All Seminars

Title: Reduced order modelling as enabler for optimization and digital twins
Seminar: Computational and Data Enabled Science
Speaker: Marco Tezzele of UT Austin
Contact: Alessandro Veneziani, avenez2@emory.edu
Date: 2022-09-08 at 10:00AM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
We present data-driven reduced order models with a focus on reduction in parameter space to fight the curse of dimensionality in design optimization. We show two extensions of the Active Subspaces (AS) technique: a kernel version exploiting an intermediate mapping to a higher dimensional space, and a local approach in which a clustering induced by a global active subspace is used for regression and classification tasks. Parameter space reduction methods can also be used within a multi-fidelity nonlinear autoregressive scheme to improve the approximation accuracy of high-dimensional functions, using only high-fidelity data. Finally, we integrate AS into the genetic algorithm to enhance the convergence during the optimization of high-dimensional quantities of interest. These methods, together with non-intrusive reduced order models based on proper orthogonal decomposition, are applied to the structural optimization of cruise ships and shape optimization of a combatant hull. The last part of the talk will be devoted to an ongoing work on digital twins and adaptive planning strategies in a Bayesian setting.
Title: Secants, Gorenstein ideals, and stable complexes
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Brooke Ullery of Emory University
Contact: David Zureick-Brown, david.zureick-brown@emory.edu
Date: 2022-09-06 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC N304
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Abstract:
As Bertram describes in his thesis, certain rank two vector bundles on curves can be parametrized by a projective space into which the curve itself embeds. The idea is that the least so-called ``stable" bundles correspond to points on the embedded curve, the next most unstable lie on the first secant variety, then on the second secant variety, and so on. In this talk, I'll describe joint work with Bertram in which we generalize this to $\mathbb{P}^2$ by replacing vector bundles with complexes of vector bundles. This leads to a surprising connection between height three Gorenstein ideals, secant varieties (and their generalizations), and stability conditions on the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on $\mathbb{P}^2$.
Title: Effects of elastic shear modulus on soil liquefaction modelling and effective stress analysis
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Jimena Tempestti of Emory University
Contact: Alessandro Veneziani, avenez2@emory.edu
Date: 2022-09-01 at 10:00AM
Venue: MSC W301
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Abstract:
This research builds upon a well-established constitutive model for fully coupled effective stress analysis of liquefaction problems, the Stress Density Model (SDM). Recently, SDM has been calibrated based on semi-empirical relationships between liquefaction resistance and penetration resistance, and in this approach, SDM requires only CPT data as input. As traditionally SDM has been used with somewhat degraded initial elastic modulus, this study investigates in particular, the influence of the elastic parameter on the performance and calibration of the model. Elastic parameters have a complex role in liquefaction modelling because they simultaneously affect the dynamic response of the system and stress-strain behavior of the soil. When investigated these changes, specific attention is given to the development of parameters for a generic sand with the ability of the model to concurrently simulate the effects of density and confining stress on the liquefaction resistance and their effects on the rate of strain development during cyclic mobility. First, the initial shear modulus G0 was obtained from literature for 41 clean sands tested at different densities and confining stresses. From each test, a value of A (i.e. SDM material parameter that defines the material constant in the relationship for the elastic shear modulus) was back-calculated. The shear modulus degradation curves for clean sands were scrutinised to quantify how the initial value of A changes at small strains so that a proper link between SDM and experimental data is established. Subsequently, the average value and dispersion of the data were computed. Secondly, a separate series of undrained cyclic laboratory tests on clean sand published in the literature were compiled and investigated to quantify the strain development during cyclic mobility (an aspect indirectly related to the elastic parameter A). Effects of relative density Dr and CSR (Cyclic Stress Ratio) on the strain-rate development were evaluated. As only Dr was found to correlate to the rate of deformation, mathematical expressions were developed to describe the effect of Dr on the deformation rate, both before and after achieving the selected liquefaction triggering criterion. Incorporating the relationships resulting from the laboratory data scrutiny required a minor modification in SDM, as the identified initial value of A constraints excessively the development of shear strain during cyclic mobility, particularly for dense soils and relative low CSRs. This was the principal reason why in the original SDM, a degraded value for A was used. In this thesis, different alternatives were studied including to use A as a variable, which is justified in principle, as A is strictly speaking strain-dependent. At small strains, at the beginning of the simulation, the value of A was set as suggested by laboratory data, allowing more rigorous modelling of the elastic shear stiffness. Then, as the effective stress path approaches and enters cyclic mobility and the deformation increases, the value of A was degraded to allow for the development of larger strains. Three types of representative relationships for sand were considered to evaluate the modification introduced in SDM and its calibration: (i) effects of soil density on the liquefaction resistance; (ii) effects of overburden stress on the liquefaction resistance; and (iii) effects of soil density on strain development during liquefaction and cyclic mobility. Once the simulation results were satisfactory at the element level, the modified model was evaluated in 1D effective stress analyses using the software FLAC. Two sites from Christchurch that liquefied during the 2010 Darfield (Mw=7.1) and 2011 Christchurch (Mw=6.2) earthquakes were the subject of 1D analyses. The input motion (deconvoluted record from the 2010 Darfield earthquake) was scaled to produce two levels of liquefaction response. The results were not entirely satisfactory, as a few anomalies (high dilation peaks) were noted in the acceleration time histories of the modified version. A detailed explanation of a plausible source of these peculiarities is provided regarding the interaction of the modified model and the selected numerical platform.
Title: Algebraic Relations Between Solutions of Order One Differential Equations
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Taylor Dupuy of Mathematics at University of Vermont
Contact: David, david.zureick-brown@emory.edu
Date: 2022-08-02 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC W301
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Title: Local-global principle for hermitian spaces over semi-global fields
Defense: Dissertation
Speaker: Jayanth Guhan of Emory University
Contact: Jayanth Guhan, jayanth.guhan@emory.edu
Date: 2022-06-20 at 11:00AM
Venue: MSC E408
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Title: Counting rational points on some moduli stacks or if that sounds scary on some modular curves
Seminar: Algebra
Speaker: Jordan Ellenberg of University of Wisconsin, Madison
Contact: David Zureick-Brown, david.zureick-brown@emory.edu
Date: 2022-04-29 at 2:00PM
Venue: MSC W301
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How many elliptic curves are there which have a cyclic N-isogeny? You may note that this question is not very carefully stated. I will talk about the surprisingly subtle issue of how this question should best be precisely posed, and talk about recent work in this direction and related ones due to Rob Harron and Andrew Snowden, Brendan Boggess and Soumya Sankar, Maggie Pizzo + Carl Pomerance + John Voight, Tristan Phillips, John Yin, and to some extent the speaker + Matt Satriano + David Zureick-Brown.
Title: Relative Arbitrage Opportunities in Stochastic Games and its Numerical Scheme
Seminar: Computational Math
Speaker: Nicole Yang of Morgan Stanley
Contact: Lars Ruthotto, lruthotto@emory.edu
Date: 2022-04-28 at 10:00AM
Venue: Virtual (RSVP by email to lruthotto@emory.edu)
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Abstract:
The Relative arbitrage portfolio outperforms a market portfolio over a given time horizon with probability one. When an investor competes with both market and peers, does relative arbitrage opportunity exist? What is the best performance one can achieve? What is the impact on the market when a large group of investors competes in a similar way? We construct a framework of multi-agent optimization for relative arbitrage problems to answer these questions. Under a dynamical system with interacting investors, the objective is characterized by the smallest non-negative continuous solution of the Cauchy problem for the associated partial differential equation. We solve the optimal strategies by deriving the Nash equilibrium in finite player and mean field games. However, solving this numerically presents many challenges due to the non-uniqueness and the curse of dimensionality. We provide a deep learning approach to tackle minimal solutions in the high-dimensional PDEs based on the associated obstacle problem and Deep Galerkin Method. We show that the minimal deep learning based solution is a good approximation in the volatility-stabilized models when compared to the grid-based numerical solution. We lay out a few future research topics related to deep learning, mean field type problems, and inverse problems.
Title: Half Covering, Half Coloring
Defense: Dissertation
Speaker: Alexander Clifton of Emory University
Contact: Alexander Clifton, alexander.james.clifton@emory.edu
Date: 2022-04-22 at 10:30AM
Venue: MSC W307C
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Abstract:
We will discuss two types of problems in extremal combinatorics. First, we discuss problems about covering sets of points using affine hyperplanes. We consider a higher multiplicity generalization of a result of Alon and F\"{u}redi about the minimum number of hyperplanes needed to cover all but one vertex of an $n$-cube. We then discuss related covering problems for triangular grids. Next, we answer a question in arithmetic Ramsey theory. For a fixed set $D$, of positive integers, let $\Delta(D,k;2)$ be the smallest $N$ such that any $2$-coloring of $\{1,2,\cdots,N\}$ contains a monochromatic sequence $a_1
Title: Directed Reading Program presentations II
Type: N/A
Speaker: Several Undergraduates of Emory University
Contact: Chris Keyes, christopher.keyes@emory.edu
Date: 2022-04-21 at 2:30PM
Venue: Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences Building: PAIS 280 (tentative)
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Join us to celebrate the conclusion of the Spring 2022 Directed Reading Program! Students will give short presentations on what they learned, covering a wide range of topics in pure and applied mathematics. \\ \textbf{Speakers and topics for part II}: \begin{enumerate} \item Michael Liu, \emph{Percolation theory} (Mentor: Alexander C.) \item Catherine Baker, \emph{Numerical analysis} (Mentor: Riti) \item Judy Hao, \emph{Partial differential equations} (Mentor: Ben) \item Cecilia Garcia and Siwei Xu, \emph{Computational algebra} (Mentor: Alex D.) \end{enumerate}
Title: Directed Reading Program presentations I
Type: N/A
Speaker: Several Undergraduates of Emory University
Contact: Chris Keyes, christopher.keyes@emory.edu
Date: 2022-04-19 at 4:00PM
Venue: MSC W303
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Abstract:
Join us to celebrate the conclusion of the Spring 2022 Directed Reading Program! Students will give short presentations on what they learned, covering a wide range of topics in pure and applied mathematics. \\ \textbf{Speakers and topics for part I}: \begin{enumerate} \item Hayden Truong, \emph{Commutative algebra} (Mentor: Ariella) \item Meg Ruder, \emph{Number theory} (Mentor: Shilpi) \item Ezra Arovas, \emph{Sports analytics} (Mentor: Chris) \item Zoe Ji, \emph{Math for computer graphics} (Mentor: Abbey) \end{enumerate}