Monthly Archives: May 2013

Swans

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Persiflage

Since I first saw it, I’ve always been very impressed by Maya Plisetskaya’s dying swan. But Charles Riley gives her a run for her money in his own original performance with Yo Yo Ma. Compare and constrast!

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Elsevier’s answer to public criticism:

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Persiflage

The following was sent to editors for an Elsevier journal; a copy of the email mysteriously fell into my hands, and I reproduce it here (in part): Following discussions with the board and at Elsevier this year, we feel that … Continue reading →

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Understatement

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Persiflage

This supposition, the so-called Twin Prime Conjecture, is not necessarily obvious . “He wasn’t a big name, and I get the impression that he wasn’t one of the leading analytical number theorists,” said Richard Taylor, a respected mathematician and a … Continue reading →

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Bush, the Messiah (and Emma Kirkby)

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Persiflage

The title of this post is, in part, a public service message to use the Oxford comma. However, there is a thread (in my mind) linking the three titular subjects. The connection between George Bush and the Messiah is not … Continue reading →

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Finiteness of the global deformation ring over local deformation rings

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Persiflage

(This post is the result of a conversation I had with Matt). Suppose that \(\overline{\rho}: G_{F} \rightarrow \mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbf{F})\) is a continuous mod-\(p\) absolutely irreducible Galois representation. For now, let’s assume that \(F/F^{+}\) is a CM field, and \(\overline{\rho}\) is essentially … Continue reading →

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Michael Pollan is not a scientist

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Persiflage

Michael Pollan is popular because he is an engaging speaker who spins a narrative about food that dovetails with the political inclinations of his audience. He has a degree in English, and, as far as I know, no scientific training … Continue reading →

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Equidistribution of Heegner Points

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Persiflage

I saw a nice talk by Matt Young recently (joint work with Sheng-Chi Liu and Riad Masri) on the following problem. For a fundamental discriminant \(|D|\) of an imaginary quadratic field \(F\), one has \(h_D\) points in \(X_0(1)(\mathbf{C})\) with complex … Continue reading →

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Exercise concerning quaternion algebras

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Persiflage

Here’s a fun problem that came up in a talk by Jacob Tsimerman on Monday concerning some joint work with Andrew Snowden: Problem: Let \(D/\mathbf{Q}(t)\) be a quaternion algebra such that the specialization \(D_t\) splits for almost all \(t\). Then … Continue reading →

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Catalan’s Constant and periods

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Persiflage

There is a 60th birthday conference in honour of Frits Beukers in Utrech in July; I’m hoping to swing by there on the way to Oberwolfach. Thinking about matters Beukers made me reconsider an question that I’ve had for while. … Continue reading →

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