Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Some problems in the theory of open dynamical systemsand deterministic walks in random environments

Series
Dissertation Defense
Time
Monday, November 3, 2008 - 13:30 for 2 hours
Location
Skiles 114
Speaker
Alex YurchenkoSchool of Mathematics, Georgia Tech
The first part of this work deals with open dynamical systems. A natural question of how the survival probability depends upon a position of a hole was seemingly never addresses in the theory of open dynamical systems. We found that this dependency could be very essential. The main results are related to the holes with equal sizes (measure) in the phase space of strongly chaotic maps. Take in each hole a periodic point of minimal period. Then the faster escape occurs through the hole where this minimal period assumes its maximal value. The results are valid for all finite times (starting with the minimal period), which is unusual in dynamical systems theory where typically statements are asymptotic when time tends to infinity. It seems obvious that the bigger the hole is the bigger is the escape through that hole. Our results demonstrate that generally it is not true, and that specific features of the dynamics may play a role comparable to the size of the hole. In the second part we consider some classes of cellular automata called Deterministic Walks in Random Environments on \mathbb Z^1. At first we deal with the system with constant rigidity and Markovian distribution of scatterers on \mathbb Z^1. It is shown that these systems have essentially the same properties as DWRE on \mathbb Z^1 with constant rigidity and independently distributed scatterers. Lastly, we consider a system with non-constant rigidity (so called process of aging) and independent distribution of scatterers. Asymptotic laws for the dynamics of perturbations propagating in such environments with aging are obtained.

Polynomial configurations in difference sets

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, October 31, 2008 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 255
Speaker
Neil LyallUniversity of Georgia
We will discuss some extensions/generalizations of the striking and elegant fact (proved independently by Furstenberg and Sarkozy) that any subset of the integers of positive upper density necessarily contains two distinct elements whose difference is a perfect square. This is joint work with Akos Magyar.

On Sections of genus two Lefschetz fibrations

Series
Geometry Topology Working Seminar
Time
Friday, October 31, 2008 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
Sinem Celik OnaranSchool of Mathematics, Georgia Tech
It is still not known whether every genus g Lefschetz fibration over the 2-sphere admits a section or not. In this talk, we will give a brief background information on Lefschetz fibrations and talk about sections of genus two Lefschetz fibration. We will observe that any holomorphic genus two Lefschetz fibration without seperating singular fibers admits a section. This talk is accessible to anyone interested in topology and geometry.

Parametrix and local limit theorem for some degenerate diffusions

Series
Stochastics Seminar
Time
Friday, October 31, 2008 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 255
Speaker
Valentin KonakovCEMI RAS, Moscow and UNCC, Charlotte

Consider a class of multidimensional degenerate diffusion processes of the following form
X_t = x+\int_0^t (X_s) ds+\int_0^t \sigma(X_s) dW_s,
Y_t = y+\int_0^t F(X_s)ds,
where b,\sigma, F are assumed to be smooth and b,\sigma bounded. Suppose now that \sigma\sigma^* is uniformly elliptic and that \nabla F does not degenerate. These assumptions guarantee that only one Poisson bracket is needed to span the whole space. We obtain a parametrix representation of Mc Kean-Singer type for the density of (X_t,Y_t) from which we derive some explicit Gaussian controls that characterize the additional singularity induced by the degeneracy. This particular representation then allows to give a local limit theorem with the usual convergence rate for an associated Markov chain approximation. The "weak" degeneracy allows to use the local limit Theorem in Gaussian regime but also induces some difficulty to define the suitable approximating process. In particular two time scales appear. Another difficulty w.r.t. the standard literature on the topic, see e.g. Konakov and Mammen (2000), is the unboundedness of F.

Random Matrices and Subsequences

Series
Stochastics Seminar
Time
Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
Hua Xu School of Mathematics, Georgia Tech
In this presentation, interactions between spectra of classical Gaussian ensembles and subsequence problems are studied with the help of the powerful machinery of Young tableaux. For the random word problem, from an ordered finite alphabet, the shape of the associated Young tableaux is shown to converge to the spectrum of the (generalized) traceless GUE. Various properties of the (generalized) traceless GUE are established, such as a law of large number for the extreme eigenvalues and the convergence of the spectral measure towards the semicircle law. The limiting shape of the whole tableau is also obtained as a Brownian functional. The Poissonized word problem is finally talked, and, with it, the convergence of the whole Poissonized tableaux is derived.

Cubic graphs and universality

Series
Graph Theory Seminar
Time
Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 11:05 for 1.5 hours (actually 80 minutes)
Location
Skiles 255
Speaker
Stavros GaroufalidisSchool of Mathematics, Georgia Tech

Please Note: PLEASE NOTE UNUSUAL TIME

We will consider the problem of counting the number T(n,g) of cubic graphs with n edges on a surface of of genus g, and review was is known in the combinatorial community in the past 30 years, what was conjectured in physics 20 years ago, and what was proven last month in joint work with Thang Le and Marcos Marino, using the Riemann-Hilbert analysis of the Painleve equation. No knowledge of physics or analysis is required.

Semiparametric Estimation of ARCH(∞) Model

Series
Mathematical Finance/Financial Engineering Seminar
Time
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
Lily WangDepartment of Statistics, University of Georgia
We analyze a class of semiparametric ARCH models that nests the simple GARCH(1,1) model but has flexible news impact function. A simple estimation method is proposed based on profiled polynomial spline smoothing. Under regular conditions, the proposed estimator of the dynamic coeffcient is shown to be root-n consistent and asymptotically normal. A fast and efficient algorithm based on fast fourier transform (FFT) has been developed to analyze volatility functions with infinitely many lagged variables within seconds. We compare the performance of our method with the commonly used GARCH(1, 1) model, the GJR model and the method in Linton and Mammen (2005) through simulated data and various interesting time series. For the S&P 500 index returns, we find further statistical evidence of the nonlinear and asymmetric news impact functions.

Random Words, Increasing Subsequences and Random Matrices

Series
Research Horizons Seminar
Time
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 12:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 255
Speaker
Christian HoudréSchool of Mathematics, Georgia Tech
This talk is not an appetizer to pizza, but rather an appetizer to the main course: Hua Xu's and Trevis Litherland's thesis defenses which will respectively take place on Thursday the 30th of October and November the 6th, in Skiles 269, at 3pm. I will present the history and origins of the problems they have been tackling ("Ulam's problems"). Various interactions with other fields such as Analysis, Algebra (Young Tableaux) or Bioinformatics (Sequence Comparison) will be touched upon. Then, some elementary but rather useful probabilistic techniques will also be introduced and shown how to be applied.

Bilinear Forms on the Dirichlet Space

Series
Analysis Seminar
Time
Monday, October 27, 2008 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 255
Speaker
Brett WickUniversity of South Carolina
The Dirichlet space is the set of analytic functions on the disc that have a square integrable derivative. In this talk we will discuss necessary and sufficient conditions in order to have a bilinear form on the Dirichlet space be bounded. This condition will be expressed in terms of a Carleson measure condition for the Dirichlet space. One can view this result as the Dirichlet space analogue of Nehari's Theorem for the classical Hardy space on the disc. This talk is based on joint work with N. Arcozzi, R. Rochberg, and E. Sawyer

The four-vertex-property and topology of surfaces with constant curvature

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, October 27, 2008 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
Mohammad GhomiSchool of Mathematics, Georgia Tech
We prove that every metric of constant curvature on a compact 2-manifold M with boundary bdM induces (at least) four vertices, i.e., local extrema of geodesic curvature, on bdM, if, and only if, M is simply connected. Indeed, when M is not simply connected, we construct hyperbolic, parabolic, and elliptic metrics of constant curvature on M which induce only two vertices on bdM. Furthermore, we characterize the sphere as the only closed orientable Riemannian 2-manifold M which has the four-vertex-property, i.e., the boundary of every compact surface immersed in M has 4 vertices.

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