Frontiers in Fundamental Mathematics Research Nexus, 15 Apr

Date/Time: Tuesday 15 April 2025; 1:00 pm
Speaker: Professor John Voight (University of Sydney)
Title: Ranks of Elliptic Curves
Location: Room 4082/3, Anita B. Lawrence Centre, UNSW

Join us for this special Nexus lecture by Professor John Voight (University of Sydney).

About the lecture

Elliptic curves reside at the intersection of many areas of mathematics and remain at the heart of number theory. The rank of an elliptic curve over the rational numbers measures the size of its group of rational points: intuitively, it counts the number of independent points needed to generate all rational solutions. A fundamental question remains: do curves of arbitrarily large rank exist?

In this talk, we present computations, a statistical model that provides a heuristic to guide our expectations, and outliers that challenge them. The talk is aimed at students and researchers interested in the intersection of pure and computational mathematics.

About the speaker

John Voight is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sydney and leader of the Magma computational algebra group. His research focuses on number theory and arithmetic geometry, with expertise in algorithmic and computational aspects. He received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005, holding  positions at the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College before moving to Sydney in 2024. He was recently named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

Schedule

1–2pm: Presentation by Prof. John Voight in Room 4082, Anita B. Lawrence Centre, UNSW.
2pm: Light refreshments.

Venue

Room 4082/3 on level 4 of the Anita B. Lawrence Centre building. Enter the building via the Centre Wing or East Wing entrances of the School of Mathematics and Statistics (ref: H15 on UNSW campus map).

*Please note that the School of Mathematics and Statistics is not accessible via the West Wing of the building.

Accessibility

Please be advised that the Anita B. Lawrence Centre rooms 3082 and 4082 are wheelchair accessible. When you register, please indicate if you have any accessibility requirements and we will get in touch with you to ensure they can be accommodated.

Enquiries

Please contact Jan Lin if you have any enquiries about this event (j.lin@unsw.edu.au).