Seminars

Decremental tree sums.

Event Date: Jan 28, 2026 in ACGO, Seminars

Abstract:  In this talk, I will discuss the following semi-dynamic graph problem: Maintain a vertex-weighted forest under the following operations: Delete an edge; change the weight of a vertex; and, given a vertex v, return the total weight of all vertices in the same tree as v. I’ll present the following results from joint work with Marek Sokołowski. * A data structure with O(m + n log* n) time for m operations; * a linear-time data structure for *unweighted* forests; * and a data structure with (conditionally) optimal, but unknown running time. At the end, I will briefly speculate...

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Generalized Assignment and Knapsack Problems in the Random-Order Model

Event Date: Jan 21, 2026 in ACGO, Seminars

Abstract:  We study different online optimization problems in the random-order model. There is a finite set of bins with known capacity and a finite set of items arriving in a random order.   Upon arrival of an item, its size and its value for each of the bins is revealed and it has to be decided immediately and irrevocably to which bin the item is assigned, or to not assign the item at all. In this setting, an algorithm is $\alpha$-competitive if the total value of all items assigned to the bins is at least an $\alpha$-fraction of the total value of an optimal assignment that knows all...

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Expansion of random 0/1 polytopes and the Mihail and Vazirani conjecture.

Event Date: Jan 21, 2026 in ACGO, Seminars

Abstract:  A 0/1 polytope is the convex hull of a set of 0/1 d-dimensional vectors. A conjecture of Milena Mihail and Umesh Vazirani says that the graph of vertices and edges of every 0/1 polytope is highly connected. Specifically, it states that the edge expansion of the graph of every 0/1 polytope is at least one. Any lower bound on the edge expansion gives an upper bound for the mixing time of a random walk on the graph of the polytope. Such random walks are important because they can be used to generate an element from a set of combinatorial objects uniformly at random. A weaker form of...

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A Normality Conjecture on Rational Base Number Systems

Event Date: Jan 19, 2026 in Dynamical Systems, Seminars

RESUMEN: The rational base number system, introduced by Akiyama, Frougny, and Sakarovitch in 2008, is a generalization of the classical integer base number system. Within this framework two interesting families of infinite words emerge, called minimal and maximal words. We formulate the conjecture that every minimal and maximal word is normal over an appropriate subalphabet. The aim of the talk is to convince the audience that the conjecture seems true and of considerable difficulty. In particular, we shall discuss its connections with several older conjectures, including the existence of...

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Thermodynamics-informed Neural Networks (THINNs).

Event Date: Jan 20, 2026 in Seminario CMM- Maths&AI, Seminars

Abstract: Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) are a class of deep learning models aiming to approximate solutions of PDEs by training neural networks to minimize the residual of the equation. Focusing on non-equilibrium fluctuating systems, we propose a physically informed choice of penalization that is consistent with the underlying fluctuation structure, as characterized by a large deviations principle. This approach yields a novel formulation of PINNs in which the penalty term is chosen to penalize improbable deviations, rather than being selected heuristically. The resulting...

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Chen-Chvátal Conjecture in Graphs and Hypergraphs.

Event Date: Dec 09, 2025 in Seminario de Grafos, Seminars

Abstract: It is well known that a set of n non-collinear points in the  Euclidean plane determines at least n distinct lines. In 2008, Chen  and Chvátal conjectured that this result extends to arbitrary finite  metric spaces with an appropriate definition of line. In this talk, we  present a survey of this conjecture, outlining known results in the  contexts of metric spaces, hypergraphs, and graphs

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