Limit Theories and Higher Order Fourier Analysis

Balazs Szegedy
University of Toronto; Member, School of Mathematics
October 4, 2011 - 10:30am

We present a unified approach to various topics in mathematics including: Ergodic theory, graph limit theory, hypergraph regularity, and Higher order Fourier analysis. The main theme is that very large complicated structures can be treated as approximations of infinite measurable and topological objects. In the limit interesting algebraic structures and new concepts arise which are hard to capture in the finite language but they govern the behavior of the finite objects. A prominent example is the inverse theorem for the Gowers norms on arbitrary abelian groups.


Our Words, and Theirs: A Reflection on the Historian's Craft, Today

Carlo Ginzburg
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles
October 3, 2011 - 4:30pm

What is the relationship between the idiom of the observer (historian, anthropologist) and the idiom of the actors, dead or alive? This question, which has been addressed from widely different (and usually unrelated) points of view, provides an oblique approach to the cognitive, moral, and political implications of the historian’s craft today.


Symplectic and Spectral Theory of Integrable Systems

Alvaro Pelayo
Washington University in St. Louis; Member, School of Mathematics
October 3, 2011 - 2:45pm

The (Counter-Intuitive) Geometry of Cut and Flow Polytopes

Ankur Moitra
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Institute for Advanced Study
October 3, 2011 - 2:30pm

Limit Theorems in Pseudorandomness

Raghu Meka
The University of Texas at Austin; Member, School of Mathematics
October 3, 2011 - 2:15pm

Properties of Random Group Elements

Chen Meiri
Hebrew University; Member, School of Mathematics
October 3, 2011 - 2:00pm

Mechanism Design With Set-Theoretic Beliefs

Jing Chen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
October 3, 2011 - 11:15am

In settings of incomplete information, we put forward (1) a very conservative ---indeed, purely set-theoretic--- model of the beliefs (including totally wrong ones) that each player may have about the payoff types of his opponents, and (2) a new and robust solution concept, based on mutual belief of rationality, capable of leveraging such conservative beliefs.


On Singularities With Rational Homology Disk Smoothings

Andras Stipsicz
Renyi Institute of Mathematics; Institute for Advanced Study
September 30, 2011 - 4:30pm

Multiplicities and the Equivariant Index

Jochen Bruening
Humboldt University
September 30, 2011 - 1:30pm

Shadowing and Diffusion in Hamiltonian Systems

Marian Gidea
Northeastern Illinois University; Member, School of Mathematics
September 28, 2011 - 4:00pm