Title: The absence of the weak Lefschetz property

Abstract:  Mezzetti, Miro-Roig, and Ottaviani showed that in some cases the failure of the weak Lefschetz property can be used to produce a variety satisfying a (nontrivial) Laplace equation. We define a graded algebra to have a Lefschetz defect of delta in degree d if the rank of the multiplication map of a general linear form between the degree d − 1 and degree d components has rank delta less than the expected rank. Mezzetti and Mir\'o-Roig recently explored the minimal and maximal number of generators of ideals that fail to have the weak Lefschetz property, i.e., to have a positive Lefschetz defect. In contrast to this, we will discuss constructions of ideals that have large Lefschetz defects and thus can be used to produce toric varieties satisfying many Laplace equations.

Dr. Bettio holds a M. Sc. from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, UK. She has taught in several Italian universities and is currently Professor of Economics at the University of Siena.



Sponsored by the Department of Sociology, LACLAS, Anthropology, Hispanic Studies, African American Studies, MCLLC, the Department of History, and the Year of Europe Committee.

This Comedy Caravan will count as a Wired event!!! If you would like to go, you can meet Wired Peer Mentors in the Lobby of CC2 at 7:45 PM to walk over to Blazer Hall as a group!!  Or you can go on your own too!

Comedy Caravan - Jokes on us!  Will feature Jeff Oskay - Contributing Writer for the Nationally Syndicated Bob and Tom Show!

Wednesday, March 23, @ 8:00 PM

Cats Den Underground - Located in the lower level of Blazer Hall

FREE FOOD!!!

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is home to one of the brightest sources of ultracold neutrons (UCN) in the world. Currently, major experimental efforts are ongoing to determine the lifetime and angular correlations in neutron decay and precisely test our understanding of the electroweak interaction, and a new search for an electric dipole moment in the neutron could shed light on the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. While UCN have long been used to perform these precise studies of the fundamental laws of nature, an exciting new capability is now being developed which represents the first true practical application of UCN. The AShES experiment uses UCN to control the distance of fission events from the material surface, enabling a new set of studies of surface damage and sputtering caused by fission fragments, which would be an important new tool for the mission of Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship. This seminar will introduce you to the unique properties of ultracold neutrons and highlight some recent accomplishments in the growing experimental program at Los Alamos.

Session 3: 9:00 – 10:45

Rochelle Davis, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

"Gendered Vulnerability and Forced Conscription in the War in Syria"

Moderator: Anahid Matossian, Department of Anthropology

Discussants: Diane King and Kristin Monroe, Department of Anthropology

Session 4: 11:00 – 12:30

Concluding Forum and Discussion

Moderator: Srimati Basu, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies

Session 1: 3:30 – 5:15

Purnima Bose, Associate Professor of English, Indiana University

"The Capitalist-Rescue Narrative and the War on Terror"

Moderator:  Amy Murrell Taylor, Department of History

Discussant, Francie Chassen-Lopez, Department of History

 

Session 2:  5:30- 7:15

Sue Grayzel, Professor of History and Director of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, University of Mississippi

 "All are Now in the Line of Fire:" Gender and the Defence of Civilian Bodies in the Interwar British Empire

Moderator: Carmen Moreno-Nuño, Department of Hispanic Studies

Discussant: Pearl James, Department of English

Title: Levels and Pythagoras numbers of commutative rings

Abstract:  The level s(R) of a commutative ring R is the smallest integer n such that -1 is a sum of n squares of elements in R.  Set s(R) = infinity if no such representation exists. The Pythagoras number p(R) is the smallest integer m such that every sum of squares of elements in R is already a sum of m squares in R.  Set p(R) = infinity if no such bound exists.  The study of levels and Pythagoras numbers of fields is a classical topic. Many results are known, but many open questions still remain.  The study of levels and Pythagoras numbers of arbitrary commutative rings is more recent.  I will survey known results and report on recent research with Detlev Hoffmann.

Over the past two decades, the theory of galaxy formation has been developed and polished with the input from ab initio cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of structure formation. The simulations have made steady progress in resolution and physical treatment over the years, and finally reaching spatial regimes of 10-100 pc where more realistic interfaces with ISM physics and star formation are becoming possible. In this talk, I will summarize recent development in this endeavor, and how far the cosmological simulations have come in resolving galactic structures as a function of cosmic time, revealing the importance of feedback by supernovae and supermassive black holes in shaping galaxies.