Download March 8th, 2016

 INFO SHEET
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY AT KINGSTON
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
http://www.mast.queensu.ca
March 8, 2016
CALENDAR
Wednesday, March 9
Thursday, March 10
Curves Seminar
Time: 3:00 pm
Place: Jeffery 319
Seminar in Free Probability
and Random Matrices
Thursday, March 10
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Place: Jeffery 222
Math Club
Friday, March 11
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Place: Jeffery 118
Number Theory Seminar
Friday, March 11
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Place: Jeffery 422
Department Colloquium
Friday, March 18
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Place: Jeffery 234
Conference Room
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Place: Jeffery 521
Speaker: Mike Roth
Title: Chern Classes for coherent sheaves
Abstract Attached
Speaker: Josué Daniel Vázquez Becerra
Title: Second order freeness, Hadamard matrices,
and signed permutation matrices
Abstract Attached
Speaker: Alex Molnar
Title: Strange Dice
Abstract Attached
Speaker: Kannappan Sampath, Queen’s University
Title: Finiteness of isomorphism classes of mod p
Galois representations
Abstract Attached
Speaker: Professor Tryphon Georgiou, University of
Minnesota
Title: Entropic and Displacement interpolation of
probability distributions: geometric and
computational aspects
Abstract Attached
Ph.D. Student: Saber Jafarpour
Title: On the role of regularity in mathematical
control theory
Supervisor: Andrew Lewis
Items for the Info Sheet should reach Anne ([email protected]) by noon on Monday. The Info
Sheet is published every Tuesday.
Wednesday, March 9, 3:00 p.m. Jeffery 319
Speaker: Mike Roth
Title: Chern Classes for coherent sheaves
Curves Seminar
Abstract: We will extend the construction of Chern classes from vector bundles to coherent sheaves on
a smooth variety, and compute examples.
Thursday, March 10, 10:00 a.m. Jeffery 222
Seminar in Free Probability and Random Matrices
Speaker: Josué Daniel Vázquez Becerra
Title: Second order freeness, Hadamard matrices, and signed permutation matrices
Abstract: In this talk, we first show how to calculate the joint distribution of the entries of a uniformly
distributed signed permutation matrix. Then, we explore the idea of using Hadamard matrices and
uniformly distributed signed permutation matrices to deliver asymptotic freeness of second order.
Seminar website: http://www.mast.queensu.ca/~mingo/seminar/
Thursday, March 10, 5:30 p.m. Jeffery 118
Speaker: Alex Molnar
Title: Strange Dice
Math Club
Abstract: How much can you change a pair of dice, without really changing them? More precisely, in
what ways can you change the numbers on the faces of the dice and still have the same likelihood of
each roll with a standard pair of dice. (E.g., there is a 1/36 chance of rolling a 12.)
Things will be thrown, and then we will use polynomials to answer this question.
Friday, March 11, 11:00 a.m. Jeffery 422
Speaker: Kannappan Sampath
Title: Finiteness of isomorphism classes of mod p Galois representations
Number Theory Seminar
Abstract: A consequence of modularity theorem for odd two-dimensional irreducible representations of
the absolute Galois group of rationals (a conjecture due to Serre, now a theorem due to KhareWintenberger) is that there are only finitely many isomorphism classes of such representations with
bounded conductor outside p. The truth of this for higher dimensional representations over number
fields of finite degree (>1), with additional ramification hypotheses, has been extensively studied by
several authors. We make some observations following some papers of Fontaine-Mazur, Serre and Tate.
Friday, March 11, 2:30 p.m. Jeffery 234
Department Colloquium
Speaker: Professor Tryphon Georgiou
Title: Entropic and Displacement interpolation of probability distributions: geometric and
computational aspects
Abstract: We will discuss two problems with a long history and a timely presence. Optimal mass
transport (OMT) was posed as a problem in 1781 by Gaspar Monge. It provides a natural geometry for
interpolating distributions (displacement interpolation) and for modeling flows. As such it has been the
cornerstone of many recent developments in physics, probability theory, and image processing. The
Schrödinger bridge problem (SBP) was posed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1931, in an attempt to provide a
classical interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is rooted in statistical mechanics and large deviations
theory, and provides an alternative model for flows of the distribution of particles (entropic interpolation
-Schrödinger bridge). We will explain the relation between the two problems, their practical relevance in
the control of particles, ensembles, thermal noise, time-series analysis, images interpolation, etc., and we
will present a computational approach based on the Hilbert metric. The talk is based on joint work with
Yongxin Chen (Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota) and Michele Pavon (Department of
Mathematics, University of Padova).