HC Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics Seminar

at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, College of the Holy Cross

Schedule of Talks

Spring 2025

  1. Date and Time: TBD

    Zhiyan Jang, College of the Holy Cross

    Title: A study of complete permutation polynomials arising from polynomial gn,q, and their applications in Cryptography

Fall 2024

  1. 4pm - 5pm on Tuesday, October 1, 2024

    Sean Baker, College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Self-reciprocal polynomials from Dickson polynomials and their applications in coding theory

    Abstract: HERE

  2. 4pm - 5pm on Tuesday, October 8, 2024

    Zhaoqi Wu, College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Idempotents in quandle rings

    Abstract: HERE

  3. 4pm - 5pm on Tuesday, October 22, 2024

    John Little, College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Rational "multi-lump" solutions of the KP equation from cuspidal algebraic curves

    Abstract: The Korteweg-deVries (KdV) and Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equations are nonlinear PDE that model various sorts of surprising wave phenomena. In particular, both equations have "soliton" solutions (self-reinforcing, localized solutions that preserve their shapes while propagating freely). One perhaps unexpected feature of these equations is that they are closely connected with some classical topics in algebraic geometry because they have many exact solutions constructed from algebraic curves. We will give a general overview of this connection by means of explicit examples in the special case of rational function solutions. Our main result is a new construction of "multi-lump" solutions starting from singular rational curves with only cuspidal singularities.

Spring 2024

  1. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, February 19, 2024

    Allen Broughton , Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

    Title: Constructing Riemann Surface from Puzzle Pieces

    Abstract: The most common form of a Riemann surface starts off as the set of complex solutions of a plane curve equation. For instance, a typical elliptic curve is the set of complex solutions of y2 = x (x-1) (x-a), where a is some parameter. In general, finding an equation for a Riemann surface is *not easy*, especially if the surface is abstractly defined. In this talk, we will describe a way of geometrically constructing a Riemann surface from "puzzle pieces". This is especially useful for surfaces that have an interesting group of automorphisms, usually abstractly defined. The idea of construction comes from using cut systems in the plane to properly define complex algebraic functions and their integrals. The talk will follow that historic line, just using calculus of complex functions, and then later move to a more abstract setting.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.

  2. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, March 18, 2024

    Bill Martin , Worcester Polytechnic Istitute

    Title: Quantum isomorphic graphs from association schemes

    Abstract: Quantum games have emerged as useful tools to understand the power of shared entanglement. A simple classical game can be used to define graph isomorphism: two players, Alice and Bob, convince a referee that graphs G and H are isomorphic as follows. Alice and Bob may strategize beforehand but cannot communicate during the game. The referee gives Alice (Bob) a vertex xA (xB) in V(G) ⊔ V(H). Alice and Bob respond with vertices yA, yB, of the opposite graph and win if the relationship (equal, adjacent, non-adjacent) between the two vertices of G matches the relationship between the two vertices (among xA, yA, xB, yA) belonging to H.

    The question is how much the game changes if, as part of their strategizing, Alice and Bob prepare some quantum state on which they can later perform measurements. We say the graphs G and H are quantum isomorphic if there is a way for Alice and Bob to fool the referee with this additional resource.

    Ada Chan and I showed that any two Hadamard graphs on the same number of vertices are quantum isomorphic. This was the first instance where more than two graphs were shown to be pairwise quantum isomorphic. The result for Hadamard graphs follows from a more general recipe for showing quantum isomorphism of graphs arising from certain association schemes. The main result is built from three tools. A remarkable recent result of Mančinska and Roberson shows that graphs G and H are quantum isomorphic if and only if, for any planar graph F, the number of graph homomorphisms from F to G is equal to the number of graph homomorphisms from F to H. A generalization of partition functions called "scaffolds" affords us some basic reduction rules such as series-parallel reduction and can be applied to counting homomorphisms. The final tool is the classical theorem of Epifanov showing that any plane graph can be reduced to a single vertex and no edges by extended series-parallel reductions and Delta-Wye transformations. This last sort of transformation is available to us in the case of exactly triply regular association schemes.

    The goal of the talk is to walk through these ideas without making things unnecessarily technical. No knowledge of physics is assumed and, for this narrative, we will avoid the the quantum commuting framework and work in a finite-dimensional quantum tensor framework.



  3. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, April 8, 2024

    Farhad Mohsin , College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Computational aspects of voting paradoxes

    Abstract: Voting is one of the most popular ways of aggregating individual preferences to make a group decision. There are many different voting rules, and unfortunately, there is no good answer to "which voting rule is the best?". One way to try to answer this question is to see which rules suffer from paradoxical/counterintuitive outcomes, such as the Condorcet paradox, the no-show paradox, etc. Even verifying whether a voting rule suffers from these paradoxes has proven to be a computationally hard task in some cases. In this talk, we will discuss several such paradoxes, the computational hardness aspects of it, and our work on how we can circumvent some of these paradoxes in real voting scenarios.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.

  4. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, April 22, 2024

    Mohit Pal , University of Bergen, Norway

    Title: On quasi-planar monomials over finite fields

    Abstract: Let Fq be the finite field with q = pn elements, where p is an odd prime and n is a positive integer. We denote by Fq× the multiplicative cyclic group of nonzero elements of Fq and by Fq[X] the ring of polynomials in indeterminate X and coefficients in Fq. It is well-known, due to Lagrange interpolation formula, that any function f : Fq → Fq can be uniquely expressed by a polynomial f(X)Fq[X] of degree ≤ q-1. A polynomial f(X)Fq[X] is called a permutation polynomial if the induced mapping c ↦ f(c) permutes the elements of Fq. A map fFq[X] is called a quasi-planar map if Δf(X,a) = f(X+a) + f(X) is a permutation polynomial for all aFq. In this talk, we shall discuss quasi-planar monomials over finite fields of odd characteristic.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.

Fall 2023

  1. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, October 23, 2023

    Vahan Mkrtchyan , College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Normal edge-colorings of cubic graphs

    Abstract: If G is a cubic graph and f : E(G) → {1,....., k} is a proper k-edge-coloring, then an edge e=uv of G is called poor (or rich) with respect to f, if u and v together are incident to exactly 3 (or 5) colors in f. A proper k-edge-coloring is called normal in G, if all edges of G are poor or rich with respect to this coloring. The Petersen coloring of Jaeger states that all bridgeless cubic graphs admit a normal edge-coloring with at most 5 colors. If a cubic graph contains a bridge, then it was known previously that all such cubic graphs admit a normal edge-coloring with at most 9 colors. In this talk, we will show that all cubic graphs admit a normal edge-coloring using at most 7 colors. This bound is best-possible, in a sense that it is tight for infinitely many cubic graphs. This is a joint work with Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.   Source: Preprint

  2. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, November 13, 2023

    John Little, College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Pappus on the Delian Problem (Doubling the Cube)

    Abstract: The Mathematical Collection of Pappus of Alexandria (ca. 290 - ca. 350 CE) is one of our main sources of information about many aspects of earlier Greek mathematics. In particular, Pappus includes several discussions of what mathematicians had accomplished on the three celebrated construction problems that served as stimuli for the development of higher geometry--i.e. doubling the cube, trisecting a general angle, and squaring the circle. In particular, in Book III of the Mathematical Collection, Pappus gives a selection of methods for doubling the cube copied from works of earlier authors. (Most of these have not survived in their original forms, so we essentially only know about them from Pappus and also a later commentary on a work of Archimedes by Eutocius of Ascalon.) Pappus includes an instrumental method that he claims as his own invention. (He also includes this in Book VIII in the context of a discussion of mechanics!)

    In this talk, to set the stage, we will discuss the reduction of cube doubling to the problem asking for the construction of two mean proportionals in continued proportion between two given lines. We will present Pappus's method in full (and discuss what it has to do with mechanics and why it does not contradict the fact that some of us learned in Modern Algebra that this problem cannot be solved with straightedge and compass). Then we will turn to a fascinating and historically rich passage at the start of Book III where Pappus gives what can be described as something almost like a referee's report on a different proposed solution of the problem. As we'll see, Pappus's judgment is very negative, although with the eyes of modern mathematicians, we can see that the proposed method does have some merit.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.

  3. 4pm - 5pm on Monday, November 20, 2023

    Maggie Regan , College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Exploring the Real Parameter Space

    Abstract: Many problems that arise in mathematics, science, and engineering can be formulated as solving a system of polynomial equations. One way to solve these systems is to use a common technique within numerical algebraic geometry called homotopy continuation. My talk will give background on homotopy continuation and parameterized polynomial systems. In addition, I will give examples from various applications, such as computer vision and kinematics.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.

  4. 3pm - 4pm on Wednesday, November 29, 2023

    Gareth Roberts , College of the Holy Cross

    Title: On Kite Central Configurations

    Abstract: Central configurations play a key role in understanding solutions of the Newtonian n-body problem. From rest, bodies positioned in a central configuration (c.c.) will collapse in on themselves homothetically, preserving the shape of the configuration throughout their motion. On the other hand, given the correct initial velocities, a planar c.c. will rotate rigidly about its center of mass, creating a simple periodic solution known as a relative equilibrium. Any group of bodies heading toward a collision must asymptotically approach a central configuration.

    We focus on four-body kite c.c.'s, where two of the bodies lie on an axis of symmetry and the other two bodies are positioned equidistant from that axis. Kites may either form a convex or concave quadrilateral. The masses of the bodies not on the axis of symmetry must be equal. Following the approach used by Santoprete for co-circular c.c.'s, we explore the question of uniqueness, that is, for a given choice of masses and a particular ordering of the bodies, does there exist a unique convex kite c.c.? The idea is to replace the complicated Cayley-Menger determinant with a simpler constraint function, and then apply a topological argument. Proving existence is easy; uniqueness is hard. We will explain why and offer an approach that exploits the symmetry of the configuration. This is work in progress.

    Please click HERE for the slides of the talk.

Fall 2022

  1. Tuesday, September 20, 2022

    John Little, College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Halving a triangle, or one result that Clavius got wrong

    Abstract: In the Euclidean plane, given a triangle ABC and a point D, suppose we are required to construct a line through D that cuts the triangle into two polygons of equal area. In his 1604 book Geometria Practica (the subject of the translation project I completed last year), Christopher Clavius, S.J. reports on work on this question by Leonardo Pisano ("Fibonacci") and Niccolo Tartaglia (better known for his work on solving cubic polynomial equations by radicals, but also the author of an earlier book on practical geometry). Clavius gives a solution in the case that D lies outside the triangle and we will see what he says there. Noting that Fibonacci and Tartaglia had also studied the problem when D lies inside the triangle without finding a complete solution, Clavius claims that it is not always possible to find such a line. Clavius "got this one wrong" (a quite rare occurrence!). We will see that is so by introducing a construction found by two 20th century authors, J.A.Dunn and J.E.Pretty (Math. Gaz. 56 (1972), 105-8) that gives a pretty description of all the lines halving a given triangle.

  2. Tuesday, October 18, 2022

    Alex Martsinkowsky , Northeastern University, Boston

    Title: A functorial approach to torsion

    Abstract: The ubiquity of additive functors is not matched by the limited number of their applications. While the potential of such functors as a powerful research tool was already forcefully demonstrated by Maurice Auslander in the 1960s, the general mathematical community seems to be reluctant to adopt them as such.

    In this expository lecture, based on joint work with Jeremy Russell, I will show how a functorial approach to the classical notion of torsion, originally defined for modules over commutative domains, allows an effortless generalization to arbitrary modules over arbitrary rings. As a striking application of the new techniques, I will give a one-line proof that there is no ring over which torsion splits off functorially. Moreover, the same philosophy produces a dual concept, which, unlike torsion, does not have a historical prototype. As another application, I will pose a question (conjecture?) relating this duality to control theory.

  3. Tuesday, November 15, 2022

    Truong-Son Van , Fulbright University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Title: On the multiplicative coagulation equation

    Abstract: Coagulation-fragmentation equation is a family of equations that describe many physical phenomena that concern clustering. In this talk, we will discuss a few versions of this equation, where one of the main players is the multiplicative coagulation kernel. The focus will be on phenomena that revolve around the so-called gelation phenomenon, which is the formation of clusters so large, in finite time, that the model fails to capture.

Spring 2023

  1. Tuesday, February 14, 2023

    Cristina Ballantine , College of the Holy Cross

    Title: Parity results for 3-regular partitions and quadratic forms

    Abstract: A partition of a nonnegative integer n is a way to write n as a sum of positive integers. There are five partitions of 4: 4, 3+1, 2+2, 2+1+1, 1+1+1+1+1. Denote by p(n) be the number of partitions of n. Asymptotically, how often is p(n) even? We do not know but it is conjectured that p(n) is even half the time. We will consider the number, b3(n), of 3-regular partitions, i.e., partitions with no parts divisible by 3, and find infinitely many arithmetic progressions where b3(n) takes even values. To prove our result we investigate a quadratic form in a classical way. This is joint work with Mircea Merca and Cristian-Silviu Radu.

  2. Tuesday, April 4, 2023

    Mohamed Elhamdadi , University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

    Title: A gentle introduction to Quandle Theory

    Abstract: The talk will introduce some algebraic structures, motivated by knot theory, called Quandles. We will show how they can be used to distinguish some knots. Many examples will be given. The talk will be self-contained.

  3. Monday, April 17, 2023

    Divine Wanduku, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA (Talk was cancelled)

    Title: TBA

    Abstract: TBA



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