Author
Topology and Group Theory Seminar: February 26, 2025
Feb. 26, 2025—Speaker: Matt Zaremsky (SUNY Albany) Title: Aut(Fn) satisfies the Boone-Higman conjecture Abstract: The Boone-Higman conjecture (1973) predicts that a finitely generated group has solvable word problem if and only if it embeds in a finitely presented simple group. The “if” direction is true and easy, but the “only if” direction has been open for over 50...
Topology and Group Theory Seminar: February 19, 2025
Feb. 19, 2025—Speaker: Denis Osin (Vanderbilt) Title: Simple p-adic Lie groups with abelian Lie algebras Abstract: For each prime p and each positive integer d, we construct the first examples of second countable, topologically simple, p-adic Lie groups of dimension d with abelian Lie algebras. This answers a question asked by P.-E. Caprace and N. Monod. In my talk, I will survey the necessary background material and...
Topology and Group Theory Seminar: February 12, 2025
Feb. 12, 2025—Speaker: Jesse Peterson (Vanderbilt) Title: Property HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa… HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa… HaHaHaHaHaHa… HaHaHa… Abstract: A seminal result of Haagerup from 1979 is that the word length function with respect to a free generating set on a free group is conditionally negative definite. Groups possessing a proper conditionally negative definite function have since been said to have the Haagerup property and...
Topology and Group Theory Seminar: February 5, 2025
Feb. 5, 2025—Speaker: Itamar Vigdorovich (UCSD) Title: Effective mixed identity freeness for higher rank lattices and applications to C*-algebras Abstract: An identity on a group G is a word w that holds throughout the entire group. If w is allowed to include coefficients from G (not just variables), it is called a mixed identity. We show that a lattice Γ in PSL(n, R) has no non-trivial mixed identities in a quantitative and uniform...
Katherine Booth awarded NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship
Feb. 4, 2025—Katherine Booth was awarded a Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Science Foundation in February 2025. This is a highly prestigious award, given to about 40 mathematicians around the country each year. Katherine is a non-degree-seeking graduate student at Vanderbilt, and will receive her Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in Spring 2025. Katherine’s research...
Topology and Group Theory Seminar: January 29, 2025
Jan. 29, 2025—Speaker: Abdul Zalloum (University of Toronto) Title: From coarse to fine: a generalized Sageev’s construction in hyperbolic spaces Abstract: I will discuss a construction that starts with a set S, a collection of bi-partitions on S called walls, and produces a spectrum of metric spaces, including Helly graphs, hyperbolic spaces, and injective metric spaces. The resulting space depends on the combinatorics of the walls; for example, if pairs...
Topology and Group Theory Seminar: January 22, 2025
Jan. 22, 2025—Speaker: Mike Mihalik (Vanderbilt) Title: Stallings’ group is simply connected at infinity Abstract: For n ≥ 2, let Bn denote the kernel of the homomorphism from the direct product of n-copies of the free group on two generators to the group of integers which sends all generators to the generator 1. The groups Bn are called the Bieri-Stallings groups and Bn is of type Fn-1 but not Fn. Classical...
Dr. Lorenzo Gavassino featured in Discover Magazine
Jan. 16, 2025—The research of Dr. Lorenzo Gavassino, postdoctoral researcher in the department, and member of the VandyGRAF initiative has recently been featured in Discover Magazine: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/mathematician-reveals-strange-new-enigmas-for-time-travelers According to the article, Lorenzo’s article shows that “The laws of physics suggest [a time traveler’s] memory would be wiped clean as soon as they returned to the present.” Dr....
Prof. Marcelo Disconzi Speaks at Dyer Observatory
Dec. 2, 2024—Prof. Marcelo Disconzi gave a lecture at the Dyer Observatory on Nov 21, 2024. The title of his talk was: When Mathematics & Physics Collide: Black-Hole Mergers, Neutron Stars, and the Theory of Relativity. From Marcelo’s abstract: “In 1915, Einstein developed the general theory of relativity, a theory born out of what he called his...
Math Department Makes Chocolate Hot!
Nov. 24, 2024—On October 24, 2024, the Math Department hosted a Hot Chocolate and Hot Apple Cider extravaganza at the department. In the Stevenson 1 lobby, students were treated to tasty beverages, made hot to go! Students, faculty, and staff also participated in a design-your-own-pumpkin contest. The winner of the contest was Griffin Sims, and undergraduate who...