Seminar Schedule
January 17 – 21, 2005

All Seminars are held in Boyd Graduate Studies Bldg. unless otherwise noted.

MONDAY, January 17, 2005

UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY

TUESDAY, January 18, 2005

VIGRE Graduate Student Seminar
2:00p.m., Room 304
Speaker: Bree Ettinger, University of Georgia
Title of talk: something about airplanes
Abstract: In this talk I will discuss my summer experience at The Boeing Company. During my internship I completed two major projects, a concept vehicle for a trade study and upgrading a a routine for Boeing's Spline Toolkit. I will discuss the math involved, the interesting facts a learned along the way and some of the logistics involving my internship.

Dynamics on Berkovich Space
3:30-5:30p.m., Room 326
Speaker: Matt Baker, University of Georgia
Title of talk: TBA

WEDNESDAY, January 19, 2005

Spline Analysis
2:00pm-3:00pm, Room 326
Speaker: Victoria Baramidze, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Spherical Spline Approximation (cont.)
Abstract: I will explain how to define spherical spline functions over spherical triangulations.

Algebraic Geometry
2:30-3:45 p.m., Room 410
Speaker: Robert Varley, University of Georgia
Title of talk: The local pfaffian structure defining a Prym theta divisor
Abstract: For the Prym variety of an etale double cover of curves, I will discuss the construction of a skew-symmetric matrix of regular functions whose pfaffian is a local equation for the theta divisor. This result accounts for several of the known features of the structure of a Prym theta divisor and its parametrization by an Abel map. The result is joint work with Roy Smith and will provide a continuation of the presentation that he gave last semester on the local determinantal equation for a Jacobian theta divisor.

VIGRE – Cardiac Physiology
2:30p.m., Room 640

Algebra
2:30-3:30p.m., Room 322 (day and room change for this week only)
Speaker: Michael Collins, Oxford
Title of talk: "Bounds for finite linear groups, II.", continued

Faculty and Graduate Social
3:00 p.m., Room 409
Coffee, Cookies, Tea

VIGRE – Algebra
3:30-4:30p.m., Room 303
Speakers: Dave Benson, Brian Boe and Dan Nakano
Title of talk: Support varieties of Specht modules for symmetric groups, continued.

Number Theory
3:45-5:15pm, Room 304
Organizational Meeting

THURSDAY, January 20, 2005

VIGRE – Algebraic Geometry
2:00p.m., Room 304

Faculty and Graduate Social
3:00 p.m., Room 409
Coffee, Cookies, Tea

Colloquium
3:30p.m., Room 328
Speaker: John McCuan, Georgia Institute of Technology
Title of talk: Singularities in Capillary Surfaces and Minimal Graphs.
Abstract: The theory of capillary surfaces centers around determining the shape and spatial positioning of liquid-air and liquid-liquid interfaces especially when liquids come into contact with and are influenced by rigid support surfaces (containers---like a capillary tube). I will describe questions about the "shape" of capillary surfaces in the sense of regularity and explain that while capillary surfaces admit complete interior regularity in general, one may find along the boundary discontinuities, unbounded solutions, and worse.

Specifically, I will describe recently constructed solutions which are the first solutions known to be discontinuous.

FRIDAY, January 21, 2005

Student Arithmetic/Algebraic Geometry Seminar
12:20p.m., Room 410
Speaker: TBA
Title of talk: TBA

Geometry
2:30p.m., Room 326
Speaker: Jason Cantarella, University of Georgia
Title of talk: How hard is it to find the self-contacts of a tube?

VIGRE – Clifford Algebras
3:30p.m., Room 302

Wavelet Analysis
3:30-4:30p.m., Room 322
Speaker: Ming-Jun Lai, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Factorization of Positive Laurent Polynomials
Abstract: I will explain a Rudin's theorem that there exists a bivariate nonnegative Laurent polynomial such that cannot be factored into a sum of magnitude squares of polynomials.