Spotlight on Research

  • An Apollonian gasket

    Computing the Hausdorff dimension of the Apollonian gasket with Caroline Wormell

    The Apollonian gasket is a well-known fractal identified more than 2000 years ago by Apollonius of Perga. The distribution of circle radii within the construct is governed by the Hausdorff…

  • Jonathan Gruber

    Jonathan Gruber uses symmetry as a tool to understand mathematical objects

    Pure mathematician Jonathan Gruber visited SMRI from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in January 2025. His research interests include representation theory, algebraic groups, tensor categories, Hecke algebras, and homological algebra. In…

  • Xenia de la Ossa and Philip Candelas in conversation with Geordie Williamson

    SMRI Director Geordie Williamson sat down to chat to Oxford University Mathematicians Xenia de la Ossa and Philip Candelas, who visited SMRI in September 2024. This interview explores general characteristics…

  • Jessica Fintzen

    Interview with Jessica Fintzen

    Jessica Fintzen’s research interests include representation theory and number theory: two areas of mathematics with a mysterious relationship. In this interview, Jessica gives us a rundown of p-adic groups and…

  • Andrew Krause

    Interview with SMRI visitor Andrew Krause

    Applied mathematician Andrew Krause visited SMRI in June 2023. In this interview, Andrew discusses how to model biological processes and other dynamical systems, from human fingerprint pattern formation to Turing’s…

  • Iva Halacheva

    Spotlight on topology and algebraic geometry: Iva Halacheva and Marcy Robertson

    SMRI visitors Iva Halacheva (Northeastern University) and Marcy Robertson (University of Melbourne) have published a paper that sets out a topological characterisation of the Kashiwara–Vergne groups, along with their SMRI…

  • 2012 Abel Prize winner Endre Szemerédi

    Laureate interview with Endre Szemerédi

    In September 2022, SMRI’s communications coordinator Larissa Fedunik had the privilege of interviewing 2012 Abel Prize winner Endre Szemerédi at the 9th Heidelberg Laureate Forum. Watch the interview with the…

  • Francisco Crespo

    Interview with SMRI visitor Francisco Crespo

    Over the second half of 2022, Francisco Crespo worked on a project related to the full n-body problem, which refers to the motion of rigid bodies in space. Find out…

  • Dr Zsuzsanna Dancso, Professor Dror Bar-Natan (University of Toronto), Dr Nancy Scherich (Elon University) and PhD candidate Jessica Liu (University of Toronto)

    2022 Toronto visitors: topological interpretations of knots, curves & more

    In July 2022, international visitors from Toronto (Nancy Scherich, Dror Bar-Natan and Jessica Liu), visited SMRI to work on a topological algebra project with University of Sydney mathematician Zsuzsanna Dancso.…

  • Professor Matthias Lesch

    Spotlight on spectral flow: Matthias Lesch

    SMRI’s first visitor Professor Matthias Lesch and his Australian collaborators have recently published a paper on spectral flow in the Journal of Topology and Analysis. Based at the Mathematical Institute…

  • Ivan Guo

    Interview with SMRI visitor Ivan Guo

    In this interview, Ivan Guo (Monash University) reflects on his recent SMRI visit and explains the models behind financial mathematics. He describes how transport theory applies to quantitative finance (as…

  • Spotlight on network dynamics: Bob Rink

    Introducing the first of our new regular feature “Research in the Spotlight”. SMRI visitor Bob Rink from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and his collaborators have recently published two papers in the…