I will give an introductory talk on my recent results about $p$-adic differential equations on Berkovich curves, most of them in collaboration with J. Poineau. This includes the continuity of the radii of convergence of the equation, the finiteness of their controlling graphs, the global decomposition by the radii, a bound on the size of the controlling graph, and finally the finite dimensionality of their de Rham cohomology groups, together with some local and global index theorems relating the de Rham index to the behavior of the radii of the curve. If time permits I will say a word about some recent applications to the Riemann-Hurwitz formula.[-]

In these lectures I will present the recent construction of the KPZ fixed point, which is the scaling invariant Markov process conjectured to arise as the universal scaling limit of all models in the KPZ universality class, and which contains all the fluctuation behavior seen in the class.
In the first part of the minicourse I will describe this process and how it arises from a particular microscopic model, the totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP). Then I will present a Fredholm determinant formula for its distribution (at a fixed time) and show how all the main properties of the fixed point (including the Markov property, space and time regularity, symmetries and scaling invariance, and variational formulas) can be derived from the formula and the construction, and also how the formula reproduces known self-similar solutions such as the $Airy_1andAiry_2$ processes.
The second part of the course will be devoted to explaining how the KPZ fixed point can be computed starting from TASEP. The method is based on solving, for any initial condition, the biorthogonal ensemble representation for TASEP found by Sasamoto '05 and Borodin-Ferrari-Prähofer-Sasamoto '07. The resulting kernel involves transition probabilities of a random walk forced to hit a curve defined by the initial data, and in the KPZ 1:2:3 scaling limit the formula leads in a transparent way to a Fredholm determinant formula given in terms of analogous kernels based on Brownian motion.
Based on joint work with K. Matetski and J. Quastel.[-]

All previous methods of showing the existence of large gaps between primes have relied on the fact that smooth numbers are unusually sparse. This feature of the argument does not seem to generalise to showing large gaps between primes in subsets, such as values of a polynomial. We will talk about recent work which allows us to show large gaps between primes without relying on smooth number estimates. This then generalizes naturally to show long strings of consecutive composite values of a polynomial. This is joint work with Ford, Konyagin, Pomerance and Tao.[-]

We consider an acoustic waveguide modeled as follows:

$ \left \{\begin {matrix}
\Delta u+k^2(1+V)u=0& in & \Omega= \mathbb{R} \times]0,1[\\
\frac{\partial u}{\partial y}=0& on & \partial \Omega
\end{matrix}\right.$

where $u$ denotes the complex valued pressure, k is the frequency and $V \in L^\infty(\Omega)$ is a compactly supported potential.
It is well-known that they may exist non trivial solutions $u$ in $L^2(\Omega)$, called trapped modes. Associated eigenvalues $\lambda = k^2$ are embedded in the essential spectrum $\mathbb{R}^+$. They can be computed as the real part of the complex spectrum of a non-self-adjoint eigenvalue problem, defined by using the so-called Perfectly Matched Layers (which consist in a complex dilation in the infinite direction) [1].
We show here that it is possible, by modifying in particular the parameters of the Perfectly Matched Layers, to define new complex spectra which include, in addition to trapped modes, frequencies where the potential $V$ is, in some sense, invisible to one incident wave.
Our approach allows to extend to higher dimension the results obtained in [2] on a 1D model problem.[-]

The cubic Szegö equation has been introduced as a toy model for totally non dispersive evolution equations. It turned out that it is a complete integrable Hamiltonian system for which we built a non linear Fourier transform giving an explicit expression of the solutions.
This explicit formula allows to study the dynamics of the solutions. We will explain different aspects of it: almost-periodicity of the solutions in the energy space, uniform analyticity for a large set of initial data, turbulence phenomenon for a dense set of smooth initial data in large Sobolev spaces.
From joint works with Patrick Gérard.[-]

We consider competitive capacity investment for a duopoly of two distinct producers. The producers are exposed to stochastically fluctuating costs and interact through aggregate supply. Capacity expansion is irreversible and modeled in terms of timing strategies characterized through threshold rules. Because the impact of changing costs on the producers is asymmetric, we are led to a nonzero-sum timing game describing the transitions among the discrete investment stages. Working in a continuous-time diffusion framework, we characterize and analyze the resulting Nash equilibrium and game values. Our analysis quantifies the dynamic competition effects and yields insight into dynamic preemption and over-investment in a general asymmetric setting. A case-study considering the impact of fluctuating emission costs on power producers investing in nuclear and coal-fired plants is also presented.[-]