Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

We consider fibered holomorphic dynamics, generated by a skew product over an irrational translation of the torus. The invariant object that organizes the dynamics is an invariant torus. Often one can find an approximately invariant torus K_0, and we construct an invariant torus, starting from K_0. The main technique is a KAM iteration in a-posteriori format. The asymptotic properties of the derivative cocycle A_K play a crucial role: In this first talk we will find suitable geometric and number-theoretic conditions for A_K. Later, we will see how to relax these conditions.

Theoretical models of disordered materials yield precise predictions about the efficiency of communication codes and the typical complexity of certain combinatorial optimization problems. The underlying common structure is that of many discrete variables, whose interaction is represented by a random 'tree like' sparse graph. We review recent progress in proving such predictions and the related algorithmic insights gained from it. This talk is based on joint works with Andrea Montanari, Allan Sly and Nike Sun.

The Grothendieck ring of varieties is defined to be the free abelian group generated by k-varieties, modulo the relation that for any closed subvariety Y of a variety X, we impose the relation that [X] = [Y] + [X \ Y]; the ring structure is defined by [X][Y] = [X x Y]. Last December two longstanding questions about the Grothendieck ring of varieties were answered: 1. If two varieties X and Y are piecewise isomorphic then they are equal in the Grothendieck ring; does the converse hold? 2. Is the class of the affine line a zero divisor? Both questions were answered by Borisov, who constructed an element in the kernel of multiplication by the affine line; coincidentally, the proof also constructed two varieties whose classes in the Grothendieck ring are the same but which are not piecewise isomorphic. In this talk we will investigate these questions further by constructing a topological analog of the Grothendieck ring and analyzing its higher homotopy groups. Using this extra structure we will sketch a proof that Borisov's coincidence is not a coincidence at all: that any element in the annihilator of the Lefschetz motive can be represented by a difference of varieties which are equal in the Grothendieck ring but not piecewise isomorphic.