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Tony Geramita: Sums of Squares: Evolution of an Idea.

Tony Geramita, Queen’s University and University of Genova

Time: Wed 2010-03-31 16.00

Location: KTH, Matematik, seminarierum 3721

Beginning with Fermat’s characterization of primes which are the sum of two squares, I would like to show how this naturally leads to Waring’s Problem for Integers and then to Waring’s Problem for Homogeneous Polynomials. One half of this latter problem has been solved in recent years and I will explain the nature of the approach to that solution through the study of the Higher Secant Varieties of Veronese Varieties and the study of non-reduced subschemes of pro jective n-space. Despite the technical sounding terms above, the talk is aimed at a general audience and I will keep the technicalities to a minimum.

Coffee and tea served at 15.30.

Title Date
Torsten Ekedahl: The Sato-Tate conjecture Nov 03, 2010
Jesper Grodal: Finite loop spaces Nov 10, 2010
Amol Sasane: An analogue of Serre’s Conjecture and Control Theory Oct 13, 2010
Reiner Werner: Quantum correlations - how to prove a negative from finitely many observations Sep 29, 2010
Warwick Tucker: Validated Numerics - a short introduction to rigorous computations Sep 22, 2010
Idun Reiten: Cluster categories and cluster algebras Sep 01, 2010
Stefano Demichelis: Use and misuse of mathematics in economic theory May 26, 2010
Gregory G. Smith: Old and new perspectives on Hilbert functions Apr 14, 2010
Tony Geramita: Sums of Squares: Evolution of an Idea. Mar 31, 2010
Jens Hoppe: Non-commutative curvature and classical geometry Mar 24, 2010
Margaret Beck: Understanding metastability using invariant manifolds Mar 03, 2010
Jan-Erik Björk: Glimpses from work by Carleman Feb 10, 2010