Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Spherical averages, in the continuous and discrete setting, are a canonical example of averages over lower dimensional varieties. We demonstrate here a new approach to proving the sparse bounds for these opertators. This approach is a modification of an old technique of Bourgain.

Unknotting number is one of the simplest, yet mysterious, knot invariants. For example, it is not known whether it is additive under connected sum or not. In this talk, we will construct lower bounds for the unknotting number using two homological knot invariants: knot Floer homology, and (variants of) Khovanov homology. Unlike most lower bounds for the unknotting number, these invariants are not lower bound for the slice genus and they only vanish for the unknot. Parallely, we will discuss connections between knot Floer homology and (variants of) Khovanov homology. One main conjecture relating knot Floer homology and Khovanov homology is that there is a spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to knot Floer homology. If time permits, we will sketch an algebraically defined knot invariant, for which there is a spectral sequence from Khovanov homology converging to it. The construction is inspired by counting holomorphic discs, so we expect it to recover the knot Floer homology. This talk is based on joint works with Eaman Eftekhary and Nathan Dowlin.

The boundary value and mixed value problems for linear and nonlinear degenerate abstract elliptic and parabolic equations are studied. Linear problems involve some parameters. The uniform L_{p}-separability properties of linear problems and the optimal regularity results for nonlinear problems are obtained. The equations include linear operators defined in Banach spaces, in which by choosing the spaces and operators we can obtain numerous classes of problems for singular degenerate differential equations which occur in a wide variety of physical systems. In this talk, the classes of boundary value problems (BVPs) and mixed value problems (MVPs) for regular and singular degenerate differential operator equations (DOEs) are considered. The main objective of the present talk is to discuss the maximal regularity properties of the BVP for the degenerate abstract elliptic and parabolic equation We prove that for f∈L_{p} the elliptic problem has a unique solution u∈ W_{p,α}² satisfying the uniform coercive estimate ∑_{k=1}ⁿ∑_{i=0}²|λ|^{1-(i/2)}‖((∂^{[i]}u)/(∂x_{k}^{i}))‖_{L_{p}(G;E)}+‖Au‖_{L_{p}(G;E)}≤C‖f‖_{L_{p}(G;E)} where L_{p}=L_{p}(G;E) denote E-valued Lebesque spaces for p∈(1,∞) and W_{p,α}² is an E-valued Sobolev-Lions type weighted space that to be defined later. We also prove that the differential operator generated by this elliptic problem is R-positive and also is a generator of an analytic semigroup in L_{p}. Then we show the L_{p}-well-posedness with p=(p, p₁) and uniform Strichartz type estimate for solution of MVP for the corresponding degenerate parabolic problem. This fact is used to obtain the existence and uniqueness of maximal regular solution of the MVP for the nonlinear parabolic equation.

Take a branched covering map of the sphere over itself so that the forward orbit of each critical point is finite. Such maps are called Thurston maps. Examples include polynomials with well-chosen coefficients acting on the complex plane, as well as twists of these by mapping classes. Two basic problems are classifying Thurston maps up to equivalence and finding the equivalence class of a Thurston map that has been twisted. We will discuss ongoing joint work with Belk, Margalit, and Winarski that provides a new, combinatorial approach to the twisted polynomial problem. We will also propose several new research directions regarding Thurston maps. This is an oral comprehensive exam. All are welcome to attend.