C CENTRE R DERECHERCHES M MATHÉMATIQUES AnnualReport 2012 2013 C CENTRE R DERECHERCHES M MATHÉMATIQUES AnnualReport 2012 2013 Centre de recherches mathématiques Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville Montréal, QC H3C 3J7 Canada [email protected] Also available on the CRM website http://crm.math.ca/docs/docRap_an.shtml. © Centre de recherches mathématiques Université de Montréal, 2014 ISBN 978-2-921120-51-7 Contents Presenting the Annual Report 2012–2013 1 Thematic Program 3 Thematic Program of the Year 2012–2013: “Moduli Spaces, Extremality and Global Invariants” and “Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013” ................................... 4 Aisenstadt Chairholders in 2012–2013: Fedor Bogomolov, David Gabai, Helmut Hofer, and Gang Tian . 5 Activities of the Thematic Year ......................................... 7 Past Thematic Programs ............................................. 18 General Program 19 CRM activities .................................................. 20 Colloquium and Seminar Series ......................................... 35 Multidisciplinary and Industrial Program 37 Activities of the Multidisciplinary and Industrial Program .......................... 38 CRM Prizes 40 CRM–Fields–PIMS Prize 2013 Awarded to Bruce Reed ............................ 41 André-Aisenstadt Prize 2013 Awarded to Spyros Alexakis .......................... 41 The CRM–SSC Prize 2013 Awarded to Derek Bingham ............................ 42 The CRM Outreach Program 44 Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 — CRM Public Lectures .......................... 45 Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 — Cross-Canada Series of Lectures ................... 48 Grandes Conférences du CRM ......................................... 49 CRM Partnerships 52 CRM Partners .................................................. 53 Joint Initiatives .................................................. 56 Mathematical Education 57 Institut des sciences mathématiques (ISM) ................................... 58 Other Joint Initiatives .............................................. 60 Research Laboratories 61 Applied Mathematics .............................................. 62 CICMA — Centre Interuniversitaire en Calcul Mathématique Algébrique ................. 63 CIRGET — Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherches en Géométrie et Topologie .............. 64 GIREF — Groupe Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Éléments Finis ..................... 66 LaCIM — Laboratoire de Combinatoire et d’Informatique Mathématique .................. 67 Mathematical Analysis ............................................. 69 Mathematical Physics .............................................. 71 PhysNum ..................................................... 73 Statistics ..................................................... 74 Publications 76 Recent Titles ................................................... 77 Previous Titles .................................................. 77 Scientific Personnel 82 CRM Members in 2012–2013 .......................................... 83 Postdoctoral Fellows ............................................... 85 iii Centre de recherches mathématiqes Visitors ...................................................... 86 List of Students Having Graduated in 2012–2013 88 Ph.D. Students .................................................. 89 M.Sc. Students .................................................. 91 Governance and Scientific Guidance 95 Board of Directors ................................................ 96 Committee of Directors of Laboratories .................................... 96 International Scientific Advisory Committee ................................. 97 CRM Administrative and Support Staff 102 The Director’s Office ............................................... 103 Administration .................................................. 103 Scientific Activities ............................................... 103 Computer Services ................................................ 103 Publications ................................................... 103 Communications ................................................. 103 Mandate of the CRM 104 iv Presenting the Annual Report 2012–2013 Centre de recherches mathématiqes The 2012–2013 thematic program at the CRM wasa (André-Aisenstadt Prize 2013), and Derek Bingham perfect illustration of the breadth of its activities, since from Simon Fraser University (CRM–SSC Prize 2013). it included a Thematic Year on Moduli Spaces, Ex- The public lectures that took place at the CRM in2012– tremality and Global Invariants as well as the The- 2013 were especially brilliant. Four of these were re- matic Year “Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013”. Thus lated to the MPE 2013 Thematic Year. The lectures by both pure and interdisciplinary mathematics were fea- Ingrid Daubechies and Paul Embrechts were part of tured at the CRM this year. The Thematic Year on Mod- the MPE 2013 – CRM Public Lectures Series; the lec- uli Spaces, Extremality and Global Invariants was ded- ture by Professor Daubechies was actually sponsored icated to questions that lie at the heart of the cur- by the prestigious Simons Foundation. The lectures by rent research in geometry. It consisted of eight re- Nilima Nigam and Anthony Peirce were part of the search workshops (paired with mini-courses) and se- MPE 2013 – Cross-Canada Series of Public Lectures. ries of Aisenstadt lectures by Fedor Bogomolov, David The fifth public lecture was given by the French physi- Gabai, Helmut Hofer, and Gang Tian, respectively. I cist Alain Aspect and was part of the Grandes Con- would like to express my thanks to the members of the férences series. Thematic Year scientific committee: Vestislav Apos- tolov, Steven Boyer, Virginie Charette, Olivier Collin, An Unité Mixte Internationale (UMI) was established Octav Cornea, Jacques Hurtubise, François Lalonde, by the CNRS at the CRM in 2011 and has given Steven Lu, Frédéric Rochon, Peter Russell, and Jo- an impetus to the exchanges between the CRM and hannes Walcher. the French mathematical community: sixteen French mathematicians visited the CRM and three Montréal The Mathematics of Planet Earth program, launched researchers visited colleagues in France in 2012-2013 by Christiane Rousseau during her mandate as CRM thanks to the UMI. Also in 2012-2013, the relationship director, was enthusiastically adopted by our Cana- between the CRM and the French mathematical com- dian partners and many mathematics research insti- munity led to the organization of two colloquia within tutes across the globe. In particular the Mathematics of the Entretiens Jacques-Cartier (in Lyon): a colloquium Planet Earth 2013 (MPE 2013) program was a joint ini- on risk management and a colloquium on mathemati- tiative of Canadian institutions, with activities taking cal physics. place in many locations. The goal of this thematic pro- gram was to tackle pressing and emerging challenges The activities of the CRM are supported by the Gov- in population and ecosystem health, including the con- ernment of Canada through NSERC, the Government trol of major transmissible diseases, the optimization of Québec through FRQNT, the Government of the and monitoring of vaccination, the impact of climate United States through the National Science Foundation change on invasive species, the protection of biodiver- (NSF), the Mprime network, and its partner univer- sity, and the sustainable management of ecosystems. sities: the Université de Montréal, McGill University, The MPE 2013 year featured three summer schools for the Université du Québec à Montréal, Concordia Uni- graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as well as versity, the Université Laval, the Université de Sher- workshops that took place at the CRM, the Fields In- brooke, and the University of Ottawa. The Society for stitute (in Toronto), the PIMS (in Edmonton), St. John’s Mathematical Biology (SMB) provided support to stu- (under the auspices of AARMS), and BIRS. The sci- dents and young (particularly pre-tenure) investiga- entific committee of the Canadian program included tors participating in the MPE 2013 program. On behalf Jacques Bélair, Mark Lewis, Frithjof Lutscher, James of the CRM I extend my sincere thanks to all our part- Watmough, and Jianhong Wu. ners, who help the CRM develop its activities within a world-class research program in the mathematical sci- The CRM is also proud of the outstanding re- ences. searchers who were awarded its prizes this year: Bruce Reed from McGill University (CRM–Fields–PIMS Prize Luc Vinet, Director 2013), Spyros Alexakis from the University of Toronto Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) 2 Thematic Program Centre de recherches mathématiqes Thematic Programs of the Year 2012–2013 “Moduli Spaces, Extremality and Global Invariants” and “Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013” Moduli Spaces, Extremality and Global ometry that had, until then, stagnated since its infancy Invariants almost two centuries ago. Moduli spaces are present everywhere: the spaces of Geometry in the large sense, and especially the ge- metrics, be they Kähler or almost Kähler, the space ometry of the most natural and simple structures on of almost complex structures, the space of represen- manifolds, is going through a golden age. More than tations of the fundamental group of surfaces or 3- ever, we are close to a satisfactory understanding of the folds in suitable Lie groups and the so-called higher basic blocks that constitute the most intricate spaces, Teichmüller spaces, the Hamiltonian diffeomorphism