Title: The mathematics behind digital signatures

Public Key Cryptography as we use it, with billions of transactions being executed every day, was first developed respectively 50 years ago in the case of RSA and modular exponentiation, and 35 years ago in the case of elliptic curves. If quantum computers are developed at a sufficiently advanced level, currently used methods will no longer be considered secure due to Schor’s algorithm.

But the mathematics behind them remains fascinating and is connected to several interesting questions and conjectures in number theory, which is the main focus of the talk. Topics will include short orbits for the discrete logarithm map, and properties of primes that are congruent to 1 modulo 4.

Further information

The talk will be held in the Fry Building, room 2.41, from 4pm – 5pm and will be followed by a drinks reception in the Maths common room.

The event is open to University of Bristol staff and students, as well as the general public.

To help us plan numbers, we ask that you please register in advance via Eventbrite.

Due to unforeseen circumstances this event has been postponed until June 2021, with a new date of 7 -9 June. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Join us for our annual Women and Non-Binary People in Mathematics event, Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th November 2019 – open to female and non-binary students in the UK and Ireland.

A PhD in mathematics can offer you independence, challenging problems and an inspiring job, as well as the chance to travel and the opportunity to make a difference.

This two-day event is aimed at encouraging women and non-binary people to consider continuing their studies to PhD level.

The event features talks from mathematicians working both in universities and industry, giving insight into their current roles and their careers to date. Even more importantly, there is ample time to talk in small groups to the other participants who are facing the same decisions, and to current PhD students who have recently faced the same questions. It will be an opportunity to discuss your motivations as well as your concerns, and specifically to identify and seek to address any concerns related to gender identity.

The Wednesday afternoon session is open to all students and will more broadly address the nature of PhD research, the work environment, the application process, and career options. It will also provide an opportunity to discuss issues and concerns around PhD study.

How to apply

Please note that registration for this year’s event is now closed.

Programme*

From 4pm on Tuesday 5th November – 12pm on Wednesday 6th November:  To support women and non-binary undergraduates and masters students across the UK into further study in mathematics.

From 12pm – 5pm on Wednesday 6th November:  To support all undergraduate and masters students.

Tuesday 5 November – supporting women and non-binary students in maths:

4:00pm Welcome and registration

from    4pm Networking in groups/meeting graduate students

5:00pm Keynote speaker: Delaram Kahrobaei, University of York

6:00pm Dinner and networking

 Wednesday 6 November – supporting women and non-binary students in maths:

9:45am Tea and Coffee

10:00am Week in the life of a PhD student

10:20am Short talk by current graduate student

10:40am  Q&A session

11:00am   Workshop on networking

Wednesday 6 November – open to all undergraduate and masters students:

12:00pm Lunch

1pm Panel with graduate students discussing their experiences and how they came to do a PhD

2:00pm Information from the Post Graduate team

2:45 pm Tea and Coffee

Three practitioners of mathematics to speak about what they do and how they got there:

3:00pm Industry speaker: Katie Russell, OVO Energy

3:30pm Academic speaker: Dr Lynne Walling, Reader in Pure Mathematics, University of Bristol

4:00pm Industry speaker: Jo

4:30pm Informal discusssion

5:00pm Finish

*Programme may be subject to change

Organising Commitee

Eleanor Machin, Emma Bailey, Louisa Bartoszewicz, Haeran Cho, Jos Gunns, Emilia Alvarez, Jess Jay, Viveka Erlandsson, Charley Cummings, Ayalvadi Ganesh, Ayesha Hussain, Rachel Bennett and Fatemeh Mohammadi.

Contact information

For practical information please email maths-conference-administrator@bristol.ac.uk.

5th September 2019

University of Bristol

We are delighted to welcome Zeev Rudnick (Tel Aviv University), to the University of Bristol for a Heilbronn Colloquium.

Zeev is a Professor of Mathematics at Tel-Aviv University, where he holds the Cissie and Aaron Beare Chair in Number Theory. His main interests are in number theory, mathematical physics and quantum chaos, and his world-leading research in these fields has attracted numerous awards and prizes. For example, in 2001 he received the Erdos Prize of the Israel Mathematical Union and he was elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012. He was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2014 and his current research is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant. 

Title: Quantum chaos, eigenvalue statistics and the Fibonacci sequence

Abstract:
One of the outstanding insights in the field of “Quantum Chaos” is a conjectural description of local statistics of the energy levels of simple quantum systems according to crude properties of the dynamics of classical limit, such as integrability, where one expects Poisson statistics, versus chaotic dynamics, where one expects Random Matrix Theory statistics. These insights were obtained by physicists in the last quarter of the 20-th century (much of it in Bristol!). However, mathematicians are far behind in understanding the scope and validity of this theory. The first part of the lecture will be dedicated to an introduction to these conjectures, which I believe deserve to be better known in the mathematics community. In the second part, I will describe more recent work on statistics of the minimal gap between the first N eigenvalues for one such simple integrable system, a rectangular billiard having irrational squared aspect ratio. When the aspect ratio is the “golden ratio”, the problem involves some curious and entertaining properties of the Fibonacci sequence.

The colloquium will take place in 1.15 in the Queens Building at 16.00 on Thursday 5th September. It will be followed by a wine reception in the Pugsley Foyer. To help us plan space and catering, please complete the short registration form if you are planning to come.

Join us on Wednesday 11 September 2019 for the School of Mathematics’ first Women in Maths Research event.

This event is open to all year 12 and 13 students of Mathematics but we would particularly like to encourage female students who might be considering studying Mathematics or a STEM subject at University.

There will be plenary talks, a Q&A session, and a choice of workshops given by female research mathematicians at various career stages and on a range of topics. Topics include: Spectral Geometry, Soft Active Matter, Number Theory, Medical Statistics, Graph Theory, Fractals, Mathematics of Gerrymandering and Mathematical Physics.

This event is free to attend, but we request that you register in advance. Accompanying teachers are welcome to attend, and can register a group of students by e-mailing us here. Please register as soon as possible and no later than September 5th, 2019.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. This event is financially supported by the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) as well as the University of Bristol Mathematics Department.

For the full schedule please visit the main website here.

LMS South West and South Wales regional meeting and workshop

15th – 17th January 2020, University of Bristol, UK

The aim of the meeting and workshop is to bring together researchers working in the closely related fields of geometry, dynamics, and group theory.

The Regional Meeting of the London Mathematical Society is planned for the afternoon of Wednesday, 15th of January 2020 and will be followed by a reception and dinner. During the reception there will also be a poster session for research students and post-docs to present their research. The workshop is planned for the 16th and 17th of January.

Regional meeting speakers

• Yves Benoist (Paris-Sud)
• Tara Brendle (Glasgow)
• Mark Pollicott (Warwick)

Invited speakers for the workshop

• Benjamin Barrett (Bristol)
• Rhiannon Dougall (Bristol)
• Cornelia Drutu (Oxford)
• David Hume (Oxford)
• Vaibhav Gadre (Glasgow)
• Selim Ghazouani (Warwick)
• Ashot Minasyan (Southampton)
• Saul Schleimer (Warwick)
• Katie Vokes (IHES)

*to be confirmed

Organisers

• Viveka Erlandsson (Bristol), v.erlandsson@bristol.ac.uk
• Thomas Jordan (Bristol), thomas.jordan@bristol.ac.uk
• John Mackay (Bristol), john.mackay@bristol.ac.uk

Registration

For further information and to register to attend, please visit the official website.

Set Theory in the United Kingdom is a joint research group in set theory funded by the London Mathematical Society (Scheme 3) with members at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, East Anglia, Leeds, Oxford, Warwick and University College London.

STUK 2 will take place on Wednesday, 8 May 2019, 11.00-18.00 at the University of Bristol. It is organized by Dan Nielsen, Philipp Schlicht and Philip Welch.

Location: 4th floor seminar room, School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, Howard house, Queen’s avenue, Bristol BS8 1SD.