Geometry Seminar

Date: November 13, 2017

Time: 3:00PM - 4:00PM

Location: BLOC 628

Speaker: Abraham Martín del Campo, CIMAT

Title: Semi-algebraic regions for phylogenetic algorithms

Abstract:

In Biology, phylogenetic trees encode evolutionary relations among observed species, sometimes computed using distance based methods. These methods are iterative processes that take a distance matrix for input, and decide about the next evolutionary relation from partial information in the matrix.

For some algorithms, the decision criteria are polynomial inequalities in the entries of the matrix, decomposing the space of all possible input matrices into semi-algebraic cones.

In this talk, which is suitable for graduate students, I will present some partial results from a joint work with Ruth Davidson (UIUC) where we study these regions in the Neighbor-Joining algorithm.