Abel in Pittsburgh

January 11, 2019

Location: Rashid Auditorium 4401 Gates Hillman Center

Carnegie Mellon University

Program

8:30 – 9:40 Registration
9:40 – 9:50 Welcome Remarks by Hans Zanna Munthe-Kaas, Chair of the Abel Prize Committee
9:50 – 10:00 Welcome Remarks by Rebecca Doerge, Dean of the Mellon College of Science
10:00 – 11:00 Alice Chang, Abel Prize Committee Member, Princeton University
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30 Scott Sheffield, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12:30 – 2:30 Lunch Break
2:30 – 3:30 Yakov Sinai, Abel Laureate, Princeton University
3:30 – 4:00 Coffee Break
4:00 – 5:00 Gil Kalai, Abel Prize Committee Member, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
5:30 Reception sponsored by the The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC (Schatz Dining Room)

 

Abstracts

► Alice Chang
 
Title: Conformal Geometry on 4-manifolds
Abstract: In this talk, I will report on the study of integral conformal invariants on 4-manifolds and applications to the study of topology and diffeomorphism type of a class of 4-manifolds. The key ingredient is the study of the integral of 2 of the Schouten tensor which is the part of integrand of the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet formula module the L2 part of the Weyl curvature. I will also describe the relevance of a 4-th order linear operator (part of the family of GJMS operator) with conformally covariant property in the study of the fully non-linear equation under conformal change of metrics.

► Gil Kalai
 
Title: Noise Stability, Noise Sensitivity and the Quantum Computer Puzzle
Abstract: I will talk about two related puzzles involving mathematics and computation. The first puzzle is about errors made when votes are counted during elections, and I will present a theory of noise stability and noise sensitivity of voting rules and other processes. The second puzzle is: are quantum computers possible? I will discuss the sensitivity of noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) systems and provide an argument for why quantum computers are not possible.

► Scott Sheffield
 
Title: Universal Randomness in 2D
Abstract: I will give a fairly broad overview of recent work in conformal probability, including relationships between random fractal curves, 2D quantum gravity surfaces, continuum random trees, Gaussian free fields, and other objects inspired by problems in physics.

► Yakov Sinai
 
Title: Navier-Stokes System

This conference is funded by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.