Events for 04/16/2018 from all calendars

Mathematical Physics and Harmonic Analysis Seminar

Time: 1:50PM - 2:50PM

Location: BLOC 220

Speaker: Barry Simon , Caltech

Title: Szegő–Widom asymptotics for Chebyshev polynomials on subsets of R

Abstract: Chebyshev polynomials for a compact subset e ⊂ R are defined to be the monic polynomials with minimal $||·||_∞ $ over e. In 1969, Widom made a conjecture about the asymptotics of these polynomials when e was a finite gap set. We prove this conjecture and extend it also to those infinite gap sets which obey a Parreau–Widom and a Direct Cauchy Theory condition. This talk will begin with a generalities about Chebyshev Polynomials. This is joint work with Jacob Christiansen and Maxim Zinchenko and partly with Peter Yuditskii.

Geometry Seminar

Time: 3:00PM - 4:00PM

Location: BLOC 628

Speaker: Christine Lee, UT Austin

Title: A knot with no tail

Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss the stability behavior of the U_q(sl(2))-colored Jones polynomial, a quantum link invariant that assigns to a link K in S^3 a sequence of Laurent polynomials {J_K^n(q)} from n=2 to infinity. The colored Jones polynomial is said to have a tail if there is a power series whose coefficients encode the asymptotic behavior of the coefficients of J_K^n(q) for large n. Since Armond and Garoufalidis-Le proved the existence of a tail for the colored Jones polynomial of an adequate knot, first conjectured by Dasbach-Lin, it has been conjectured that multiple tails exist for all knots. Moreover, the stable coefficients of the tail have been shown to relate to the topology and the geometry of the alternating link complement, prompting the Coarse Volume Conjecture by Futer-Kalfagianni-Purcell. I will talk about an unexpected example of a knot, recently discovered in joint work with Roland van der Veen, where the colored Jones polynomial does not admit a tail, and discuss potential ways to view this example in the context of the categorification of the polynomial, the aforementioned Coarse Volume Conjecture, and a general conjecture made by Garoufalidis-Vuong concerning the stability of the colored Jones polynomial colored by irreducible representations of Lie algebras different from U_q(sl(2)).

Working Seminar in Groups, Dynamics, and Operator Algebras

Time: 3:00PM - 3:50PM

Location: BLOC 506A

Speaker: Xin Ma, Texas A&M University

Title: Paradoxical comparison and pure infiniteness of crossed products

Mathematical Physics and Harmonic Analysis Seminar

Time: 4:00PM - 5:00PM

Location: BLOC 117

Speaker: Barry Simon , Caltech

Title: A colloquium talk: Tales of our Forefathers

Abstract: This is not a mathematics talk but it is a talk for mathematicians. Too often, we think of historical mathematicians as only names assigned to theorems. With vignettes and anecdotes, I'll convince you they were also human beings and that, as the Chinese say, "May you live in interesting times" really is a curse.

Industrial and Applied Math

Time: 4:00PM - 5:00PM

Location: BLOC 117

Speaker: Barry Simon, California Institute of Technology

Title: TBA