[Facets-of-complexity] Invitation to Monday Lecture & Colloquium -December 16th 2019

[Ita Brunke <i.brunke@inf.fu-berlin.de>]

You are cordially invited to our next Monday Lecture & Colloquium on December 16th at 14:15 h & 16:00 h at TU Berlin.

Location:

Room MA 041 - Ground Floor
Technische Universität Berlin
Straße des 17. Juni 136
10623 Berlin 

Time: Monday, December 16th - 14:15 h

Lecture: Pawel Dlotko (Swansea University)

Title: Topology in Action

Abstract:

In this talk we will focus on a number of practical problems, originating from the theory of dynamical systems and materials science, all the way to medicine and data science. In all of them we will identify certain shapes that carry important information required to solve those problems. We will introduce standard and new tools of Topological Data Analysis and see how to apply them to the discussed scenarios.

Coffee & Tea Break :

Room MA 316 - Third Floor [British Reading]

Time: Monday, December 16th - 16:00 h s.t.

Colloquium: Alexander Heaton (Max Planck Institut Leipzig)

Title: Applications of algebra to the geometry of materials

Abstract:

The upcoming Thematic Einstein Semester entitled "Geometric and Topological Structure of Materials" will focus on recent advancements in computational materials science. In this talk, we will present two interesting areas where algebra can play a role in future research. First, in the design and analysis of novel materials, questions of rigidity of frameworks arise. For generic configurations, matroid-theoretic and combinatorial techniques can be used to study rigidity. But the frameworks arising in applications are rarely generic, therefore deciding local rigidity presents a difficult computational problem which connects to the numerical algebraic geometry of varieties and semi-algebraic sets. Second, both point configurations and also polycrystalline materials give rise to cellular decompositions of 3-dimensional space. We will discuss how a Fourier-type analysis of these cells can be used to understand their approximate symmetry. The representation theory of SO(3) and its finite subgroups can be used to extract Fourier coefficients from the surface normal density of a given cell.