The Mahler measure of a polynomial is the modulus of its leading term multiplied by the moduli of all roots outside the unit circle. The Mahler measure of an algebraic number b, M(b) is the Mahler measure of its minimal polynomial. By a result of Kronecker, an algebraic number b satisfies M(b)=1 if and only […]
Title: Decision Problems in Low-Dimensional Topology Speaker: Kate Petersen, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, CSU, University of Minnesota Duluth Abstract: Due to Perelman’s proof of the Geometrization conjecture every closed 3-manifold can be decomposed into geometric pieces. These pieces exhibit one of Thurston’s eight model geometries. This gives rise to the natural question: Given a 3-manifold how (quickly) […]
The Human Betterment Foundation was a pro-eugenics think-tank operating in the 1930s and early 1940s out of Pasadena, California. Its aim was to influence public and medical opinion in favor of sterilization of "socially undesirable elements": disabled, poor, and racialized people. Many board members had ties to Caltech, most notably Caltech's then-president Robert Millikan. Upon […]
Title: Scattering Resonances Through Subwavelength Holes and Their Applications in Imaging and Sensing Abstract: The so-called extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) through metallic nanoholes has triggered extensive research in modern plasmonics and their applications in bio-sensing, imaging, etc. This talk aims to provide quantitative mathematical theories to understand a variety of resonances that induce the EOT […]
Title: Using Mutual Information of Hypergraph Compressions for Clustering Abstract: Hypergraphs are often used to represent higher order observed relationships between subjects of study. In particular, the vertices of a hypergraph could represent the basic elements of study, and edges represent observed relationships between the vertices. Implicitly, the assumption is that observed edges are more […]
Young diagrams are all possible arrangements of n boxes into rows and columns, with the number of boxes in each subsequent row weakly decreasing. For a partition λ of n, a standard Young tableau S of shape λ is built from the Young diagram of shape λ by filling it with the numbers 1 to […]
Speaker: Jack Wesley, Department of Mathematics, UC Davis
Let x_1,...,x_n be an overdetermined spanning set for the Euclidean space R^k, where n > k. Let L be the integer span of these vectors. Then L is an additive subgroup of R^n. When is it discrete in R^n? Naturally, this depends on the choice of the spanning set, but in which way? We will […]
Let L be a full-rank lattice in R^n and write L+ for the semigroup of all vectors with nonnegative coordinates in L. We call a basis X for L positive if it is contained in L+. There are infinitely many such bases, and each of them spans a conical semigroup S(X) consisting of all nonnegative […]
Title: No-arbitrage Pricing in a Market for Position on a Multilane Freeway Speaker: Henry Schellhorn, Department of Mathematics, Claremont Graduate University Abstract: We introduce a trading mechanism allowing cars to change position in a multilane congested freeway by doing peer-to-peer transactions. For the car initiating the operation, or incoming car, the goal can be to […]
Many knot invariants are defined from features of knot projections such as arcs or crossings. Gauss diagrams provide an alternative combinatorial scheme for representing knots. In this talk we will use Gauss diagrams to enhance the biquandle counting invariant for classical and virual knots using biquandle arrow weights, a new algebraic structure without a clear […]
