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  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA General Relativity Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets
    All day
    May 2, 2022-May 5, 2022
    20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

    General Relativity Workshop

    May 2–5, 2022
    Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets

     

    Location: Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138
    Advanced registration for in-person components is required.
    In-Person Registration is required. Register online.

    Zoom webinar: Registration is required.  Webinar Registration 

    Organizers: Dan Lee (CMSA/CUNY), Martin Lesourd (CMSA/BHI), and Lan-Hsuan Huang (University of Connecticut).

     

    Speakers:

    • Zhongshan An, University of Connecticut
    • Paula Burkhardt-Guim, NYU
    • Hyun Chul Jang, University of Miami
    • Chao Li, NYU
    • Christos Mantoulidis, Rice University
    • Robin Neumayer, Carnegie Mellon University
    • Andre Neves, University of Chicago
    • Tristan Ozuch, MIT
    • Annachiara Piubello, University of Miami
    • Antoine Song, UC Berkeley
    • Tin-Yau Tsang, UC Irvine
    • Ryan Unger, Princeton
    • Zhizhang Xie, Texas A & M
    • Xin Zhou, Cornell University
    • Jonathan Zhu, Princeton University

    Schedule

    Download PDF

    Monday, May 2, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amHyun Chul JangTitle: Mass rigidity for asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds with boundary

    Abstract: Asymptotically locally hyperbolic (ALH) manifolds are a class of manifolds whose sectional curvature converges to −1 at infinity. If a given ALH manifold is asymptotic to a static reference manifold, the Wang-Chruściel-Herzlich mass integrals are well-defined, which is a geometric invariant that essentially measure the difference from the reference manifold. In this talk, I will present the result that an ALH manifold which minimize the mass integrals admits a static potential. To show this, we proved the scalar curvature map is locally surjective when it is defined on (1) the space of ALH metrics that coincide exponentially toward the boundary or (2) the space of ALH metrics with arbitrarily prescribed nearby Bartnik boundary data. And then, we establish the rigidity of the known positive mass theorems by studying the static uniqueness. This talk is based on joint work with L.-H. Huang.

    10:40–11:40 amAnnachiara PiubelloTitle: Estimates on the Bartnik mass and their geometric implications.

    Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss some recent estimates on the Bartnik mass for data with non-negative Gauss curvature and positive mean curvature. In particular, if the metric is round the estimate reduces to an estimate found by Miao and if the total mean curvature approaches 0, the estimate tends to 1/2 the area radius, which is the bound found by Mantoulidis and Schoen in the blackhole horizon case. We will then discuss some geometric implications. This is joint work with Pengzi Miao.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmRyan UngerTitle: Density and positive mass theorems for black holes and incomplete manifolds

    Abstract: We generalize the density theorems for the Einstein constraint equations of Corvino-Schoen and Eichmair-Huang-Lee-Schoen to allow for marginally outer trapped boundaries (which correspond physically to apparent horizons). As an application, we resolve the spacetime positive mass theorem in the presence of MOTS boundary in the non-spin case. This also has a surprising application to the Riemannian setting, including a non-filling result for manifolds with negative mass. This is joint work with Martin Lesourd and Dan Lee.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications I

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmAntoine SongTitle: The spherical Plateau problem

    Abstract: For any closed oriented manifold with fundamental group G, or more generally any group homology class for a group G, I will discuss an infinite codimension Plateau problem in a Hilbert classifying space for G. For instance, for a closed oriented 3-manifold M, the intrinsic geometry of any Plateau solution is given by the hyperbolic part of M.

    Tuesday, May 3, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amChao LiTitle: Stable minimal hypersurfaces in 4-manifolds

    Abstract: There have been a classical theory for complete minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds, including the stable Bernstein conjecture in R^3 and rigidity results in 3-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. In this talk, I will discuss how one may extend these results in four dimensions. This leads to new comparison theorems for positively curved 4-manifolds.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds I

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmZhongshan AnTitle: Local existence and uniqueness of static vacuum extensions of Bartnik boundary data

    Abstract: The study of static vacuum Riemannian metrics arises naturally in differential geometry and general relativity. It plays an important role in scalar curvature deformation, as well as in constructing Einstein spacetimes. Existence of static vacuum Riemannian metrics with prescribed Bartnik data — the induced metric and mean curvature of the boundary — is one of the most fundamental problems in Riemannian geometry related to general relativity. It is also a very interesting problem on the global solvability of a natural geometric boundary value problem. In this talk I will first discuss some basic properties of the nonlinear and linearized static vacuum equations and the geometric boundary conditions. Then I will present some recent progress towards the existence problem of static vacuum metrics based on joint works with Lan-Hsuan Huang.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications II

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmTin-Yau TsangTitle: Dihedral rigidity, fill-in and spacetime positive mass theorem

    Abstract: For compact manifolds with boundary, to characterise the relation between scalar curvature and boundary geometry, Gromov proposed dihedral rigidity conjecture and fill-in conjecture. In this talk, we will see the role of spacetime positive mass theorem in answering the corresponding questions for initial data sets.

    Speakers Banquet

    Wednesday, May 4, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amTristan OzuchTitle: Weighted versions of scalar curvature, mass and spin geometry for Ricci flows

    Abstract: With A. Deruelle, we define a Perelman-like functional for ALE metrics which lets us study the (in)stability of Ricci-flat ALE metrics. With J. Baldauf, we extend some classical objects and formulas from the study of scalar curvature, spin geometry and general relativity to manifolds with densities. We surprisingly find that the extension of ADM mass is the opposite of the above functional introduced with A. Deruelle. Through a weighted Witten’s formula, this functional also equals a weighted spinorial Dirichlet energy on spin manifolds. Ricci flow is the gradient flow of all of these quantities.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds II

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmChristos MantoulidisTitle: Metrics with lambda_1(-Delta+kR) > 0 and applications to the Riemannian Penrose Inequality

    Abstract: On a closed n-dimensional manifold, consider the space of all Riemannian metrics for which -Delta+kR is positive (nonnegative) definite, where k > 0 and R is the scalar curvature. This spectral generalization of positive (nonnegative) scalar curvature arises naturally, for different values of k, in the study of scalar curvature in dimension n + 1 via minimal surfaces, the Yamabe problem in dimension n, and Perelman’s surgery for Ricci flow in dimension n = 3. We study these spaces in unison and generalize, as appropriate, scalar curvature results that we eventually apply to k = 1/2, where the space above models apparent horizons in time-symmetric initial data sets to the Einstein equations and whose flexibility properties are intimately tied with the instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. This is joint work with Chao Li.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications III

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmXin ZhouTitle: Min-max minimal hypersurfaces with higher multiplicity

    Abstract: It is well known that minimal hypersurfaces produced by the Almgren-Pitts min-max theory are counted with integer multiplicities. For bumpy metrics (which form a generic set), the multiplicities are one thanks to the resolution of the Marques-Neves Multiplicity One Conjecture. In this talk, we will exhibit a set of non-bumpy metrics on the standard (n+1)-sphere, in which the min-max varifold associated with the second volume spectrum is a multiplicity two n-sphere. Such non-bumpy metrics form the first set of examples where the min-max theory must produce higher multiplicity minimal hypersurfaces. The talk is based on a joint work with Zhichao Wang (UBC).

    May 5, 2022

    9:00–10:00 amAndre NevesTitle: Metrics on spheres where all the equators are minimal

    Abstract: I will talk about joint work with Lucas Ambrozio and Fernando Marques where we study the space of metrics where all the equators are minimal.

    10:10–11:10 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds III

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    11:20–12:20 pmPaula Burkhardt-GuimTitle: Lower scalar curvature bounds for C^0 metrics: a Ricci flow approach

    Abstract: We describe some recent work that has been done to generalize the notion of lower scalar curvature bounds to C^0 metrics, including a localized Ricci flow approach. In particular, we show the following: that there is a Ricci flow definition which is stable under greater-than-second-order perturbation of the metric, that there exists a reasonable notion of a Ricci flow starting from C^0 initial data which is smooth for positive times, and that the weak lower scalar curvature bounds are preserved under evolution by the Ricci flow from C^0 initial data.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmJonathan ZhuTitle: Widths, minimal submanifolds and symplectic embeddings

    Abstract: Width or waist inequalities measure the size of a manifold with respect to measures of families of submanifolds. We’ll discuss related area estimates for minimal submanifolds, as well as applications to quantitative symplectic camels.


    Program Visitors

    • Dan Lee, CMSA/CUNY, 01/24/22 – 05/20/22
    • Stefan Czimek, Brown, 02/27/22 – 03/03/22
    • Lan-Hsuan Huang, University of Connecticut, 03/13 – 03/19, 03/21 – 03/25, 04/17 – 04/23
    • Mu-Tao Wang, Columbia, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Po-Ning Chen, University of California, Riverside, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Marnie Smith, Imperial College London, 03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Christopher Stith, University of Michigan, 03/27/22 – 04/23/22
    • Martin Taylor, Imperial College London,  03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Marcelo Disconzi, Vanderbilt, 05/02/22 – 05/27/22
    • Lydia Bieri, University of Michigan, 05/05/22 – 05/09/22

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/gr-program/

     

3
  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA General Relativity Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets
    All day
    May 3, 2022-May 5, 2022
    20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

    General Relativity Workshop

    May 2–5, 2022
    Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets

     

    Location: Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138
    Advanced registration for in-person components is required.
    In-Person Registration is required. Register online.

    Zoom webinar: Registration is required.  Webinar Registration 

    Organizers: Dan Lee (CMSA/CUNY), Martin Lesourd (CMSA/BHI), and Lan-Hsuan Huang (University of Connecticut).

     

    Speakers:

    • Zhongshan An, University of Connecticut
    • Paula Burkhardt-Guim, NYU
    • Hyun Chul Jang, University of Miami
    • Chao Li, NYU
    • Christos Mantoulidis, Rice University
    • Robin Neumayer, Carnegie Mellon University
    • Andre Neves, University of Chicago
    • Tristan Ozuch, MIT
    • Annachiara Piubello, University of Miami
    • Antoine Song, UC Berkeley
    • Tin-Yau Tsang, UC Irvine
    • Ryan Unger, Princeton
    • Zhizhang Xie, Texas A & M
    • Xin Zhou, Cornell University
    • Jonathan Zhu, Princeton University

    Schedule

    Download PDF

    Monday, May 2, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amHyun Chul JangTitle: Mass rigidity for asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds with boundary

    Abstract: Asymptotically locally hyperbolic (ALH) manifolds are a class of manifolds whose sectional curvature converges to −1 at infinity. If a given ALH manifold is asymptotic to a static reference manifold, the Wang-Chruściel-Herzlich mass integrals are well-defined, which is a geometric invariant that essentially measure the difference from the reference manifold. In this talk, I will present the result that an ALH manifold which minimize the mass integrals admits a static potential. To show this, we proved the scalar curvature map is locally surjective when it is defined on (1) the space of ALH metrics that coincide exponentially toward the boundary or (2) the space of ALH metrics with arbitrarily prescribed nearby Bartnik boundary data. And then, we establish the rigidity of the known positive mass theorems by studying the static uniqueness. This talk is based on joint work with L.-H. Huang.

    10:40–11:40 amAnnachiara PiubelloTitle: Estimates on the Bartnik mass and their geometric implications.

    Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss some recent estimates on the Bartnik mass for data with non-negative Gauss curvature and positive mean curvature. In particular, if the metric is round the estimate reduces to an estimate found by Miao and if the total mean curvature approaches 0, the estimate tends to 1/2 the area radius, which is the bound found by Mantoulidis and Schoen in the blackhole horizon case. We will then discuss some geometric implications. This is joint work with Pengzi Miao.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmRyan UngerTitle: Density and positive mass theorems for black holes and incomplete manifolds

    Abstract: We generalize the density theorems for the Einstein constraint equations of Corvino-Schoen and Eichmair-Huang-Lee-Schoen to allow for marginally outer trapped boundaries (which correspond physically to apparent horizons). As an application, we resolve the spacetime positive mass theorem in the presence of MOTS boundary in the non-spin case. This also has a surprising application to the Riemannian setting, including a non-filling result for manifolds with negative mass. This is joint work with Martin Lesourd and Dan Lee.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications I

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmAntoine SongTitle: The spherical Plateau problem

    Abstract: For any closed oriented manifold with fundamental group G, or more generally any group homology class for a group G, I will discuss an infinite codimension Plateau problem in a Hilbert classifying space for G. For instance, for a closed oriented 3-manifold M, the intrinsic geometry of any Plateau solution is given by the hyperbolic part of M.

    Tuesday, May 3, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amChao LiTitle: Stable minimal hypersurfaces in 4-manifolds

    Abstract: There have been a classical theory for complete minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds, including the stable Bernstein conjecture in R^3 and rigidity results in 3-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. In this talk, I will discuss how one may extend these results in four dimensions. This leads to new comparison theorems for positively curved 4-manifolds.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds I

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmZhongshan AnTitle: Local existence and uniqueness of static vacuum extensions of Bartnik boundary data

    Abstract: The study of static vacuum Riemannian metrics arises naturally in differential geometry and general relativity. It plays an important role in scalar curvature deformation, as well as in constructing Einstein spacetimes. Existence of static vacuum Riemannian metrics with prescribed Bartnik data — the induced metric and mean curvature of the boundary — is one of the most fundamental problems in Riemannian geometry related to general relativity. It is also a very interesting problem on the global solvability of a natural geometric boundary value problem. In this talk I will first discuss some basic properties of the nonlinear and linearized static vacuum equations and the geometric boundary conditions. Then I will present some recent progress towards the existence problem of static vacuum metrics based on joint works with Lan-Hsuan Huang.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications II

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmTin-Yau TsangTitle: Dihedral rigidity, fill-in and spacetime positive mass theorem

    Abstract: For compact manifolds with boundary, to characterise the relation between scalar curvature and boundary geometry, Gromov proposed dihedral rigidity conjecture and fill-in conjecture. In this talk, we will see the role of spacetime positive mass theorem in answering the corresponding questions for initial data sets.

    Speakers Banquet

    Wednesday, May 4, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amTristan OzuchTitle: Weighted versions of scalar curvature, mass and spin geometry for Ricci flows

    Abstract: With A. Deruelle, we define a Perelman-like functional for ALE metrics which lets us study the (in)stability of Ricci-flat ALE metrics. With J. Baldauf, we extend some classical objects and formulas from the study of scalar curvature, spin geometry and general relativity to manifolds with densities. We surprisingly find that the extension of ADM mass is the opposite of the above functional introduced with A. Deruelle. Through a weighted Witten’s formula, this functional also equals a weighted spinorial Dirichlet energy on spin manifolds. Ricci flow is the gradient flow of all of these quantities.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds II

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmChristos MantoulidisTitle: Metrics with lambda_1(-Delta+kR) > 0 and applications to the Riemannian Penrose Inequality

    Abstract: On a closed n-dimensional manifold, consider the space of all Riemannian metrics for which -Delta+kR is positive (nonnegative) definite, where k > 0 and R is the scalar curvature. This spectral generalization of positive (nonnegative) scalar curvature arises naturally, for different values of k, in the study of scalar curvature in dimension n + 1 via minimal surfaces, the Yamabe problem in dimension n, and Perelman’s surgery for Ricci flow in dimension n = 3. We study these spaces in unison and generalize, as appropriate, scalar curvature results that we eventually apply to k = 1/2, where the space above models apparent horizons in time-symmetric initial data sets to the Einstein equations and whose flexibility properties are intimately tied with the instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. This is joint work with Chao Li.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications III

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmXin ZhouTitle: Min-max minimal hypersurfaces with higher multiplicity

    Abstract: It is well known that minimal hypersurfaces produced by the Almgren-Pitts min-max theory are counted with integer multiplicities. For bumpy metrics (which form a generic set), the multiplicities are one thanks to the resolution of the Marques-Neves Multiplicity One Conjecture. In this talk, we will exhibit a set of non-bumpy metrics on the standard (n+1)-sphere, in which the min-max varifold associated with the second volume spectrum is a multiplicity two n-sphere. Such non-bumpy metrics form the first set of examples where the min-max theory must produce higher multiplicity minimal hypersurfaces. The talk is based on a joint work with Zhichao Wang (UBC).

    May 5, 2022

    9:00–10:00 amAndre NevesTitle: Metrics on spheres where all the equators are minimal

    Abstract: I will talk about joint work with Lucas Ambrozio and Fernando Marques where we study the space of metrics where all the equators are minimal.

    10:10–11:10 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds III

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    11:20–12:20 pmPaula Burkhardt-GuimTitle: Lower scalar curvature bounds for C^0 metrics: a Ricci flow approach

    Abstract: We describe some recent work that has been done to generalize the notion of lower scalar curvature bounds to C^0 metrics, including a localized Ricci flow approach. In particular, we show the following: that there is a Ricci flow definition which is stable under greater-than-second-order perturbation of the metric, that there exists a reasonable notion of a Ricci flow starting from C^0 initial data which is smooth for positive times, and that the weak lower scalar curvature bounds are preserved under evolution by the Ricci flow from C^0 initial data.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmJonathan ZhuTitle: Widths, minimal submanifolds and symplectic embeddings

    Abstract: Width or waist inequalities measure the size of a manifold with respect to measures of families of submanifolds. We’ll discuss related area estimates for minimal submanifolds, as well as applications to quantitative symplectic camels.


    Program Visitors

    • Dan Lee, CMSA/CUNY, 01/24/22 – 05/20/22
    • Stefan Czimek, Brown, 02/27/22 – 03/03/22
    • Lan-Hsuan Huang, University of Connecticut, 03/13 – 03/19, 03/21 – 03/25, 04/17 – 04/23
    • Mu-Tao Wang, Columbia, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Po-Ning Chen, University of California, Riverside, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Marnie Smith, Imperial College London, 03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Christopher Stith, University of Michigan, 03/27/22 – 04/23/22
    • Martin Taylor, Imperial College London,  03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Marcelo Disconzi, Vanderbilt, 05/02/22 – 05/27/22
    • Lydia Bieri, University of Michigan, 05/05/22 – 05/09/22

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/gr-program/

     

  • SEMINARS: Math Picture Language Seminar: Nonasymptotic random matrix theory

    Speaker: Ramon van Hande – Princeton University

    9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    May 3, 2022

    Suppose we are given a random matrix with an essentially arbitrary pattern of entry means and variances, dependencies, and distributions. What can we say about its spectrum? It may appear hopeless that anything useful can be  proved at this level of generality, which lies far outside the scope of classical random matrix theory. The aim of my talk is to describe the basic ingredients of a new theory that provides sharp nonasymptotic information on the spectrum in an extremely general setting. This is made possible by an unexpected phenomenon: under surprisingly minimal assumptions, the spectrum of an arbitrarily structured random matrix is accurately captured by that of an associated deterministic operator that arises from free probability theory.

    (Based on joint works with Afonso Bandeira, March Boedihardjo, and Tatiana Brailovskaya.)


    https://harvard.zoom.us/j/779283357?pwd=MitXVm1pYUlJVzZqT3lwV2pCT1ZUQT09

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Combinatorics, Physics, and Probability: The threshold for stacked triangulations

    Speaker: Yuval Peled – Hebrew University of Jerusalem

    9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    May 3, 2022

    Consider a bootstrap percolation process that starts with a set of `infected’ triangles $Y \subseteq \binom{[n]}3$, and a new triangle f gets infected if there is a copy of K_4^3 (= the boundary of a tetrahedron) in which f is the only not-yet infected triangle.
    Suppose that every triangle is initially infected independently with probability p=p(n), what is the threshold probability for percolation — the event that all triangles get infected? How many new triangles do get infected in the subcritical regime?

    This notion of percolation can be viewed as a simplification of simple-connectivity. Namely, a stacked triangulation of a triangle is obtained by repeatedly subdividing an inner face into three faces.
    We ask: for which $p$ does the random simplicial complex Y_2(n,p) contain, for every triple $xyz$, the faces of a stacked triangulation of $xyz$ whose internal vertices are arbitrarily labeled in [n].

    We consider this problem in every dimension d>=2, and our main result identifies a sharp probability threshold for percolation, showing it is asymptotically (c_d*n)^(-1/d), where c_d is the growth rate of the Fuss–Catalan numbers of order d.

    The proof hinges on a second moment argument in the supercritical regime, and on Kalai’s algebraic shifting in the subcritical regime.


    For more information, please see: https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/category/colloquia-seminars/seminars/

4
  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA General Relativity Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets
    All day
    May 4, 2022-May 5, 2022
    20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

    General Relativity Workshop

    May 2–5, 2022
    Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets

     

    Location: Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138
    Advanced registration for in-person components is required.
    In-Person Registration is required. Register online.

    Zoom webinar: Registration is required.  Webinar Registration 

    Organizers: Dan Lee (CMSA/CUNY), Martin Lesourd (CMSA/BHI), and Lan-Hsuan Huang (University of Connecticut).

     

    Speakers:

    • Zhongshan An, University of Connecticut
    • Paula Burkhardt-Guim, NYU
    • Hyun Chul Jang, University of Miami
    • Chao Li, NYU
    • Christos Mantoulidis, Rice University
    • Robin Neumayer, Carnegie Mellon University
    • Andre Neves, University of Chicago
    • Tristan Ozuch, MIT
    • Annachiara Piubello, University of Miami
    • Antoine Song, UC Berkeley
    • Tin-Yau Tsang, UC Irvine
    • Ryan Unger, Princeton
    • Zhizhang Xie, Texas A & M
    • Xin Zhou, Cornell University
    • Jonathan Zhu, Princeton University

    Schedule

    Download PDF

    Monday, May 2, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amHyun Chul JangTitle: Mass rigidity for asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds with boundary

    Abstract: Asymptotically locally hyperbolic (ALH) manifolds are a class of manifolds whose sectional curvature converges to −1 at infinity. If a given ALH manifold is asymptotic to a static reference manifold, the Wang-Chruściel-Herzlich mass integrals are well-defined, which is a geometric invariant that essentially measure the difference from the reference manifold. In this talk, I will present the result that an ALH manifold which minimize the mass integrals admits a static potential. To show this, we proved the scalar curvature map is locally surjective when it is defined on (1) the space of ALH metrics that coincide exponentially toward the boundary or (2) the space of ALH metrics with arbitrarily prescribed nearby Bartnik boundary data. And then, we establish the rigidity of the known positive mass theorems by studying the static uniqueness. This talk is based on joint work with L.-H. Huang.

    10:40–11:40 amAnnachiara PiubelloTitle: Estimates on the Bartnik mass and their geometric implications.

    Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss some recent estimates on the Bartnik mass for data with non-negative Gauss curvature and positive mean curvature. In particular, if the metric is round the estimate reduces to an estimate found by Miao and if the total mean curvature approaches 0, the estimate tends to 1/2 the area radius, which is the bound found by Mantoulidis and Schoen in the blackhole horizon case. We will then discuss some geometric implications. This is joint work with Pengzi Miao.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmRyan UngerTitle: Density and positive mass theorems for black holes and incomplete manifolds

    Abstract: We generalize the density theorems for the Einstein constraint equations of Corvino-Schoen and Eichmair-Huang-Lee-Schoen to allow for marginally outer trapped boundaries (which correspond physically to apparent horizons). As an application, we resolve the spacetime positive mass theorem in the presence of MOTS boundary in the non-spin case. This also has a surprising application to the Riemannian setting, including a non-filling result for manifolds with negative mass. This is joint work with Martin Lesourd and Dan Lee.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications I

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmAntoine SongTitle: The spherical Plateau problem

    Abstract: For any closed oriented manifold with fundamental group G, or more generally any group homology class for a group G, I will discuss an infinite codimension Plateau problem in a Hilbert classifying space for G. For instance, for a closed oriented 3-manifold M, the intrinsic geometry of any Plateau solution is given by the hyperbolic part of M.

    Tuesday, May 3, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amChao LiTitle: Stable minimal hypersurfaces in 4-manifolds

    Abstract: There have been a classical theory for complete minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds, including the stable Bernstein conjecture in R^3 and rigidity results in 3-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. In this talk, I will discuss how one may extend these results in four dimensions. This leads to new comparison theorems for positively curved 4-manifolds.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds I

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmZhongshan AnTitle: Local existence and uniqueness of static vacuum extensions of Bartnik boundary data

    Abstract: The study of static vacuum Riemannian metrics arises naturally in differential geometry and general relativity. It plays an important role in scalar curvature deformation, as well as in constructing Einstein spacetimes. Existence of static vacuum Riemannian metrics with prescribed Bartnik data — the induced metric and mean curvature of the boundary — is one of the most fundamental problems in Riemannian geometry related to general relativity. It is also a very interesting problem on the global solvability of a natural geometric boundary value problem. In this talk I will first discuss some basic properties of the nonlinear and linearized static vacuum equations and the geometric boundary conditions. Then I will present some recent progress towards the existence problem of static vacuum metrics based on joint works with Lan-Hsuan Huang.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications II

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmTin-Yau TsangTitle: Dihedral rigidity, fill-in and spacetime positive mass theorem

    Abstract: For compact manifolds with boundary, to characterise the relation between scalar curvature and boundary geometry, Gromov proposed dihedral rigidity conjecture and fill-in conjecture. In this talk, we will see the role of spacetime positive mass theorem in answering the corresponding questions for initial data sets.

    Speakers Banquet

    Wednesday, May 4, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amTristan OzuchTitle: Weighted versions of scalar curvature, mass and spin geometry for Ricci flows

    Abstract: With A. Deruelle, we define a Perelman-like functional for ALE metrics which lets us study the (in)stability of Ricci-flat ALE metrics. With J. Baldauf, we extend some classical objects and formulas from the study of scalar curvature, spin geometry and general relativity to manifolds with densities. We surprisingly find that the extension of ADM mass is the opposite of the above functional introduced with A. Deruelle. Through a weighted Witten’s formula, this functional also equals a weighted spinorial Dirichlet energy on spin manifolds. Ricci flow is the gradient flow of all of these quantities.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds II

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmChristos MantoulidisTitle: Metrics with lambda_1(-Delta+kR) > 0 and applications to the Riemannian Penrose Inequality

    Abstract: On a closed n-dimensional manifold, consider the space of all Riemannian metrics for which -Delta+kR is positive (nonnegative) definite, where k > 0 and R is the scalar curvature. This spectral generalization of positive (nonnegative) scalar curvature arises naturally, for different values of k, in the study of scalar curvature in dimension n + 1 via minimal surfaces, the Yamabe problem in dimension n, and Perelman’s surgery for Ricci flow in dimension n = 3. We study these spaces in unison and generalize, as appropriate, scalar curvature results that we eventually apply to k = 1/2, where the space above models apparent horizons in time-symmetric initial data sets to the Einstein equations and whose flexibility properties are intimately tied with the instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. This is joint work with Chao Li.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications III

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmXin ZhouTitle: Min-max minimal hypersurfaces with higher multiplicity

    Abstract: It is well known that minimal hypersurfaces produced by the Almgren-Pitts min-max theory are counted with integer multiplicities. For bumpy metrics (which form a generic set), the multiplicities are one thanks to the resolution of the Marques-Neves Multiplicity One Conjecture. In this talk, we will exhibit a set of non-bumpy metrics on the standard (n+1)-sphere, in which the min-max varifold associated with the second volume spectrum is a multiplicity two n-sphere. Such non-bumpy metrics form the first set of examples where the min-max theory must produce higher multiplicity minimal hypersurfaces. The talk is based on a joint work with Zhichao Wang (UBC).

    May 5, 2022

    9:00–10:00 amAndre NevesTitle: Metrics on spheres where all the equators are minimal

    Abstract: I will talk about joint work with Lucas Ambrozio and Fernando Marques where we study the space of metrics where all the equators are minimal.

    10:10–11:10 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds III

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    11:20–12:20 pmPaula Burkhardt-GuimTitle: Lower scalar curvature bounds for C^0 metrics: a Ricci flow approach

    Abstract: We describe some recent work that has been done to generalize the notion of lower scalar curvature bounds to C^0 metrics, including a localized Ricci flow approach. In particular, we show the following: that there is a Ricci flow definition which is stable under greater-than-second-order perturbation of the metric, that there exists a reasonable notion of a Ricci flow starting from C^0 initial data which is smooth for positive times, and that the weak lower scalar curvature bounds are preserved under evolution by the Ricci flow from C^0 initial data.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmJonathan ZhuTitle: Widths, minimal submanifolds and symplectic embeddings

    Abstract: Width or waist inequalities measure the size of a manifold with respect to measures of families of submanifolds. We’ll discuss related area estimates for minimal submanifolds, as well as applications to quantitative symplectic camels.


    Program Visitors

    • Dan Lee, CMSA/CUNY, 01/24/22 – 05/20/22
    • Stefan Czimek, Brown, 02/27/22 – 03/03/22
    • Lan-Hsuan Huang, University of Connecticut, 03/13 – 03/19, 03/21 – 03/25, 04/17 – 04/23
    • Mu-Tao Wang, Columbia, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Po-Ning Chen, University of California, Riverside, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Marnie Smith, Imperial College London, 03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Christopher Stith, University of Michigan, 03/27/22 – 04/23/22
    • Martin Taylor, Imperial College London,  03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Marcelo Disconzi, Vanderbilt, 05/02/22 – 05/27/22
    • Lydia Bieri, University of Michigan, 05/05/22 – 05/09/22

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/gr-program/

     

  • NUMBER THEORY SEMINAR: Number Theory Seminar: Non-archimedean and tropical geometry, algebraic groups, moduli spaces of matroids, and the field with one element

    Speaker: Matt Baker – Georgia Teach

    3:00 PM-4:00 PM
    May 4, 2022
    1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

    I will give an introduction to Oliver Lorscheid’s theory of ordered blueprints – one of the more successful approaches to “the field of one element” – and sketch its relationship to Berkovich spaces, tropical geometry, Tits models for algebraic groups, and moduli spaces of matroids. The basic idea for the latter two applications is quite simple: given a scheme over Z defined by equations with coefficients in {0,1,-1}, there is a corresponding “blue model” whose K-points (where K is the Krasner hyperfield) sometimes correspond to interesting combinatorial structures. For example, taking K-points of a suitable blue model for a split reductive group scheme G over Z gives the Weyl group of G, and taking K-points of a suitable blue model for the Grassmannian G(r,n) gives the set of matroids of rank r on {1,…,n}. Similarly, the Berkovich analytification of a scheme X over a valued field K coincides, as a topological space, with the set of T-points of X, considered as an ordered blue scheme over K. Here T is the tropical hyperfield, and T-points are defined using the observation that a (height 1) valuation on K is nothing other than a homomorphism to T.


     

  • HARVARD-MIT COMBINATORICS SEMINAR: MIT-Harvard-MSR Combinatorics Seminar: New quantitative Helly-type theorems for diameter

    Speaker: Travis Dillon – MIT

    4:15 PM-5:15 PM
    May 4, 2022

    Helly’s theorem is a fundamental statement in discrete and convex geometry  that relates the intersection of a family of convex sets to the  intersections of its subfamilies. This talk surveys recent advances in  quantitative versions of Helly’s theorem, including best-known results  toward proving a 1982 conjecture of Bárány, Katchalski, and Pach. Along  the way, I’ll introduce a new, surprisingly powerful technique for proving  quantitative Helly-type theorems, and we’ll completely characterize the  norms for which there is a “no-loss” Helly-type theorem for diameter.


     

5
  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA General Relativity Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets
    All day
    May 5, 2022-May 5, 2022
    20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

    General Relativity Workshop

    May 2–5, 2022
    Workshop on scalar curvature, minimal surfaces, and initial data sets

     

    Location: Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138
    Advanced registration for in-person components is required.
    In-Person Registration is required. Register online.

    Zoom webinar: Registration is required.  Webinar Registration 

    Organizers: Dan Lee (CMSA/CUNY), Martin Lesourd (CMSA/BHI), and Lan-Hsuan Huang (University of Connecticut).

     

    Speakers:

    • Zhongshan An, University of Connecticut
    • Paula Burkhardt-Guim, NYU
    • Hyun Chul Jang, University of Miami
    • Chao Li, NYU
    • Christos Mantoulidis, Rice University
    • Robin Neumayer, Carnegie Mellon University
    • Andre Neves, University of Chicago
    • Tristan Ozuch, MIT
    • Annachiara Piubello, University of Miami
    • Antoine Song, UC Berkeley
    • Tin-Yau Tsang, UC Irvine
    • Ryan Unger, Princeton
    • Zhizhang Xie, Texas A & M
    • Xin Zhou, Cornell University
    • Jonathan Zhu, Princeton University

    Schedule

    Download PDF

    Monday, May 2, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amHyun Chul JangTitle: Mass rigidity for asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds with boundary

    Abstract: Asymptotically locally hyperbolic (ALH) manifolds are a class of manifolds whose sectional curvature converges to −1 at infinity. If a given ALH manifold is asymptotic to a static reference manifold, the Wang-Chruściel-Herzlich mass integrals are well-defined, which is a geometric invariant that essentially measure the difference from the reference manifold. In this talk, I will present the result that an ALH manifold which minimize the mass integrals admits a static potential. To show this, we proved the scalar curvature map is locally surjective when it is defined on (1) the space of ALH metrics that coincide exponentially toward the boundary or (2) the space of ALH metrics with arbitrarily prescribed nearby Bartnik boundary data. And then, we establish the rigidity of the known positive mass theorems by studying the static uniqueness. This talk is based on joint work with L.-H. Huang.

    10:40–11:40 amAnnachiara PiubelloTitle: Estimates on the Bartnik mass and their geometric implications.

    Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss some recent estimates on the Bartnik mass for data with non-negative Gauss curvature and positive mean curvature. In particular, if the metric is round the estimate reduces to an estimate found by Miao and if the total mean curvature approaches 0, the estimate tends to 1/2 the area radius, which is the bound found by Mantoulidis and Schoen in the blackhole horizon case. We will then discuss some geometric implications. This is joint work with Pengzi Miao.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmRyan UngerTitle: Density and positive mass theorems for black holes and incomplete manifolds

    Abstract: We generalize the density theorems for the Einstein constraint equations of Corvino-Schoen and Eichmair-Huang-Lee-Schoen to allow for marginally outer trapped boundaries (which correspond physically to apparent horizons). As an application, we resolve the spacetime positive mass theorem in the presence of MOTS boundary in the non-spin case. This also has a surprising application to the Riemannian setting, including a non-filling result for manifolds with negative mass. This is joint work with Martin Lesourd and Dan Lee.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications I

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmAntoine SongTitle: The spherical Plateau problem

    Abstract: For any closed oriented manifold with fundamental group G, or more generally any group homology class for a group G, I will discuss an infinite codimension Plateau problem in a Hilbert classifying space for G. For instance, for a closed oriented 3-manifold M, the intrinsic geometry of any Plateau solution is given by the hyperbolic part of M.

    Tuesday, May 3, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amChao LiTitle: Stable minimal hypersurfaces in 4-manifolds

    Abstract: There have been a classical theory for complete minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds, including the stable Bernstein conjecture in R^3 and rigidity results in 3-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. In this talk, I will discuss how one may extend these results in four dimensions. This leads to new comparison theorems for positively curved 4-manifolds.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds I

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmZhongshan AnTitle: Local existence and uniqueness of static vacuum extensions of Bartnik boundary data

    Abstract: The study of static vacuum Riemannian metrics arises naturally in differential geometry and general relativity. It plays an important role in scalar curvature deformation, as well as in constructing Einstein spacetimes. Existence of static vacuum Riemannian metrics with prescribed Bartnik data — the induced metric and mean curvature of the boundary — is one of the most fundamental problems in Riemannian geometry related to general relativity. It is also a very interesting problem on the global solvability of a natural geometric boundary value problem. In this talk I will first discuss some basic properties of the nonlinear and linearized static vacuum equations and the geometric boundary conditions. Then I will present some recent progress towards the existence problem of static vacuum metrics based on joint works with Lan-Hsuan Huang.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications II

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmTin-Yau TsangTitle: Dihedral rigidity, fill-in and spacetime positive mass theorem

    Abstract: For compact manifolds with boundary, to characterise the relation between scalar curvature and boundary geometry, Gromov proposed dihedral rigidity conjecture and fill-in conjecture. In this talk, we will see the role of spacetime positive mass theorem in answering the corresponding questions for initial data sets.

    Speakers Banquet

    Wednesday, May 4, 2022

    9:30–10:30 amTristan OzuchTitle: Weighted versions of scalar curvature, mass and spin geometry for Ricci flows

    Abstract: With A. Deruelle, we define a Perelman-like functional for ALE metrics which lets us study the (in)stability of Ricci-flat ALE metrics. With J. Baldauf, we extend some classical objects and formulas from the study of scalar curvature, spin geometry and general relativity to manifolds with densities. We surprisingly find that the extension of ADM mass is the opposite of the above functional introduced with A. Deruelle. Through a weighted Witten’s formula, this functional also equals a weighted spinorial Dirichlet energy on spin manifolds. Ricci flow is the gradient flow of all of these quantities.

    10:40–11:40 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds II

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmChristos MantoulidisTitle: Metrics with lambda_1(-Delta+kR) > 0 and applications to the Riemannian Penrose Inequality

    Abstract: On a closed n-dimensional manifold, consider the space of all Riemannian metrics for which -Delta+kR is positive (nonnegative) definite, where k > 0 and R is the scalar curvature. This spectral generalization of positive (nonnegative) scalar curvature arises naturally, for different values of k, in the study of scalar curvature in dimension n + 1 via minimal surfaces, the Yamabe problem in dimension n, and Perelman’s surgery for Ricci flow in dimension n = 3. We study these spaces in unison and generalize, as appropriate, scalar curvature results that we eventually apply to k = 1/2, where the space above models apparent horizons in time-symmetric initial data sets to the Einstein equations and whose flexibility properties are intimately tied with the instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. This is joint work with Chao Li.

    2:40–3:40 pmZhizhang XieTitle: Gromov’s dihedral extremality/rigidity conjectures and their applications III

    Abstract: Gromov’s dihedral extremality and rigidity conjectures concern comparisons of scalar curvature, mean curvature and dihedral angle for compact manifolds with corners. They have very interesting consequences in geometry and mathematical physics. The conjectures themselves can in some sense be viewed as “localizations” of the positive mass theorem. I will explain some recent work on positive solutions to these conjectures and some related applications (such as a positive solution to the Stoker conjecture). The talks are based on my joint works with Jinmin Wang and Guoliang Yu.

    TEA BREAK
    4:10–5:10 pmXin ZhouTitle: Min-max minimal hypersurfaces with higher multiplicity

    Abstract: It is well known that minimal hypersurfaces produced by the Almgren-Pitts min-max theory are counted with integer multiplicities. For bumpy metrics (which form a generic set), the multiplicities are one thanks to the resolution of the Marques-Neves Multiplicity One Conjecture. In this talk, we will exhibit a set of non-bumpy metrics on the standard (n+1)-sphere, in which the min-max varifold associated with the second volume spectrum is a multiplicity two n-sphere. Such non-bumpy metrics form the first set of examples where the min-max theory must produce higher multiplicity minimal hypersurfaces. The talk is based on a joint work with Zhichao Wang (UBC).

    May 5, 2022

    9:00–10:00 amAndre NevesTitle: Metrics on spheres where all the equators are minimal

    Abstract: I will talk about joint work with Lucas Ambrozio and Fernando Marques where we study the space of metrics where all the equators are minimal.

    10:10–11:10 amRobin NeumayerTitle: An Introduction to $d_p$ Convergence of Riemannian Manifolds III

    Abstract: What can you say about the structure or a-priori regularity of a Riemannian manifold if you know certain bounds on its curvature? To understand this question, it is often important to understand in what sense a sequence of Riemannian manifolds (possessing a given curvature constraint) will converge, and what the limiting objects look like. In this mini-course, we introduce the notions of $d_p$ convergence of Riemannian manifolds and of rectifiable Riemannian spaces, the objects that arise as $d_p$ limits. This type of convergence can be useful in contexts when the distance functions of the Riemannian manifolds are not uniformly controlled. This course is based on joint work with Man Chun Lee and Aaron Naber.

    11:20–12:20 pmPaula Burkhardt-GuimTitle: Lower scalar curvature bounds for C^0 metrics: a Ricci flow approach

    Abstract: We describe some recent work that has been done to generalize the notion of lower scalar curvature bounds to C^0 metrics, including a localized Ricci flow approach. In particular, we show the following: that there is a Ricci flow definition which is stable under greater-than-second-order perturbation of the metric, that there exists a reasonable notion of a Ricci flow starting from C^0 initial data which is smooth for positive times, and that the weak lower scalar curvature bounds are preserved under evolution by the Ricci flow from C^0 initial data.

    LUNCH
    1:30–2:30 pmJonathan ZhuTitle: Widths, minimal submanifolds and symplectic embeddings

    Abstract: Width or waist inequalities measure the size of a manifold with respect to measures of families of submanifolds. We’ll discuss related area estimates for minimal submanifolds, as well as applications to quantitative symplectic camels.


    Program Visitors

    • Dan Lee, CMSA/CUNY, 01/24/22 – 05/20/22
    • Stefan Czimek, Brown, 02/27/22 – 03/03/22
    • Lan-Hsuan Huang, University of Connecticut, 03/13 – 03/19, 03/21 – 03/25, 04/17 – 04/23
    • Mu-Tao Wang, Columbia, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Po-Ning Chen, University of California, Riverside, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22, 05/07/22 – 05/09/22
    • Marnie Smith, Imperial College London, 03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Christopher Stith, University of Michigan, 03/27/22 – 04/23/22
    • Martin Taylor, Imperial College London,  03/27/22 – 04/11/22
    • Marcelo Disconzi, Vanderbilt, 05/02/22 – 05/27/22
    • Lydia Bieri, University of Michigan, 05/05/22 – 05/09/22

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/gr-program/

     

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Interdisciplinary Science Seminar: Qianfang: a type-safe and data-driven healthcare system starting from Traditional Chinese Medicine

    Speaker: Yang Yuan – Tsinghua University, IIIS

    9:00 AM-10:00 AM
    May 5, 2022

    Although everyone talks about AI + healthcare, many people were unaware of the fact that there are two possible outcomes of the collaboration, due to the inherent dissimilarity between the two giant subjects. The first possibility is healthcare-leads, and AI is for building new tools to make steps in healthcare easier, better, more effective or more accurate. The other possibility is AI-leads, and therefore the protocols of healthcare can be redesigned or redefined to make sure that the whole infrastructure and pipelines are ideal for running AI algorithms.

    Our system Qianfang belongs to the second category. We have designed a new kind of clinic for the doctors and patients, so that it will be able to collect high quality data for AI algorithms. Interestingly, the clinic is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) instead of modern medicine, because we believe that TCM is more suitable for AI algorithms as the starting point.

    In this talk, I will elaborate on how we convert TCM knowledge into a modern type-safe large-scale system, the mini-language that we have designed for the doctors and patients, the interpretability of AI decisions, and our feedback loop for collecting data.

    Our project is still on-going, not finished yet.


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

  • COLLOQUIUMS: Brandeis-Harvard-MIT-Northeastern Joint Colloquium at Harvard

    Speaker: Matt Kerr – Washington University in St. Louis

    4:30 PM-5:30 PM
    May 5, 2022
    1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

    will speak on:

    Higher normal functions and irrationality proofs


    Apéry’s 1978 proof of the irrationality of ζ(3) relied upon two sequences of rational numbers whose ratio limits to ζ(3) very quickly. Beukers and Peters discovered in 1984 that the generating function of the first sequence was a period of a family of K3 surfaces. The corresponding algebro-geometric interpretations for the second generating function and the limit, however, have been missing until recently.

    Normal functions are certain “well-behaved’’ sections of complex torus bundles, first studied by Poincaré and Lefschetz.  They arise in particular from algebraic cycles (formal sums of subvarieties) on families of complex algebraic manifolds.  A more general notion of cycles, due to Bloch and Beilinson and closely related to algebraic K-theory and motivic cohomology, leads to generalizations called “higher normal functions”.  Both sorts of cycles are found lurking beneath many an arithmetic or functional property of periods.

    In this talk, we offer a brief tour of their unexpected role in Apéry’s proof, and in a more general circle of objects surrounding it, including motivic Gamma functions, Feynman integrals, and Fano/LG-model mirror symmetry.  (No knowledge of algebraic cycles will be assumed.)


    Tea at 4:00 pm in the Austine & Chilton McDonnell Common Room, Science Center 4th Floor

    Talk at 4:30 pm in Science Center 507, 5th Floor

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  • CMSA EVENT: 2022 NSF FRG Workshop
    All day
    May 6, 2022-May 8, 2022

    On May 6-8, 2022, the CMSA will be hosting a second NSF FRG Workshop.

    This project brings together a community of researchers who develop theoretical and computational models to characterize shapes. Their combined interests span Mathematics (Geometry and Topology), Computer Science (Scientific Computing and Complexity Theory), and domain sciences, from Data Sciences to Computational Biology.

    Scientific research benefits from the development of an ever-growing number of sensors that are able to capture details of the world at increasingly fine resolutions. The seemingly unlimited breadth and depth of these sources provide the means to study complex systems in a more comprehensive way. At the same time, however, these sensors are generating a huge amount of data that comes with a high level of complexity and heterogeneity, providing indirect measurements of hidden processes that provide keys to the systems under study. This has led to new challenges and opportunities in data analysis. Our focus is on image data and the shapes they represent. Advances in geometry and topology have led to powerful new tools that can be applied to geometric methods for representing, searching, simulating, analyzing, and comparing shapes. These methods and tools can be applied in a wide range of fields, including computer vision, biological imaging, brain mapping, target recognition, and satellite image analysis.

    This workshop is part of the NSF FRG project: Geometric and Topological Methods for Analyzing Shapes.

    The workshop will be held in room G10 of the CMSA, located at 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. For a list of lodging options convenient to the Center, please visit our recommended lodgings page.

    We invite junior researchers to present a short talk in the workshop. The talks are expected to be 15-20 minutes in length. It is a great opportunity to share your work and get to know others at the workshop. Depending on the number of contributed talks, the organizers will review the submissions and let you know if you have been selected. If you are interested, please send your title and abstract to FRG2022harvard@gmail.com by 5 pm, April 30, 2022.

    Workshop on Discrete Shapes
    May 6–8, 2022

    Organizers:

    • David Glickenstein (University of Arizona)
    • Joel Hass (University of California, Davis)
    • Patrice Koehl (University of California, Davis)
    • Feng Luo (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
    • Maria Trnkova (University of California, Davis)
    • Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard)

     

    Current List of Speakers:

    • Miri Ben-Chen (Technion)
    • Chris Bishop (Stony Brook)
    • Alexander Bobenko (TU Berlin)
    • John Bowers (James Madison)
    • Herbert Edelsbrunner  (IST, Austria)
    • Steven Gortler (Harvard)
    • Craig Gotsman (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
    • David Gu (Stony Brook)
    • Anil Hirani (UIUC)
    • Yanwen Luo (Rutgers)
    • Peter Schroeder (Caltech)
    • Justin Solomon (MIT)
    • Tianqi Wu (Clark University)

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/2022-frg/

  • GAUGE-TOPOLOGY-SYMPLECTIC SEMINAR:

    Speaker: Matthew Hedden – Michigan State University

    3:30 PM-4:30 PM
    May 6, 2022
    1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

    I’ll recall the braid-theoretic characterization of knots in the 3-sphere bounding complex curves in the 4-ball due to Rudolph and Boileau-Orevkov, discuss generalizations to other 3-manifolds and fillings, a conjectural characterization in terms of transverse knot theory, and proof of this conjecture using knot Floer homology in some special cases.  Parts of the talk will touch upon joint work in progress with Tovstopyat-Nelip and Baykur-Etnyre-Hayden-Van Horn-Morris.


     

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  • CMSA EVENT: 2022 NSF FRG Workshop
    All day
    May 7, 2022-May 8, 2022

    On May 6-8, 2022, the CMSA will be hosting a second NSF FRG Workshop.

    This project brings together a community of researchers who develop theoretical and computational models to characterize shapes. Their combined interests span Mathematics (Geometry and Topology), Computer Science (Scientific Computing and Complexity Theory), and domain sciences, from Data Sciences to Computational Biology.

    Scientific research benefits from the development of an ever-growing number of sensors that are able to capture details of the world at increasingly fine resolutions. The seemingly unlimited breadth and depth of these sources provide the means to study complex systems in a more comprehensive way. At the same time, however, these sensors are generating a huge amount of data that comes with a high level of complexity and heterogeneity, providing indirect measurements of hidden processes that provide keys to the systems under study. This has led to new challenges and opportunities in data analysis. Our focus is on image data and the shapes they represent. Advances in geometry and topology have led to powerful new tools that can be applied to geometric methods for representing, searching, simulating, analyzing, and comparing shapes. These methods and tools can be applied in a wide range of fields, including computer vision, biological imaging, brain mapping, target recognition, and satellite image analysis.

    This workshop is part of the NSF FRG project: Geometric and Topological Methods for Analyzing Shapes.

    The workshop will be held in room G10 of the CMSA, located at 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. For a list of lodging options convenient to the Center, please visit our recommended lodgings page.

    We invite junior researchers to present a short talk in the workshop. The talks are expected to be 15-20 minutes in length. It is a great opportunity to share your work and get to know others at the workshop. Depending on the number of contributed talks, the organizers will review the submissions and let you know if you have been selected. If you are interested, please send your title and abstract to FRG2022harvard@gmail.com by 5 pm, April 30, 2022.

    Workshop on Discrete Shapes
    May 6–8, 2022

    Organizers:

    • David Glickenstein (University of Arizona)
    • Joel Hass (University of California, Davis)
    • Patrice Koehl (University of California, Davis)
    • Feng Luo (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
    • Maria Trnkova (University of California, Davis)
    • Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard)

     

    Current List of Speakers:

    • Miri Ben-Chen (Technion)
    • Chris Bishop (Stony Brook)
    • Alexander Bobenko (TU Berlin)
    • John Bowers (James Madison)
    • Herbert Edelsbrunner  (IST, Austria)
    • Steven Gortler (Harvard)
    • Craig Gotsman (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
    • David Gu (Stony Brook)
    • Anil Hirani (UIUC)
    • Yanwen Luo (Rutgers)
    • Peter Schroeder (Caltech)
    • Justin Solomon (MIT)
    • Tianqi Wu (Clark University)

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/2022-frg/

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  • CMSA EVENT: 2022 NSF FRG Workshop
    All day
    May 8, 2022-May 8, 2022

    On May 6-8, 2022, the CMSA will be hosting a second NSF FRG Workshop.

    This project brings together a community of researchers who develop theoretical and computational models to characterize shapes. Their combined interests span Mathematics (Geometry and Topology), Computer Science (Scientific Computing and Complexity Theory), and domain sciences, from Data Sciences to Computational Biology.

    Scientific research benefits from the development of an ever-growing number of sensors that are able to capture details of the world at increasingly fine resolutions. The seemingly unlimited breadth and depth of these sources provide the means to study complex systems in a more comprehensive way. At the same time, however, these sensors are generating a huge amount of data that comes with a high level of complexity and heterogeneity, providing indirect measurements of hidden processes that provide keys to the systems under study. This has led to new challenges and opportunities in data analysis. Our focus is on image data and the shapes they represent. Advances in geometry and topology have led to powerful new tools that can be applied to geometric methods for representing, searching, simulating, analyzing, and comparing shapes. These methods and tools can be applied in a wide range of fields, including computer vision, biological imaging, brain mapping, target recognition, and satellite image analysis.

    This workshop is part of the NSF FRG project: Geometric and Topological Methods for Analyzing Shapes.

    The workshop will be held in room G10 of the CMSA, located at 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. For a list of lodging options convenient to the Center, please visit our recommended lodgings page.

    We invite junior researchers to present a short talk in the workshop. The talks are expected to be 15-20 minutes in length. It is a great opportunity to share your work and get to know others at the workshop. Depending on the number of contributed talks, the organizers will review the submissions and let you know if you have been selected. If you are interested, please send your title and abstract to FRG2022harvard@gmail.com by 5 pm, April 30, 2022.

    Workshop on Discrete Shapes
    May 6–8, 2022

    Organizers:

    • David Glickenstein (University of Arizona)
    • Joel Hass (University of California, Davis)
    • Patrice Koehl (University of California, Davis)
    • Feng Luo (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
    • Maria Trnkova (University of California, Davis)
    • Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard)

     

    Current List of Speakers:

    • Miri Ben-Chen (Technion)
    • Chris Bishop (Stony Brook)
    • Alexander Bobenko (TU Berlin)
    • John Bowers (James Madison)
    • Herbert Edelsbrunner  (IST, Austria)
    • Steven Gortler (Harvard)
    • Craig Gotsman (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
    • David Gu (Stony Brook)
    • Anil Hirani (UIUC)
    • Yanwen Luo (Rutgers)
    • Peter Schroeder (Caltech)
    • Justin Solomon (MIT)
    • Tianqi Wu (Clark University)

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/2022-frg/

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  • CMSA EVENT: Deformation of Geometric Structures in Current Mathematics: A celebration of the works of Masatake Kuranishi
    All day
    May 11, 2022-May 12, 2022

    On May 9–12, 2022, the CMSA will host the conference “Deformations of structures and moduli in geometry and analysis: a Memorial in honor of Professor Masatake Kuranishibe” organized by Tristian Collins (MIT) and Shing-Tung Yau.

     

    The conference will be held in room G10 of the CMSA, located at 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. For a list of lodging options convenient to the Center, please visit our recommended lodgings page.

    Register online

    Speakers:

    Charles Fefferman (Princeton University)

    Teng Fei (Rutgers University)

    Robert Friedman (Columbia University)

    Kenji Fukaya (Simons Center, Stony Brook)

    Akito Futaki (Tsinghua University)

    Victor Guillemin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    Nigel Hitchin (Oxford University)

    Blaine Lawson (Stony Brook University)

    Yu-Shen Lin (Boston University)

    Melissa C.C. Liu (Columbia University)

    Takeo Ohsawa (Nagoya University)

    Duong H. Phong (Columbia University)

    Sebastien Picard (University of British Columbia)

    Paul Seidel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    Gabor Szekelyhidi (University of Notre Dame)

    Claire Voisin (Institut de Mathematiques, Jussieu, France)

    Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard University)

     


    “For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/kuranish-conference/

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics: Cosmology from the vacuum

    Speaker: Brian Swingle – Brandeis

    10:30 AM-12:00 PM
    May 11, 2022

    We are familiar with the idea that quantum gravity in AdS can holographically emerge from complex patterns of entanglement, but can the physics of big bang cosmology emerge from a quantum many-body system? In this talk I will argue that standard tools of holography can be used to describe fully non-perturbative microscopic models of cosmology in which a period of accelerated expansion may result from the positive potential energy of time-dependent scalar fields evolving towards a region with negative potential. In these models, the fundamental cosmological constant is negative, and the universe eventually recollapses in a time-reversal symmetric way. The microscopic description naturally selects a special state for the cosmology. In this framework, physics in the cosmological spacetime is dual to the vacuum physics in a static planar asymptotically AdS Lorentzian wormhole spacetime, in the sense that the background spacetimes and observables are related by analytic continuation. The dual spacetime is weakly curved everywhere, so any cosmological observables can be computed in the dual picture via effective field theory without detailed knowledge of the UV completion or the physics near the big bang. Based on 2203.11220 with S. Antonini, P. Simidzija, and M. Van Raamsdonk.


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

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  • CMSA EVENT: Deformation of Geometric Structures in Current Mathematics: A celebration of the works of Masatake Kuranishi
    All day
    May 12, 2022-May 12, 2022

    On May 9–12, 2022, the CMSA will host the conference “Deformations of structures and moduli in geometry and analysis: a Memorial in honor of Professor Masatake Kuranishibe” organized by Tristian Collins (MIT) and Shing-Tung Yau.

     

    The conference will be held in room G10 of the CMSA, located at 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. For a list of lodging options convenient to the Center, please visit our recommended lodgings page.

    Register online

    Speakers:

    Charles Fefferman (Princeton University)

    Teng Fei (Rutgers University)

    Robert Friedman (Columbia University)

    Kenji Fukaya (Simons Center, Stony Brook)

    Akito Futaki (Tsinghua University)

    Victor Guillemin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    Nigel Hitchin (Oxford University)

    Blaine Lawson (Stony Brook University)

    Yu-Shen Lin (Boston University)

    Melissa C.C. Liu (Columbia University)

    Takeo Ohsawa (Nagoya University)

    Duong H. Phong (Columbia University)

    Sebastien Picard (University of British Columbia)

    Paul Seidel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    Gabor Szekelyhidi (University of Notre Dame)

    Claire Voisin (Institut de Mathematiques, Jussieu, France)

    Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard University)

     


    “For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/kuranish-conference/

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Interdisciplinary Science Seminar: Geometric Models for Sets of Probability Measures

    Speaker: Justin Solomon – MIT

    9:00 AM-10:00 AM
    May 12, 2022

    Many statistical and computational tasks boil down to comparing probability measures expressed as density functions, clouds of data points, or generative models.  In this setting, we often are unable to match individual data points but rather need to deduce relationships between entire weighted and unweighted point sets. In this talk, I will summarize our team’s recent efforts to apply geometric techniques to problems in this space, using tools from optimal transport and spectral geometry. Motivated by applications in dataset comparison, time series analysis, and robust learning, our work reveals how to apply geometric reasoning to data expressed as probability measures without sacrificing computational efficiency.


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics: Oblique Lessons from the W Mass Measurement at CDF II

    Speaker: Cari Cesarotti – Harvard

    10:30 AM-12:00 PM
    May 12, 2022

    The CDF collaboration recently reported a new precise measurement of the W boson mass MW with a central value significantly larger than the SM prediction. We explore the effects of including this new measurement on a fit of the Standard Model (SM) to electroweak precision data. We characterize the tension of this new measurement with the SM and explore potential beyond the SM phenomena within the electroweak sector in terms of the oblique parameters S, T and U. We show that the large MW value can be accommodated in the fit by a large, nonzero value of U, which is difficult to construct in explicit models. Assuming U = 0, the electroweak fit strongly prefers large, positive values of T. Finally, we study how the preferred values of the oblique parameters may be generated in the context of models affecting the electroweak sector at tree- and loop-level. In particular, we demonstrate that the preferred values of T and S can be generated with a real SU(2)L triplet scalar, the humble swino, which can be heavy enough to evade current collider constraints, or by
    (multiple) species of a singlet-doublet fermion pair. We highlight challenges in constructing other simple models, such as a dark photon, for explaining a large MW value, and several directions for further study.


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

  • SEMINARS: MIT-Harvard-MSR Combinatorics Seminar: Size Ramsey numbers

    Speaker: Yuval Wigderson – Stanford

    2:00 PM-3:00 PM
    May 12, 2022

    The size Ramsey number of a graph $H$ is the minimum number of edges in a  graph $G$ with the property that no matter how we two-color the edges of  $G$, we can find a monochromatic copy of $H$. This notion was introduced  in 1978 by Erdős, Faudree, Rousseau, and Schelp, and despite more than  four decades of work, there is a lot that is still unknown; notably, of  the four questions that conclude the Erdős–Faudree–Rousseau–Schelp paper,  only one had been resolved as of last year. In this talk, I’ll discuss  recent work in which we resolve $\approx 2.5$ of the three remaining  questions, using a variety of new combinatorial and probabilistic constructions.

    Based on joint work with David Conlon and Jacob Fox.


     

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  • SEMINARS: CMSA General Relativity Program: A brief overview of recent developments in relativistic fluids

    Speaker: Profssor Marcelo Disconzi –

    All day
    May 16, 2022-May 17, 2022

    In this series of lectures, we will discuss some recent developments in the field of relativistic fluids, considering both the motion of relativistic fluids in a fixed background or coupled to Einstein’s equations. The topics to be discussed will include: the relativistic free-boundary Euler equations with a physical vacuum boundary, a new formulation of the relativistic Euler equations tailored to applications to shock formation, and formulations of relativistic fluids with viscosity.

    1. Set-up, review of standard results, physical motivation.
    2. The relativistic Euler equations: null structures and the problem of shocks.
    3. The free-boundary relativistic Euler equations with a physical vacuum boundary.
    4. Relativistic viscous fluids.

     

    May 16 – 17, 2022
    10:00 am – 12:00 pm, ET, each day

    Location: Hybrid. CMSA main seminar room, G-10. Zoom link will be available.

    All in-person attendees must register online.

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/gr-program/

     

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  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Symposium for Mathematical Sciences at Harvard
    All day
    May 17, 2022

    On Tuesday, May 17, 2022, the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Harvard Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (CMSA) will hold a Symposium for Mathematical Sciences to bring together the mathematical sciences community at Harvard.

    This event will be held in-person at the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) at 150 Western Ave, Allston, MA 02134.

    Registration is required. Please note: the symposium is open to Harvard affiliates only. Register online here to attend in-person.

    There will be a Poster Session for Harvard graduate students and postdocs. Sign up here to participate in the poster session.


    More details to follow.

  • SEMINARS: CMSA General Relativity Program: A brief overview of recent developments in relativistic fluids

    Speaker: Profssor Marcelo Disconzi –

    All day
    May 17, 2022-May 17, 2022

    In this series of lectures, we will discuss some recent developments in the field of relativistic fluids, considering both the motion of relativistic fluids in a fixed background or coupled to Einstein’s equations. The topics to be discussed will include: the relativistic free-boundary Euler equations with a physical vacuum boundary, a new formulation of the relativistic Euler equations tailored to applications to shock formation, and formulations of relativistic fluids with viscosity.

    1. Set-up, review of standard results, physical motivation.
    2. The relativistic Euler equations: null structures and the problem of shocks.
    3. The free-boundary relativistic Euler equations with a physical vacuum boundary.
    4. Relativistic viscous fluids.

     

    May 16 – 17, 2022
    10:00 am – 12:00 pm, ET, each day

    Location: Hybrid. CMSA main seminar room, G-10. Zoom link will be available.

    All in-person attendees must register online.

    For more information, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/gr-program/

     

  • SEMINARS: Math Picture Language Seminar: Long-time Dynamics in Quantum Mechanics and Condensed Matter Physics

    Speaker: Israel Michael Sigal – University of Toronto

    9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    May 17, 2022

    In this talk I discuss some results and open problems concerning the long-time dynamics of n-body quantum systems, non-relativistic QED and the Hubbard model of condensed matter physics.


    https://harvard.zoom.us/j/779283357?pwd=MitXVm1pYUlJVzZqT3lwV2pCT1ZUQT09

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Combinatorics, Physics, and Probability: Hypergraph Matchings Avoiding Forbidden Submatchings

    Speaker: Michelle Delcourt – Ryerson University

    9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    May 17, 2022

    In 1973, Erdős conjectured the existence of high girth (n,3,2)-Steiner systems. Recently, Glock, Kühn, Lo, and Osthus and independently Bohman and Warnke proved the approximate version of Erdős’ conjecture. Just this year, Kwan, Sah, Sawhney, and Simkin proved Erdős’ conjecture. As for Steiner systems with more general parameters, Glock, Kühn, Lo, and Osthus conjectured the existence of high girth (n,q,r)-Steiner systems. We prove the approximate version of their conjecture.  This result follows from our general main results which concern finding perfect or almost perfect matchings in a hypergraph G avoiding a given set of submatchings (which we view as a hypergraph H where V(H)=E(G)). Our first main result is a common generalization of the classical theorems of Pippenger (for finding an almost perfect matching) and Ajtai, Komlós, Pintz, Spencer, and Szemerédi (for finding an independent set in girth five hypergraphs). More generally, we prove this for coloring and even list coloring, and also generalize this further to when H is a hypergraph with small codegrees (for which high girth designs is a specific instance). Indeed, the coloring version of our result even yields an almost partition of K_n^r into approximate high girth (n,q,r)-Steiner systems.  If time permits, I will explain some of the other applications of our main results such as to rainbow matchings.  This is joint work with Luke Postle.


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

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  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Colloquium: Statistical Mechanics of Mutilated Sheets and Shells

    Speaker: David Nelson – Harvard

    9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    May 18, 2022

    Understanding deformations of macroscopic thin plates and shells has a long and rich history, culminating with the Foeppl-von Karman equations in 1904, a precursor of general relativity characterized by a dimensionless coupling constant (the “Foeppl-von Karman number”) that can easily reach  vK = 10^7 in an ordinary sheet of writing paper.  However, thermal fluctuations in thin elastic membranes fundamentally alter the long wavelength physics, as exemplified by experiments that twist and bend individual atomically-thin free-standing graphene sheets (with vK = 10^13!)   A crumpling transition out of the flat phase for thermalized elastic membranes has been predicted when kT is large compared to the microscopic bending stiffness, which could have interesting consequences for Dirac cones of electrons embedded in graphene.   It may be possible to lower the crumpling temperature for graphene to more readily accessible range by inserting a regular lattice of laser-cut perforations, an expectation an confirmed by extensive molecular dynamics simulations.    We then move on to analyze the physics of sheets mutilated with puckers and stitches.   Puckers and stitches lead to Ising-like phase transitions riding on a background of flexural phonons, as well as an anomalous coefficient of thermal expansion.  Finally, we argue that thin membranes with a background curvature lead to thermalized spherical shells that must collapse beyond a critical size at room temperature, even in the absence of an external pressure.


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics: The Generalized Landau Paradigm (a review of generalized symmetries in condensed matter)

    Speaker: John McGreevy – UCSD

    4:00 PM-5:30 PM
    May 18, 2022

    Recent advances in our understanding of symmetry in quantum many-body systems offer the possibility of a generalized Landau paradigm that encompasses all equilibrium phases of matter. This talk will be an elementary review of some of these developments, based on: https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.03045 


    For information on how to join, please see:  https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/seminars-and-colloquium/

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  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Interdisciplinary Science Seminar: The geometry of conditional independence models with hidden variables

    Speaker: Fatemeh Mohammadi – Ghent University

    9:00 AM-10:00 AM
    May 19, 2022

    Conditional independence (CI) is an important tool in statistical modeling, as, for example, it gives a statistical interpretation to graphical models. In general, given a list of dependencies among random variables, it is difficult to say which constraints are implied by them. Moreover, it is important to know what constraints on the random variables are caused by hidden variables. On the other hand, such constraints are corresponding to some determinantal conditions on the tensor of joint probabilities of the observed random variables. Hence, the inference question in statistics relates to understanding the algebraic and geometric properties of determinantal varieties such as their irreducible decompositions or determining their defining equations. I will explain some recent progress that arises by uncovering the link to point configurations in matroid theory and incidence geometry. This connection, in particular, leads to effective computational approaches for (1) giving a decomposition for each CI variety; (2) identifying each component in the decomposition as a matroid variety; (3) determining whether the variety has a real point or equivalently there is a statistical model satisfying a given collection of dependencies.
    The talk is based on joint works with Oliver Clarke, Kevin Grace, and Harshit Motwani.
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  • CMSA EVENT: CMSA Quantum Matter In Mathematics & Physics Seminar: Baryon Minus Lepton Number BF Theory for the Cosmological Lithium Problem

    Speaker: Seth Koren – University of Chicago

    10:30 AM-12:00 PM
    May 25, 2022

    The cosmological lithium problem—that the observed primordial abundance is lower than theoretical expectations by order one—is perhaps the most statistically significant anomaly of SM+ ΛCDM, and has resisted decades of attempts by cosmologists, nuclear physicists, and astronomers alike to root out systematics. We upgrade a discrete subgroup of the anomaly-free global symmetry of the SM to an infrared gauge symmetry, and UV complete this at a scale Λ as the familiar U(1)_{B-N_cL} Abelian Higgs theory. The early universe phase transition forms cosmic strings which are charged under the emergent higher-form symmetry of the baryon minus lepton BF theory. These topological defects catalyze interactions which turn N_g baryons into N_g leptons at strong scale rates in an analogue of the Callan-Rubakov effect, where N_g=3 is the number of SM generations. We write down a model in which baryon minus lepton strings superconduct bosonic global baryon plus lepton number currents and catalyze solely 3p^+  3e^+. We suggest that such cosmic strings have disintegrated O(1) of the lithium nuclei formed during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and estimate the rate, with our benchmark model finding Λ ~ 10^8 GeV gives the right number density of strings.


    For more information on how to join, please see https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/category/colloquia-seminars/seminars/

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