Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences - PIMS

High dimensional convex bodies: phenomena, intuitions and results

Phenomena in large dimensions appear in a number of fields of mathematics and related fields of science, dealing with functions of infinitely growing number of variables and with objects that are determined by infinitely growing number of paramete   more››

University of British Columbia

Potential energy minimization

Energy minimization can be thought of as a broad generalization of sphere packing. Yudin discovered that harmonic analysis can be applied to prove lower bounds for potential energy. This talk will explain these bounds and show how to use them to p   more››

University of Calgary

The action on a tree associated to an ideal point of the character variety

Let G be the fundamental group of a compact, orientable, irreducible 3-manifold M. I will discuss the correspondence between ideal points of a curve in the character variety X(G) and actions of G on a tree (following Culler-Shalen). This is a part   more››

University of British Columbia

Optimality of the Leech lattice

This talk will outline the proof that the Leech lattice is the unique densest lattice in R24. The proof combines linear programming bounds with special algebraic and geometric arguments. This is joint work with Abhinav Kumar.   more››

University of Calgary

Homotopical group theory I: p-compact groups

University of British Columbia

Sphere packing and harmonic analysis

Harmonic analysis is one of the fundamental tools in sphere packing, in the form of "linear programming bounds". This talk will give a survey of linear programming bounds and their applications, as well as a brief introduction to semidef   more››

University of Calgary

Hydrodynamic limits of spatially structured coalescents

We are motivated by a question arising in population genetics, and try to describe the effect of migratory fluxes and spatial structure on the genealogy of a population. This leads to the study of systems particles performing simple random walk on   more››

University of British Columbia

L^2 decay estimates for oscillatory integral operators in several variables with homogeneous polynomial phases

Oscillatory integral operators mapping $L^2(mathbb R^{n_1})$ to $L^2(mathbb R^{n_2})$ play an important role in many problems in harmonic analysis and partial differential equations. We will briefly discuss the applicability of these operators in   more››

University of British Columbia

Puzzles, Tableaux, and Mosaics

The Littlewood-Richardson numbers show up in a number of different areas of mathematics. They are structure constants of the ring of symmetric functions, which connects them to representation theory and cohomology of Grassmannians. There are now s   more››

University of British Columbia

The Rotor-router model and Diaconis-Fulton Addition

Given two sets A and B in the lattice, the Diaconis-Fulton sum is a random set obtained by putting one particle in every point of the symmetric difference, and two particles in every point of the intersection, of A and B. Each 'extra particle' per   more››

University of British Columbia

Computation of plurigenera of a canonical threefold

For a canonical threefold, there are few known results about plurigenera. We know that a sufficient multiple of canonical divisor generates a nontrivial linear system and that there is a universal multiple. In this talk, we are going to introduce   more››

University of British Columbia

For making genetic networks operate robustly, unintelligent non-design suffices

Five years ago we (George von Dassow, Ed Munro, Eli Meir, and Garrett Odell) made mathematical/computer models of two ancient and famous genetic networks that act early in diverse embryos to establish spatial gene expression patterns prefiguring t   more››

University of British Columbia

Micro Fluid Mechanics: Some Interface Dynamics Problems

Interface dynamics is of considerable importance in multiphase microfluidic devices such as microheat pipes, and in dewetting dynamics. We consider a liquid meniscus inside a wedge of included angle [pic] that wets the solid walls with a contact a   more››

University of British Columbia

A Geometric Proof of the Blakers-Massey Theorem

In this talk we give a geometric proof of the Blakers-Massey Theorem using Mather's Cube Theorems. As an application, we use this result to compute the James Splitting of Omega S^n.   more››

University of British Columbia

Multi-level Micro-Finite Element Analysis for Human Bone Structures

Using microarchitectural bone imaging, it is possible to assess both the apparent density and the trabecular microstructure of intact bones in a single measurement. In combination with microstructural finite element (microFE) analysis this could p   more››

University of British Columbia

Generic subsets of Thompson's group

Richard Thompson constructed an example of a group which is called 'F'that has many unusual properties. One way to consider its elements is in terms of pairs of rooted binary trees. This viewpoint lends itself nicely to counting subsets of el   more››

University of British Columbia

Feasible Proofs and Computations

The concepts of proof and computation are central to virtually any intellectual human activity. However, before the remarkable advances of the 20th century mathematical logic, the border between them had never been sharp even in the context of pur   more››

Simon Fraser University

Feature Selection through Lasso: model selection consistency and the BLasso algorithm

Information technology advances are making data collection possible in most if not all fields of science and engineering and beyond. Statistics as a scientific discipline is challenged and enriched by the new opportunities resulted from these high   more››

University of Washington

Random 0/1 polytopes

The abstract for Dr. Giannopoulos's talk can be downloaded at http://pims.math.ca/science/2006/06giannopoulos/Giannopoulos_02_abstract.pdf.   more››

University of Calgary

Distribution of volume on isotropic convex bodies

The abstract for Dr. Giannopoulos's talk can be downloaded at http://pims.math.ca/science/2006/06giannopoulos/Giannopoulos_01_abstract.pdf.   more››

University of Calgary