Talks

Speaker Meeting
Professor Michael Duff (Imperial College, London)
"Physical applications of Cayley's hyperdeterminant"
Friday 13th October 2006, 7:30pm, CMS

In 1845 Arthur Cayley [1] generalised the determinant of a 2 x2 matrix A_ij to the ''hyperdeterminant'' of a 2 x 2 x 2 hypermatrix A_ijk. Here we review three recent physical applications:
(1) The quantum entanglement of 3 qubits
(2) The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes
(3) Hidden symmetries of string theory.
Finally we ask whether the appearance of the hyperdeterminant in these three different contexts is just a mathematical coincidence or whether it is indicative of some deeper physics. [1] A. Cayley, On the theory of linear transformations, Camb. Math. J. 4 193-209,1845.

Speaker Meeting (Seminars for Undergraduates)
Mr Jonathan Evans (PhD student of Dr I. Smith (DPMMS))
"Symplectic Topology"
Thursday 19th October 2006, 5pm, CMS

I'm interested in topology, specifically symplectic topology. Most people can cope with topology but freak out at the word "symplectic" and this tends to kill a lot of conversations. This is my apology to those people, in which I'll try and explain what symplectic topology is and why we study it.

Speaker Meeting
Professor Andrew Thomason (DPMMS)
"Are threes more even than odd?"
Friday 27th October 2006, 7:30pm, CMS

The sequence o,o,e,o,e,e,o,o,e,e,o,e,... of o's and e's is called the Thue-Morse sequence: the j'th term is o or e according as the number of ones in the binary representation of j is odd or even. The sequence crops up in some unexpected mathematical places and it has nice properties. The ratio of o's to e's is roughly 1:1 though the sequence is not entirely random (for example, how often does ..,e,e,e,.. occur?).

But look at the subsequence of every third term: that is, e,e,e,e,e,e,o,e,e,e,e,e,e,o,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,e,o,e,e,.... The e's appear to predominate. Does this trend continue or do the o's catch up? Surely multiples of three don't favour an even number of ones? We investigate the hidden beauties of this phenomenon.

Speaker Meeting (SU (2))
Ms Linda Uruchurtu-Gomez (PhD student of Professor Michael Green)
"There and back again (From QCD to strings and back)"
Friday 17th November 2006, 4pm, CMS, MR4

In this talk I will review the origins of string theory and its connection with strong interactions, and introduce the ideas in which gauge/string duality arises (AdS/CFT correspondence). Finally, I will mention some recent work on trying to use string theory to explore Quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and some available results are briefly reviewed.

Mathematical Comedy
ICE (Improvised Comedy Ents)
"The Fundamental Theorem of Comedy"
Fridays 24th November 2006, 7:30pm, CMS, MR2

No scripts, No rehearsals, No Abelian grapes.

Improvised Comedy Ents (ICE) bring you an evening of fast-paced games and sketches, driven entirely by suggestions from the audience. But for one night only, the cast will be composed entirely of mathematicians.

Will it be a continuous night of laughter?

Will the humour have no upper bound?

Or will there be any maths references at all?

Only ICE has the answer.

Social

CUSU Freshers' Fair
3rd-4th October 2006
Kelsey Kerridge

Freshers' Buffet Lunch/Squash
Friday 6th October 2006, 12.00
St. Columbas Hall, Downing Place
Follow the scarf after your second pair of lectures to our squash, where you'll find refreshments, cheap books for your first year, old copies of Eureka and lots of friendly Committee members. Sign up for our Society!

Puzzles and Games Ring
Every Saturday (from 21nd October), 2pm
Burrell's Field Common Room, Trinity College
Our games subgroup is now up and running again! Come along to play any of a variety of games, including various board games, Othello, Backgammon, Tripples, Mensa, Chess, Draughts, Fibonacci, Cirrondo, The Viking Game, Go, Risk and Icehouse games; or bring your own!

Extraordinary General Meeting
Thursday 30th November 2006, 1pm
CMS Cafe
To ratify the accounts for the year

Scients Christmas Dinner
Thursday, 30th November 2006
New Hall (in The Dome)
Together with several Cambridge Science Societies, we will be celebrating Christmas in style with a three course dinner, and wine provided. [Details].