Activities This Week

Given a group G, an Eilenberg-MacLane space X = K(G,1) provides a topological model of both G and Aut(G). The latter is understood via Whitehead’s theorem as the group of pointed homotopy equivalences of X up to homotopy. When X has rich structure, such as the case of a closed surface group, this point of view leads to a rich understanding of Aut(G). Motivated by dynamics and mathematical physics, Biswas, Nag, and Sullivan initiated the study of the universal hyperbolic solenoid, the inverse limit of all finite covers of a closed surface of genus at least two. Following their work, Odden proved that the mapping class group of the universal hyperbolic solenoid is isomorphic to the abstract commensurator of a closed surface group. In this talk I will present a general topological analog of Odden’s theorem, realising Comm(G) as a group of homotopy equivalences of a space for any group of type F. I will then use this realisation to classify the locally finite subgroups of the abstract commensurator of a finite-rank free group. This is joint work with Daniel Studenmund.

This talk will be a survey of the mathematics of the gap labelling problem for quasicrystals, but will assume no knowledge of physics.

In one standard approximation, the possible energy levels of an electron moving in a crystal form a collection of bands. These energy levels constitute the spectrum of a suitable Schr$\"{o}$dinger operator, and the gaps between the bands are gaps in the spectrum.

Quasicrystals are not periodic, but exhibit long range order. The structure of the spectrum of the Schr$\"{o}$dinger operator for quasicrystals is addressed by the ``Gap Labelling Conjecture’’. This conjecture was made in 1989, and some results are known.

An infinite quasicrystal has an associated action of ${\mathbb{Z}}^d$ on the Cantor set $X$, and thus a transformation group C*-algebra $A$. The physics is supposed to give an invariant measure on $X$, and hence a tracial state on $A$. The gaps in the spectrum of Schr"{o}dinger operator correspond to the values of this tracial state on projections in $A$, and the Gap Labelling Theorem states that these values all already occur as values of the measure on compact open subsets of $X$.

In this talk, I will give a more careful description of the situation, including sketches of how the objects above are constructed and how they are related to each other. Then I will say something about the results that have been proved, and outline what goes into their proofs.

Asymptotic representation theory is an important and quickly developing area of mathematics rich in connections to other fields, such as, e.g., probability, algebraic combinatorics, and mathematical physics. I will survey the basic ideas and results of asymptotic representation theory, mostly of symmetric groups, and then focus on some recent contributions.

נניח שלמערכת המשוואות הלינאריות $Ax=b$ יש יותר מפיתרון אחד. האם קיים למערכת פיתרון אופטימלי, כלומר פיתרון בעל נורמה מינימלית? איך מוצאים את הנורמה האופטימלית ואת הפיתרון עם נורמה זו?

על השאלות האלו אנחנו נענה באמצעות כלים של דואליות, ונשתמש באחד המשפטים החשובים ביותר באנליזה פונקציונלית. בהמשך נציג רעיון פיסיקלי שיכול להסביר את המוטיבציה מאחורי השימוש בדואליות.