Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Computing High-Dimensional Optimal Transport by Flow Neural Networks

Series
GT-MAP Seminar
Time
Friday, April 26, 2024 - 15:00 for 2 hours
Location
Skiles 005 and https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98355006347
Speaker
Yao Xie H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech

Flow-based models are widely used in generative tasks, including normalizing flow, where a neural network transports from a data distribution P to a normal distribution. This work develops a flow-based model that transports from P to an arbitrary Q (which can be pre-determined or induced as the solution to an optimization problem), where both distributions are only accessible via finite samples. We propose to learn the dynamic optimal transport between P and Q by training a flow neural network. The model is trained to optimally find an invertible transport map between P and Q by minimizing the transport cost. The trained optimal transport flow subsequently allows for performing many downstream tasks, including infinitesimal density ratio estimation (DRE) and distribution interpolation in the latent space for generative models. The effectiveness of the proposed model on high-dimensional data is demonstrated by strong empirical performance on high-dimensional DRE, OT baselines, and image-to-image translation.

Max-sliced Wasserstein distances

Series
Stochastics Seminar
Time
Thursday, April 25, 2024 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
March BoedihardjoMichigan State University

I will give essentially matching upper and lower bounds for the expected max-sliced 1-Wasserstein distance between a probability measure on a separable Hilbert space and its empirical distribution from n samples. A version of this result for Banach spaces will also be presented. From this, we will derive an upper bound for the expected max-sliced 2-Wasserstein distance between a symmetric probability measure on a Euclidean space and its symmetrized empirical distribution.

The Giroux correspondence via convex surfaces

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Vera VétesiUniversity of Vienna

The “hard direction” of the Giroux correspondence states that any two open books representing the same contact structure is related by a sequence of positive stabilisations and destabilisations. We give a proof of this statement using convex surface theory. This is a joint work with Joan Licata. 

Twist positivity, Lorenz knots, and concordance

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, April 22, 2024 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Siddhi KrishnaColumbia

There are lots of ways to measure the complexity of a knot. Some come from knot diagrams, and others come from topological or geometric quantities extracted from some auxiliary space. In this talk, I’ll describe a geometry property, which we call “twist positivity”, that often puts strong restrictions on how the braid and bridge index are related. I’ll describe some old and new results about twist positivity, as well as some new applications towards knot concordance. In particular, I’ll describe how using a suite of numerical knot invariants (including the braid index) in tandem allows one to prove that there are infinitely many positive braid knots which all represent distinct smooth concordance classes. This confirms a prediction of the slice-ribbon conjecture. Everything I’ll discuss is joint work with Hugh Morton. I will assume very little background about knot invariants for this talk – all are welcome!

Computing linear sections of varieties: quantum entanglement, tensor decompositions and beyond

Series
Algebra Seminar
Time
Monday, April 22, 2024 - 13:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Benjamin LovitzNortheastern University

Please Note: There will be a pre-seminar at 11am in Skiles 005.

Given a basis for a linear subspace U of nxn matrices, we study the problem of either producing a rank-one matrix in U, or certifying that none exist. While this problem is NP-Hard in the worst case, we present a polynomial time algorithm to solve this problem in the generic setting under mild conditions on the dimension of U. Our algorithm is based on Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz and a “lifted” adaptation of the simultaneous diagonalization algorithm for tensor decompositions. We extend our results to the more general setting in which the set of rank-one matrices is replaced by an algebraic set. Time permitting, we will discuss applications to quantum separability testing and tensor decompositions. This talk is based on joint work with Harm Derksen, Nathaniel Johnston, and Aravindan Vijayaraghavan.

Differential Equations for Continuous-Time Deep Learning

Series
PDE Seminar
Time
Friday, April 19, 2024 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
CSIP Library (Room 5126), 5th floor, Centergy one
Speaker
Dr.Lars RuthottoResearch Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Computer Science at Emory University

In this talk, we introduce and survey continuous-time deep learning approaches based on neural ordinary differential equations (neural ODEs) arising in supervised learning, generative modeling, and numerical solution of high-dimensional optimal control problems. We will highlight theoretical advantages and numerical benefits of neural ODEs in deep learning and their use to solve otherwise intractable PDE problems.

Branching Brownian motion and the road-field model

Series
Stochastics Seminar
Time
Thursday, April 18, 2024 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Nick CookDuke University

The Fisher-KPP equation was introduced in 1937 to model the spread of an advantageous gene through a spatially distributed population. Remarkably precise information on the traveling front has been obtained via a connection with branching Brownian motion, beginning with works of McKean and Bramson in the 70s. I will discuss an extension of this probabilistic approach to the Road-Field Model: a reaction-diffusion PDE system introduced by H. Berestycki et al. to describe enhancement of biological invasions by a line of fast diffusion, such as a river or a road. Based on joint work with Amir Dembo.

 

Square Functions Controlling Smoothness with Applications to Higher-Order Rectifiability

Series
Analysis Seminar
Time
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
John HoffmanFlorida State University

We present new results concerning characterizations of the spaces $C^{1,\alpha}$ and “$LI_{\alpha+1}$” for $0<\alpha<1$.  The space $LI_{\alpha +1}$ is the space of Lipschitz functions with $\alpha$-order fractional derivative having bounded mean oscillation.  These characterizations involve geometric square functions which measure how well the graph of a function is approximated by a hyperplane at every point and scale.  We will also discuss applications of these results to higher-order rectifiability.

Conflict-free hypergraph matchings and generalized Ramsey numbers (Emily Heath, Iowa State University)

Series
Graph Theory Seminar
Time
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Emily HeathIowa State University

Given graphs G and H and a positive integer q, an (H,q)-coloring of G is an edge-coloring in which each copy of H receives at least q colors. Erdős and Shelah raised the question of determining the minimum number of colors, f(G,H,q), which are required for an (H,q)-coloring of G. Determining f(K_n,K_p,2) for all n and p is equivalent to determining the classical multicolor Ramsey numbers. Recently, Mubayi and Joos introduced the use of a new method for proving upper bounds on these generalized Ramsey numbers; by finding a “conflict-free" matching in an appropriate auxiliary hypergraph, they determined the values of f(K_{n,n},C_4,3) and f(K_n,K_4,5). In this talk, we will show how to generalize their approach to give bounds on the generalized Ramsey numbers for several families of graphs. This is joint work with Deepak Bal, Patrick Bennett, and Shira Zerbib.

Galois/Monodromy Groups in 3D Reconstruction

Series
Algebra Seminar
Time
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - 11:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Tim DuffUniversity of Washington

Please Note: The seminar has been rescheduled from Monday to Tuesday.

Galois groups embody the structure of algebraic equations arising in both enumerative geometry and various scientific applications where such equations must be solved. I will describe a line of work that aims to elucidate the role of Galois groups in applications where data taken from multiple images are used to reconstruct a 3D scene. From this perspective, I will revisit two well-known solutions to camera pose estimation problems, which originate from classical photogrammetry and are still heavily used within modern 3D reconstruction systems. I will then discuss some less-classical problems, for which the insight we gleaned from computing Galois groups led to significant practical improvements over previous solutions. A key ingredient was the use of numerical homotopy continuation methods to (heuristically) compute monodromy permutations. Time-permitting, I will explain how such methods may also be used to automatically recover certain symmetries underlying enumerative problems. 

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