Past Events

A major challenge in mathematical analysis of infectious diseases is that the epidemic process is usually only partially observed. Although we might be able to identify when an individual became symptomatic, rarely can we observe when infection began...

We will attempt, in a colloquium-like fashion, to introduce the basic concepts of quantum mechanics and functional analysis necessary to derive the connection between twisted equivariant K-theory of a d-1 dimensional torus and quasi-adiabatic...

The classical Erdos-Ko-Rado theorem in extremal combinatorics states the following: Given a family F of k-subsets of an n-set that is "pairwise intersecting" (meaning A \cap B \neq \emptyset for all A,B in F) it follows that F can be no larger than...

In number theory and diophantine geometry, the theory of "heights" is essential in studying finiteness questions. Roughly, they capture the "arithmetic complexity" of the object of study. We give a formula relating various notions of heights of...

A random nxm matrix gives a random linear transformation from \Z^m to \Z^n (between vectors with integral coordinates). Asking for the probability that such a map is injective is a question of the non-vanishing of determinants. In this talk, we...

Chase-escape is a competitive growth process in which red particles spread to adjacent uncoloured sites while blue particles overtake and kill adjacent red particles. We can think of this model as prey escaping from pursuing predators. If the red...

I will discuss how to see symmetries of an alternating knot from any reduced alternating diagram. As a consequence we will see that the quotient of an alternating periodic knot is alternating, and that any alternating knot which is p and q periodic...

Reptiles have the ability to replace their teeth continuously throughout life. Replacement occurs in highly patterned waves passing from the back to the front of the mouth, in alternating tooth positions. Although this pattern has been recognized for...

Bertrand's postulate states that there is always a prime in the interval [x,2x] for any x≥1. Applying the prime number theorem, one may further show that there is approximately ∫2xxdtlogt primes in [x,2x] for sufficiently large x. There is a more...

A key question in population biology is understanding the conditions under which the species of an ecosystem persist or go extinct. Theoretical and empirical studies have shown that persistence can be facilitated or negated by both biotic...