Events

Apr 19 - Apr 13, 2025

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  Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits with Integrated Lasers

  John E. Bowers, Distinguished Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Stanta Barbara, United States

  Apr 16, 09:30 - 10:30

  B9 L2 R2322

  Tremendous progress is being made at silicon photonic foundries around the world to improve the performance, yield and capability of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and that is opening up new markets, including quantum computing and sensing. These results will be described with an emphasis on integrating lasers to PICs and the improvements in laser and system performance that are possible.
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  Advancing Optoelectronics and Power Electronics: From Ultrawide-Bandgap Semiconductors to Silicon-Integrated Plasmonic Heterojunctions for Next-Generation Applications

  Nasir Alfaraj, Ibn Rushd Postdoctoral Fellow, The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto

  Apr 15, 11:30 - 12:30

  B3 L5 R5209

  Addressing critical challenges in on-chip communication, this presentation details the development of silicon-integrated plasmonic heterojunction devices within the broader context of energy-efficient, high-performance electronic and photonic systems. We emphasize material innovations (e.g., transparent conductive oxides) and architectural advancements aimed at enhancing efficiency and minimizing optical losses.
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  Strategies for Improving Communication Efficiency in Distributed and Federated Learning: Compression, Local Training, and Personalization

  Kai Yi, Ph.D. Student, Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering

  Apr 14, 18:00 - 20:00

  B5 L5 R5209

  This dissertation advances communication-efficient distributed and federated learning through novel algorithms for model compression, local training optimization, and personalization, validated by theoretical analysis and empirical results.
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  Making LLMs Agentic: How Tool Use and Synthetic Data Drive Real-World Intelligence

  Ibrahim Abdelaziz, Senior Research Scientist, IBM

  Apr 13, 16:00 - 17:00

  B2/3 L0 R0215

  LLM machine learning artificial intelligence AI

  This talk presents advancements in agentic AI, focusing on creating and utilizing datasets and models that enable Large Language Models to effectively interact with external tools for real-world applications.
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  Enhancing Solar Fuel Production Performance through Catalyst Design and Device Engineering

  Fei Xiang, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 13, 14:00 - 16:00

  B2 L5 R5209

  This thesis integrates catalyst design and device engineering to enhance solar fuel production performance. Our work focuses on expanding the scope of solar fuels beyond hydrogen in PV-EC systems and improving the efficiency and long-term stability of the photoanode in PEC water splitting, thereby enhancing solar energy utilization.
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  Gallium Oxide Diodes: Past , Present and Future Applications

  Jose Manuel Taboada Vasquez, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  This talk will explore recent advancements in gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) diode technology, highlighting its potential as a cost-effective ultra-wide bandgap material for high-power electronics despite challenges in electron mobility and thermal conductivity.

Apr 12 - Apr 6, 2025

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  The Earliest Arrival of Quantum Advantage

  David Keyes, Professor, Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

  Apr 10, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  quantum computing quantum processing unit supercomputers

  This talk outlines a "quantum first" strategy for future supercomputers, integrating QPUs, GPUs, and CPUs to optimize energy efficiency and accelerate scientific computing while addressing the current challenges and projecting the maturation of quantum computing by leveraging classical supercomputing advancements.
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  Helmholtz–Korteweg Equations: Modeling, Analysis, and Applications

  Umberto Zerbinati

  Apr 8, 15:00 - 16:00

  B1 L4 R4102

  Korteweg fluids Helmholtz–Korteweg equation

  This talk presents a derivation and analysis of Helmholtz-Korteweg equations, extended to nematic-Korteweg fluids, including well-posedness proofs, numerical methods, and predictions for wave propagation and scattering phenomena with experimental implications.
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  Architecture and System Co-Design for High-performance LLM Inference and Training

  Jingwen Leng, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  Apr 7, 11:00 - 12:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  This talk explores the advantages and challenges of integrated training and inference architectures for AI, which are becoming increasingly necessary due to the evolving nature of AI models and the growing demand for efficient computing power.
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  Workshop on Analysis and PDEs

  Apr 7, 08:00 - Apr 10, 17:00

  B3, L5, R5220

  PDEs Analysis of PDE's fluid dynamics free boundary problems energy minimization Mathematical Biology

  Join us for the Workshop on PDEs to explore advances, challenges and methods in the analysis and computation of partial differential equations.
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  Rising Stars in AI Symposium 2025

  Apr 7 - 10, All day

  Building 19, Halls 1, 2 and 3

  AI

  Join KAUST's Rising Stars in AI Symposium 2025, bringing together exceptional emerging talent shaping the future of AI research and innovation.
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  SAAI Factory 3

  Apr 6, 08:00 - Apr 14, 14:45

  Buildings 20 and Buildings 19

  artificial intelligence AI art machine learning Hackathon

  SAAI Factory 3 brings together artists, researchers and youth to explore AI and art at KAUST.

Mar 29 - Mar 23, 2025

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  MI is All You Need: Understanding Complex Multivariate Systems Through the Lenses of GenAI

  Pietro Michiardi, Professor, Department Head, Data Science Department, EURECOM

  Mar 26, 12:00 - 13:00

  B1 L4 R4102

  This talk explores the use of score functions and denoising neural networks for efficient estimation of mutual information and novel extensions to information theory that describe complex multivariate interactions, demonstrating applications in automotive sensing, semantic alignment, and neuroscience.
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  Some Contributions to Particle and Unbiased Simulation Methods

  Elsiddig Awadelkarim Elsiddig, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics

  Mar 26, 10:00 - 12:00

  B3 L5 R5209; Zoom Meeting 95303621356

  Bayesian Statistics machine learning

  This thesis develops unbiased estimators and efficient particle filters, leveraging Feynman-Kac formulae and multilevel techniques, to address challenges in parameter estimation, filtering, invariant measure approximation, and stationary distribution computation for partially observed diffusion processes and McKean-Vlasov stochastic differential equations.
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  Dimension Liftings for Quantum Computation of Partial Differential Equations and Related Problems

  Shi Jin, Director of Institute of Natural Sciences, Chair Professor of Mathematics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  Mar 25, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  PDEs Schrödinger equation quantum simulation quantum computing

  This lecture presents a systematic framework for developing quantum simulation algorithms for general differential equations, using dimension lifting to transform nonlinear and time-dependent problems into forms solvable by simulating the Schrödinger equation.
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  Statistical Models and Methods Based on Stochastic Partial Differential Equations

  David Bolin, Professor, Statistics

  Mar 23, 14:00 - 15:30

  B9 L2 R2322; Zoom Meeting ID 93209452060

  SPDEs non-Gaussian random fields statistical analysis Metric graphs

  This talk presents an overview of our research on statistical methods using stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs), focusing on non-Gaussian random fields and fractional-order SPDEs, and theory for random fields and statistical analysis on metric graphs, highlighting theoretical contributions, software development, and applications relevant to KAUST RDI pillars.
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  Latent Abstractions, Mutual Information and Generative Diffusion Models

  Giulio Franzese, Assistant Professor, Data Science Department, EURECOM

  Mar 23, 12:00 - 13:00

  B1 L4 R4102

  This talk presents a mathematical framework linking stochastic differential equations and information theory on how diffusion models utilize latent abstractions via implicit stochastic filtering to synthesize high-dimensional data.
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  Sense of Touch: from Haptics to Robotic Tactile Sensing

  Zhanat Kappassov, Associate Professor, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

  Mar 23, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  biomedical sensing robotics haptics

  This talk explores the intersection of haptics, human touch perception, and robotic tactile sensing, covering principles of human touch, traditional and emerging robotic tactile sensors, and their applications in human-robot interaction, including a case study on tactile gloves for breast lump detection.

Mar 22 - Mar 16, 2025

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  Extensions of Dynamic Programming for Combinatorial Optimization and Data Mining

  Mikhail Moshkov, Professor, Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

  Mar 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  Dynamic programming is an efficient technique to solve optimization problems. It is based on decomposing the initial problem into simpler ones and solving these sub-problems beginning from the simplest ones. A conventional dynamic programming algorithm returns an optimal object from a given set of objects.
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  Color-Converting Luminescent Devices for High-Speed Optical Wireless Communication

  Yue Wang, Ph.D. Candidate (former), Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Mar 20, 10:00 - 11:30

  B3 L5 R5209

  Free-space optical communications Underwater wireless optical communication luminescent optoelectronics fiber optics

  This dissertation advances optical communication systems by exploring and integrating novel luminescent materials, including MOFs, perovskite nanosheets and quantum dots, and organic fluorophores, to enhance speed, efficiency, and versatility in applications ranging from high-speed visible-light communication and ultraviolet free-space communication to underwater wireless optical communication and optical amplification.
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  Luminescent Photonic Metamaterials and Devices from THz to Optical Frequencies

  Qing Gu, Associate Professors, Electrical and Computer Engineering, NC State University, United States

  Mar 19, 12:00 - 13:15

  B3 L5 R5209

  This talk covers on-chip light sources, a crucial component in high-performance photonic integrated circuits (ICs), including perovskite microlasers, luminescent hyperbolic metamaterials, topologically protected microlasers, and spintronic THz emitters.
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  Recent Advances in 3D Computer Vision and Their Applications for Medical Imaging

  Abdullah Hamdi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Visual Geometry Group; Junior Research Fellow, Kellogg College, University of Oxford

  Mar 17, 13:00 - 14:00

  Building 9, Level 2, Hall1, Room 2325

  Abstract Advances in AI have revolutionized many domains, yet effectively harnessing 3D data remains a challenge due to the lack of a unified 3D representation across tasks. A recent breakthrough in this area is the 3D Gaussian Splatting primitive, which enables fast and accurate 3D reconstruction from multiple 2D images. However, its limitations in representing sharp, physical objects have prompted us to propose an alternative based on 3D smooth convexes, which demonstrably outperforms traditional approaches in reconstructing fine details. In the realm of medical imaging—where 3D volumetric
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  Bridging 2D and 3D for Label-Efficient Learning in Scene Understanding

  Timo Ropinski, Professor, Institute of Media Informatics, Ulm University, Germany

  Mar 17, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  This talk presents a series of novel methods that bridge 2D and 3D data representations to achieve robust, label-efficient scene understanding, encompassing unsupervised semantic and instance segmentation, open-vocabulary 3D scene graph generation, and RelationField, which extends neural radiance fields to capture open-vocabulary object relationships implicitly.
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  iHunter: Empowering Autonomous UAVs for Robust, Real-Time Aerial Terget Tracking and Trajectory Prediction

  Mohamed Abdelkader, Assistant Professor, Computer and Information Sciences, Prince Sultan University

  Mar 16, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  UAV Aerial Robotics

  This talk introduces iHunter, an integrated framework for UAVs to reliably detect, track, and predict the trajectories of moving targets by fusing multi-modal perception with state estimation, employing kinematic predictors and a GRU-based neural network trained on synthetic data, and demonstrating improved tracking stability and predictive performance for aerial surveillance and target interception.

Mar 15 - Mar 9, 2025

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  On the Use of "Conventional" Unconstrained Minimization Solvers for Training Regression Problems in Scientific Machine Learning

  Stefano Zampini, Senior Research Scientist, Hierarchical Computations on Manycore Architectures

  Mar 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  petsc PETScML machine learning

  This talk introduces PETScML, a framework leveraging traditional second-order optimization solvers for use within scientific machine learning, demonstrating improved generalization capabilities over gradient-based methods routinely adopted in deep learning.
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  Viscous Thin Films Driven by Thermal Noise

  Manuel V. Gnann, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

  Mar 11, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  This talk explores the mathematical analysis of stochastic thin-film equations, focusing on the existence of solutions for nonlinear noise and measure-valued solutions, highlighting the importance of the Stratonovich formulation for accurate physical modelling of capillary-driven viscous thin films at microscopic scales.
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  One-on-One Statistical Consulting for KAUST Researchers

  Mar 11, 10:00 - 16:00

  B1 L4 R4102

  Join the American Statistical Association (ASA) KAUST Student Chapter for one-on-one statistical consultations.
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  Chase and Escape from Sticks to Groups: Effects of Noise and Delay

  Toru Ohira, Professor, Graduate School of Mathematics Division of Mathematics Advanced Topology, Nagoya University, Japan

  Mar 10, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  This talk explores the "group chase and escape" model, an extension of the classic chase and escape problem, demonstrating emergent complex behaviours like emergent aggregate formations, noise-enhanced catching, and distance-dependent movements delays, and further examines the impact of probabilistically converting caught escapees into chasers, adding another layer of dynamical complexity to the system.
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  A Comprehensive Perception and Decision-making Pipeline for Autonomous Surface Vehicle Navigation in Aquatic Environments

  Mingi Jeong, Research Assistant, Computer Science, Dartmouth College, USA

  Mar 10, 12:00 - 13:00

  B3 L5 R5220

  Autonomous Surface Vehicle Collision Avoidance environment

  This talk addresses the challenges hindering widespread adoption of Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV), focusing on safety and robustness, and presents perception and decision-making frameworks, including LiDAR-based obstacle detection, adaptive collision avoidance, and ASV deployment for water quality monitoring, concluding with open problems for future research.

Mar 8 - Mar 2, 2025

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  The Ball-Proximal (=“Broximal”) Point Method: a New Algorithm, Convergence Theory, and Applications

  Kaja Gruntkowska, PhD student, Statistics, KAUST

  Mar 6, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  Non-smooth and non-convex global optimization poses significant challenges across various appli- cations, where standard gradient-based methods often struggle. We propose the Ball-Proximal Point Method, Broximal Point Method, or Ball Point Method (BPM) for short – a novel algorith- mic framework inspired by the classical Proximal Point Method (PPM) (Rockafellar, 1976), which, as we show, sheds new light on several founda- tional optimization paradigms and phenomena, including non-convex and non-smooth optimiza- tion, acceleration, smoothing, adaptive stepsize selection, and trust-region methods.
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  Gaming (in)security

  Marc Dacier, Professor, Computer Science

  Mar 3, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  In this talk, I will present some of our ongoing research to address cheating techniques within online games.
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  Millimeter Wave Antennas and Beamforming for Wireless Communication and Imaging Systems

  Abdel Razik Sebak, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

  Mar 2, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  This presentation explores the development of compact, high-gain, broadband millimeter-wave antennas utilizing printed ridge gap waveguide technology to meet the growing demand for high data rate and low latency applications in next-generation wireless communication, sensing, and imaging systems.
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  Enhance Neural Network Training for Complex PDEs: Algorithms, Architectures, and Integration with Traditional Methods

  Dr. Yahong Yang, Postdoctoral Scholar, Pennsylvania State University, USA

  Mar 2, 12:00 - 13:00

  Auditorium between Building 2 - 3, L0 R0215

  This talk explores recent research on improving neural network methods for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) by addressing training challenges through novel algorithms, architectures, and integration with traditional numerical techniques.

Mar 1 - Feb 23, 2025

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  Ringmaster ASGD: The First Asynchronous SGD with Optimal Time Complexity

  Arto Maranjyan, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science

  Feb 27, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  Asynchronous Stochastic Gradient Descent (Asynchronous SGD) is a cornerstone method for parallelizing learning in distributed machine learning. However, its performance suffers under arbitrarily heterogeneous computation times across workers, leading to suboptimal time complexity and inefficiency as the number of workers scales.
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  Longitude

  Alessandro Astolfi, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Engineering, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy

  Feb 26, 11:30 - 12:30

  B3 L5 R5220

  This lecture discusses the longitude problem, its solution, and illustrates key concepts (coordinates, geometry, interconnection, energy) applicable to nonlinear systems, model reduction, optimal filtering, and future research in control, dynamic sets, and multimedia.
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  Adapting Foundation Models: From Reinforcement Learning to Multivariate Time Series Forecasting

  Abdelhakim Benechehab, Ph.D. Student, EURECOM, France

  Feb 24, 12:00 - 13:00

  B4 L5 R5220

  This talk explores adapting foundation models for reinforcement learning and multivariate time series forecasting, introducing DICL for handling multivariate data in RL and AdaPTS for probabilistic time series forecasting, both showing significant performance improvements over baseline methods.
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  Theoretical Foundations of Efficient and Scalable Graph Learning

  Dr. Ziang Chen, Instructor, Applied Mathematics, MIT, USA

  Feb 24, 12:00 - 13:00

  Auditorium between Building 2 - 3, L0 R0215

  Graph Neural Networks

  This talk addresses key challenges in graph neural networks (GNNs), including expressive power and model depth, by theoretically analyzing and providing solutions in three areas: universal approximation of linear program properties, strong expressive power of subgraph GNNs on graphs with bounded cycles, and the role of residual connections in mitigating oversmoothing and enabling deeper models.

Feb 22 - Feb 16, 2025

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  Derivative-Free Methods in Nonconvex Optimization with and Without Noise

  Boris Mordukhovich, Distinguished University Professor, Wayne State University

  Feb 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  This talk addresses the study of nonconvex derivative-free optimization problems, where only information of either smooth objective functions or their noisy approximations is available. General derivative-free methods are proposed for minimizing differentiable (not necessarily convex) functions with globally Lipschitz continuous gradients, where the accuracy of approximate gradients is interacting with stepsizes and exact gradient values.
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  Convergence of Descent Methods under Polyak- Lojasiewicz-Kurdyka Properties

  Boris Mordukhovich, Distinguished Professor, Mathematics, Wayne State University, USA

  Feb 19, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  optimization algorithm

  This talk presents a novel convergence analysis for a class of descent methods in nonsmooth and nonconvex optimization under the Polyak-Lojasiewicz-Kurdyka properties, proving finite termination under certain conditions and revealing incompatibilities between these properties and gradient Lipschitz continuity in certain frameworks.
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  Conformal Mapping and Invariants – Motivating Numerical PDE Approaches

  Dr. Harri Hakula, Principal University Lecturer, Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Aalto University, Finland

  Feb 18, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  PDEs numerical methods optimization

  This study explores conformal mappings and invariants, particularly capacity and hyperbolic length, using PDE-based numerical methods (hp-FEM and BIE) to solve geometric optimization problems, such as minimizing heat loss or maximizing it under distance constraints, for domains with complex geometries.
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  mR_LWE-CP-ABE: a Recoverable CP-ABE protocol for Post-quantum Cryptography

  Dr. Elia Onofri, Researcher, The Institute of Applied Mathematics of the National Research Council of Italy

  Feb 17, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  Cryptography

  This talk presents a novel lattice-based revocable CP-ABE scheme built upon lattice-based cryptography to addresses the challenge of efficient user revocation in post-quantum secure cloud environments by leveraging semi-trusted mediators to enable multi-step decryption without costly re-encryption.
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  Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Monolithic Circuits

  Dhanu Chettri, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 17, 08:30 - 09:30

  B3 L5 R5220

  advanced semiconductors Ultrawide bandgap materials CMOS electronics Transistors Gallium oxide Aluminium nitride

  This thesis investigates the potential of ultrawide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors like gallium oxide (Ga2O3) and aluminium nitride (AlN) for high-power applications, focusing on the development of monolithic devices and circuits, including pseudo-CMOS inverters, bidirectional switches, and MOSFETs, demonstrating their potential for next-generation electronics operating in extreme environments.

Feb 15 - Feb 9, 2025

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  Recent Advances in Infinity Laplacian Equations

  Aelson Sobral, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

  Feb 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  The infinity Laplacian is a highly degenerate, nonlinear, second-order operator that arises in the study of optimal Lipschitz extensions and tug-of-war games, where two players alternately choose directions to move. In this presentation, we will provide a comprehensive motivation for key aspects of the infinity Laplacian and report on recent advances in the qualitative properties of its evolutionary counterpart.
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  Mapping Properties of Neural Networks and Inverse Problems

  Prof. Matti Lassas, Applied Mathematics, University of Helsinki, Finland

  Feb 12, 18:00 - 19:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  Neural Networks generative models

  This talk will explore the injectivity and universal approximation properties of neural networks, focusing on one-to-one mappings and the approximation of probability measures using compositions of invertible flow networks and injective layers, with applications in inverse problems, imaging, and generative models.
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  Spatial Dataflow is all you need!

  Jian Weng, Assistant Professor, Computer Science

  Feb 10, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2325

  machine learning RTL computational methods

  Jian Weng's research, inspired by spatial dataflow, proposes a unified hardware design and implementation framework that leverages a familiar software programming paradigm, enabling concise and efficient designs while significantly reducing code complexity and achieving near-handcrafted performance, with future applications in ML inference systems targeting memory bandwidth limitations.
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  Surface Tracking for Large-scale Dynamic Foams and Fluids

  Aleksei Kalinov, PhD Student at Institute of Science and Technology Austria

  Feb 9, 13:00 - 14:30

  B1, L2, R2202

  Foams produce the most lively phenomena that we encounter in our every-day lives. Think about starch bubbles rising in a rice cooker or soap bubbles filling a bathtub. Simulating such scenarios at a large scale is a challenge, due to constant topology changes, high frequency of degenerate geometry configurations, and huge storage and efficiency requirements. In my talk I will present a new multi-material surface tracking tool, designed to robustly handle large-scale deforming geometry, while preserving surface features. I will show how the algorithm combines explicit and implicit geometry representations, enjoying the advantages of both approaches. Finally, we will discuss how this tool enables extremely detailed simulations and exploration of large scale foams.
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  Development of a Four-Quadrant Gallium Oxide Bidirectional Switch

  Dhanu Chettri, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 9, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  With the relentless advancement of electronics and the growing adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy systems, the need for bidirectional control of electricity becomes increasingly crucial. This demand is further amplified by the necessity for high-efficiency, high-power devices that are both smaller and lighter.
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  Bridging Optimal Control and Modern AI Techniques

  Tingwei Meng, Assistant Professor, Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of California,

  Feb 9, 12:00 - 13:00

  Auditorium between 2 and 3

  The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and applied mathematics offers transformative potential for addressing challenges in scientific computing and control. In this talk, I will highlight my research at the intersection of optimal control and modern AI methods, focusing on the development of scalable, robust, and efficient algorithms to tackle high-dimensional systems with uncertainty.

Feb 8 - Feb 2, 2025

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  A Limiting Model for MEMS with Heterogeneous Dielectric Properties

  Katerina Nik, Assistant Professor, Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

  Feb 6, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9, L2, R2325

  Idealized microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) consist of two dielectric plates: a rigid ground plate above which an elastic plate is suspended. The elastic plate deforms due to a Coulomb force induced by a voltage difference applied between the two components. Coating the ground plate with an insulating layer prevents direct contact between the plates.
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  Random Matrix and SYK model

  Prof. Gang Tian

  Feb 4, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1, L3, R3119

  The random matrix theory was started in the 1930s, with notable contributions made by J. Wishart, Baolu Xu and others. During the 1950s of last century, physicist E. Wigner introduced random matrices as a means to simulate the nuclei of heavy atoms, predicting that the spacing between the spectra of heavy atomic nuclei should mirror the spacing between the eigenvalues of random matrices. Many prominent mathematicians also worked on this theory and made very important progress. In this talk, I will begin with some basics on the random matrix theory, then I will discuss some results obtained by my collaborators and myself. Next I will briefly discuss the SYK model, which is now a very active research area in physics. Our objective is to establish a mathematical theory for the SYK model, and I will present some advancements we made as well as some open problems.