Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Margulis-like measures on expanding foliations: construction and rigidity

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 311
Speaker
Fan YangWake Forest University

In a recent joint work with J. Buzzi, Y. Shi, and J. Yang, given a diffeomorphism preserving a one-dimensional expanding foliation $\mathcal F$ with homogeneous exponential growth, we construct a family of reference measures on each leaf of the foliation with controlled Jacobian and a Gibbs property.

We then prove that for any measure of maximal $\mathcal F$-entropy, its conditional measures on each leaf must be equivalent to the reference measures.

When the reference measures are equivalent to the leafwise Lebesgue measure, we prove that the log-determinant of $f$ must be cohomologous to a constant.

We will consider several applications, including the strong and center foliations of Anosov diffeomorphisms, factor over Anosov diffeomorphisms, and perturbations of the time-one map of geodesic flows on surfaces with negative curvature. We will also discuss several conjectures on the unique ergodicity and (exponential) equidistribution for the strong unstable foliations of Anosov systems. 

Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/92005780980?pwd=ptlx7KdBAbHI3DTvv6V7fjFn27LDaE.1

Meeting ID: 920 0578 0980
Passcode: 604975

Celestial Mechanics Problems in Cislunar Space

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, October 10, 2025 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 311
Speaker
Luke PetersonUT Austin

Please Note: Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91390791493?pwd=QnpaWHNEOHZTVXlZSXFkYTJ0b0Q0UT09

 

Cislunar space—the region between Earth and the Moon—has reemerged as a critical area for space exploration. From a mathematical perspective, this region is governed by multi-body dynamics that give rise to rich structures, including invariant manifolds, resonant orbits, and homoclinic chaos. This talk will introduce classical and modern tools from celestial mechanics to analyze motion in the Earth–Moon system, with an emphasis on restricted 3- and 4-body problems. We will discuss how perturbative methods (normal forms) and invariant manifold theory (parameterization method) reveal the underlying organization of the phase space. Particular attention will be placed on connecting the perturbative regime, where classical methods apply, with the realistic system, which often lies far outside that regime, using computer-assisted techniques. Our ultimate goal is to establish rigorous results for the real solar system while enhancing the engineering capabilities needed to design and fly missions, highlighting how mathematics contributes both to theory and to the practical challenges of contemporary space exploration.

No prior knowledge is needed; the talk will be self-contained and accessible. Undergraduates are encouraged to attend. 

Central limit theorem for non-stationary random products of SL(2, R) matrices

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, September 19, 2025 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 311
Speaker
Grigorii MonakovUC Irvine

Please Note: Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91390791493?pwd=QnpaWHNEOHZTVXlZSXFkYTJ0b0Q0UT09

Consider a sequence of independent and identically distributed SL(2, R) matrices. There are several classical results by Le Page, Tutubalin, Benoist, Quint, and others that establish various forms of the central limit theorem for the products of such matrices. I will talk about a recent joint work with Anton Gorodetski and Victor Kleptsyn, where we generalize these results to the non-stationary case. Specifically, we prove that the properly shifted and normalized logarithm of the norm of a product of independent (but not necessarily identically distributed) SL(2, R) matrices converges to the standard normal distribution under natural assumptions. A key component of our proof is the regularity of the distribution of the unstable vector associated with these products.

The Prime Wiener-Wintner Theorem

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 311
Speaker
Michael LaceyGeorgia Tech

Please Note: Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91390791493?pwd=QnpaWHNEOHZTVXlZSXFkYTJ0b0Q0UT09

The classical Wiener-Wintner Theorem says that for all measure preserving systems, and bounded functions f, there is a set of full measure so that the averages below converge for all continuous functions  g from the circle (R/Z)  to the complex numbers.

N^{-1} \sum_{n=1}^N  g( \pi n) f(T^n). 

We extend this result to averages over the prime integers. The proof uses structure of measure preserving systems, higher order Fourier analysis, and the Heath-Brown approximate to the von Mangoldt function.  A key result is a surprisingly small  Gowers norm estimate for the Heath-Brown approximate with fixed height.  

 

Joint work with  Y. Chen, A. Fragkos,  J. Fornal, B. Krause, and H. Mousavi.  

An introduction to Margulis' inequalities

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, September 5, 2025 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 311
Speaker
Asaf KatzGeorgia Tech

Margulis inequalities and Margulis functions (a.k.a Foster-Lyapunov stability) have played a major role in modern dynamics, in particular in the fields of homogeneous dynamics and Teichmuller dynamics.
Moreover recent exciting developments in the field of random walks over manifolds give rise to related notions and questions in a much larger geometrical content, largely motivated by recent work of Brown-Eskin-Filip-Rodriguez Hertz.

I will explain what are Margulis functions and Margulis inequalities and describe the main lemma due to Eskin-Margulis (“uniform expansion”) that allows one to prove such an inequality. I will also try to sketch some interesting applications.

No prior knowledge is needed, the talk will be self-contained and accessible.

Zoom Link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/94689623118?pwd=Ie8Ir2bExulIP4joQbcmZiwsxpIq75.1 Meeting ID: 946 8962 3118 Passcode: 910355

Finite Periodic Data Rigidity For Two-Dimensional Area-Preserving Anosov Diffeomorphisms (note TIME/DATE)

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Thursday, April 24, 2025 - 11:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Thomas O'hareOSU

Let $f,g$ be $C^2$ area-preserving Anosov diffeomorphisms on $\mathbb{T}^2$ which are topologically conjugated by a homeomorphism $h$. It was proved by de la Llave in 1992 that the conjugacy $h$ is automatically $C^{1+}$ if and only if the Jacobian periodic data of $f$ and $g$ are matched by $h$ for all periodic orbits. We prove that if the Jacobian periodic data of $f$ and $g$ are matched by $h$ for all points of some large period $N\in\mathbb{N}$, then $f$ and $g$ are ``approximately smoothly conjugate." That is, there exists a a $C^{1+\alpha}$ diffeomorphism $\overline{h}_N$ that is exponentially close to $h$ in the $C^0$ norm, and such that $f$ and $f_N:=\overline{h}_N^{-1}\circ g\circ \overline{h}_N$ is exponentially close to $f$ in the $C^1$ norm.

 

Zoom link - 

https://gatech.zoom.us/j/5506889191?pwd=jIjsRmRrKjUWYANogxZ2Jp1SYdaejU.1

 

Meeting ID: 550 688 9191

Passcode: 604975

Fractional Brownian motions, Kerov's CLT, and semiclassical dynamics of Gaussian wavepackets

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, April 11, 2025 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 314
Speaker
Alexander MollReed College

Please Note: Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91390791493?pwd=QnpaWHNEOHZTVXlZSXFkYTJ0b0Q0UT09

Nonlinear functionals of Gaussian fields are ubiquitous in probability theory and PDEs.  In work in progress with Robert Chang (Rhodes College), we introduce a family of random curves in the plane which encode the random values of certain nonlinear functionals of fractional Brownian motions on a circle with positive Hurst index s -1/2.  For a special Cameron-Martin shift, the low variance limit of the fractional Brownian motion induces a LLN and CLT for the associated random curves that is nearly identical to the global behavior of Plancherel measures on large Young diagrams.  The limit shape is independent of s and is that of Vershik-Kerov-Logan-Shepp.  The global Gaussian fluctuations depend on s and, if we continue s to negative values, coincides with the process in Kerov's CLT for s = - 1/2.  Although it might be possible to give a direct explanation for this coincidence by regularization, in this talk we give an indirect dynamical explanation by combining (i) results of Eliashberg and Dubrovin for a specific Hamiltonian QFT and (ii) the fact that in Hamiltonian systems, at short time scales, the quantum evolution of pure Gaussian wavepacket initial data agrees statistically with the classical evolution of mixed Gaussian random initial data.

On the original Ulam's problem and its quantization

Series
CDSNS Colloquium
Time
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 314
Speaker
Jing ZhouGreat Bay University (Dongguan)

Please Note: Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91390791493?pwd=QnpaWHNEOHZTVXlZSXFkYTJ0b0Q0UT09

In 1961 Ulam proposed a mathematical simplification extracting the essential accelerating mechanism proposed by Fermi, as to explain the cause of high-energy particles in cosmic rays. In this talk, we shall describe the typical behavior of the very model introduced by Ulam in both the classical original form as well as its quantization. In the classical model, we show that typical orbits are recurrent under resonance assumptions. Meanwhile in the quantum model, the acceleration caused by resonance gets much amplified and we point out a direct relationship between the acceleration behavior of the system and the shape of its quasi-energy spectrum. This is a joint work in progress with Changguang Dong and Disheng Xu.

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