Applied Mathematics Seminars 2021

SMRI Applied Mathematics Seminar ‘How to discover properties of differential equations, and how to preserve those properties under discretization’
Reinout Quispel, La Trobe University

5 August 2021

Abstract: This talk will be in two parts. The first part will be introductory, and will address the question: Given an ordinary differential equation (ODE) with certain physical/geometric properties (for example a preserved measure, first and/or second integrals), how can one preserve these properties under discretization?
The second part of the talk will cover some more recent work, and address the question: How can one deduce hard to find properties of an ODE from its discretization? Watch the recording.

Biography: Reinout Quispel was an undergraduate at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) for nine years, before obtaining a PhD on the discretization of soliton theory from Leiden University in 1983. He moved to Australia for a three-year position in 1986 and is still there 35 years later. His main areas of expertise are in integrable systems and in the geometric numerical integration of differential equations. He was awarded the Onsager Professorship and Medal by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2013.

SMRI Applied Mathematics Seminar ‘The asymptotic approach to the description of two dimensional soliton patterns in the oceans’
Yury Stepanyants, University of Southern Queensland

15 April 2021

Abstract: The asymptotic approach is suggested for the description of interacting surface and internal oceanic solitary waves. This approach allows one to describe a stationary moving wave patterns consisting of two plane solitary waves moving at an angle to each other. The results obtained within the approximate asymptotic theory is validated by comparison with the exact two-soliton solution of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation. The suggested approach is equally applicable to a wide class of non-integrable equations too. As an example, the asymptotic theory is applied to the description of wave patterns in the 2D Benjamin-Ono equation describing internal waves in the infinitely deep ocean containing a relatively thin one of the layers. Watch the recording.

Biography: Yury Stepanyants graduated in 1973 with the HD of MSc Diploma from the Gorky State University (Russia) and started to work as the Engineer with the Research Radiophysical Institute in Gorky. He proceeded his career with the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Nizhny Novgorod) from 1977 to 1997. In 1983 Yury obtained a PhD in Physical Oceanography, and in 1992 he obtained a degree of Doctor of Sciences in Geophysics. After immigration in Australia in 1998, Yury worked for 12 years as the Senior Research Scientist with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Sydney. Since July 2009 he holds a position of Full Professor at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Australia. Yury has published more than 100 journal papers, three books, several review papers and has obtained three patents.

SMRI Applied Mathematics Seminar ‘Gamilaraay Kinship Dynamics’
Jared M. Field, University of Melbourne

18 March 2021

Abstract: Traditional Indigenous marriage rules have been studied extensively since the mid 1800s. Despite this, they have historically been cast aside as having very little utility. Here, I will walk through some of the interesting mathematics of the Gamilaraay system and show that, instead, they are in fact a very clever construction.
Indeed, the Gamilaraay system dynamically trades off kin avoidance to minimise incidence of recessive diseases against pairwise cooperation, as understood formally through Hamilton’s rule.

Biography: Jared Field completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney in Mathematics and French literature, before reading for a DPhil in Mathematical Biology at Balliol College, Oxford. He is now a McKenzie Fellow in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne, with broad interests at the intersection of mathematics, evolution and ecology.

SMRI Applied Mathematics Seminar ‘Recent progress on the effective Mordell problem’
Monica Nevins, University of Ottawa

26 February 2021

Abstract: The theory of complex representations of p-adic groups can feel very technical and unwelcoming, but its central role in the conjectural local Langlands correspondence has pushed us to pursue its understanding.
In this talk, I will aim to share the spirit of, and open questions in, the representation theory of G, through the lens of restricting these representations to maximal compact open subgroups. Our point of departure: the Bruhat-Tits building of G, a 50-year-old combinatorial and geometric object that continues to reveal secrets about the structure and representation theory of G today. Watch the recording.