Author Archives: Persiflage

Ventotene, part I

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Persiflage

I recently returned from Ventotene, an Island some 40 miles west of Naples, where I attended a very pleasant conference on Manifolds and Groups. I have several mathematical thoughts on the conference, but for today I will content myself to … Continue reading →

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The distance of the moon

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Persiflage

Having just re-read the delightful Italo Calvino story of this name (which you can read here), I was also entranced by the following animation: Also: my take on the pronunciation of the name of the narrator: the first f is … Continue reading →

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Music in London

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Persiflage

London is a wonderful city, an I can certainly imagine moving there if I suddenly happen to become a Russian oligarch. One thing that is absolutely fantastic is the classical music scene, which is surely the best in the world. … Continue reading →

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Course Announcement

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Persiflage

Although this may be of limited interest, I wanted to announce a topics class that I intend to give this winter. The title of the course is, simply, “thesis problems.” The structure of the course is to devote each week … Continue reading →

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A Coq and Bull Story

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Persiflage

Author: Michael Harris. Title: Mathematics Without Apologies. Source: I eventually gave up waiting for a complimentary signed copy to be sent to me in the mail, and so borrowed a copy from the Northwestern University library. I’ve read up to … Continue reading →

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Harassed by Springer

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Persiflage

Those of you who have ever submitted a paper to any mathematical journal may have noticed that it’s not a particularly speedy process. Nowadays, even a one year turnaround is nothing out of the ordinary. Thus, I always find it … Continue reading →

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Counting solutions to a_p = λ

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Persiflage

We know that the eigenvalue of \(T_2\) on \(\Delta\) is \(24.\) Are there any other level one cusp forms with the same Hecke eigenvalue? Maeda’s conjecture in its strongest form certainly implies that there does not. But what can one … Continue reading →

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144169

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Persiflage

The space of classical modular cuspforms of level one and weight 24 has dimension two — the smallest weight for which the dimension is not zero or one. What can we say about the Hecke algebra acting on this space … Continue reading →

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How not to be wrong

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Persiflage

I recently finished listening to Jordan’s book “how not to be wrong,” and thought that I would record some of the notes I made. Unlike other reviews, Persiflage will cut through to the key aspects of the book which perhaps … Continue reading →

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Chenevier on the Eigencurve

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Persiflage

Today I wanted to mention a theorem of Chenever about components of the Eigencurve. Let \(\mathcal{W}\) denote weight space (which is basically a union of discs), and let \(\pi: \mathcal{E} \rightarrow \mathcal{W}\) be the Coleman-Mazur eigencurve together with its natural … Continue reading →

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