This panel discussion will explore the different ways in which artists and mathematicians approach mathematical concepts. We expect a dynamic conversation that will spark continued dialogue and future collaborations.

The symbiotic relationship between the illustration of mathematics and mathematical research is now flowering in algebra and number theory. This workshop aims to both showcase and develop these connections, including the development of new visualization tools for algebra and number theory. Topics are wide-ranging, and include Apollonian circle packings and the illustration of the arithmetic of hyperbolic manifolds more generally, the visual exploration of the statistics of integer sequences, and the illustrative geometry of such objects as Gaussian periods and Fourier coefficients of modular forms. Other topics may include expander graphs, abelian sandpiles, and Diophantine approximation on varieties. We will also focus on diagrammatic algebras and categories such as Khovanov-Lauda-Rouquier algebras, Soergel bimodule categories, spider categories, and foam categories. The ability to visualize complicated relations diagrammatically has led to important advances in representation theory... (more)

Thurston maps are orientation-preserving branched covering maps of the two-sphere to itself for which the forward orbits of the branch points form a finite set. They arise in the classification of complex dynamical systems.

Recent work has shown close connections between the combinatorial, topological, and algebraic theory of Thurston maps and that of mapping class groups. The algorithmic and computational theories of mapping class groups are highly advanced and have reached the point of effective implementation via computer programs. However, such implementations for Thurston maps are significantly less advanced. The aim of the proposed Hot Topic workshop is to bring together researchers in the computational theory of mapping class groups and those in the combinatorial theory of Thurston maps in order to make headway on fundamental problems.

This panel discussion will explore the different ways in which artists and mathematicians approach mathematical concepts. We expect a dynamic conversation that will spark continued dialogue and future collaborations.

This workshop will focus on the theoretical insights developed via illustration, visualization, and computational experiment in dynamical systems and probability theory. Some topics from complex dynamics include: dynamical moduli spaces and their dynamically-defined subvarieties, degenerations of dynamical systems as one moves toward the boundary of moduli space, and the structure of algebraic data coming from a family of dynamical systems. In classical dynamical systems, some topics include: flows on hyperbolic spaces and Lorentz attractors, simple physical systems like billiards in two and three dimensional domains, and flows on moduli spaces. In probability theory, the workshop features: random walks and continuous time random processes like Brownian motion, SLE, and scaling limits of discrete systems.

This workshop is partially funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award G-2019-11406 and supported by a Simons Foundation Targeted Grant to Institutes.