Back to Departmental Colloquium: Spring 2006
Departmental Colloquium
Date: Thursday, Feb 23, 2006
Time: 4:15PM
Location: JWB 335
Martin Weissman
Univ. of California, Berkeley
Title |
Arithmetic Embedding Problems |
Abstract |
I will begin by discussing a classical problem in number theory: representing integers as sums of perfect squares. During the first part of the talk, I will try to place this problem in a wider historical context, and emphasize how a hidden symmetry can be exploited to find arithmetic formulae. In the second part of my talk, I will discuss generalizations of these problems made during the 20th and 21st centuries. From a modern standpoint, the classical problems are arithmetic embedding problems of type A_1 (refering to the simple Lie algebra or Dynkin diagram). I will mention problems of type C_n for all n, before discussing my own work on embedding problems of type D_4 and triality. |
Number Theory
Commutative Algebra