:20 p.m Place: Jeffery Hall 422

Speaker: Richard Gottesman (Queen's University)

Title: Vector-Valued Modular Forms on $\Gamma_{0}(2)$C

Abstract: The collection of vector-valued modular forms form a graded module over the graded ring of modular forms. I will explain how understanding the structure of this module allows one to show that the component functions of vector-valued modular forms satisfy an ordinary differential equation whose coefficients are modular forms. In certain cases, we can use a Hauptmodul to transform such a differential equation into a Fuchsian differential equation on the projective line minus three points. We then are able to use the Gaussian hypergeometric series to explicitly solve this differential equation.
Finally, we make use of these ideas together with some algebraic number theory to study the prime numbers that divide the denominators of the Fourier coefficients of the component functions of vector-valued modular forms.

Monday, September 17th, 2018

Time: 4:30-5:30 p.m.  Place: Jeffery Hall 319

Speaker: Tianyuan Xu (Queen's University)

Title: Broken lines and the topological ordering of the alternating quiver of type A

Abstract:  The Positivity Conjecture in cluster algebra theory states that the coefficients of the Laurent expansion of any cluster variable in a cluster algebra are always positive integers. In 2014, Gross, Hacking, Keel and Kontsevich constructed a so-called Theta function basis to prove the conjecture for all cluster algebras of geometric type. A key ingredient in the construction of the Theta functions is the broken line model. In this talk, we will discuss the broken lines associated to the alternating quiver of type A, with an emphasis on relating its combinatorial properties to the topological ordering of the quiver, the partial order obtained by taking the transitive and reflexive losure of the relation “v<w if v->w is an edge” on the vertices of the quiver.

The talk is based work in progress with Ba Nguyen, David Wehlau and Imed Zaguia.

Friday, September 14th, 2018

Time: 10:30 a.m Place: Jeffery Hall 422

Speaker: Jacob Russell (CUNY)

Title: The geometry of groups via their boundaries

Abstract: Gromov revolutionized the study of finitely generated groups by purposing the study of groups as geometric objects. The success of this geometric viewpoint has inspired a whole program of classifying groups geometrically. From the geometry of the group, one can construct various boundaries; topological spaces which record the geometry of the group "at infinity". One of these boundaries, the Morse boundary, is particularly nice as the group has a natural action on it by homeomorphisms. The Morse boundary can also be equipped with a natural cross-ratio and we will discuss how the topology of the boundary coupled with this cross-ratio is actually sufficient to encode the entire geometry of the group.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2018

Time: 10:00 a.m.  Place: Jeffery Hall 422

Speaker: M. Ram Murty (Queen's University)

Title: Some reflections on Hasse's inequality (Part 1)

Abstract: In 1935, Hasse proved the Riemann hypothesis for zeta functions attached to elliptic curves (mod p) which was originally conjectured in the 1922 doctoral thesis of Emil Artin. There are two papers, one by Davenport in 1931 and another by Mordell in 1933 that discuss elementary approaches to this conjecture that give suprisingly non-trivial estimates. Both papers make use of a clever averaging argument that later appears in Bombieri's proof of Weil's theorem on the Riemann hypothesis for curves. We will give a motivated (and somewhat leisurely) discourse on these developments.