Author Archives: Persiflage

Does Harvard discriminate in favour of Jews?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Persiflage

In The American Conservative, Ron Unz published an essay that was ostensibly about whether the top Ivy schools discriminate against Asian students but, upon closer reading, was mainly concerned with arguing that Harvard/Yale/Princeton discriminate against white Gentiles in favour of … Continue reading →

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Who is D.H.J. Polymath?

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Persiflage

D.H.J. Polymath is the assumed collective pseudonym for the authors of a number of papers which have arisen as a result of the polymath project initated by Gowers. Presumably, since it is a matter of open record, one can go … Continue reading →

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Why is my paper taking so long to review?

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Persiflage

The question in the title does not refer to any of my own papers; rather, I want to *answer* the question from the perspective of an editor. Here, roughly, is how the sausage is made (this is a medium case … Continue reading →

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Virtual Congruence Betti Numbers

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Persiflage

Suppose that \(G\) is a real semisimple group and that \(X = \Gamma \backslash G/K\) is a compact arithmetic locally symmetric space. Let us call a cohomology class tautological if it is invariant under the group \(G\). For example, if … Continue reading →

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Life on the modular curve

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Persiflage

Alice and Bob live on the modular curve \(X_0(1) = \mathbf{H}/\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\). What does the world look like to them, assuming that they view the world in hyperbolic perspective? To those who are not used to hyperbolic geometry, there may be … Continue reading →

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Parenthood

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Persiflage

Some questions, I guess, one can’t be prepared for:

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En Passant III

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Persiflage

Question: When you are sick in bed, can you do any mathematics? I just spent the past few weeks with a sinus infection and was completely unable to do anything productive, that is, apart from writing an NSF grant (which … Continue reading →

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The Fundamental Curve of p-adic Hodge Theory, Part II

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Persiflage

This is a second post from JW, following on from Part I. The Galois group of \(\mathbb{Q}_p\) as a geometric fundamental group. In this follow-up post, I’d like to relay something Peter Scholze told me last fall. It concerns the … Continue reading →

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The Fundamental Curve of p-adic Hodge Theory, or How to Un-tilt a Tilted Field

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Persiflage

As Quomodocumque once said concerning the most recent set of courses at Arizona Winter School, “Jared Weinstein [gives] a great lecture.” On that note, I am delighted to welcome our first guest post, by the man himself. Note that it … Continue reading →

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Gerookte paling op de Albert Cuypmarkt

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Persiflage

My mother grew up in, as she would affectionately say, the rat infested slums of Amsterdam (complete with tales of giant rats crawling inside the toilet bowl and sleeping two to a bed). I finally had the chance to visit … Continue reading →

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