* Dates within the next 7 days are marked by a star.
Julia Sohkanen (Sanders), University of Helsinki
Integrating Schrödinger Half-Bridges
* Today * Thursday 11 June 2026, 16:15, M240
Schrödinger half bridges minimise a cost functional consisting of a running cost and a terminal cost. The initial particle distribution is fixed, and the terminal cost penalises distance from an assigned reference distribution. Modelling this set-up in physically realistic dynamics, such as those in nanoscale information processing devices, is highly non-linear and generally unsolvable with conventional numerical methods.
Inspired by generative diffusion models, we use a neural network to parametrise the drift and perform gradient descent over the cost functional. By using a Monte Carlo method to estimate the distance from the reference distribution, we eliminate the need for any discretisation in space, which makes our method generalisable to higher dimensions. Our approach means that we can obtain solutions for parameter values even in regimes where semi-analytic results are no longer valid, which also includes weighting the cost functional such that we approach a full bridge (where the final particle distribution is fixed). We share proof-of-concept results that are ready for scaling up.
Dissertation
Rahinatou Y. Njah Nchiwo
Algebraic Number Theory and Lattice-Based Cryptography: Equivalence and Cryptanalysis of Structured LWE Variants (PhD Defence)
* Friday 12 June 2026, 12:00, M1 (M232)
Further information
Supervisor and custos: Camilla Hollanti
PhD Defence
Tuomas Kelomäki
Algorithms and computations in Khovanov homology (Public examination of PhD thesis)
* Friday 12 June 2026, 14:00, E
Further information
Opponent: Professor Slava Krushkal (University of Virginia)
Matematiikan kandiseminaari (Bachelor thesis seminar in Math.)
* Monday 15 June 2026, 09:00, M237
Further information
Ohjelma: https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/view.php?id=34597#module-908887
Anthony Mäkelä (University of Gothenburg)
Moduli of $P$-critical connections via moment maps and analytic GIT
* Monday 15 June 2026, 14:15, M3 (M234)
The Kobayashi--Hitchin correspondence relates stable holomorphic vector bundles to special connections, and can be viewed as a prototype for a broader principle: extremal objects in differential geometry should correspond to stable objects in algebraic geometry. Motivated by Bridgeland stability conditions, recent work has introduced polynomial curvature equations for Hermitian vector bundles, including (Z)-critical and (P)-critical connections, which generalize the Hermite--Einstein equation and admit moment-map interpretations. In this talk, I will describe a construction of moduli spaces for (P)-critical connections using local deformation theory and analytic geometric invariant theory. The construction produces finite-dimensional analytic GIT quotient charts around a (P)-critical connection and glues them into a Hausdorff complex space carrying a natural Weil--Petersson-type geometry.
AGC Seminar
Hermanni Huhtamäki (Aalto)
Master's thesis presentation: TBA
* Wednesday 17 June 2026, 14:15, M3 (M234)
AGC Seminar
BSc Jussi Häkkänen (Aalto University)
TBA (MSc presentation)
Monday 22 June 2026, 13:15, M2 (M233)
Aalto Stochastics & Statistics Seminar
Jules Martel (Cergy Paris University)
Towards a homological reconstruction of TQFTs
Tuesday 30 June 2026, 10:15, M3 (M234)
TQFTs are this idea of Witten that we can study quantum field theories from the point of view of the topology of state spaces and of topological transitions. Mathematically, it was formalised by Atiyah as a linearization of a cobordism category. It was concretely realized by ReshetikhinTuraev (RT) coupled with BlanchetHabbegerMasbaumVogel universal construction. The RT philosophy relies on a diagrammatic model for cobordisms (based on knot diagrams) and uses modules on quantum groups (or more generally monoidal categories) to linearly model these diagrams. This has more recently been extended so to permit the utilization of non semisimple monoidal categories as input of the construction giving rise to a new generation of TQFTs, for which a nice example is the KerlerLyubashenko (KL) construction. These constructions need abstract algebra tools applied on diagrammatic representations of manifolds, and we will try to avoid this by using homology theories, allowing a more global definition of TQFTs.
In this talk I'll introduce a new philosophy to build TQFTs based on homology of configuration spaces. Representations of mapping class groups constitute an important byproduct of TQFTs, while more natural ones can be built out of twisted homologies of configuration spaces of surfaces. We will show that from this latter new framework we can recover step by step the properties of KL TQFTs associated with quantum groups and even a unifying framework. Ill stay introductory most of the talk but the constructions and their motivations will be the occasion to review joint works with: S. Bigelow, M. De Renzi, R. Detcherry or Q. Faes (depending on the time).
Mathematical physics seminar
Prof. Timothy Trudgian (UNSW Canberra)
Division!
Thursday 09 July 2026, 15:15, M3 (M234)
Euclids algorithm for division allows us to divide two numbers, keep track of remainders, and recover GCDs. I will discuss other algebraic settings: some rings are known to be Euclidean (meaning they have this algorithm), some are known not to be; many are unknown. I will end with a summary of recent work done in this article that resolves completely the case of cyclic cubic fields:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05862
ANTA Seminar / Hollanti et al.
Prof. Guillermo Mantilla-Soler (U. Nacional de Colombia)
TBA
Tuesday 25 August 2026, 15:15, M3 (M234)
ANTA Seminar / Hollanti et al.
Lorenzo Zacchini (Aalto University)
TBA (midterm review)
Wednesday 23 September 2026, 10:15, M3 (M234)
Analysis seminar / Hytönen
Show the events of the past year
Page content by: webmaster-math [at] list [dot] aalto [dot] fi