This is the list of speakers and talks for the Algebra & Combinatorics Seminar for Michigan Technological University. Previous semesters' speakers can be found lower on the page.
In Spring 2020, the Algebra & Combinatorics Seminar is scheduled biweekly on Thursdays from 1:05pm-1:55pm in Fisher 126.
| Date: Jan 30 | Title: Personal Perspectives on m-ary Partitions |
| Speaker: James Sellers | Abstract: A great deal of my research journey has involved the study of m-ary partitions. These are integer partitions wherein each part must be a power of a fixed integer m > 1. Beginning in the late 1960s, numerous mathematicians (including Churchhouse, Andrews, Gupta, and Rødseth) studied divisibility properties of m-ary partitions. In this talk, I will discuss work I completed with Rødseth which generalizes the results of Andrews and Gupta from the 1970s. Time permitting, I will then discuss several problems related to m-ary partitions, including my work with Neil Sloane on non-squashing stacks of boxes, an application of m-ary partitions to objects known as "unique path partitions" (which are motivated from representation theory of the symmetric group), as well as very recent work with George Andrews and Aviezri Fraenkel on the characterization of the number of m-ary partitions of n modulo m. Throughout the talk, I will attempt to highlight various aspects of the research related to symbolic computation. The talk will be self-contained and geared for a general mathematical audience. |
| Affiliation: UMN-Duluth | |
| Date: Feb 27 | Title: The Hamilton-Waterloo problem with C6 and C3x factors |
| Speaker: Zazil Santizo Huerta | Abstract: A solution of the Hamilton-Waterloo problem, that is, a resolvable (Cm,Cn)-decomposition of Kv into r Cm-factors and s Cn-factors, is denoted by (m,n)-HWP(v;r,s). This problem has been solved for v ≤ 17 when v is odd and for v ≤ 10 when v is even. The most difficult case is when either r or s is equal to 1. In this talk, I will give the construction of (6,9)-HWP(18;1,7), and settle the problem for v = 18t when t is odd. Furthermore, in order to extend the latter idea to the case n=3x, we proved that there exists a (6,3x)-HWP(6xt;1,3xt-2) for all odd x ≥ 3, which completes the case (6,3x)-HWP(3xt;1,(3xt-4)/2) for all x ≥ 3 and t ≥ 1. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
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| Date: Sep 12 | Title: Two New Families of Cubic Surfaces in Characteristic Two |
| Speaker: Anton Betten | Abstract: Cubic surfaces with 27 lines are beautiful objects from classical geometry. Several infinite families are known, due to Fermat, Clebsch and Hilbert-Cohn-Vossen. We consider cubic surfaces with 27 lines over finite fields. Besides the classical families, many other examples appear. In recent joint work with Karaoglu, the speaker has classified these surfaces up to isomorphism in all fields of order at most 97, using a computer. Now comes the fun part: By analyzing the data, we are trying to find new infinite families of cubic surfaces with 27 lines. In the talk, we address the problem in characteristic two. Two new families will be constructed, bringing the total number of known families to three. This extends work of Hirschfeld from 1964. Prof. Betten's talk is rescheduled from last semester after weather difficulties. He will also be giving a Colloquium talk on Friday. |
| Affiliation: Colorado State | |
| Date: Sep 19, 5pm Dow 641 | Title: Kliakhandler Lecture: Why Does Ramanujan, "The Man Who Knew Infinity," Matter? |
| Speaker: Ken Ono | Abstract: Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the most inspirational figures in the history of mathematics, was a poor gifted mathematician from lush south India who left behind three notebooks that engineers, mathematicians, and physicists continue to mine today. Born in 1887, Ramanujan was a two-time college dropout. He could have easily been lost to the world, a thought that scientists cannot begin to absorb. He died in 1920. Prof. Ono will explain why Ramanujan matters today, and will share several clips from the film, “The Man Who Knew Infinity,” starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons. Professor Ono served as an associate producer and mathematical consultant for the film. This special note is for the Kliakhandler Public Lecture, which we feel will be of interest to Algebra & Combinatorics Seminar attendees. Please note the special room and time. Prof. Ono will also be giving the Kliakhandler Colloquium on Friday. |
| Affiliation: UVa and Emory | |
| Date: Sep. 26 | Title: Generating functions for Mullineux fixed points |
| Speaker: David Hemmer | Abstract: Mullineux defined an involutary bijection on the set of e-regular partitions of n. When e is prime, these partitions label irreducible symmetric group modules in characteristic e. Mullineux conjectured (since proven) that this “Mullineux map” described the effect on these labels of taking the tensor product with the one-dimensional signature representation. Counting irreducible Sn modules preserved under this tensor product (i.e. fixed points of the Mullineux map) is related to counting irreducible modules for the alternating group An. In 1991, Andrews and Olsson worked out the generating function of these fixed points when e is prime, as evidence in support of the conjecture. We generalize their work to arbitrary e, and discover distinct answers depending on the parity of e. We will also discuss a conjectural block-theoretic version. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Oct. 24 | Title: Connections between Schur functions and major index distributions |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: Let fλ,i denote the distribution of the major index over all standard Young tableaux of shape λ and descent number i. For several families of partition shapes (though not all), this distribution quite unexpectedly becomes a principal specialization of a Schur function, which allows us to immediately conclude positivity and unimodality. This talk will introduce the objects described and will prove several theorems regarding their connections, concluding with potential future work in the area. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Nov 1 Fisher 327B | Title: Colloquium: Cameron-Liebler Sets in Projective and Polar Spaces |
| Speaker: Morgan Rodgers | Abstract: The objects we will consider originated in the study of collineation groups of PG(n,q) having equally many orbits on points and lines; line orbits of such a group have very nice combinatorial properties, which led to the definition of what are now called Cameron-Liebler line classes. For a while it was thought that there could not exist any nontrivial examples of these objects, until Bruen and Drudge gave an infinite family of examples in PG(3,q); since then, several new examples have
been found including two more infinite families.
After discussing some recent results and open problems concerning line sets in PG(n,q), we will look at some generalizations of these objects to collections of higher dimensional subspaces in both projective and polar spaces. In particular we will look at some characterization results for Cameron-Liebler sets of maximals in the finite classical polar spaces. Please note the Friday date (still at 1:05pm) and different room: Prof. Rodgers is visiting under Zeying Wang and giving this week's Mathematical Sciences Colloquium. |
| Affiliation: Cal State Fresno | |
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| Date: Feb 21 | Title: Lusztig Slices in the Affine Grassmannian |
| Speaker: Daniel Rowe | Abstract: We will define the Affine Grassmannian for the group GLn: a coset space of invertible matrices over formal Laurent series modulo invertible matrices over formal power series. The Affine Grassmannian can be interpreted as a space of lattices, which can in turn be identified with a space of nilpotent matrices. We will introduce these ideas and explain a theorem that gives an interesting isomorphism between sub-varieties of the Affine Grassmannian and sub-varieties of nilpotent matrices. |
| Affiliation: NMU | |
| Date: Mar 21 | Title: On the parity of the partition function |
| Speaker: Fabrizio Zanello | Abstract: We outline a possible new approach to one of the basic and seemingly intractable conjectures in number theory, namely that the partition function p(n) is equidistributed modulo 2. The best results to date, obtained incrementally over several decades by Serre, Ono, Soundararajan and many others, don't even imply that p(n) is odd for √x values of n ≤ x.
We present an infinite class of conjectural identities modulo 2, and show how to, in principle, prove any such identity. We describe a number of important consequences of these identities: For instance, if any t-multipartition function is odd with positive density and t ≢ 0 (mod 3), then p(n) is also odd with positive density. All of these facts seem virtually impossible to show unconditionally today.
Our arguments employ several complex-analytic and algebraic methods, ranging from a study modulo 2 of some classical Ramanujan identities and other eta product results, to a unified approach to the parity of the Fourier coefficients of a broad class of modular forms recently introduced by Radu.
Much of this research is joint with my former PhD student S. Judge and/or with W.J. Keith (see my papers in J. Number Theory, 2015 and 2018; Annals of Comb., 2018). |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Apr 4 | Title: Noli turbare circulos meos!, or, Magic type labelings of cycle products |
| Speaker: Dalibor Froncek | Abstract: A Cartesian product Cm ☐ Cn of two cycles Cm and Cn can be seen as a toroidal m × n grid with mn vertices of degree four and 2mn edges. We can bijectively label edges, vertices, or both by consecutive positive integers 1, 2, ..., s or by elements of an Abelian group Γ of order s (where s is the number of labeled elements) and define the weight of an element (that is, an edge or a vertex) as the sum of the labels of the adjacent and/or incident elements. When the weights of all elements in question are equal, we call the labeling magic (of some kind). When the weights are all different, the labeling is called antimagic. I will present some old and new results on various kinds of magic labelings of cycle products and pose several open questions. The results are based on collaboration with Sylwia Cichacz and Jack, James, and Michael McKeown. Keywords: Graph labeling, magic type labeling, magic graphs, supermagic graphs |
| Affiliation: UMN-Duluth | |
| Date: Apr 12 | Title: Two New Families of Cubic Surfaces in Characteristic Two |
| Speaker: Anton Betten | Abstract: Cubic surfaces with 27 lines are beautiful objects from classical geometry. Several infinite families are known, due to Fermat, Clebsch and Hilbert-Cohn-Vossen. We consider cubic surfaces with 27 lines over finite fields. Besides the classical families, many other examples appear. In recent joint work with Karaoglu, the speaker has classified these surfaces up to isomorphism in all fields of order at most 97, using a computer. Now comes the fun part: By analyzing the data, we are trying to find new infinite families of cubic surfaces with 27 lines. In the talk, we address the problem in characteristic two. Two new families will be constructed, bringing the total number of known families to three. This extends work of Hirschfeld from 1964. Please note the Friday date; Prof. Betten is giving a Colloquium talk related to the subjects of the Seminar. |
| Affiliation:Colorado State | |
| Date: Sep 13 | Title: Research Round-Robin |
| Speaker: Discrete Math faculty | Abstract: The faculty in the Discrete Math group at Michigan Tech will give 5-minute descriptions of their research areas. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Sep 27 | Title: Paley type and negative Latin square type partial difference sets in Abelian groups |
| Speaker: Zeying Wang | Abstract: Recently we proved that if there is a Paley type partial difference set (in short, PDS) in an Abelian group G of order m, where m = p12k1p22k2...pn2kn, n ≥ 2, p1, p2,...,pn are distinct odd prime numbers, then for any 1 ≤ i ≤ n, pi is a prime congruent to 3 modulo 4 whenever ki is odd. Also we found some new necessary conditions for the existence of negative Latin square type PDS in Abelian groups of order p2xq2y, where gcd(p,q)=1 and p,q are odd positive integers. In this talk I will first introduce and define all necessary concepts and provide some historical background. Then I will present the main ideas used in our proofs and state our main results. I will conclude the talk with some ongoing research, and ideas for future research. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Oct 25 | Title: Iterated differences in the q-binomial coefficients |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: We study the iterated differences in n of p(M,N;n), the number of partitions of n with at most M parts, each of size at most N. For the unrestricted partition function Odlyzko showed that the k-th differences alternate in sign up to some n(k) and are thereafter positive. In this talk it will be shown that for small N, differences in n of p(M,N;n) alternate in sign for indefinitely large M and all n. Open conjectures will be discussed. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Nov 15 | Title: A Generalization of the Hamilton-Waterloo Problem on Complete Equipartite Graphs |
| Speaker: Melissa Keranen | Abstract: The Hamilton-Waterloo Problem (HWP) asks for a decomposition of Kv (or Kv - F when v is even) into 2-factors where each 2-factor is isomorphic to either a given 2-factor P or a given 2-factor Q. In the uniform case, all of the cycles in P have the same size and all of the cycles in Q have the same size. In this talk, I will discuss the Hamilton-Waterloo problem for equipartite graphs. Results will be used to find solutions to the HWP on the complete graph in both the uniform and non-uniform cases. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: January 25 | Title: Partial difference sets in abelian groups |
| Speaker: Zeying Wang | Abstract: Recently we proved a theorem for strongly regular graphs that provides numerical restrictions on the number of fixed vertices and the number of vertices mapped to adjacent vertices under an automorphism. We then used this result to develop some new techniques to study regular partial difference sets in Abelian groups. Our main results so far are the proof of non-existence of PDS in Abelian groups with small parameters, a complete classification of PDS in Abelian groups of order 4p2, and a proof that no non-trivial PDS exist in Abelian groups of order 8p3.
In this talk I plan to give an overview of these results with a focus on our most recent work on the PDS in Abelian groups of order 8p3, where p is a prime number ≥ 3. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: February 15 | Title: Unimodality in the q-analogue of Frame-Robinson-Thrall |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: The unimodality of the q-binomial coefficient and its various proofs are two of the most beautiful achievements of partition theory and its related combinatorics. Proving the same property for differences and sums of q-binomial coefficients is an even greater challenge, one for which only a few results exist. In this talk, we will bring together many threads in combinatorics: permutations and pattern avoidance, the Robinson-Schensted correspondence, the Frame-Robinson-Thrall formula for standard Young tableaux and its q-analogue. We will prove unimodality for several families of q-binomial formulas, and discuss the next questions that remain.
The pace will be gentle and suitable for graduate students. Depending on pacing and audience feedback, this may be one or two sessions. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: March 29 | Title: The Good Will Hunting Problem |
| Speaker: Donald L. Kreher | Abstract: In the movie "Good Will Hunting", the main character Will Hunting (Matt Damon) - a janitor - solves a blackboard problem, which had been assigned as a challenge to an applied theories class. In this lecture we will use elementary linear algebra and a little combinatorics to show that this problem can be easily solved. This will be followed by some thoughts on a graph theory solution to recurrence relations. The talk will be elementary. Only a half course in introductory linear algebra such as MA2330 is required. Undergraduates are encouraged to attend. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 19 | Title: 2-Block intersection graphs in triple systems |
| Speaker: Melissa Keranen | Abstract: A TS(v,λ) is a pair (V,B) where V contains v points and B contains 3-element subsets of V so that each pair in V appears in exactly λ blocks. A 2-block intersection graph (2-BIG) of a TS(v,λ) is a graph where each vertex is represented by a block from TS(v,λ) and each pair of blocks Bi, Bj ∈ B are joined by an edge if ∣ Bi ∩ Bj ∣ = 2. Using known constructions for TS(v,λ), we show that there exists a TS(v,λ) for v ≡ 0 or 4 (mod 12) whose 2-BIG is Hamiltonian. Joint with John Asplund, Dalton State College |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 26 | Title: (k,j)-colored partitions and the hooklength formula |
| Speaker: Emily Anible | Abstract: We investigate an extension of k-colored partitions, the (k,j)-colored partitions, at an indeterminate number of colors, and their relationship to the Han/Nekrasov-Okounkov hooklength formula under truncation to hooks of size at most j. We find the formulas match at the constant and linear terms for all n. Further, we attempt to match the two formulas at the quadratic term for j=2 by adding a simple offset to C1-b,j. We find pleasing relations to the harmonic numbers, and conjecture generating functions to describe squaring the number of frequencies of at least i in partitions of n. This presentation is the result of an undergraduate research project. Undergraduates are warmly encouraged to attend. Slides for this presentation are here. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Jan 23 | Title: A class of trivalent vertex-transitive graphs |
| Speaker: Don Kreher | Abstract: Bojan Mohar of Simon Fraser University posed the problem to classify trivalent vertex-transitive graphs X whose edge set E(X) can be partitioned into a 2-factor F and a 1-factor I such that Aut(X) preserves the partition (I,F). We shall see in this introductory talk that even in the case when F consists of a single cycle, this problem is not as straightforward as it might seem at first. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 6 | Title: Some new Kirkman signal sets |
| Speaker: Melissa Keranen | Abstract: A decomposition of the blocks of an STS(v) into partial parallel classes of size m is equivalent to a Kirkman signal set KSS(v, m). We give decompositions of STS(4v-3) into classes of size v-1 when v ≡ 3 (mod 6). We also give decompositions of STS(v) into classes of various sizes when v is a product of two arbitrary integers that are both congruent to 3 (mod 6). These results produce new families of KSS(v, m). |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 27 | Title: Linear codes with complementary duals from regular graphs invariant under finite groups |
| Speaker: Bernardo Rodrigues | Abstract: We determine all linear codes of length 50 over Fp (p a prime) which admit the projective special unitary group U3(5) as an automorphism group. By group representation theory means we prove that these can all be realized as submodules of the permutation module FΩ where Ω corresponds to the vertex set of the Hoffman-Singleton graph. Prof. Rodrigues' more detailed LaTeX abstract can be found in pdf here. |
| Affiliation: University of KwaZulu-Natal | |
| Date: Mar 13 | Title: Partitions into distinct parts and unimodality |
| Speaker: Fabrizio Zanello | Abstract: We discuss the (non)unimodality of the rank-generating function Fλ of the poset of partitions with distinct parts contained inside a given partition λ. This work, in collaboration with Richard Stanley (European J. Combin., 2015), is in part motivated by an attempt to place into a broader context the unimodality of Fλ(q)=∏ni=1(1+qi), the rank-generating function of the "staircase" partition λ=(n,n-1,…,1), for which determining a combinatorial proof remains an outstanding open problem. We present a number of results and conjectures on the polynomials Fλ, and also discuss a few interesting recent developments. These include a (prize-winning) paper by Levent Alpoge, who solved our conjecture on the unimodality of Fλ when λ=(n,n-1,…,n-c) (the "truncated staircase"), for n ≫ c. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Mar 31, 1pm Fisher 101 | Title: Old and New Results on Universal Cycles Obtained in Collaboration with Undergraduate and Graduate Students |
| Speaker: Anant Godbole | Abstract: A universal cycle generalizes the notion of deBruijn cycles to combinatorial structures such as graphs, subsets, set partitions, Venn diagram allocations, etc. In a very real sense, universal cycles are combinatorial designs, though they have not been recognized as such, or studied by the MSC 05BXX community in depth. I will present 10 years' worth of work, with undergraduates, REU students, and graduate students that has contributed significantly to the body of knowledge on existence of universal cycles for the above-mentioned structures as well as for hypergraphs, naturally labeled posets, words with restrictions, lattice paths, etc. Note the special Friday time and room: Prof. Godbole is this week's Colloquium speaker. The Colloquium data is hosted here as being hopefully of interest to Combinatorics Seminar attendees. |
| Affiliation: East Tennessee State University | |
| Date: Apr 3, 11am EERC 216 | Title: Covering and Packing Threshold Progressions |
| Speaker: Anant Godbole | Abstract: As one progresses from each member of a family of objects A being "covered" (with high or low probability) by at most one object in a random collection C, to being covered at most g times, a hierarchy of thresholds emerge. These may be smooth in their transition from one level to the next, or might feature a gap. Examples include packing and covering of t sets by k sets; Sidon sets/additive bases; weakly union free families; coverage in the permutation pattern lattice; and, a well-known motivating example. This is joint work with Thomas Grubb, Kyutae Han, Bill Kay, Zach Higgins, and Zoe Koch. Please note the special morning time and room for this week's Seminar. |
| Affiliation: East Tennessee State University | |
| Date: Apr 10 | Title: Hamada's conjecture in affine spaces |
| Speaker: Mustafa Gezek | Abstract: In 1973, Hamada made the following conjecture: Let D be a geometric design having as blocks the d-subspaces of PG(n,q) or AG(n,q), and let m be the p-rank of D. If D' is a design with the same parameters as D, then the p-rank of D' is greater than or equal to m, and the equality holds if and only if D' is isomorphic to D. In 1986, Tonchev, and more recently Harada, Lam and Tonchev, Jungnickel and Tonchev, and Clark, Jungnickel and Tonchev found designs having the same parameters and p-rank as certain geometric designs, hence provide counterexamples to the "only-if" part of Hamada’s conjecture. In this work, we discuss some properties of the three known nonisomorphic 2-(64,16,5) designs of 2-rank 16, one being the design of the planes in the 3-dimensional affine geometry over the field of order 4, and try to find an algebraic way to use the similarities between these designs in a search for counterexamples to Hamada's conjecture in affine spaces of higher dimension. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Apr 17 | Title: Resolvable Steiner 2-designs and maximal arcs in projective planes |
| Speaker: Vladimir Tonchev | Abstract: The topic of this talk is a combinatorial characterization of resolvable Steiner 2-designs embeddable as maximal arcs in finite projective planes. Applications to the known planes planes of order 16 are discussed. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Sep 8 | Title: Partitions into a small number of part sizes |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: Overpartitions - partitions in which the last instance of a given part size may be overlined, or not - are a current topic of interest in partition theory. If vi(n) is the number of partitions of n in which exactly i part sizes appear, then the number of overpartitions of n is so it is of interest to study the vi(n). We will do so with a wide array of the types of tools found in partition theory: combinatorial bijections, generating function identities, and modular forms. The talk will be accessible to graduate students. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Sep 22 | Title: Partitions into a small number of part sizes, Part II |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: Part II of last session's talk. The slides for this talk can be downloaded here. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Sep 29, 5pm | Title: Plane Tilings |
| Speaker: Richard Stanley | Abstract: Given a set of plane shapes (tiles), together with a region R of the plane, a tiling of R is a filling of R with the tiles without overlap in their interiors. A jigsaw puzzle is a familiar (though not very mathematical) example. We will survey some interesting mathematics associated with plane tilings. In particular, we will discuss how mathematics can be used to investigate the following questions: Is there a tiling? If so, how many are there? If it is infeasible to find the exact number of tilings, then approximately how many tilings are there? If a tiling exists, is it easy to find? Is it easy to prove that a tiling does not exist? Is it easy to convince someone that a tiling does not exist? What does a "typical" tiling with the given tiles and region look like? What are the relations among different tilings? What special properties, such as symmetry, could a tiling possess? These questions involve such subjects as combinatorics, group theory, probability theory, number theory, and computer science.
This is the public lecture for the second annual Kliakhandler Lecture Series. Please note a special time and room: 5pm - 6pm in Dow 641. |
| Affiliation: MIT | |
| Date: Sep 30 | Title: A survey of alternating permutations |
| Speaker: Richard Stanley | Abstract: A permutation a1, a2, . . . is alternating if a1 > a2 < a3 > a4 < a5 > . . . . If En is the number of alternating permutations of 1, 2, . . . , n, then
We will discuss several aspects of the theory of alternating permutations. Some occurrences of the numbers En, such as counting orbits of group actions and volumes of polytopes, will be surveyed. The behavior of the length of the longest alternating subsequence of a random permutation will be analyzed, in analogy to the length of the longest increasing subsequence. We will also explain how various classes of alternating permutations, such as those that are also fixed-point free involutions, can be counted using a certain representations of the symmetric group Sn whose dimension is En.
This is the Department's Colloquium talk this week, and is the second, specialist-oriented lecture of this year's Kliakhandler Lecture Series. Please note a special time and room: it runs Friday 1-2pm in Fisher 138. |
| Affiliation: MIT | |
| Date: Nov 4 | Title: Applications of linear algebraic methods in combinatorics and finite geometry |
| Speaker: Qing Xiang | Abstract: Most combinatorial objects can be described by incidence, adjacency, or some other (0,1)-matrices. So one basic approach in combinatorics is to investigate combinatorial objects by using linear algebraic parameters (ranks over various fields, spectrum, Smith normal forms, etc.) of their corresponding matrices. In this talk, we will look at some successful examples of this approach; some examples are old, and some are new. In particular, we will talk about the recent bounds on the size of partial spreads of H(2d-1, q2) and on the size of partial ovoids of the Ree-Tits octagon.
This is the Departmental Colloquium talk for this week: please note the special date. It runs Friday November 4th 1-2pm in Fisher 127. |
| Affiliation: University of Delaware | |
| Date: Nov 10 | Title: Great Expectations. . . and projective planes |
| Speaker: Juan Migliore | Abstract: The so-called ``Lefschetz Properties'' have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. Informally, they have the following form. Given a fixed set of dimensions of some objects, you make a ``general choice'' of something (to be explained in the talk) that produces a new dimension. There is an expected value for this dimension, and the game is to understand under what circumstances this expected value fails to be achieved. There is a striking variety of situations where this kind of behavior has been studied. In this talk we give two very different examples, both having to do with projective planes. After recalling the necessary facts about projective planes, we describe a very geometric setting (joint work with D. Cook II, B. Harbourne and U. Nagel) and a much more algebraic setting (joint work with D. Cook II, U. Nagel and F. Zanello). |
| Affiliation: Notre Dame | |
| Date: Nov 30 | Title: The average number of rational points on genus two curves is bounded |
| Speaker: Levent Alpoge | Abstract: It is a theorem of Faltings (resolving a conjecture of Mordell) that a smooth projective curve of genus g > 1 defined over a number field must have finitely many rational points. In this talk we ask, informally, how 'finitely many.' There is speculation as to whether the number of rational points on, say, a genus 2 curve over, say, ℚ should be uniformly bounded (the current record, which has stood since 2008, is 642). We will show that at least the average number of points on these curves is bounded. This is the Departmental Colloquium talk for this week: please note the special date. It runs Wednesday November 30th 1-2pm in Fisher 127. |
| Affiliation: Princeton | |
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| Date: Jan 21 | Title: Decomposing the blocks of a Steiner triple system into partial parallel classes |
| Speaker: Melissa Keranen | Abstract: Does there exist a Steiner triple system with t triples such that for any m with m|t, the triples can be decomposed into matchings of size m? In this talk I will discuss results on STS(4v-3) where v ≡ 1 or 3 (mod 6). In particular, I will present constructions for decompositions into matchings of size v-1 or 2(v-1)/3 when v ≡ 3(mod 6), or v ≡ 1 (mod 6), respectively. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 18 | Title: Independent sets in geometries |
| Speaker: Stefaan De Winter | Abstract: Independent sets or cocliques play an important role in graph theory, and finding the maximal size of an independent set for specific classes of graphs is a major research topic. However, for bipartite graphs the standard measure of size for an independent set does not necessarily make a lot of sense, as each of the parts will be an (uninteresting) independent set. A different way to measure how ``large'' an independent set is will be introduced. Then I will discuss ``large'' independent sets in bipartite graphs from a geometric point of view (after all, every bipartite graph is equivalent to a point-line geometry). |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 23 1:05pm Fisher 125 | Title: Infinite Dimensional Lie Algebras |
| Speaker: Jie Sun | Abstract: A group becomes a Lie group if a compatible manifold structure is added to the group structure. The manifold structure makes it possible to talk about the tangent space at a point, in particular the tangent space at the identity. This tangent space inherits a rich algebraic structure from the group structure on the manifold, called a Lie algebra. Many Lie algebras can be classified by combinatorial objects. Examples of infinite dimensional Lie algebras include affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras which have applications in many areas of mathematics and physics. Central extension is an important topic for infinite dimensional Lie algebras. In this talk, we will look at generalizations of affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras and locally finite Lie algebras, and discuss recent developments on central extensions of these algebras. No prior familiarity with Lie algebras will be assumed. Note special date and room: this is an interview talk for possible promotion to the tenure track for Prof. Sun. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 25 1:05pm Fisher 125 | Title: Automorphisms of strongly regular graphs with applications to partial difference sets |
| Speaker: Zeying Wang | Abstract: Recently we proved a theorem for strongly regular graphs that provides numerical restrictions on the number of fixed vertices and the number of vertices mapped to adjacent vertices under an automorphism. We then used this result to develop a new technique to study regular partial difference sets in Abelian groups. In 1994 S.L. Ma provided a list of parameter sets of regular partial difference sets of size at most 100 for which existence was known or had not been excluded. As an application of our results we excluded the existence of a regular partial difference set for all but two of the remaining 18 parameter sets from Ma's list. As a second application we provide a complete classification of partial difference sets in Abelian groups of order 4p2, p an odd prime. It turns out that the known examples are the only examples. These are, up to complements, the trivial examples, the PCP examples, and a sporadic example in an Abelian group of order 36. Only a few general classification results for partial difference sets are known.
In this talk I will first introduce all necessary concepts and provide some historical background. Then I will present the main ideas used in our proofs and state our main results. I will conclude the talk with some ongoing research, and ideas for future research. Note special date and room: this is an interview talk for possible promotion to the tenure track for Prof. Wang. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
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| Date: Sep 4 | Title: The ternary Pace code |
| Speaker: Jürgen Bierbrauer | Abstract: Note the special Friday date: Prof. Bierbrauer's retirement reception will be held Thursday during the usual Seminar slot. The talk will be held in Fisher 329 instead of the usual room. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Sep 24 | Title: R-sequenceable groups and orthogonal directed cycles, Part 1 |
| Speaker: Don Kreher | Abstract: In his 1974 solution to the map colouring problem for all compact 2-dimensional manifolds except the sphere, Gerhard Ringle was led to the following group-theoretic problem: When can the non-identity elements of a group of order n be cyclically arranged in a sequence g0, g1,g2,. . .,gn-1 such that the quotients gi-1gi+1, i=0,1,2,. . .,n (with subscripts modulo n) are all distinct? The complete Cayley graph X on a group G is the complete directed graph where the edge (x,y) is labeled by x-1y. The edges with a given label z in G form a 1-factor Fz and {Fz: z ∈ G} is a 1-factorization of X. A subgraph H of X is an orthogonal subgraph if it contains exactly one edge of each of the one-factors. This year Brian Alspach got me interested in the following problem: For which groups G does the complete Cayley graph X admit an orthogonal directed cycle? It is not difficult to see that the problem of Alspach and the problem of Ringle are the same. I believe we (Alspach, Kreher, Pastine) will soon be able to show that every abelian group is R-sequenceable with possibly a small list of exceptions. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Oct 8 5:00 pm ME-EM 112 | Title: Kliakhandler Lecture The Indian Genius, Ramanujan: His Life and the Excitement of his Mathematics |
| Speaker: George Andrews | Abstract: This talk focuses on the famous Indian genius, Ramanujan, and will provide an account of his amazing, albeit short life. We shall try to lead gently from some simple problems from elementary number theory to a discussion of some of Ramanujan's achievements. The mathematics used in the talk will be restricted to arithmetic. I hope to provide some idea of his profound impact on contemporary mathematics. I will conclude with an account of some of the various literary and theatrical enterprises that have attempted to tell the story of Ramanujan. Note the special time and room: this is the public Kliakhandler lecture given by this year's invited speaker, the eminent partition theorist George Andrews. |
| Affiliation: Penn State | |
| Date: Oct 9 1:05pm Fisher 329 | Title: Kliakhandler Colloquium: Partitions, Dyson and Ramanujan |
| Speaker: George Andrews | Abstract: Freeman Dyson's first published paper, Some Guesses in the Theory of Partitions (Eureka, 1944), looked at Ramanujan's congruences for the partition function combinatorially. Dyson was an undergraduate at the time. The paper raised many more questions than it answered. However, the questions asked in this paper have led to a cornucopia of deep and surprising theorems; research on Dyson's original ideas continues to this day. The object of this talk will be to provide an account of what led up to Dyson's questions, and what the questions were. We shall conclude with a gentle account of some of the combinatorics that has arisen from this undergraduate masterpiece. Note the special Friday date and room: this is the Colloquium talk given by Prof. Andrews. |
| Affiliation: Penn State | |
| Date: Oct 29 | Title: Orientable Distance Magic Graphs |
| Speaker: Bryan Freyberg | Abstract: Let G=(V,E) be a graph of order n. A distance magic labeling of G is a bijection ℓ:V → {1,2,. . .,n} for which there exists a positive integer k such that ∑x ∈ N(v) ℓ(x) = k for all |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Nov 4 1:05pm Fisher 133 | Title: Reduced words: counting and exploiting |
| Speaker: Bridget Tenner | Abstract: The reduced words of a Coxeter group element are fundamental to understanding the group's architecture and to defining such objects as the Bruhat order on the group and several graph structures. These words, and the Coxeter relations connecting them, lead to a range of enumerative problems. These address both well-known objects and others that are less so. Some of these problems were answered many years ago, others only more recently, and still others remain open.
Note the special Wednesday date and room: this is the week's Colloquium talk. |
| Affiliation: DePaul | |
| Date: Nov 19 | Title: Distance magic and group distance magic graphs |
| Speaker: Dalibor Fronček | Abstract: Let G be a graph with n vertices and f a bijection f:V(G) → {1,2,. . .,n}. We define the weight of vertex x as the sum of the labels of its neighbors, that is,
At IWOGL 2010, Arumugam presented a list of open problems on distance magic labelings. We present solutions to some of them as well as some other recent results. However, it turns out that this type of magic labeling is very restrictive and consequently even many classes of vertex transitive graphs are not distance magic. As an example, we prove that for d ≡ 0, 1, 3 (mod 4) the hypercube Qd with 2d vertices is not distance magic. On the other hand, we disprove a conjecture by Acharya, Rao, Singh and Parameswaran, who believed that hypercubes are not distance magic except Q2 and present a distance magic labeling for Q6. This was recently generalized by Gregor and Kovar who found a distance magic labeling of Qd for any d ≡ 2 (mod 4). Such negative results then raise a question whether it would not be more natural to perform the addition in ℤn rather than in ℤ. Graphs that satisfy the above definition with the provision that the addition is performed in ℤn will be called ℤn-distance magic. To support this idea, we show some examples of graphs that are not distance magic yet are ℤn-distance magic. We show that when we perform addition in ℤ2d rather than in ℤ, then Qd is ℤ2d-distance magic if and only if d is even. We present some results on Γ-distance magic labelings of products of cycles and pose several open problems. |
| Affiliation: UMN-Duluth | |
| Date: Dec 3 | Title: R-sequenceable groups and orthogonal directed cycles, Part 2 |
| Speaker: Don Kreher | Abstract: Part 2 of Prof. Kreher's Sep 24 talk of this semester. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Dec 10 | Title: On the Density of the Odd Values of the Partition Function |
| Speaker: Samuel Judge | Abstract: There has been a long standing conjecture that the partition function is equidistributed modulo 2. Alas, to this point, it is not even known if the density of the odd values is positive. In this talk, we present a new way to attack this problem. Namely, we show that positive density (of the odd values) of certain powers of the partition function (5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 25) implies positive density of the partition function itself, using multiple tactics, ranging from simple algebra to a new technique involving modular forms recently introduced by Radu. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Jan 29 | Title: An introduction to partition theory, part 1 |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: A topics-course level introduction to partition theory, suitable for graduate students and colleagues interested in picking up the basics of the subject. Day 1: the basic definitions and generating functions. Ferrers diagrams, conjugation, bijective and generating function proof. Partitions into odd and distinct parts; the pentagonal number theorem. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 12 | Title: An introduction to partition theory, part 2 |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: Continuation. The q-factorial and the q-binomials. Lattice paths and partitions in boxes. The Young lattice, unimodality, and open questions regarding symmetric chain decomposition. The first Borwein Conjecture. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Feb 19 | Title: An introduction to partition theory, part 3 |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: Continuation. Partition congruences: dissection techniques; the rank and crank; the open question of the parity of the partition function and its tertiarity. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Mar 5 | Title: An introduction to partition theory, part 4 |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: Conclusion of the series. Modular forms techniques; proving identities and congruences with the theorems of Gordon, Hughes, and Newman, and Sturm. The m-regular partitions. Partitions into a small number of part sizes. Open questions on both of these. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Mar 19 | Title: Incidence structures, codes, and Galois geometry |
| Speaker: Vladimir D. Tonchev | Abstract: The lecture discusses a new invariant for finite incidence structures based on linear codes and Galois geometry, which has both an algebraic and a geometric description, and is motivated by the longstanding Hamada's conjecture about the minimum p-rank of the classical geometric designs. The new invariant was used recently in a joint work of the speaker with Dieter Jungnickel to prove a Hamada type characterization of the classical geometric designs having as blocks the d-subspaces of an n-dimensional projective or affine geometry over a finite field of order q. MSC2010: 05B05, 11T71, 51E20,94B27 Keywords: incidence structure, combinatorial design, finite geometry, p-rank, linear code, trace code, Galois closed code, Hamada conjecture. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Apr 2 | Title: Incidence structures, codes, and Galois geometry |
| Speaker: Vladimir D. Tonchev | Abstract: Continuation and conclusion of last session's talk. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
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| Date: Sep 17 | Title: A census of Hughes-Kleinfeld semifields |
| Speaker: Jürgen Bierbrauer | Abstract: Semifields (or non-associative division rings) are algebraic structures which resemble fields. In fact, just forget the associativity and commutativity of field multiplication and you arrive at the axioms of a semifield. The geometric meaning is the following: semifields coordinatize the projective planes which are translation planes and also dual translation planes. The nuclei of a semifield measures how far it is from being associative; the autotopism group is the pertinent group of symmetries. The Hughes-Kleinfeld semifields (1960) are non-commutative but very close to being associative. In the talk we will see an elementary algebraic mechanism which allows us to decide
This includes the smallest proper semifield. It is of order 16 and has precisely 108 autotopisms. The corresponding projective plane has 214 × 27 collineations. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Oct 1 | Title: Universal extensions of slm|n over Z2-graded algebras |
| Speaker: Jie Sun | Abstract: In this talk central extensions of the Lie superalgebra slm|n(A) are constructed, where A is a Z2-graded superalgebra over a commutative ring K. The Steinberg Lie superalgebra stm|n(A) plays a crucial role. We show that stm|n(A) is a central extension of slm|n(A) for m+n ≥ 3. We will study the kernel of this central extension and discuss the universality of this construction. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Oct 15 | Title: Colored partitions with restrictions on the number of colors appearing |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: We will define overpartitions, k-colored partitions, and an object that combines and generalizes the two. The talk will start with an introduction to why these objects are interesting and some of the questions surrounding them, and then give a tour of the speaker's recent research into the new type. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: TBA | Title: On Hadamard matrices and their applications |
| Speaker: Vladimir Tonchev | Abstract: This talk surveys some problems and results concerning Hadamard matrices and their generalizations, such as regular Hadamard matrices, Bush type matrices, Hadamard difference sets, generalized Hadamard matrices over groups, and related combinatorial structures and error-correcting codes. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Oct 29 | Title: Progress on 3-GDDs with five groups |
| Speaker: Don Kreher | Abstract: We study the edge decompositions of Kg0,g1,g2,g3,g4 into triangles. Such decompositions are also known as 3-GDDs with five groups. So far we have settled the existence of 3-GDDs with five groups when there are only one or two group sizes. (Joint work with Charles J. Colbourn and Melissa S. Keranen.) |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Nov 7 | Title: Flag Algebras and Applications to Permutations |
| Speaker: Bernard Lidický | Abstract: Flag algebras is a method, recently developed by Razborov, designed for attacking problems in extremal combinatorics. There are recent applications of the method also in discrete geometry or permutation patterns. The aim of talk is to give a gentle introduction to the method and show some of its applications, mainly to permutations. The talk is based on a joint work with J. Balogh, P. Hu, O. Pikhurko, B. Udvari, and J. Volec. Note special date: Prof. Lidický will be speaking at the Colloquium.) |
| Affiliation: Iowa State | |
| Date: Nov 14 10 am Fisher 222 | Title: Decompositions of complete bipartite graphs into prisms |
| Speaker:Dalibor Fronček | Abstract: A generalized prism, or more specifically an (0,j)-prism of order 2n (where n is even) is a cubic graph consisting of two cycles u0,v1,. . .,vn-1 and v0,v1,. . .,un-1 joined by two sets of spokes , namely u1v1, u3v3,. . ., un-1vn-1 and u0vj, u2vj+2,. . ., un-2vj-2. The question of factorization of complete bipartite graphs into (0,j)-prisms was completely settled by the author and S. Cichacz. Some partial results on decompositions of complete bipartite graphs have also been obtained by S. Cichacz, DF, and P. Kovar, and on decompositions of complete graphs S. Cichacz, S. Dib, and DF. The problem of decomposition of complete graphs into prisms of order 12 and 16 was completely solved by S. Cichacz, DF and M. Meszka. We will present a complete solution for the decomposition of complete bipartite graphs into (0,0)-prisms (that is, the usual prisms). We will also show why the method used for this problem works particularly well in Duluth, MN and Houghton, MI. Please note special date, time, and room. |
| Affiliation: UMN-Duluth | |
| Date: Dec 3 | Title: The Hamilton-Waterloo Problem with triangle factors and C3x factors |
| Speaker: Melissa Keranen | Abstract: The Hamilton-Waterloo Problem in the case of C(m) factors and C(n) factors asks if Kv, where v is odd (or Kv-F, where F is a 1-factor and v is even), can be decomposed into 2-factors in which each factor is made either entirely of m-cycles or entirely of n-cycles. In this talk, I will discuss some general constructions for such decompositions and apply them to the case where m=3 and n=3x. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Dec 10 | Title: Partial difference sets in small Abelian groups |
| Speaker: Stefaan de Winter | Abstract: In [1] Ma provided a list of parameter sets of regular (v,k,λ,μ) partial difference sets with k ≤ 100 in Abelian groups for which existence was known or had not been excluded. In particular there were 32 parameter sets for which existence was not known. In [2] Ma excluded existence for 13 of these parameter sets. In this talk I will explain how a recent result of De Winter, Kamischke and Wang on strongly regular graphs can be used to develop a few new techniques to study regular partial difference sets in Abelian groups. As an application we exclude the existence of a regular partial difference set for all but two of the undecided upon parameter sets from Ma's list. This is joint work with Z. Wang. References [1] S.L. Ma, A survey of partial difference sets, Designs, Codes, Cryptogr. 4, 221-261, 1994. [2] S.L. Ma, Some necessary conditions on the parameters of partial difference sets, J. Statist. Plann. Inference 62, 47-56, 1997. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 24 | Title: m-Regular partitions and eta-function symmetries |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: A famous result in partition theory is Ramanujan's congruences, that the number of partitions of 5n+4 is divisible by 5, those of 7n+5 divisible by 7, and those of 11n+6 divisible by 11. These are now understood as members of an infinite family of such congruences, unified by the symmetries of modular forms. More recent work has been devoted to finding congruences for the m-regular partitions, those in which parts may not be divisible by m. These are now numerous, but we do not yet have a similar unifying structure. This talk will outline each of these ideas, demonstrate that it is now fairly easy to prove many conjectured congruences with current techniques, and lay out a few ideas, tentative as yet, for constructing such general theorems. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 17 | Title: Computing minimum strong rainbow colorings of block graphs |
| Speaker: Melissa Keranen | Abstract: Let G be an undirected graph that is simple and finite. A path in G is rainbow if no two edges of it are colored the same. A graph is rainbow connected if there is a rainbow path between every pair of vertices. If there is a rainbow shortest path between every pair of vertices, G is strong rainbow connected. The minimum number of colors needed to make G strong rainbow colored is known as the strong rainbow connection number and is denoted by src(G). A strong rainbow coloring of G using src(G) colors is called a minimum strong rainbow coloring. A block graph is an undirected graph where every maximum biconnected component, known as a block, is a clique. Given a block graph G, we give an algorithm that constructs a minimum strong rainbow coloring of G in linear time. We also give a simpler linear time algorithm for computing src(G). |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: March 20 | Title: Rank sizes and lattice properties of differential posets |
| Speaker: Pat Byrnes | Abstract: Differential posets are a generalization of Young's lattice introduced by Stanley. These posets have a simple definition, yet there are many basic open questions remaining to be answered. We will discuss some results and open questions on rank sizes and lattice properties of differential posets. |
| Affiliation: Century College | |
| Date: March 6 | Title: On Hamilton decomposition of Cayley graphs over elementary abelian groups of characteristic 3 |
| Speaker: Adrian Pastine | Abstract: In this work we give an algorithm to decompose Cayley graphs over the elementary abelian group of characteristic 3 with 27 elements. Ideas on how to proceed with higher dimensions are given, but not yet proved. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: February 27 | Title: Vertex transitive graphs of prime square order are Hamilton decomposable |
| Speaker: Don Kreher | Abstract: The talk will show that when p is an odd prime, all vertex transitive graphs on p^2 points can be edge decomposed into Hamilton cycles. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: February 13 | Title: Central extensions of Lie algebras |
| Speaker: Jie Sun | Abstract: Extensions are used to build bigger groups from smaller groups. A group becomes a Lie group if a compatible manifold structure is added to the group structure. The manifold structure makes it possible to talk about the tangent space at a point, in particular the tangent space at the identity. This tangent space inherits a rich algebraic structure from the group structure on the manifold, called a Lie algebra. Many Lie algebras can be classified by combinatorial objects: root systems and the corresponding Coxeter-Dynkin diagrams. Central extensions of Lie algebras are special extensions which play important roles in both the structure theory and the representation theory of Lie algebras. In this talk, I will survey some recent developments of this topic and mention a few open problems. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: Jan 23 | Title: Pure O-sequences, f-vectors of pure simplicial complexes, and other level h-vectors |
| Speaker: Fabrizio Zanello | Abstract:Gorenstein and level Hilbert functions, and their monomial and squarefree-monomial coun- terparts, play an important role in combinatorics and commutative algebra, also in light of their connections with a number of other topics.
This talk will attempt to review some of the old and new developments that have been shaping this field during the past 35 years: from R. Stanley’s seminal contributions in the late Seventies, to the algebraic progress of the Nineties, to the comeback center stage of the combinatorial aspect of the story during the last few years. In particular, we will discuss some of the most recent results concerning pure O-sequences (i.e., monomial level Hilbert functions) and f-vectors of pure simplicial complexes (i.e., squarefree pure O-sequences), as well as some of their fascinating interactions with other areas. The talk will include a discussion of future research directions, and a selection of conjectures and open problems accessible to young researchers interested in combinatorics or commutative algebra. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: December 12 | Title: |
| Speaker: Dalibor Fronček | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: UMN-Duluth | |
| Date: November 21 | Title: Classifying spreads and packings in finite projective three-spaces |
| Speaker: Anton Betten | Abstract:Spreads in projective spaces are systems of lines that are pairwise disjoint and cover all points. The interest in classifying spreads originates from the desire to classify translation planes, and it has been observed multiple times that the two problems are equivalent (Andre 1954, Bruck/Bose 1964). Packings of projective three-space are built up from spreads. A packing is a set of pairwise (line-)disjoint spreads that together use up all the lines. These objects arose as early as 1850 when Reverend Kirkman posed the problem of the 15 schoolgirls, which spawned a new mathematical discipline that is now known as Design Theory.
We plan to report on progress on the problem of classification of spreads and packings of PG(3,q):
A) The spreads containing a regulus when q=8 or q=9. B) The packings of PG(3,3).
The Computer Science tools that we use are Exact Cover and Rainbow Cliques in graphs. |
| Affiliation: Colorado State University | |
| Date: November 7 | Title: An extremal characterization of projective planes |
| Speaker: Stefaan De Winter | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: October 31 | Title: Projective polynomials and semifields |
| Speaker: Juergen Bierbrauer | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: October 24 | Title: Decomposition of complete graphs into kayak paddles |
| Speaker: Leah Tollefson | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: October 17 | Title: The Robinson-Schensted-Knuth algorithm: a gentle introduction |
| Speaker: William J. Keith | Abstract: The RSK algorithm is a beautiful and useful theorem, fundamental in enumerative combinatorics. It describes a bijection between permutations of n elements, and ordered pairs of standard Young tableaux of the same shape. We will describe and prove the bijection, and illustrate its use proving a theorem for which higher cases remain open. |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 17 | Title: Algebraic applications of the LLL algorithm |
| Speaker: Benjamin Fedorka | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 10 | Title: An algebraic problem related to semifields |
| Speaker: Juergen Bierbrauer | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: April 3 | Title: Linear representations of subgeometries |
| Speaker: Stefaan De Winter | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: March 27 | Title: Hamilton decomposition of vertex transitive graphs of order p squared, p prime |
| Speaker: Don Kreher | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |
| Date: February 27 | Title: Permutation Codes |
| Speaker: Juergen Bierbrauer | Abstract: |
| Affiliation: MTU | |