Overview: The Fall 2026 seminar will cover a broad range of topics related to analysis and dynamics. The typical meeting time is Wednesday 4-5pm, Fretwell 202.
Schedule:
- Wednesday Sept 2, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Cosmas Kravis (Princeton University)
- Title: L1 embeddings of word metrics on finite groups
- Abstract: Given a group G with finite generating set S, its word metric is the shortest path metric on the Cayley graph generated by S. Word metrics illuminate the underlying geometry of a group, and can be found all over mathematics and daily life. A central observation is that the two different finite generating sets of the same infinite group give rise to bi-Lipschitzly equivalent word metrics; hence biLipschitz invariants of word metrics are genuine group invariants. In this talk, I will discuss various ways this observation fails in the regime of finite groups. In particular, the biLipschitz embeddability into L1 of a word metric (a central notion in group theory, Banach space theory, and computer science) depends on the generating set of a finite group (even when we look at generators of bounded size).
- Wednesday Sept 9, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Renaud Raquépas (UNC Charlotte)
- Title: Questions on approach to equilibrium in lattice systems
- Abstract: Many of the basic tools of thermodynamics used to deal with macroscopic systems in engineering, chemistry and biology are designed for so-called “equilibrium” states, described by a handful of parameters rather than by a detailed account of the unfathomable number of microscopic degrees of freedom. Since the seminal works of J.C. Maxwell, L. Boltzmann and others in the second half of the 19th century, basic questions have been puzzling the physics and mathematics communities: Why is the equilibrium assumption—certainly almost never exactly satisfied—yielding such accurate results in such a variety of situations? Why, and in what sense, do out-of-equilibrium states of macroscopic systems approach equilibrium states through their natural dynamics? In this talk, we are going to explore these questions in the context of translation-invariant lattice systems. The plan is to: 1) give and compare different notions of equilibrium; 2) discuss the role of conservation of entropy, energy, and other quantities; 3) present a theorem about a necessary and sufficient condition for approach to equilibrium. This is based on joint works with V. Jakšić, C.-A. Pillet, G. Pozzoli and A. Szczepanek.
- Wednesday Sept 16, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Steve Dilworth (University of South Carolina)
- Title: TBD
- Abstract: TBD
- Wednesday Sept 23, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Amanda Wilkens (UNC Charlotte)
- Title: TBD
- Abstract: TBD
- Wednesday Sept 30, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Hyung-Joon Tag (UNC Greensboro)
- Title: TBD
- Abstract: TBD
- Wednesday Oct 7, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Dominic Veconi (Wake Forest)
- Title: TBD
- Abstract: TBD
- Wednesday Nov 4, 2026
- Time: 4:00pm
- Location: Fretwell 202
- Speaker: Chidinma Williams (UNC Greensboro)
- Title: TBD
- Abstract: TBD