A number of probabilistic systems which can be analyzed in great detail due to certain algebraic structures behind them. These systems include certain directed polymer models, random growth process, interacting particle systems and stochastic PDEs; their analysis yields information on certain universality classes, such as the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang; and these structures include Macdonald processes and quantum integrable systems. We will provide background on this growing area of research and delve into a few of the recent developments.

Kardar-Parisi-Zhang - interacting particle systems - random growth processes - directed polymers - Markov duality - quantum integrable systems - Bethe ansatz - asymmetric simple exclusion process - stochastic partial differential equations[-]

Maria Chudnovsky is a professor in the department of mathematics at Princeton University. She grew up in Russia and Israel, studying at the Technion and received her Ph.D. in 2003 from Princeton under the supervision of Paul Seymour. She moved to Columbia after being a Clay Mathematics Institute research fellow and assistant professor at Princeton. Chudnovsky's contributions to graph theory include the proof of the strong perfect graph theorem with Robertson, Seymour and Thomas characterizing perfect graphs as being exactly the graphs with no odd induced cycles of length at least 5 or their complements. Other research contributions of Chudnovsky include co-authorship of the first polynomial time algorithm for recognizing perfect graphs and of a structural characterization of the claw-free graphs.[-]

The theory of graph (and structure) convergence gained recently a substantial attention. Various notions of convergence were proposed, adapted to different contexts, including Lovasz et al. theory of dense graph limits based on the notion of left convergence and Benjamini–Schramm theory of bounded degree graph limits based on the notion of local convergence. The latter approach can be extended into a notion of local convergence for graphs (stronger than left convegence) as follows: A sequence of graphs is local convergent if, for every local first-order formula, the probability that the formula is satisfied for a random (uniform independent) assignment of the free variables converge as n grows to infinity. In this talk, we show that the local convergence of a sequence of graphs allows to decompose the graphs in the sequence in a coherent way, into concentration clusters (intuitively corresponding to the limit non-zero measure connected components), a residual cluster, and a negligible set. Also, we mention that if we consider a stronger notion of local-global convergence extending Bollobas and Riordan notion of local-global convergence for graphs with bounded degree, we can further refine our decomposition by exhibiting the expander-like parts.

graphs - structural limit - graph limit - asymptotic connectivity[-]

In this series of four lectures we develop the necessary background from commutative algebra to study solution sets of algebraic equations in power series rings. A good comprehension of the geometry of such sets should then yield in particular a "geometric" proof of the Artin approximation theorem.
In the first lecture, we review various power series rings (formal, convergent, algebraic), their topology ($m$-adic, resp. inductive limit of Banach spaces), and give a conceptual proof of the Weierstrass division theorem.
Lecture two covers smooth, unramified and étale morphisms between noetherian rings. The relation of these notions with the concepts of submersion, immersion and diffeomorphism from differential geometry is given.
In the third lecture, we investigate ring extensions between the three power series rings and describe the respective flatness properties. This allows us to prove approximation in the linear case.
The last lecture is devoted to the geometry of solution sets in power series spaces. We construct in the case of one $x$-variable an isomorphism of an $m$-adic neighborhood of a solution with the cartesian product of a (singular) scheme of finite type with an (infinite dimensional) smooth space, thus extending the factorization theorem of Grinberg-Kazhdan-Drinfeld.
CIRM - Chaire Jean-Morlet 2015 - Aix-Marseille Université[-]

The $p$-adic Igusa zeta function, topological and motivic zeta function are (related) invariants of a polynomial $f$, reflecting the singularities of the hypersurface $f = 0$. The first one has a number theoretical flavor and is related to counting numbers of solutions of $f = 0$ over finite rings; the other two are more geometric in nature. The monodromy conjecture relates in a mysterious way these invariants to another singularity invariant of $f$, its local monodromy. We will discuss in this survey talk rationality issues for these zeta functions and the origins of the conjecture.[-]

Let $A$ be the ring of formal power series in $n$ variables over a field $K$ of characteristic zero. Two power series $f$ and $g$ in $A$ are said to be equivalent if there exists a $K$-automorphism of $A$ transforming $f$ into $g$. In my talk I will review criteria for a power series to be equivalent to a power series which is a polynomial in at least some of the variables. For example, each power series in $A$ is equivalent to a polynomial in two variables whose coefficients are power series in $n - 2$ variables. In particular, each power series in two variables over $K$ is equivalent to a polynomial with coefficients in $K$. Similar results are valid for convergent power series, assuming that the field $K$ is endowed with an absolute value and is complete. In the special case of convergent power series over the field of real numbers some weaker notions of equivalence will be also considered. I will report on works of several mathematicians giving simple proofs. Some open problems will be included.

singularities - power series[-]

The space of formal arcs of an algebraic variety carries part of the information encoded in a resolution of singularities. This series of lectures addresses this fact from two perspectives. In the first two lectures, we focus on the topology of the space of arcs, proving Kolchin's irreducibility theorem and discussing the Nash problem on families of arcs through the singularities of the variety; recent results on this problem are proved in the second lecture. The last two lectures are devoted to some applications of arc spaces toward a conjecture on minimal log discrepancies known as inversion of adjunction. Minimal log discrepancies are invariants of singularities appearing in the minimal model program, a quick overview of which is given in the third lecture.[-]

The space of formal arcs of an algebraic variety carries part of the information encoded in a resolution of singularities. This series of lectures addresses this fact from two perspectives. In the first two lectures, we focus on the topology of the space of arcs, proving Kolchin's irreducibility theorem and discussing the Nash problem on families of arcs through the singularities of the variety; recent results on this problem are proved in the second lecture. The last two lectures are devoted to some applications of arc spaces toward a conjecture on minimal log discrepancies known as inversion of adjunction. Minimal log discrepancies are invariants of singularities appearing in the minimal model program, a quick overview of which is given in the third lecture.[-]

Uncertainty principles go back to the early years of quantum mechanics. Originally introduced to describe the impossibility for a function to be sharply localized in both the direct and Fourier spaces, localization being measured by variance, it has been generalized to many other situations, including different representation spaces and different localization measures.
In this talk we first review classical results on variance uncertainty inequalities (in particular Heisenberg, Robertson and Breitenberger inequalities). We then focus on discrete (and in particular finite-dimensional) situations, where variance has to be replaced with more suitable localization measures. We then present recent results on support and entropic inequalities, describing joint localization properties of vector expansions with respect to two frames.

Keywords: uncertainty principle - variance of a function - Heisenberg inequality - support inequalities - entropic inequalities[-]

In this conference, I start by presenting the first applications and developments of wavelet methods made in Marseille in 1985 in the framework of sounds and music. A description of the earliest wavelet transform implementation using the SYTER processor is given followed by a discussion related to the first signal analysis investigations. Sound examples of the initial sound transformations obtained by altering the wavelet representation are further presented. Then methods aiming at estimating sound synthesis parameters such as amplitude and frequency modulation laws are described. Finally, new challenges brought by these early works are presented, focusing on the relationship between low-level synthesis parameters and sound perception and cognition. An example of the use of the wavelet transforms to estimate sound invariants related to the evocation of the "object" and the "action" is presented.

Keywords : sound and music - first wavelet applications - signal analysis - sound synthesis - fast wavelet algorithms - instantaneous frequency estimation - sound invariants[-]