### Thesis colloquium/defence

#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: R-15 (Chairman's Room), Mathematics Department

We study risk-sensitive stochastic optimal control and differential game problems. These problems arise in many applications including heavy traffic analysis of queueing networks, communication networks, and manufacturing systems.

First, we study risk-sensitive stochastic differential games for controlled reflecting diffusion processes in a smooth bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. We consider both nonzero-sum and zero-sum cases. We treat two cost evaluation criteria namely discounted cost and ergodic cost. Under certain assumptions, we establish the existence of a Nash/saddle-point equilibria for relevant cases. For ergodic cost criterion, we use principal eigenvalue approach to study the game problems. This approach enables us to obtain a complete characterization of Nash/saddle point equilibrium in the space of stationary Markov strategies.

Subsequently, we study risk-sensitive ergodic control problem for controlled reflecting diffusion processes in the non-negative orthant. Under a certain Lyapunov type stability assumption and some other technical assumptions, we first establish the existence of a solution to the multiplicative Poisson equation for each stationary Markov control. Using this result, we establish the existence of a unique solution to the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. This, in turn, leads to the complete characterization of optimal controls in the space of stationary Markov controls.

Then we study risk-sensitive zero-sum/nonzero-sum stochastic differential games on the infinite horizon, where the state is a controlled reflecting diffusion in the non-negative orthant. We consider two cost evaluation criteria: discounted cost and ergodic cost. Under certain assumptions, we establish the existence of a saddle point/Nash equilibria, for relevant cases. We obtain our results by studying the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI)/coupled HJB equations. For the ergodic cost criterion, we completely characterize a saddle point/Nash equilibria in the space of stationary strategies.

Finally, we study nonzero-sum stochastic differential games with risk-sensitive ergodic cost criteria, where the state space is a controlled diffusion process in $\mathbb{R}^{d}.$ Under certain conditions, we establish the existence of a Nash equilibrium in stationary strategies. We achieve our results by studying the relevant systems of coupled HJB equations. Also, we completely characterize a Nash equilibrium in the space of stationary strategies.

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#### MS Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

In this thesis we will discuss the properties of the category $\mathcal{O}$ of left $\mathfrak{g}$-modules having some specific properties, where $\mathfrak{g}$ is a complex semisimple Lie algebra. We will also discuss the projective objects of $\mathcal{O}$, and will establish the fact that each object in $\mathcal{O}$ is a factor object of a projective object. We will prove that there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the indecomposable projective objects and simple objects of $\mathcal{O}$. We will discuss some facts about the full subcategory $\mathcal{O}_\theta$ of $\mathcal{O}$. And finally we will establish a relation between the Cartan matrix and the decomposition matrix with the help of the BGG reciprocity and the fact that each projective module in $\mathcal{O}$ admits a $p$-filtration.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

This work has two parts. The first part contains the study of phase transition and percolation at criticality for three planar random graph models, viz., the homogeneous and inhomogeneous enhanced random connection models (RCM) and the Poisson stick model. These models are built on a homogeneous Poisson point process $\mathcal{P}_{\lambda}$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$ of intensity $\lambda$. In the homogenous RCM, the vertices at $x,y$ are connected with probability $g(\mid x-y \mid)$, independent of everything else, where $g:[0,\infty) \to [0,1]$ and $\mid\cdot\mid$ is the Euclidean norm. In the inhomogenous version of the model, points of $\mathcal{P}_{\lambda}$ are endowed with weights that are non-negative independent random variables $W$, where $P(W>w)=w^{-\beta}1_{w\geq 1}$, $\beta>0$. Vertices located at $x,y$ with weights $W_x,W_y$ are connected with probability

for some $\eta, \alpha > 0$, independent of all else. The edges of the graph are viewed as straight line segments starting and ending at points of $\mathcal{P}_{\lambda}$. A path in the graph is a continuous curve that is a subset of the collection of all these line segments. The Poisson stick model consists of line segments of independent random lengths and orientation with the midpoint of each line located at a distinct point of $\mathcal{P}_{\lambda}$. Intersecting lines then form a path in the graph. A graph is said to percolate if there is an infinite connected component or path. The conditions for the existence of a phase transition has been derived. Under some additional conditions it has been shown that there is no percolation at criticality.

In the second part we consider an inhomogeneous random connection model on a $d$-dimensional unit torus $S$, with the vertex set being the homogeneous Poisson point process $\mathcal{P}_s$ of intensity $s>0$. The vertices are equipped with i.i.d. weights $W$ and the connection function as above. Under the suitable choice of scaling $r_s$ it can be shown that the number of vertices of degree $j$ converges to a Poisson random variable as $s \to \infty$. We also derive a sufficient condition on the graph to be connected.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

Let $O$ be the ring of integers of a non-Archimedean local field such that the residue field has characteristic $p$. Let $P$ be the maximal ideal of $O$. For Char$(O)=0$, let e be the ramification index of $O$, i.e., $2O = P^e$. Let $GL_n(O)$ be the group of $n \times n$ invertible matrices with entries from $O$ and $SL_n(O)$ be the subgroup of $GL_n(O)$ consisting of all determinant one matrices.

In this talk, our focus is on the construction of the continuous complex irreducible representations of the group $SL_2(O)$ and to describe the representation growth. Also, we will discuss some results about group algebras of $SL_2(O/P^r)$ for large $r$ and branching laws obtained by restricting irreducible representations of $GL_2(O/P^r)$ to $SL_2(O/P^r)$.

Construction: For $r\geq 1$ the construction of irreducible representations of $GL_2(O/P^r)$ and for $SL_2(O/P^r)$ with $p>2$ are known by the work of Jaikin-Zapirain and Stasinski-Stevens. However, those methods do not work for p=2. In this case we give a construction of all irreducible representations of groups $SL_2(O/P^r)$, for $r \geq 1$ with Char$(O)=2$ and for $r \geq 4e+2$ with Char$(O)=0$.

Representation Growth: For a rigid group $G$, it is well known that the abscissa of convergence $\alpha(G)$ of the representation zeta function of $G$ gives precise information about its representation growth. Jaikin-Zapirain and Avni-Klopsch-Onn-Voll proved that $\alpha( SL_2(O) )=1,$ for either $p > 2$ or Char$(O)=0$. We complete these results by proving that $\alpha(SL_2(O))=1$ also for $p=2$ and Char$(O) > 0$.

Group Algebras: The groups $GL_2(O/P^r)$ and $GL_2(F_q[t]/(t^{r}))$ need not be isomorphic, but the group algebras ‘$\mathbb{C}[GL_2(O/P^r)]$’ and $\mathbb{C}[GL_2(F_q[t]/(t^{r}))]$ are known to be isomorphic. In parallel, for $p >2$ and $r\geq 1,$ the group algebras $\mathbb{C}[SL_2(O/P^r)]$ and $\mathbb{C}[SL_2(F_q[t]/(t^{r}))]$ are also isomorphic. We show that for $p=2$ and Char$(O)=0$, the group algebras $\mathbb{C}[SL_2(O/P^{2m})]$ and $\mathbb{C}[SL_2(F_q[t]/(t^{2m}))]$ are NOT isomorphic for $m > e$. As a corollary we obtain that the group algebras $\mathbb{C}[SL_2(\mathbb{Z}/2^{2m}\mathbb{Z})]$ and $\mathbb{C}[SL_2(F_2[t]/(t^{2m}))]$ are NOT isomorphic for $m>1$.

Branching Laws: We give a description of the branching laws obtained by restricting irreducible representations of $GL_2(O/P^r)$ to $SL_2(O/P^r)$ for $p=2$. In this case, we again show that many results for $p=2$ are quite different from the case $p > 2$.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

We prove Hardy’s inequalities for the fractional power of Grushin operator $\mathcal{G}$ which is chased via two different approaches. In the first approach, we first prove Hardy’s inequality for the generalized sublaplacian. We first find Cowling–Haagerup type of formula for the fractional sublaplacian and then using the modified heat kernel, we find integral representations of the fractional generalized sublaplacian. Then we derive Hardy’s inequality for generalized sublaplacian. Finally using the spherical harmonics, applying Hardy’s inequality for individual components, we derive Hardy’s inequality for Grushin operator. In the second approach, we start with an extension problem for Grushin, with initial condition $f\in L^p(\mathbb{R}^{n+1})$. We derive a solution $u(\cdot,\rho)$ to that extension problem and show that solution goes to $f$ in $L^p(\mathbb{R}^{n+1})$ as the extension variable $\rho$ goes to $0$. Further $-\rho^{1-2s}\partial_\rho u$ goes to $B_s\mathcal{G}_s f$ in $L^p(\mathbb{R}^{n+1})$ as $\rho$ goes to $0$, thereby giving us an another way of defining fractional powers of Grushin operator. We also derive trace Hardy inequality for the Grushin operator with the help of extension problem. Finally we prove $L^p$-$L^q$ inequality for fractional Grushin operator, thereby deriving Hardy–Littlewood–Sobolev inequality for the Grushin operator.

Second theme consists of Hermite multipliers on modulation spaces $M^{p,q}(\mathbb{R}^n)$. We find a relation between the boundedness of sublaplacian multipliers $m(\tilde{\mathcal{L}})$ on polarised Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}^n_{pol}$ and the boundedness of Hermite multipliers $m(\mathcal{H})$ on modulation spaces $M^{p,q}(\mathbb{R}^n)$, thereby deriving the conditions on the multipliers $m$ to be Hermite multipliers on modulation spaces. We believe those conditions on multipliers are more than required restrictive. We improve the results for the special case $p=q$ of the modulation spaces $M^{p,q}(\mathbb{R}^n)$ by finding a relation between the boundedness of Hermite multipliers on $M^{p,p}(\mathbb{R}^n)$ and the boundedness of Fourier multipliers on torus $\mathbb{T}^n$. We also derive the conditions for boundedness of the solution of wave equation related to Hermite and the solution of Schr"odinger equation related to Hermite on modulation spaces.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

This talk would have two parts. In the first part, we will discuss some topics which can be classified as ‘Linnik-type’ problems (the motivation being his original question about locating the first prime in an arithmetic progression) in the context of Hecke eigenvalues of modular forms on various groups, and then talk about the distribution of their signs. In the second part we will discuss differential operators on modular forms, and then talk about their applications to questions about Jacobi forms.

It is well-known that the sequence of Hecke eigenvalues mentioned above are often real, and has infinitely many sign changes. First part of the talk would discuss the problem of estimating the location of the first such sign change in the context of Hecke eigenvalues of Yoshida lifts (a certain subspace of the Siegel modular forms) and Fourier coefficients of Hilbert modular forms. We show how to improve the previously best known results on this topic significantly.

The crucial inputs behind these would be to establish a non-trivial upper bound on the sum of Hecke eigenvalues of an elliptic newform at primes away from the level for treating Yoshida lifts; and exploiting Hecke relations along with generalising related results due to K. Soundararajan, K. Matomaki et al. for the case of Hilbert modular forms. In both cases we measure the location of the eigenvalues or Fourier coefficients in terms of an analytic object called the ‘analytic conductor’, which would be introduced during the talk. Moreover in the case of Hilbert modular forms, we will also discuss quantitative results about distribution of positive and negative Hecke eigenvalues. The proof depends on establishing a certain result on a particular types of multiplicative functions on the set of integral ideals of a totally real number field.

In the second part of the talk, we will introduce the space of Jacobi forms and certain results due to J. Kramer and, briefly, a conjecture due to Hashimoto on theta series attached to quaternion algebras to motivate the results to follow. The (partial) solution of this conjecture by Arakawa and B"ocherer transfers the question to one about differential operators on Jacobi forms, and we would report on previously known and new results on this topic.

The heart of the second part of the talk would focus on the question about the differential operators on Jacobi forms. It is well known that certain differential operators ${D_{v}}_{0}^{2m}$ map the space of Jacobi forms $J_{k,m}(N)$ of weight $k$, index $m$ and level $N$ to the space of modular forms $M_{k+v}(N)$ of weight $k+v$ and level $N$. It is also known that the sum of the differential operators $D_{v}$ for $v={1,2,…2m}$ map $J_{k,m}(N)$ to the direct sum of $M_{k+v}(N)$ injectively. The question alluded to above boils down to investigate whether one can omit certain differential operators from the list above, maintaining the injective property. In this regard, we would discuss results of Arakawa–B"ocherer, Das–Ramakrishnan, and finally our results. The main point would be to establish automorphy of the Wronskian of a certain tuple of congruent theta series of weight 3/2.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

We study questions broadly related to the Kobayashi (pseudo)distance and (pseudo)metric on domains in $\mathbb{C}^n$. Specifically, we study the following subjects:

Estimates for holomorphic images of subsets in convex domains: Consider the following problem: given domains $\Omega_1\varsubsetneq \mathbb{C}^n$ and $\Omega_2\varsubsetneq \mathbb{C}^m$, and points $a\in \Omega_1$ and $b \in \Omega_2$, find an explicit lower bound for the distance of $f(\Omega_1(r))$ from the complement of $\Omega_2$ in terms of $r$, where $f:\Omega_1\to \Omega_2$ is a holomorphic map such that $f(a)=b$, and $\Omega_1(r)$ is the set of all points in $\Omega_1$ that are at a distance of at least $r$ from the complement of $\Omega_1$. This is motivated by the classical Schwarz lemma (i.e., $\Omega_1 = \Omega_2$ being the unit disk) which gives a sharp lower bound of the latter form. We extend this to the case where $\Omega_1$ and $\Omega_2$ are convex domains. In doing so, we make crucial use of the Kobayashi pseudodistance.

Upper bounds for the Kobayashi metric: We provide new upper bounds for the Kobayashi metric on bounded convex domains in $\mathbb{C}^n$. This bears relation to Graham’s well-known big-constant/small-constant bounds from above and below on convex domains. Graham’s upper bounds are frequently not sharp. Our estimates improve these bounds.

The continuous extension of Kobayashi isometries: We provide a new result in this direction that is based on the properties of convex domains viewed as distance spaces (equipped with the Kobayashi distance). Specifically, we sharpen certain techniques introduced recently by A. Zimmer and extend a result of his to a wider class of convex domains having lower boundary regularity. In particular, all complex geodesics into any such convex domain are shown to extend continuously to the unit circle.

A weak notion of negative curvature for the Kobayashi distance on domains in $\mathbb{C}^n$: We introduce and study a property that we call “visibility with respect to the Kobayashi distance”, which is an analogue of the notion of uniform visibility in CAT(0) spaces. It abstracts an important and characteristic property of Gromov hyperbolic spaces. We call domains satisfying this newly-introduced property “visibility domains”. Bharali–Zimmer recently introduced a class of domains called Goldilocks domains, which are visibility domains, and proved for Goldilocks domains a wide range of properties. We show that visibility domains form a proper superclass of the Goldilocks domains. We do so by constructing a family of domains that are visibility domains but not Goldilocks domains. We also show that visibility domains enjoy many of the properties shown to hold for Goldilocks domains.

Wolff–Denjoy-type theorems for visibility domains: To emphasise the point that many of the results shown to hold for Goldilocks domains can actually be extended to visibility domains, we prove two Wolff–Denjoy-type theorems for taut visibility domains, with one of them being a generalization of a similar result for Goldilocks domains. We also provide a corollary to one of these results to demonstrate the sheer diversity of domains to which the Wolff–Denjoy phenomenon extends.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

In the first part of the talk we would discuss a topic about the Fourier coefficients of modular forms. Namely, we would focus on the question of distinguishing two modular forms by certain ‘arithmetically interesting’ Fourier coefficients. These type of results are known as ‘recognition results’ and have been a useful theme in the theory of modular forms,having lots of applications. As an example we would recall the Sturm’s bound (which applies quite generally to a wide class of modular forms), which says that two modular forms are equal if (in a suitable sense) their ‘first’ few Fourier coefficients agree. As another example we would mention the classical multiplicity-one result for elliptic new forms of integral weight, which says that if two such forms $f_1,f_2$ have the same eigenvalues of the $p$-th Hecke operator $T_p$ for almost all primes $p$, then $f_1=f_2$.

The heart of the first part of the talk would concentrate on Hermitian cusp forms of degree $2$. These objects have a Fourier expansion indexed by certain matrices of size $2$ over an imaginary quadratic field. We show that Hermitian cusp forms of weight $k$ for the Hermitian modular group of degree $2$ are determined by their Fourier coefficients indexed by matrices whose determinants are essentially square–free. Moreover, we give a quantitative version of the above result. This is a consequence of the corresponding results for integral weight elliptic cusp forms, which will also be discussed. This result was established by A. Saha in the context of Siegel modular forms – and played a crucial role (among others) in the automorphic transfer from $GSp(4)$ to $GL(4)$. We expect similar applications. We also discuss few results on the square–free Fourier coefficients of elliptic cusp forms.

In the second part of the talk we introduce Saito–Kurokawa lifts: these are certain Siegel modular forms lifted from classical elliptic modular forms on the upper half plane $H$. If $g$ is such an elliptic modular form of integral weight $k$ on $SL(2, Z)$ then we consider its Saito–Kurokawa lift $F_g$ and a certain ‘restricted’ $L^2$-norm, which we denote by $N(F_g)$ (and which we refer to as the ‘mass’), associated with it.

Pullback of a Siegel modular form $F((\tau,z,z,\tau'))$ ($(\tau,z,z,\tau')$ in Siegel’s upper half-plane of degree 2) to $H \times H$ is its restriction to $z=0$, which we denote by $F\|_{z=0}$. Deep conjectures of Ikeda (also known as ‘conjectures on the periods of automorphic forms’) relate the $L^2$-norms of such pullbacks to central values of $L$-functions for all degrees.

In fact, when a Siegel modular form arises as a Saito–Kurokawa lift (say $F=F_g$), results of Ichino relate the mass of the pullbacks to the central values of certain $GL(3) \times GL(2)$ $L$-functions. Moreover, it has been observed that comparison of the (normalized) norm of $F_g$ with the norm of its pullback provides a measure of concentration of $F_g$ along $z=0$. We recall certain conjectures pertaining to the size of the ‘mass’. We use the amplification method to improve the currently known bound for $N(F_g)$.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

An ordinary ring may be expressed as a preadditive category with a single object. Accordingly, as introduced by B. Mitchell, an arbitrary small preadditive category may be understood as a “ring with several objects”. In this respect, for a Hopf algebra H, an H-category will denote an “H-module algebra with several objects” and a co-H-category will denote an “H-comodule algebra with several objects”. Modules over such Hopf categories were first considered by Cibils and Solotar. We study the cohomology in such module categories. In particular, we consider H-equivariant modules over a Hopf module category C as modules over the smash extension C#H. We construct Grothendieck spectral sequences for the cohomologies as well as the H-locally finite cohomologies of these objects. We also introduce relative (D,H)-Hopf modules over a Hopf comodule category D. These generalize relative (A,H)-Hopf modules over an H-comodule algebra A. We construct Grothendieck spectral sequences for their cohomologies by using their rational Hom objects and higher derived functors of coinvariants. We will develop these cohomology theories in a manner similar to the “H-finite cohomology” obtained by Guedenon and the cohomology of relative Hopf modules studied by Caenepeel and Guedenon respectively. This is one of the two thesis problems which we plan to discuss in detail.

If time permits, we will also give a brief presentation of the other thesis project. In the last twenty years, several notions of what is called the algebraic geometry over the “field with one element” ($\mathbb{F}_1$) has been developed. It is in this context that monoids became topologically and geometrically relevant objects of study. In our work, we abstract out the topological characteristics of the prime spectrum of a commutative monoid, endowed with the Zariski topology is homeomorphic to the spectrum of a ring i.e., it is a spectral space. Spectral spaces, introduced by Hochster, are widely studied in the literature. We use ideals and modules over monoids to present many such spectral spaces. We introduce closure operations on monoids and obtain natural classes of spectral spaces using finite type closure operations. In the process, various closure operations like integral, saturation, Frobenius and tight closures are introduced for monoids. We study their persistence and localization properties in detail. Next, we make a study of valuation on monoids and prove that the collection of all valuation monoids having the same group completion forms a spectral space. We also prove that the valuation spectrum of any monoid gives a spectral space. Finally, we prove that the collection of continuous valuations on a topological monoid whose topology is determined by any finitely generated ideal also gives a spectral space.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

We study risk-sensitive stochastic optimal control and differential game problems. These problems arise in many applications including heavy traffic analysis of queueing networks, communication networks, and manufacturing systems.

First, we study risk-sensitive stochastic differential games for controlled reflecting diffusion processes in a smooth bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. We consider both nonzero-sum and zero-sum cases. We treat two cost evaluation criteria namely discounted cost and ergodic cost. Under certain assumptions, we establish the existence of a Nash/saddle-point equilibria for relevant cases. For ergodic cost criterion, we use principal eigenvalue approach to study the game problems. This approach enables us to obtain a complete characterization of Nash/saddle point equilibrium in the space of stationary Markov strategies.

Subsequently, we study risk-sensitive ergodic control problem for controlled reflecting diffusion processes in the non-negative orthant. Under a certain Lyapunov type stability assumption and some other technical assumptions, we first establish the existence of a solution to the multiplicative Poisson equation for each stationary Markov control. Using this result, we establish the existence of a unique solution to the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. This, in turn, leads to the complete characterization of optimal controls in the space of stationary Markov controls.

Then we study risk-sensitive zero-sum/nonzero-sum stochastic differential games on the infinite horizon, where the state is a controlled reflecting diffusion in the non-negative orthant. We consider two cost evaluation criteria: discounted cost and ergodic cost. Under certain assumptions, we establish the existence of a saddle point/Nash equilibria, for relevant cases. We obtain our results by studying the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI)/coupled HJB equations. For the ergodic cost criterion, we completely characterize a saddle point/Nash equilibria in the space of stationary strategies.

Finally, we study nonzero-sum stochastic differential games with risk-sensitive ergodic cost criteria, where the state space is a controlled diffusion process in $\mathbb{R}^{d}.$ Under certain conditions, we establish the existence of a Nash equilibrium in stationary strategies. We achieve our results by studying the relevant systems of coupled HJB equations. Also, we completely characterize a Nash equilibrium in the space of stationary strategies.

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#### MS Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

The systematic study of determinantal processes began with the work of Macchi (1975), and since then they have appeared in different contexts like random matrix theory (eigenvalues of random matrices), combinatorics (random spanning tree, non-intersecting paths, measures on Young diagrams), and physics (fermions). A particularly interesting and well-known example of a discrete determinantal process is the Uniform spanning tree (UST) on finite graphs. We shall describe UST on complete graphs and complete bipartite graphs—in these cases it is possible to make explicit computations that yield some special cases of Aldous’ result on CRT.

The defining property of a determinantal process is that its joint intensities are given by determinants, which makes it amenable to explicit computations. One can associate a determinantal process with a finite rank projection on a Hilbert space of functions on a given set. Let $H$ and $K$ are two finite dimensional subspaces of a Hilbert space, and let $P$ and $Q$ be determinantal processes associated with projections on $H$ and $K$, respectively. Lyons showed that if $H$ is contained in $K$ then $P$ is stochastically dominated by $Q$. We will give a simpler proof of Lyons’ result which avoids the machinery of exterior algebra used in the original proof of Lyons and also provides a unified approach of proving the result in discrete as well as continuous case.

As an application of the above result, we will obtain the stochastic domination between the largest eigenvalue of Wishart matrix ensembles $W(N,N)$ and $W(N-1,N+1)$. It is well known that the largest eigenvalue of Wishart ensemble $W(M,N)$ has the same distribution as the directed last-passage time $G(M,N)$ on $Z^2$ with i.i.d. exponential weights. We, thus, obtain stochastic domination between $G(N,N)$ and $G(N-1,N+1)$ - answering a question of Riddhipratim Basu. Similar connections are also known between the largest eigenvalue of Meixner ensemble and directed last-passage time on $Z^2$ with i.i.d. geometric weights. We prove a stochastic domination result which combined with the Lyons’ result gives the stochastic domination between Meixner ensemble $M(N,N)$ and $M(N-1,N+1)$.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

The main aim of this thesis is to explain the of some conformal metrics and invariants near a smooth boundary point of a domain in the complex plane. We will be interested in the invariants associated the Carathéodory metric such as its higher order curvatures that were introduced by Burbea and the Aumann-Carathéodory rigidity constant, the Sugawa metric and the Hurwitz metric. The basic technical step in all these is the method of scaling the domain near a smooth boundary point.

To estimate the higher order curvatures using scaling, we generalize an old theorem of Suita on the real analyticity of the Caratheodory metric on planar domains and in the process, we show the convergence of the Szego and Garabedian kernels as well. By using similar ideas we also show that the Aumann-Caratheodory rigidity constant converges to 1 near smooth boundary points.

Next on the line is a conformal metric defined using holomorphic quadratic differentials. This was done by T. Sugawa and we will refer to this as the Sugawa metric. It is shown that this metric is uniformly comparable to the quasi-hyperbolic metric on a smoothly bounded domain.

We also study the Hurwitz metric that was introduced by D. Minda. Its construction is similar to the Kobayashi metric but the essential difference lies in the class of holomorphic maps that are considered in its definition. We show that this metric is continuous and also strengthen Minda’s theorem about its comparability with the quasi-hyperbolic metric by estimating the constants in a more natural manner.

Finally, we get some weak estimates on the generalized upper and lower curvatures of the Sugawa and Hurwitz metrics.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

Let $K$ be a bounded domain and $K:\Omega \times \Omega \to \mathbb{C}$ be a sesqui-analytic function. We show that if $\alpha,\beta>0$ be such that the functions $K^{\alpha}$ and $K^{\beta}$, defined on $\Omega\times\Omega$, are non-negative definite kernels, then the $M_m(\mathbb{C})$ valued function $K^{(\alpha,\beta)} := K^{\alpha+\beta}(\partial_i\bar{\partial}_j\log K)_{i,j=1}^m$ is also a non-negative definite kernel on $\Omega\times\Omega$. Then we find a realization of the Hilbert space $(H,K^{(\alpha,\beta)})$ determined by the kernel $K^{(\alpha, \beta)}$ in terms of the tensor product $(H, K^{\alpha})\otimes (H, K^{\beta})$.

For two reproducing kernel Hilbert modules $(H,K_1)$ and $(H,K_2)$, let $A_n, n\geq 0$, be the submodules of the Hilbert module $(H, K_1)\otimes (H, K_2)$ consisting of functions vanishing to order $n$ on the diagonal set $\Delta:= \{ (z,z):z\in \Omega \}$. Setting $S_0=A_0^\perp, S_n=A_{n-1}\ominus A_{n}, n\geq 1$, leads to a natural decomposition of $(H, K_1)\otimes (H, K_2)$ into an infinite direct sum $\oplus_{n=0}^{\infty} S_n$. A theorem of Aronszajn shows that the module $S_0$ is isometrically isomorphic to the push-forward of the module $(H,K_1K_2)$ under the map $\iota:\Omega\to \Omega\times\Omega$, where $\iota(z)=(z,z), z\in \Omega$. We prove that if $K_1=K^{\alpha}$ and $K_2=K^{\beta}$, then the module $S_1$ is isometrically isomorphic to the push-forward of the module $(H,K^{(\alpha, \beta)})$ under the map $\iota$. We also show that if a scalar valued non-negative kernel $K$ is quasi-invariant, then $K^{(1,1)}$ is also a quasi-invariant kernel.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-3, Mathematics Department

In the last twenty years, several notions of what is called the algebraic geometry over the “field with one element” has been developed. One of the simplest approaches to this is via the theory of monoid schemes. The concept of a monoid scheme itself goes back to Kato and was further developed by Deitmar and by Connes, Consani and Marcolli. The idea is to replace prime spectra of commutative rings, which are the building blocks of ordinary schemes, by prime spectra of commutative pointed monoids. In our work, we focus mostly on abstracting out the topological characteristics of the prime spectrum of a commutative pointed monoid. This helps to obtain several classes of topological spaces which are homeomorphic to the the prime spectrum of a monoid. Such spaces are widely studied and are called spectral spaces. They were introduced by M. Hochster. We present several naturally occurring classes of spectral spaces using commutative algebra on pointed monoids. For this purpose, our main tools are finite type closure operations and continuous valuations on monoids which we introduce in this work. In the process, we make a detailed study of different closure operations like integral, saturation, Frobenius and tight closures on monoids. We prove that the collection of all continuous valuations on a topological monoid with topology determined by any finitely generated ideal is a spectral space.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-3, Mathematics Department

The main aim of this thesis is to explain the behaviour of some conformal metrics and invariants near a smooth boundary point of a domain in the complex plane. We will be interested in the invariants associated to the Carathéodory metric such as its higher order curvatures that were introduced by Burbea and the Aumann-Carathéodory rigidity constant, the Sugawa metric and the Hurwitz metric. The basic technical step in all these is the method of scaling the domain near a smooth boundary point.

To estimate the higher order curvatures using scaling, we generalize an old theorem of Suita on the real analyticity of the Caratheodory metric on planar domains and in the process, we show convergence of the Szego and Garabedian kernels as well. By using similar ideas we also show that the Aumann-Caratheodory rigidity constant converges to 1 near smooth boundary points.

Next on the line is a conformal metric defined using holomorphic quadratic differentials. This was done by T. Sugawa and we will refer to this as the Sugawa metric. It is shown that this metric is uniformly comparable to the quasi-hyperbolic metric on a smoothly bounded domain.

We also study the Hurwitz metric that was introduced by D. Minda. It’s construction is similar to the Kobayashi metric but the essential difference lies in the class of holomorphic maps that are considered in its definition. We show that this metric is continuous and also strengthen Minda’s theorem about its comparability with the quasi-hyperbolic metric by estimating the constants in a more natural manner.

Finally, we get some weak estimates on the generalized upper and lower curvatures of the Sugawa and Hurwitz metrics.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

Let $K$ be a bounded domain and $K:\Omega \times \Omega \to \mathbb{C}$ be a sesqui-analytic function. We show that if $\alpha,\beta>0$ be such that the functions $K^{\alpha}$ and $K^{\beta}$, defined on $\Omega\times\Omega$, are non-negative definite kernels, then the $M_m(\mathbb{C})$ valued function $K^{(\alpha,\beta)} := K^{\alpha+\beta}(\partial_i\bar{\partial}_j\log K)_{i,j=1}^m$ is also a non-negative definite kernel on $\Omega\times\Omega$. Then we find a realization of the Hilbert space $(H,K^{(\alpha,\beta)})$ determined by the kernel $K^{(\alpha, \beta)}$ in terms of the tensor product $(H, K^{\alpha})\otimes (H, K^{\beta})$.

For two reproducing kernel Hilbert modules $(H,K_1)$ and $(H,K_2)$, let $A_n, n\geq 0$, be the submodules of the Hilbert module $(H, K_1)\otimes (H, K_2)$ consisting of functions vanishing to order $n$ on the diagonal set $\Delta:= \{ (z,z):z\in \Omega \}$. Setting $S_0=A_0^\perp, S_n=A_{n-1}\ominus A_{n}, n\geq 1$, leads to a natural decomposition of $(H, K_1)\otimes (H, K_2)$ into an infinite direct sum $\oplus_{n=0}^{\infty} S_n$. A theorem of Aronszajn shows that the module $S_0$ is isometrically isomorphic to the push-forward of the module $(H,K_1K_2)$ under the map $\iota:\Omega\to \Omega\times\Omega$, where $\iota(z)=(z,z), z\in \Omega$. We prove that if $K_1=K^{\alpha}$ and $K_2=K^{\beta}$, then the module $S_1$ is isometrically isomorphic to the push-forward of the module $(H,K^{(\alpha, \beta)})$ under the map $\iota$. We also show that if a scalar valued non-negative kernel $K$ is quasi-invariant, then $K^{(1,1)}$ is also a quasi-invariant kernel.

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#### MS Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-3, Mathematics Department

We consider a finite version of the one-dimensional Toom model with closed boundaries. Each site is occupied either by a particle of type 0 or of type 1, where the total number of particles of type 0 and type 1 are fixed to be n_0 and n_1 respectively. We call this an (n_0,n_1)-system. The dynamics are as follows: the leftmost particle in a block can exchange its position with the leftmost particle of the block to its right.

In this thesis, we have shown the following. Firstly, we have proven a conjecture about the density of 1’s in a system with arbitrary number of 0’s and 1’s. Secondly, we have made progress on a conjecture for the nonequilibrium partition function. In particular, we have given an alternate proof of the conjecture for the (1, n_1)-system and (n_0, 1)-system, using an enriched two-dimensional model.

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#### MS Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

In this talk, we present a portion of the paper “Sur certains espaces de fonctions holomorphes.I.” by Alexandre Grothendieck. For a function f: O → E, where O is an open subset of the complex plane and E a locally convex topological vector space, we define two notions: holomorphicity and weak derivability. We discuss some properties of the holomorphic functions and see the condition under which these two notions coincide.

For Ω_1 a subset of the Riemann sphere, we consider the space of locally holomorphic maps of Ω_1 into E vanishing at infinity if infinity belongs to Ω_1, denoted by P(Ω_1,E). For two complementary subsets Ω_1 and Ω_2 of the Riemann sphere we prove that given two locally convex topological vector spaces E and F in separating duality, under some general conditions, we can define a separating duality between P(Ω _1,E) and P(Ω_2,F).

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-2, Mathematics Department

Obtaining a sparse representation of high dimensional data is often the first step towards its further analysis. Conventional Vector Autoregressive (VAR) modelling methods applied to such data results in noisy, non-sparse solutions with a too many spurious coefficients. Computing auxiliary quantities such as the Power Spectrum, Coherence and Granger Causality (GC) from such non-sparse models is slow and gives wrong results. Thresholding the distorted values of these quantities as per some criterion, statistical or otherwise, does not alleviate the problem.

We propose two sparse Vector Autoregressive (VAR) modelling methods that work well for high dimensional time series data, even when the number of time points is relatively low, by incorporating only statistically significant coefficients. In numerical experiments using simulated data, our methods show consistently higher accuracy compared to other contemporary methods in recovering the true sparse model. The relative absence of spurious coefficients in our models permits more accurate, stable and efficient evaluation of auxiliary quantities. Our VAR modelling methods are capable of computing Conditional Granger Causality (CGC) in datasets consisting of tens of thousands of variables with a speed and accuracy that far exceeds the capabilities of existing methods.

Using the Conditional Granger Causality computed from our models as a proxy for the weight of the edges in a network, we use community detection algorithms to simultaneously obtain both local and global functional connectivity patterns and community structures in large networks.

We also use our VAR modelling methods to predict time delays in many-variable systems. Using simulated data from non-linear delay differential equations, we compare our methods with commonly used delay prediction techniques and show that our methods yield more accurate results.

We apply the above methods to the following real experimental data:

1. Analysis of data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP): fMRI data from the HCP database is used to compute sparse brain functional connectivity networks. The network and community structures obtained are consistent over independent recording sessions and show good spatial correspondence with known functional and anatomical regions of the brain.
2. Analysis of ADHD-200 data: fMRI data from children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) is used to compute sparse brain functional connectivity networks. Analysis of the network measures obtained provide new ways of differentiating between ADHD and typically developing children using global and node-level network measures. They also enable refinement of published results relating to the rFIC-ACC interaction in fMRI resting state data.
3. Time-delay prediction from LFP recordings:When applied to Local Field Potential (LFP) recordings from the rat and monkey, our methods predict consistent delays across a range of sampling frequencies.
4. Application to the Hela gene interaction dataset: The network obtained by applying our methods to this dataset yields results that are at least as good as those from a specialized method for analysing gene interaction. This demonstrates that our methods can be applied to any time series data for which VAR modelling is valid.

In addition to the above methods, we apply non-parametric Granger Causality analysis (originally developed by A. Nedungadi, G. Rangarajan et al) to mixed point-process and real time-series data. Extending the computations to Conditional GC and by increasing the efficiency of the original computer code, we can compute the Conditional GC spectrum in systems consisting of hundreds of variables in a relatively short period. Further, combining this with VAR modelling provides an alternate faster route to compute the significance level of each element of the GC and CGC matrices. We use these techniques to analyse mixed Spike Train and LFP data from monkey electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings during a behavioural task. Interpretation of the results of the analysis is an ongoing collaboration.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-2, Mathematics Department

Obtaining a sparse representation of high dimensional data is often the first step towards its further analysis. Conventional Vector Autoregressive (VAR) modelling methods applied to such data results in noisy, non-sparse solutions with a too many spurious coefficients. Computing auxiliary quantities such as the Power Spectrum, Coherence and Granger Causality (GC) from such non-sparse models is slow and gives wrong results. Thresholding the distorted values of these quantities as per some criterion, statistical or otherwise, does not alleviate the problem.

We propose two sparse Vector Autoregressive (VAR) modelling methods that work well for high dimensional time series data, even when the number of time points is relatively low, by incorporating only statistically significant coefficients. In numerical experiments using simulated data, our methods show consistently higher accuracy compared to other contemporary methods in recovering the true sparse model. The relative absence of spurious coefficients in our models permits more accurate, stable and efficient evaluation of auxiliary quantities. Our VAR modelling methods are capable of computing Conditional Granger Causality (CGC) in datasets consisting of tens of thousands of variables with a speed and accuracy that far exceeds the capabilities of existing methods.

Using the Conditional Granger Causality computed from our models as a proxy for the weight of the edges in a network, we use community detection algorithms to simultaneously obtain both local and global functional connectivity patterns and community structures in large networks.

We also use our VAR modelling methods to predict time delays in many-variable systems. Using simulated data from non-linear delay differential equations, we compare our methods with commonly used delay prediction techniques and show that our methods yield more accurate results.

We apply the above methods to the following real experimental data:

1. Analysis of data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP): fMRI data from the HCP database is used to compute sparse brain functional connectivity networks. The network and community structures obtained are consistent over independent recording sessions and show good spatial correspondence with known functional and anatomical regions of the brain.
2. Analysis of ADHD-200 data: fMRI data from children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) is used to compute sparse brain functional connectivity networks. Analysis of the network measures obtained provide new ways of differentiating between ADHD and typically developing children using global and node-level network measures. They also enable refinement of published results relating to the rFIC-ACC interaction in fMRI resting state data.
3. Time-delay prediction from LFP recordings:When applied to Local Field Potential (LFP) recordings from the rat and monkey, our methods predict consistent delays across a range of sampling frequencies.
4. Application to the Hela gene interaction dataset: The network obtained by applying our methods to this dataset yields results that are at least as good as those from a specialized method for analysing gene interaction. This demonstrates that our methods can be applied to any time series data for which VAR modelling is valid.

In addition to the above methods, we apply non-parametric Granger Causality analysis (originally developed by A. Nedungadi, G. Rangarajan et al) to mixed point-process and real time-series data. Extending the computations to Conditional GC and by increasing the efficiency of the original computer code, we can compute the Conditional GC spectrum in systems consisting of hundreds of variables in a relatively short period. Further, combining this with VAR modelling provides an alternate faster route to compute the significance level of each element of the GC and CGC matrices. We use these techniques to analyse mixed Spike Train and LFP data from monkey electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings during a behavioural task. Interpretation of the results of the analysis is an ongoing collaboration.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

The main emphasis of this thesis is on developing and implementing linear and quadratic finite element methods for 3-dimensional (3D) elliptic obstacle problems. The study consists of a priori and a posteriori error analysis of conforming as well as discontinuous Galerkin methods on a 3D domain. The work in the thesis also focuses on constructing reliable and efficient error estimator for elliptic obstacle problem with inhomogenous boundary data on a 2D domain. Finally, a MATLAB implementation of uniform mesh refinement for a 3D domain is also discussed. In this talk, we first present a quadratic finite element method for three dimensional ellipticobstacle problem which is optimally convergent (with respect to the regularity). We derive a priori error estimates to show the optimal convergence of the method with respect to the regularity, for this we have enriched the finite element space with element-wise bubble functions. Further, aposteriori error estimates are derived to design an adaptive mesh refinement algorithm. The result on a priori estimate will be illustrated by a numerical experiment. Next, we discuss on two newly proposed discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element methods for the elliptic obstacle problem. Using the localized behavior of DG methods, we derive a priori and a posteriori error estimates forlinear and quadratic DG methods in dimension 2 and 3 without the addition of bubble functions.We consider two discrete sets, one with integral constraints (motivated as in the previous work)and another with point constraints at quadrature points. The analysis is carried out in a unified setting which holds for several DG methods with variable polynomial degree. We then proposea new and simpler residual based a posteriori error estimator for finite element approximation of the elliptic obstacle problem. The results here are two fold. Firstly, we address the influence of the inhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition in a posteriori error control of the elliptic obstacle problem. Secondly, by rewriting the obstacle problem in an equivalent form, we derive simpler a posteriori error bounds which are free from min/max functions. To accomplish this, we construct a post-processed solution ˜uh of the discrete solution uh which satisfies the exact boundaryconditions although the discrete solution uh may not satisfy. We propose two post processing methods and analyse them. We remark that the results known in the literature are either for the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition or that the estimator is only weakly reliable in the case of inhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. Finally, we discuss a uniform mesh refinement algorithm for a 3D domain. Starting with orientation of a face of the tetrahedron and orientation of the tetrahedron, we discuss the ideas for nodes to element connectivity and red-refinement of a tetrahedron. We present conclusions and possible extensions for the future works.

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#### MS Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

In this talk, we present a portion of the paper “Sur certains espaces de fonctions holomorphes.I.” by Alexandre Grothendieck. For a function f: O → E, where O is an open subset of the complex plane and E a locally convex topological vector space, we define two notions: holomorphicity and weak derivability. We discuss some properties of the holomorphic functions and see the condition under which these two notions coincide.

For Ω_1 a subset of the Riemann sphere, we consider the space of locally holomorphic maps of Ω_1 into E vanishing at infinity if infinity belongs to Ω_1, denoted by P(Ω_1,E). For two complementary subsets Ω_1 and Ω_2 of the Riemann sphere we prove that given two locally convex topological vector spaces E and F in separating duality, under some general conditions, we can define a separating duality between P(Ω_1,E) and P(Ω_2,F).

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#### MS Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

We consider a finite version of the one-dimensional Toom model with closed boundaries. Each site is occupied either by a particle of type 0 or of type 1, where the total number of particles of type 0 and type 1 are fixed to be n_0 and n_1 respectively. We call this an (n_0, n_1)-system. The dynamics are as follows: the leftmost particle in a block can exchange its position with the leftmost particle of the block to its right.

In this thesis, we have shown the following. Firstly, we have proven a conjecture about the density of 1’s in a system with arbitrary number of 0’s and 1’s. Secondly, we have made progress on a conjecture for the nonequilibrium partition function. In particular, we have given an alternate proof of the conjecture for the (1, n_1)-system and (n_0, 1)-system, using an enriched two-dimensional model.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

The classification of homogeneous scalar weighted shifts is known. Recently, Koranyi obtained a large class of inequivalent irreducible homogeneous bi-lateral 2-by-2 block shifts. We construct two distinct classes of examples not in the list of Koranyi. It is then shown that these new examples of irreducible homogeneous bi-lateral 2-by-2 block shifts, together with the ones found earlier by Koranyi, account for every unitarily inequivalent irreducible homogeneous bi-lateral 2-by-2 block shift.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

In this talk we will discuss an analytic model theory for pure hyper-contractions (introduced by J. Agler) which is analogous to Sz.Nagy-Foias model theory for contractions. We then proceed to study analytic model theory for doubly commuting n-tuples of operators and analyze the structure of joint shift co-invariant subspaces of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces over polydisc. In particular, we completely characterize the doubly commuting quotient modules of a large class of reproducing kernel Hilbert Modules, in the sense of Arazy and Englis, over the unit polydisc.

Inspired by Halmos, in the second half of the talk, we will focus on the wandering subspace property of commuting tuples of bounded operators on Hilbert spaces. We prove that for a large class of analytic functional Hilbert spaces H_k on the unit ball in $\mathbb{C}^n$, wandering subspaces for restrictions of the multiplication tuple $M_z = (M_{z_1},…,M_{z_n})$ can be described in terms of suitable H_k-inner functions. We also prove that H_k-inner functions are contractive multipliers and deduce a result on the multiplier norm of quasi-homogeneous polynomials as an application. Along the way we also prove a refinement of a result of Arveson on the uniqueness of the minimal dilations of pure row contractions.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-3, Mathematics Department

The main emphasis of this thesis is on developing and implementing linear and quadratic finite element methods for 3-dimensional (3D) elliptic obstacle problems. The study consists of a priori and a posteriori error analysis of conforming as well as discontinuous Galerkin methods on a 3D domain. The work in the thesis also focuses on constructing reliable and efficient error estimator for elliptic obstacle problem with inhomogenous boundary data on a 2D domain.

Finally, a MATLAB implementation of uniform mesh refinement for a 3D domain is also discussed. In this talk, we first present a quadratic finite element method for three dimensional ellipticobstacle problem which is optimally convergent (with respect to the regularity). We derive a priorierror estimates to show the optimal convergence of the method with respect to the regularity, forthis we have enriched the finite element space with element-wise bubble functions. Further, aposteriori error estimates are derived to design an adaptive mesh refinement algorithm. The result on a priori estimate will be illustrated by a numerical experiment. Next, we discuss on two newly proposed discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element methods for the elliptic obstacle problem.Using the localized behavior of DG methods, we derive a priori and a posteriori error estimates forlinear and quadratic DG methods in dimension 2 and 3 without the addition of bubble functions.We consider two discrete sets, one with integral constraints (motivated as in the previous work)and another with point constraints at quadrature points. The analysis is carried out in a unified setting which holds for several DG methods with variable polynomial degree. We then proposea new and simpler residual based a posteriori error estimator for finite element approximationof the elliptic obstacle problem. The results here are two fold. Firstly, we address the influenceof the inhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition in a posteriori error control of the elliptic obstacle problem. Secondly, by rewriting the obstacle problem in an equivalent form, we derive simpler a posteriori error bounds which are free from min/max functions. To accomplish this, we construct a post-processed solution uh of the discrete solution uh which satisfies the exact boundaryconditions although the discrete solution uh may not satisfy. We propose two post processing methods and analyse them. We remark that the results known in the literature are either for the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition or that the estimator is only weakly reliable in the case of inhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. Finally, we discuss a uniform mesh refinement algorithm for a 3D domain. Starting with orientation of a face of the tetrahedron and orientation of the tetrahedron, we discuss the ideas for nodes to element connectivity and red-refinement of a tetrahedron. We present conclusions and possible extensions for the future works.

Top

#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-3, Mathematics Department

Homogenization of boundary value problems posed on rough domains has paramount importance in real life problems. Materials with oscillating (rough) boundary are used in many industrial applications like micro strip radiator and nano technologies, biological systems, fractal-type constructions, etc. In this talk, we will be focusing on homogenization of optimal control problems. We will begin with homogenization of a boundary control problem on an oscillating pillar type domain. Then, we will consider a time-dependent control problem posed on a little more general domain called branched structure domain. Asymptotic analysis of this interior control problem will be explained. Next, we will present a generalized unfolding operator that we have developed for a general oscillatory domain. Using this unfolding operator, we study the homogenization of a non-linear elliptic problem on this general highly oscillatory domain. Also, we analyse an optimal control problem on a circular oscillating domain with the assistance of this operator. Finally, we consider a non-linear optimal control problem on the above mentioned general oscillatory domain and study the asymptotic behaviour.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

The Pick–Nevanlinna interpolation problem in its fullest generality is as follows:

Given domains $D_1$, $D_2$ in complex Euclidean spaces, and a set ${(z_i,w_i): 1\leq i\leq N}\subset D_1\times D_2$, where $z_i$ are distinct and $N$ is a positive integer $\geq 2$, find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a holomorphic map $F$ from $D_1$ into $D_2$ such that $F(z_i) = w_i$, $1\leq N$.

When such a map $F$ exists, we say that $F$ is an interpolant of the data. Of course, this problem is intractable at the above level of generality. However, two special cases of the problem – which we shall study in this thesis – have been of lasting interest:

INTERPOLATION FROM THE POLYDISC TO THE UNIT DISC: This is the case $D_1 = D^n$ and $D_2 = D$, where $D$ denotes the open unit disc in the complex plane and $n$ is a positive integer. The problem itself originates with Georg Pick’s well-known theorem (independently discovered by Nevanlinna) for the case $n=1$. Much later, Sarason gave another proof of Pick’s result using an operator-theoretic approach, which is very influential. Using this approach for $n\geq 2$, Agler–McCarthy provided a solution to the problem with the restriction that the interpolant is in the Schur–Agler class. This is notable because when $n = 2$ the latter result completely solves the problem for the case $D_1 = D^2$, $D_2 = D$. However, Pick’s approach can also be effective for $n\geq 2$. In this thesis, we give an alternative characterization for the existence of a $3$-point interpolant based on Pick’s approach and involving the study of rational inner functions.

Cole, Lewis and Wermer lifted Sarason’s approach to uniform algebras – leading to a characterization for the existence of an interpolant in terms of the positivity of a large, rather abstractly-defined family of $(N\times N)$ matrices. McCullough later refined their result by identifying a smaller family of matrices. The second result of this thesis is in the same vein, namely: it provides a characterization of those data that admit a $D^n$-to-$D$ interpolant in terms of the positivity of a family of matrices parametrized by a class of polynomials.

INTERPOLATION FORM THE UNIT DISC TO THE SPECTRAL UNIT BALL: This is the case $D_1 = D$ and $D_2$ is the set of all $(n\times n)$ matrices with spectral radius less than $1$. The interest in this arises from problems in Control Theory. Bercovici, Fois and Tannenbaum adapted Sarason’s methods to give a (somewhat hard-to-check) characterization for the existence of an interpolant under a very mild restriction. Later, Agler–Young established a relation between the interpolation problem in the spectral unit ball and that in the symmetrized polydisc – leading to a necessary condition for the existence of an interpolant. Bharali later provided a new inequivalent necessary condition for the existence of an interpolant for any $n$ and $N=2$. We shall present a necessary condition for the existence of a $3$-point interpolant. This we shall achieve by modifying Pick’s approach and applying the aforementioned result due to Bharali.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

The Pick–Nevanlinna interpolation problem in its fullest generality is as follows:

Given domains $D_1$, $D_2$ in complex Euclidean spaces, and a set ${(z_i,w_i): 1\leq i\leq N}\subset D_1\times D_2$, where $z_i$ are distinct and $N$ is a positive integer $\geq 2$, find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a holomorphic map $F$ from $D_1$ into $D_2$ such that $F(z_i) = w_i$, $1\leq N$.

When such a map $F$ exists, we say that $F$ is an interpolant of the data. Of course, this problem is intractable at the above level of generality. However, two special cases of the problem – which we shall study in this thesis – have been of lasting interest:

INTERPOLATION FROM THE POLYDISC TO THE UNIT DISC: This is the case $D_1 = D^n$ and $D_2 = D$, where $D$ denotes the open unit disc in the complex plane and $n$ is a positive integer. The problem itself originates with Georg Pick’s well-known theorem (independently discovered by Nevanlinna) for the case $n=1$. Much later, Sarason gave another proof of Pick’s result using an operator-theoretic approach, which is very influential. Using this approach for $n\geq 2$, Agler–McCarthy provided a solution to the problem with the restriction that the interpolant is in the Schur–Agler class. This is notable because when $n = 2$ the latter result completely solves the problem for the case $D_1 = D^2$, $D_2 = D$. However, Pick’s approach can also be effective for $n\geq 2$. In this thesis, we give an alternative characterization for the existence of a $3$-point interpolant based on Pick’s approach and involving the study of rational inner functions.

Cole, Lewis and Wermer lifted Sarason’s approach to uniform algebras – leading to a characterization for the existence of an interpolant in terms of the positivity of a large, rather abstractly-defined family of $(N\times N)$ matrices. McCullough later refined their result by identifying a smaller family of matrices. The second result of this thesis is in the same vein, namely: it provides a characterization of those data that admit a $D^n$-to-$D$ interpolant in terms of the positivity of a family of matrices parametrized by a class of polynomials.

INTERPOLATION FORM THE UNIT DISC TO THE SPECTRAL UNIT BALL: This is the case $D_1 = D$ and $D_2$ is the set of all $(n\times n)$ matrices with spectral radius less than $1$. The interest in this arises from problems in Control Theory. Bercovici, Fois and Tannenbaum adapted Sarason’s methods to give a (somewhat hard-to-check) characterization for the existence of an interpolant under a very mild restriction. Later, Agler–Young established a relation between the interpolation problem in the spectral unit ball and that in the symmetrized polydisc – leading to a necessary condition for the existence of an interpolant. Bharali later provided a new inequivalent necessary condition for the existence of an interpolant for any $n$ and $N=2$. We shall present a necessary condition for the existence of a $3$-point interpolant. This we shall achieve by modifying Pick’s approach and applying the aforementioned result due to Bharali.

Top

#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

In this talk we will discuss an analytic model theory for pure hyper-contractions (introduced by J. Agler) which is analogous to Sz.Nagy-Foias model theory for contractions. We then proceed to study analytic model theory for doubly commuting n-tuples of operators and analyze the structure of joint shift co-invariant subspaces of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces over polydisc. In particular, we completely characterize the doubly commuting quotient modules of a large class of reproducing kernel Hilbert Modules, in the sense of Arazy and Englis, over the unit polydisc.

Inspired by Halmos, in the second half of the talk, we will focus on the wandering subspace property of commuting tuples of bounded operators on Hilbert spaces. We prove that for a large class of analytic functional Hilbert spaces H_k on the unit ball in $\mathbb{C}^n$, wandering subspaces for restrictions of the multiplication tuple $M_z = (M_{z_1},…,M_{z_n})$ can be described in terms of suitable H_k-inner functions. We also prove that H_k-inner functions are contractive multipliers and deduce a result on the multiplier norm of quasi-homogeneous polynomials as an application. Along the way we also prove a refinement of a result of Arveson on the uniqueness of the minimal dilations of pure row contractions.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-1, Mathematics Department

It is known that the characteristic function $\theta_T$ of a homogeneous contraction $T$ with an associated representation $\pi$ is of the form

where, $\sigma_{L}$ and $\sigma_{R}$ are projective representation of the Mobius group Mob with a common multiplier. We give another proof of the product formula’’. Also, we prove that the projective representations $\sigma_L$ and $\sigma_R$ for a class of multiplication operators, the two representations $\sigma_{R}$ and $\sigma_{L}$ are unitarily equivalent to certain known pair of representations $\sigma_{\lambda + 1}$ and $\sigma_{\lambda - 1},$ respectively. These are described explicitly.

Let $G$ be either (i) the direct product of $n$-copies of the bi-holomorphic automorphism group of the disc or (ii) the bi-holomorphic automorphism group of the polydisc $\mathbb D^n.$ A commuting tuple of bounded operators $\mathsf{T} = (T_1, T_2,\ldots ,T_n)$ is said to be $G$-homogeneous if the joint spectrum of $\mathsf{T}$ lies in $\widebar{\mathbb{D}}^n$ and $\varphi(\mathsf{T}),$ defined using the usual functional calculus, is unitarily equivalent with $\mathsf{T}$ for all $\varphi \in G.$

We show that a commuting tuple $\mathsf{T}$ in the Cowen-Douglas class of rank $1$ is $G$ - homogeneous if and only if it is unitarily equivalent to the tuple of the multiplication operators on either the reproducing kernel Hilbert space with reproducing kernel $\prod_{i = 1}^{n} \frac{1}{(1 - z_{i}\overline{w}_{i})^{\lambda_i}}$ or $\prod_{i = 1}^{n} \frac{1}{(1 - z_{i}\overline{w}_{i})^{\lambda}},$ where $\lambda,$ $\lambda_i$, $1 \leq i \leq n,$ are positive real numbers, according as $G$ is as in (i) or (ii).

Let $\mathsf T:=(T_1, \ldots ,T_{n-1})$ be a $G$-homogeneous $(n-1)$-tuple of rank $1$ Cowen-Douglas class, where $G$ is the the direct product of $n-1$-copies of the bi-holomorphic automorphism group of the disc. Let $\hat{T}$ be an irreducible homogeneous (with respect to the bi-holomorphic group of automorphisms of the disc) operator in the Cowen-Douglas class on the disc of rank $2$. We show that every irreducible $G$ - homogeneous operator, $G$ as in (i), of rank $2$ must be of the form $(T_1\otimes I_{\widehat{H}},\ldots , T_{n-1}\otimes I_{\widehat{H}}, I_H \otimes \hat{T}).$

We also show that if $G$ is chosen to be the group as in (ii), then there are no irreducible $G$- homogeneous operators of rank $2.$

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: LH-3, Mathematics Department

Homogenization of boundary value problems posed on rough domains has paramount importance in real life problems. Materials with oscillating (rough) boundary are used in many industrial applications like micro strip radiator and nano technologies, biological systems, fractal-type constructions, etc. In this talk, we will be focusing on homogenization of optimal control problems. We will begin with homogenization of a boundary control problem on an oscillating pillar type domain. Then, we will consider a time-dependent control problem posed on a little more general domain called branched structure domain. Asymptotic analysis of this interior control problem will be explained. Next, we will present a generalized unfolding operator that we have developed for a general oscillatory domain. Using this unfolding operator, we study the homogenization of a non-linear elliptic problem on this general highly oscillatory domain. Also, we analyse an optimal control problem on a circular oscillating domain with the assistance of this operator. Finally, we consider a non-linear optimal control problem on the above mentioned general oscillatory domain and study the asymptotic behaviour.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I,Dept of Mathematics

We study asymptotic analysis (homogenization) of second-order partial differential equations(PDEs) posed on an oscillating domain. In general, the motivation for studying problems defined on oscillating domains, come from the need to understand flow in channels with rough boundary, heat transmission in winglets, jet engins and so on. There are various methods developed to study homogenization problems namely; multi-scale expansion, oscillating test function method, compensated compactness, two-scale convergence, block-wave method, method of unfolding etc.

In this thesis, we consider a two dimensional oscillating domain (comb shape type) $\Omega_{\epsilon}$ consists of a fixed bottom region $\Omega^-$ and an oscillatory (rugose) upper region $\Omega_{\epsilon}^{+}$. We introduce an optimal control problems in $\Omega_{\epsilon}$ for the Laplacian operator. There are mainly two types of optimal control problems; namely distributed control andboundary control. For distributed control problems in the oscillatingdomain, one can put control on the oscillating part or on the fixed part and similarly for boundary control problem (control on the oscillatingboundary or on the fixed part the boundary). Considering controls on theoscillating part is more interesting and challenging than putting control on fixed part of the domain. Our main aim is to characterize the controlsand study the limiting analysis (as $\epsilon \to 0$) of the optimalsolution.

In the thesis, we consider all the four cases, namely distributed and boundary controls both on the oscilalting part and away from the oscillating part. Since, controls on the oscillating part is more exciting, in this talk, we present the details of two sections. First we consider distributed optimal control problem, where the control is supported on the oscillating part $Omega_{\epsilon}^{+}$ with periodic controls and with Neumann condition on the oscillating boundary $\gamma_{\epsilon}$. Secondly, we introduce boundary optimal control problem, control applied through Neumann boundary condition on the oscillating boundary $\gamma_{\epsilon}$ with suitable scaling parameters. We characterize the optimal control using unfolding and boundary unfolding operators and study limiting analysis. In the limit, we obtain two limit problems according to the scaling parameters and we observe that limit optimal control problem has three control namely; a distributed control, a boundary control and an interface control.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Dept of Mathematics

A pair of commuting bounded operators $(S,P)$ acting on a Hilbert space, is called a $\Gamma$-contraction, if it has the symmetrised bidisc $\Gamma=\{ (z_1+z_2,z_1z_2):|z_1| \leq 1,|z_2| \leq 1 \}\subseteq \mathbb{C}^2$ as a spectral set. For every $\Gamma$-contraction $(S,P)$, the operator equation $S-S^*P=D_PFD_P$ has a unique solution $F$ with numerical radius, $w(F)$ no greater than one, where $D_P$ is the positive square root of $(I-P^*P)$. This unique operator is called the fundamental operator of $(S,P)$. This thesis constructs an explicit normal boundary dilation for a $\Gamma$-contraction. A triple of commuting bounded operators $(A,B,P)$ acting on a Hilbert space with the closure of the tetrablock $% $ as a spectral set, is called a tetrablock contraction. Every tetrablock contraction possesses two fundamental operators and these are the unique solutions of $A-B^*P=D_PF_1D_P, \text{ and } B-A^*P=D_PF_2D_P.$ Moreover, $w(F_1)$ and $w(F_2)$ are no greater than one. This thesisalso constructs an explicit normal boundary dilation for a tetrablock contraction. In these constructions, the fundamental operators play a pivotal role. Both the dilations in the symmetrized bidisc and in the tetrablock are proved to be minimal. But unlike the one variable case, uniqueness of minimal dilations usually does not hold good in several variables, e.g., Ando’s dilation is not unique. However, we show that the dilations are unique under a certain natural condition. In view of the abundance of operators and their complicated structure, a basic problem in operator theory is to find nice functional models and complete sets of unitary invariants. We develop a functional model theory for a special class of triples of commuting bounded operators associated with the tetrablock. We also find a set of complete sort of unitary invariants for this special class. Along the way, we find a Beurling-Lax-Halmos type of result for a triple of multiplication operators acting on vector-valuedHardy spaces. In both the model theory and unitary invariance,fundamental operators play a fundamental role. This thesis answers the question when two operators $F$ and $G$ with $w(F)$ and $w(G)$ no greater than one, are admissible as fundamental operators, in other words, when there exists a $\Gamma$-contraction $(S,P)$ such that $F$ is the fundamental operator of $(S,P)$ and $G$ is the fundamental operator of $(S^*,P^*)$. This thesis also answers a similar question in the tetrablock setting.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics, IISc.

In the 1980s, Goldman introduced a Lie algebra structure on the free vector space generated by the free homotopy classes of oriented closed curves in any orientable surface F. This Lie bracket is known as the Goldman bracket and the Lie algebra is known as the Goldman Lie algebra.

In this dissertation, we compute the center of the Goldman Lie algebra for any hyperbolic surface of finite type. We use hyperbolic geometry and geometric group theory to prove our theorems. We show that for any hyperbolic surface of finite type, the center of the Goldman Lie algebra is generated by closed curves which are either homotopically trivial or homotopic to boundary components or punctures.

We use these results to identify the quotient of the Goldman Lie algebra of a non-closed surface by its center as a sub-algebra of the first Hochschild cohomology of the fundamental group.

Using hyperbolic geometry, we prove a special case of a theorem of Chas, namely, the geometric intersection number between two simple closed geodesics is the same as the number of terms (counted with multiplicity) in the Goldman bracket between them.

We also construct infinitely many pairs of length equivalent curves in an= y hyperbolic surface F of finite type. Our construction shows that given a self-intersecting geodesic x of F and any self-intersection point P of x, we get a sequence of such pairs.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall 3, Department of Mathematics

In the first part we study critical points of random polynomials. We choose two deterministic sequences of complex numbers, whose empirical measures converge to the same probability measure in complex plane. We make a sequence of polynomials whose zeros are chosen from either of sequences at random. We show that the limiting empirical measure of zeros and critical points agree for these polynomials. As a consequence we show that when we randomly perturb the zeros of a deterministic sequence of polynomials, the limiting empirical measures of zeros and critical points agree. This result can be interpreted as an extension of earlier results where randomness is reduced. Pemantle and Rivin initiated the study of critical points of random polynomials. Kabluchko proved the result considering the zeros to be i.i.d. random variables.

In the second part we deal with the spectrum of products of Ginibre matrices. Exact eigenvalue density is known for a very few matrix ensembles. For the known ones they often lead to determinantal point process. Let $X_1,X_2,...,X_k$ be i.i.d matrices of size nxn whose entries are independent complex Gaussian random variables. We derive the eigenvalue density for matrices of the form $Y_1.Y_2....Y_n$, where each $Y_i = X_i or (X_i)^{-1}$. We show that the eigenvalues form a determinantal point process. The case where k=2, $Y_1=X_1,Y_2=X_2^{-1}$ was derived earlier by Krishnapur. The case where $Y_i =X_i$ for all $i=1,2,...,n$, was derived by Akemann and Burda. These two known cases can be obtained as special cases of our result.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: LH-3

Homogenization is a branch of science where we try to understand microscopic structures via a macroscopic medium. Hence, it has applications in various branches of science and engineering. This study is basically developed from material science in the creation of composite materials though the contemporary applications are much far and wide. It is a process of understanding the microscopic behavior of an in-homogeneous medium via a homogenized medium. Mathematically, it is a kind of asymptotic analysis. We plan to start with an illustrative example of limiting analysis in 1-D for a second order elliptic partial differential equation. We will also see some classical results in the case of periodic composite materials and oscillating boundary domain. The emphasis will be on the computational importance of homogenization in numerics by the introduction of correctors. In the second part of the talk, we will see a study on optimal control problems posed in a domain with highly oscillating boundary. We will consider periodic controls in the oscillating part of the domain with a model problem of Laplacian and try to understand their optimality and asymptotic behavior.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

In the first part we study critical points of random polynomials. We choose two deterministic sequences of complex numbers, whose empirical measures converge to the same probability measure in complex plane. We make a sequence of polynomials whose zeros are chosen from either of sequences at random. We show that the limiting empirical measure of zeros and critical points agree for these polynomials. As a consequence we show that when we randomly perturb the zeros of a deterministic sequence of polynomials, the limiting empirical measures of zeros and critical points agree. This result can be interpreted as an extension of earlier results where randomness is reduced. Pemantle and Rivin initiated the study of critical points of random polynomials. Kabluchko proved the result considering the zeros to be i.i.d. random variables.

In the second part we deal with the spectrum of products of Ginibre matrices. Exact eigenvalue density is known for a very few matrix ensembles. For the known ones they often lead to determinantal point process. Let $X_1,X_2,...,X_k$ be i.i.d matrices of size nxn whose entries are independent complex Gaussian random variables. We derive the eigenvalue density for matrices of the form $Y_1.Y_2....Y_n$, where each $Y_i = X_i or (X_i)^{-1}$. We show that the eigenvalues form a determinantal point process. The case where k=2, $Y_1=X_1,Y_2=X_2^{-1}$ was derived earlier by Krishnapur. The case where $Y_i =X_i$ for all $i=1,2,...,n$, was derived by Akemann and Burda. These two known cases can be obtained as special cases of our result.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

Mechanisation of Mathematics refers to use of computers to generate or check proofs in Mathematics. It involves translation of relevant mathematical theories from one system of logic to another, to render these theories implementable in a computer. This process is termed formalisation of mathematics. Two among the many way of mechanising are: (1) generating results using Automated Theorem Provers, (2) Interactive theorem proving in a Proof Assistant which involves a combination of user intervention and automation.

In the first part of this thesis, we reformulate the question of equivalence of two Links in First Order Logic using Braid Groups. This is achieved by developing a set of Axioms whose canonical model is the Infinite Braid Group. This renders the problem of distinguishing Knots and Links, amenable to implementation in First Order Logic based Automated Theorem provers. We further state and prove results pertaining to Models of Braid Axioms.

The second part of the thesis deals with formalising Knot Theory in Higher Order Logic using the Isabelle Proof Assistant. We formulate equivalence of Links in Higher Order Logic. We obtain a construction of Kauffman Bracket in the Isabelle Proof Assistant. We further obtain a machine checked proof of invariance of Kauffman Bracket.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

This thesis addresses many important results of crystallization theory in combinatorial topology. The main contributions in this thesis are the followings:

(i) We introduce the weight of a group which has a presentation with number of relations is at most the number of generators. We prove that the number of vertices of any crystallization of a connected closed 3-manifold $M$ is at least the weight of the fundamental group of $M$. This lower bound is sharp for the 3-manifolds $\mathbb{R P}^3$, $L(3,1)$, $L(5,2)$, $S^1\times S^1 \times S^1$, $S^{\hspace{.2mm}2} \times S^1$, $\TPSS$ and $S^{\hspace{.2mm}3}/Q_8$, where $Q_8$ is the quaternion group. Moreover, there is a unique such vertex minimal crystallization in each of these seven cases. We also construct crystallizations of $L(kq-1,q)$ with $4(q+k-1)$ vertices for $q \geq 3$, $k \geq 2$ and $L(kq+1,q)$ with $4(q+k)$ vertices for $q\geq 4$, $k\geq 1$. By a recent result of Swartz, our crystallizations of $L(kq+1, q)$ are facet minimal when $kq+1$ are even.

(ii) We present an algorithm to find certain types of crystallizations of $3$-manifolds from a given presentation $\langle S \mid R \rangle$ with $\#S=\#R=2$. We generalize this algorithm for presentations with three generators and certain class of relations. This gives us crystallizations of closed connected orientable 3-manifolds having fundamental groups $\langle x_1,x_2,x_3 \mid x_1^m=x_2^n=x_3^k=x_1x_2x_3 \rangle$ with $4(m+n+k-3)+ 2\delta_n^2 + 2 \delta_k^2$ vertices for $m\geq 3$ and $m \geq n \geq k \geq 2$, where $\delta_i^j$ is the Kronecker delta. If $n=2$ or $k\geq 3$ and $m \geq 4$ then these crystallizations are vertex-minimal for all the known cases.

(iii) We found a minimal crystallization of the standard pl K3 surface. This minimal crystallization is a ‘simple crystallization’. Using this, we present minimal crystallizations of all simply connected pl $4$-manifolds of “standard” type, i.e., all the connected sums of $\mathbb{CP}^2$, $S^2 \times S^2$, and the K3 surface. In particular, we found minimal crystallizations of a pair of 4-manifolds which are homeomorphic but not pl-homeomorphic.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

Given a hyperbolic surface, the set of all closed geodesics whose length is minimal form a graph on the surface, in fact a so called fat graph, which we call the systolic graph. The central question that we study in this thesis is: which fat graphs are systolic graphs for some surface - we call such graphs admissible. This is motivated in part by the observation that we can naturally decompose the moduli space of hyperbolic surfaces based on the associated systolic graphs.

A systolic graph has a metric on it, so that all cycles on the graph that correspond to geodesics are of the same length and all other cycles have length greater than these. This can be formulated as a simple condition in terms of equations and inequations for sums of lengths of edges. We call this combinatorial admissibility.

Our first main result is that admissibility is equivalent to combinatorial admissibility. This is proved using properties of negative curvature, specifically that polygonal curves with long enough sides, in terms of a lower bound on the angles, are close to geodesics. Using the above result, it is easy to see that a subgraph of an admissible graph is admissible. Hence it suffices to characterize minimal non-admissible fat graphs. Another major result of this thesis is that there are infinitely many minimal non-admissible fat graphs (in contrast, for instance, to the classical result that there are only two minimal non-planar graphs).

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

Given a hyperbolic surface, the set of all closed geodesics whose length is minimal form a graph on the surface, in fact a so called fat graph, which we call the systolic graph. The central question that we study in this thesis is: which fat graphs are systolic graphs for some surface - we call such graphs admissible. This is motivated in part by the observation that we can naturally decompose the moduli space of hyperbolic surfaces based on the associated systolic graphs.

A systolic graph has a metric on it, so that all cycles on the graph that correspond to geodesics are of the same length and all other cycles have length greater than these. This can be formulated as a simple condition in terms of equations and inequations for sums of lengths of edges. We call this combinatorial admissibility.

Our first main result is that admissibility is equivalent to combinatorial admissibility. This is proved using properties of negative curvature, specifically that polygonal curves with long enough sides, in terms of a lower bound on the angles, are close to geodesics. Using the above result, it is easy to see that a subgraph of an admissible graph is admissible. Hence it suffices to characterize minimal non-admissible fat graphs. Another major result of this thesis is that there are infinitely many minimal non-admissible fat graphs (in contrast, for instance, to the classical result that there are only two minimal non-planar graphs).

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

One of the basic questions in harmonic analysis is to study the decay properties of the Fourier transform of measures or distributions supported on thin sets in $\mathbb{R}^n$. When the support is a smooth enough manifold, an almost complete picture is available. One of the early results in this direction is the following: Let $f\in C_c^{\infty}(d\sigma)$, where $d\sigma$ is the surface measure on the sphere $S^{n-1}\subset\mathbb{R}^n$. Then

It follows that $\widehat{fd\sigma}\in L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)$ for all $p>2n/(n-1)$. This result can be extended to compactly supported measure on $(n-1)$-dimensional manifolds with appropriate assumptions on the curvature. Similar results are known for measures supported in lower dimensional manifolds in $\mathbb{R}^n$ under appropriate curvature conditions. However, the picture for fractal measures is far from complete. This thesis is a contribution to the study of asymptotic properties of the Fourier transform of measures supported in sets of fractal dimension $0<\alpha<n$ for $p\leq 2n/\alpha$.

In 2004, Agranovsky and Narayanan proved that if $\mu$ is a measure supported in a $C^1$-manifold of dimension $d<n$, then $\widehat{fd\mu}\notin L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)$ for $1\leq p\leq \frac{2n}{d}$. We prove that the Fourier transform of a measure $\mu_E$ supported in a set $E$ of fractal dimension $\alpha$ does not belong to $L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)$ for $p\leq 2n/\alpha$. We also study $L^p$-asymptotics of the Fourier transform of fractal measures $\mu_E$ under appropriate conditions on $E$ and give quantitative versions of the above statement by obtaining lower and upper bounds for the following:

$\underset{L\Rightarrow\infty}{\limsup} \frac{1}{L^k} \int_{|\xi|\leq L}|\widehat{fd\mu_E}(\xi)|^pd\xi,$ $\underset{L\Rightarrow\infty}{\limsup} \frac{1}{L^k} \int_{L\leq |\xi|\leq 2L}|\widehat{fd\mu_E}(\xi)|^pd\xi.$

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

This thesis addresses many important results of crystallization theory in combinatorial topology. The main contributions in this thesis are the followings:

(i) We introduce the weight of a group which has a presentation with number of relations is at most the number of generators. We prove that the number of vertices of any crystallization of a connected closed 3-manifold $M$ is at least the weight of the fundamental group of $M$. This lower bound is sharp for the 3-manifolds $\mathbb{R P}^3$, $L(3,1)$, $L(5,2)$, $S^1\times S^1 \times S^1$, $S^{\hspace{.2mm}2} \times S^1$, $\TPSS$ and $S^{\hspace{.2mm}3}/Q_8$, where $Q_8$ is the quaternion group. Moreover, there is a unique such vertex minimal crystallization in each of these seven cases. We also construct crystallizations of $L(kq-1,q)$ with $4(q+k-1)$ vertices for $q \geq 3$, $k \geq 2$ and $L(kq+1,q)$ with $4(q+k)$ vertices for $q\geq 4$, $k\geq 1$. By a recent result of Swartz, our crystallizations of $L(kq+1, q)$ are facet minimal when $kq+1$ are even.

(ii) We present an algorithm to find certain types of crystallizations of $3$-manifolds from a given presentation $\langle S \mid R \rangle$ with $\#S=\#R=2$. We generalize this algorithm for presentations with three generators and certain class of relations. This gives us crystallizations of closed connected orientable 3-manifolds having fundamental groups $\langle x_1,x_2,x_3 \mid x_1^m=x_2^n=x_3^k=x_1x_2x_3 \rangle$ with $4(m+n+k-3)+ 2\delta_n^2 + 2 \delta_k^2$ vertices for $m\geq 3$ and $m \geq n \geq k \geq 2$, where $\delta_i^j$ is the Kronecker delta. If $n=2$ or $k\geq 3$ and $m \geq 4$ then these crystallizations are vertex-minimal for all the known cases.

(iii) We found a minimal crystallization of the standard pl K3 surface. This minimal crystallization is a ‘simple crystallization’. Using this, we present minimal crystallizations of all simply connected pl $4$-manifolds of “standard” type, i.e., all the connected sums of $\mathbb{CP}^2$, $S^2 \times S^2$, and the K3 surface. In particular, we found minimal crystallizations of a pair of 4-manifolds which are homeomorphic but not pl-homeomorphic.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

In this talk we deal with two problems in harmonic analysis. In the first problem we discuss weighted norm inequalities for Weyl multipliers satisfying Mauceri’s condition. As an application, we prove certain multiplier theorems on the Heisenberg group and also show in the context of a theorem of Weis on operator valued Fourier multipliers that the R-boundedness of the derivative of the multiplier is not necessary for the boundedness of the multiplier transform. In the second problem we deal with a variation of a theorem of Mauceri concerning the L^p boundedness of operators M which are known to be bounded on L^2: We obtain sufficient conditions on the kernel of the operator M so that it satisfies weighted L^p estimates. As an application we prove L^p boundedness of Hermite pseudo-multipliers.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

Gromov’s compactness theorem for metric spaces, a compactness theorem for the space of compact metric spaces equipped with the Gromov-Hausdorff distance, is a landmark theorem with many applications. We give a generalisation of this result - more precisely, we prove a compactness theorem for the space of distance measure spaces equipped with the generalised Gromov-Hausdorff-Levi-Prokhorov distance. A distance measure space is a triple $(X, d, μ)$, where $(X, d)$ forms a distance space (a generalisation of a metric space where, we allow the distance between two points to be infinity) and μ is a finite Borel measure.

Using this result, we prove that the Deligne-Mumford compactifiaction is the completion of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces under generalised Gromov-Hausdorff-Levi-Prokhorov distance. The Deligne-Mumford compactification, a compactification of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with explicit description of the limit points, and the closely related Gromov’s compactness theorem for pseudo-holomorphic curves in symplectic manifolds (in particular curves in an algebraic variety) are important results for many areas of mathematics.

While Gromov’s compactness theorem for pseudo-holomorphic curves is an important tool in symplectic topology, its applicability is limited due to the non-existence of a general method to construct pseudo-holomorphic curves. Considering a more general class of domains (in place of Riemann surfaces) is likely to be useful. Riemann surface laminations are a natural generalisation of Riemann surfaces. Theorems such as the uniformisation theorem for surface laminations due to Alberto Candel (which is a partial generalisation of the uniformisation theorem for surfaces), generalisations of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem proved for some special cases, and the topological classification of “almost all” leaves using harmonic measures reinforces the usefulness of this line on enquiry. Also, the success of essential laminations,as generalised incompressible surfaces, in the study of 3-manifolds suggests that a similar approach may be useful in symplectic topology. With this motivation we prove a compactness theorem analogous to the Deligne-Mumford compactification for the space of Riemann surface laminations.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

Mechanisation of Mathematics refers to use of computers to generate or check proofs in Mathematics. It involves translation of relevant mathematical theories from one system of logic to another, to render these theories implementable in a computer. This process is termed formalisation of mathematics. Two among the many way of mechanising are: (1) generating results using Automated Theorem Provers, (2) Interactive theorem proving in a Proof Assistant which involves a combination of user intervention and automation.

In the first part of this thesis, we reformulate the question of equivalence of two Links in First Order Logic using Braid Groups. This is achieved by developing a set of Axioms whose canonical model is the Infinite Braid Group. This renders the problem of distinguishing Knots and Links, amenable to implementation in First Order Logic based Automated Theorem provers. We further state and prove results pertaining to Models of Braid Axioms.

The second part of the thesis deals with formalising Knot Theory in Higher Order Logic using the Isabelle Proof Assistant. We formulate equivalence of Links in Higher Order Logic. We obtain a construction of Kauffman Bracket in the Isabelle Proof Assistant. We further obtain a machine checked proof of invariance of Kauffman Bracket.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

Given a hyperbolic surface, the set of all closed geodesics whose length is minimal form a graph on the surface, in fact a so called fat graph, which we call the systolic graph. The central question that we study in this thesis is: which fat graphs are systolic graphs for some surface - we call such graphs admissible. This is motivated in part by the observation that we can naturally decompose the moduli space of hyperbolic surfaces based on the associated systolic graphs.

A systolic graph has a metric on it, so that all cycles on the graph that correspond to geodesics are of the same length and all other cycles have length greater than these. This can be formulated as a simple condition in terms of equations and inequations for sums of lengths of edges. We call this combinatorial admissibility.

Our first main result is that admissibility is equivalent to combinatorial admissibility. This is proved using properties of negative curvature, specifically that polygonal curves with long enough sides, in terms of a lower bound on the angles, are close to geodesics. Using the above result, it is easy to see that a subgraph of an admissible graph is admissible. Hence it suffices to characterize minimal non-admissible fat graphs. Another major result of this thesis is that there are infinitely many minimal non-admissible fat graphs (in contrast, for instance, to the classical result that there are only two minimal non-planar graphs).

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall III, Department of Mathematics

Unlike the partial differential equations, the solutions of variational inequalities exhibit singularities even when the data is smooth due to the existence of free boundaries. Therefore the numerical procedure of these problems based on uniform refinement becomes inefficient due to the loss of the order of convergence. A popular remedy to enhance the efficiency of the numerical method is to use adaptive finite element methods based on computable a posteriori error bounds. Discontinuous Galerkin methods play a very important role in the local mesh adaptive refinement techniques.

The main focus in this thesis has been on the derivation of reliable and efficient error bounds for the discontinuous Galerkin methods applied to elliptic variational inequalities. The variational inequalities can be split into two kinds, namely, inequalities of the first kind and the second kind. We study an elliptic obstacle problem and a Signorini contact problem in the category of the first kind, while the frictional plate contact problem in the category of the fourth order variational inequalities of second kind. The mathematical analysis of error estimation in this class of problems crucially depends on a suitable nonlinear smoothing function that enriches the smoothness of the numerical solution. Another remarkable advantage of discontinuous Galerkin methods has been realized in the applications to higher order problems. Numerical experiments support the theoretical results and exhibit optimal convergence.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

This thesis investigates two different types of problems in multi-variable operator theory. The first one deals with the defect sequence for a contractive tuple and the second one deals with wandering subspaces of the Bergman space and the Dirichlet space over the polydisc. These are described in (I) and (II) below.

I. We introduce the defect sequence for a contractive tuple of Hilbert space operators and investigate its properties. We show that there are upper bounds for the defect dimensions. The upper bounds are different in the non-commutative and in the commutative case. The tuples for which these upper bounds are obtained are called maximal contractive tuples. We show that the creation operator tuple on the full Fock space and the co-ordinate multipliers on the Drury-Arveson space are maximal. We also show that if M is an invariant subspace under the creation operator tuple on the full Fock space, then the restriction is always maximal. But the situation is starkly different for co-invariant subspaces. A characterization for a contractive tuple to be maximal is obtained. We define the notion of maximality for a submodule of the Drury-Arveson module on the d-dimensional unit ball. For $d=1$, it is shown that every submodule of the Hardy module over the unit disc is maximal. But for $d>2$, we prove that any homogeneous submodule or a submodule generated by polynomials is not maximal. We obtain a characterization of maximal submodules of the Drury-Arveson module. We also study pure tuples and see how the defect dimensions play a role in their irreducibility.

II. We investigate the following question : Let $(T_1, ....., T_n)$ be a commuting $n$-tuple of bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space $H$. Does there exist a generating wandering subspace $W$ for $(T_1, ....., T_n)$? We got some affirmative answers for the doubly commuting invariant subspaces of the Bergman space and the Dirichlet space over the unit polydisc. We show that for any doubly commuting invariant subspace of the Bergman space or the Dirichlet space over polydisc, the tuple consisting of restrictions of co-ordinate multiplication operators always possesses a generating wandering subspace.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

Gromov’s compactness theorem for metric spaces, a compactness theorem for the space of compact metric spaces equipped with the Gromov-Hausdorff distance, is a landmark theorem with many applications. We give a generalisation of this result - more precisely, we prove a compactness theorem for the space of distance measure spaces equipped with the generalised Gromov-Hausdorff-Levi-Prokhorov distance. A distance measure space is a triple $(X, d, μ)$, where $(X, d)$ forms a distance space (a generalisation of a metric space where, we allow the distance between two points to be infinity) and μ is a finite Borel measure.

Using this result, we prove that the Deligne-Mumford compactifiaction is the completion of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces under generalised Gromov-Hausdorff-Levi-Prokhorov distance. The Deligne-Mumford compactification, a compactification of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with explicit description of the limit points, and the closely related Gromov’s compactness theorem for pseudo-holomorphic curves in symplectic manifolds (in particular curves in an algebraic variety) are important results for many areas of mathematics.

While Gromov’s compactness theorem for pseudo-holomorphic curves is an important tool in symplectic topology, its applicability is limited due to the non-existence of a general method to construct pseudo-holomorphic curves. Considering a more general class of domains (in place of Riemann surfaces) is likely to be useful. Riemann surface laminations are a natural generalisation of Riemann surfaces. Theorems such as the uniformisation theorem for surface laminations due to Alberto Candel (which is a partial generalisation of the uniformisation theorem for surfaces), generalisations of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem proved for some special cases, and the topological classification of “almost all” leaves using harmonic measures reinforces the usefulness of this line on enquiry. Also, the success of essential laminations,as generalised incompressible surfaces, in the study of 3-manifolds suggests that a similar approach may be useful in symplectic topology. With this motivation we prove a compactness theorem analogous to the Deligne-Mumford compactification for the space of Riemann surface laminations.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

We study homomorphisms $\rho_{V}$($\rho_{V}(f)=\left ( \begin{smallmatrix} f(w)I_n& \sum_{i=1}^{m} \partial_if(w)V_{i} \\ 0 & f(w)I_n \end{smallmatrix}\right ), f \in \mathcal O(\Omega_\mathbf A)$) defined on $\mathcal O(\Omega_\mathbf A)$, where $\Omega_\mathbf A$ is a bounded domain of the form: $% $ for some choice of a linearly independent set of $n\times n$ matrices $\{A_1, \ldots, A_m\}.$

From the work of V. Paulsen and E. Ricard, it follows that if $n\geq 3$ and $\mathbb B$ is any ball in $\mathbb C^m$, then there exists a contractive linear map which is not complete contractivity. It is known that contractive homomorphisms of the disc and the bi-disc algebra are completely contractive, thanks to the dilation theorem of B. Sz.-Nagy and Ando. However, an example of a contractive homomorphism of the (Euclidean) ball algebra which is not completely contractive was given by G. Misra. The characterization of those balls in $\mathbb C^2$ for which contractive linear maps which are always comletely contractive remained open. We answer this question.

The class of homomorphism of the form $\rho_V$ arise from localization of operators in the Cowen-Douglas class of $\Omega.$ The (complete) contractivity of a homomorphism in this class naturally produces inequalities for the curvature of the corresponding Cowen-Douglas bundle. This connection and some of its very interesting consequences are discussed.

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#### PhD Thesis defence

##### Venue: Lecture Hall - I, Department of Mathematics, IISc

By a triangulation of a topological space $X$, we mean a simplicial complex $K$ whose geometric carrier is homeomorphic to $X$. The topological properties of the space can be expressed in terms of the combinatorics of its triangulation. Simplicial complexes have gained in prominence after the advent of powerful computers as they are especially suitable for computer processing. In this regard, it is desirable for a triangulation to be as efficient as possible. In this thesis we study different notions of efficiency of triangulations, namely, minimal triangulations, tight triangulations and tight neighborly triangulations.

a) Minimal Triangulations: A triangulation of a space is called minimal if it contains minimum number of vertices among all triangulations of the space. In general, it is hard to construct a minimal triangulation, or to decide if a given triangulation is minimal. In this work, we present examples of minimal triangulations of connected sums of sphere bundles over the circle. b) Tight Triangulations: A simplicial complex (triangulation) is called tight w.r.t field $\mathbb{F}$ if for any induced subcomplex, the induced homology maps from the subcomplex to the whole complex are all injective. We normally take the field to be $\mathbb{Z}_2$. Tight triangulations have several desirable properties. In particular any simplex-wise linear embedding of a tight triangulation (of a PL manifold) is “as convex” as possible. Conjecturally, tight triangulations of manifolds are minimal, and it is known to be the case for most tight triangulations of manifolds. Examples of tight triangulations are extremely rare, and in this thesis we present a construction of an infinite family of tight triangulations, which is only the second of its kind known in literature.

c) Tight Neighborly Triangulations: For dimensions three or more, Novik and Swartz obtained a lower bound on the number of vertices in a triangulation of a manifold, in terms of its first Betti number. Triangulations that meet this bound are called tight neighborly. The examples of tight triangulations constructed in the thesis are also tight neighborly. In addition, it is proved that there is no tight neighborly triangulation of a manifold with first Betti number equal to two.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

The aim of this thesis is to give explicit descriptions of the set of proper holomorphic mappings between two complex manifolds with reasonable restrictions on the domain and target spaces. Without any restrictions, this problem is intractable even when posed for domains in $C^n$. We present results for special classes of manifolds. We study, broadly, two types of structure results:

I. Descriptive: Our first result is a structure theorem for finite proper holomorphic mappings between products of connected, hyperbolic open subsets of compact Riemann surfaces. A special case of our result follows from the techniques used in a classical result of Remmert and Stein adapted to the above setting. However, the presence of factors that have no boundary, or boundaries that consist of a discrete set of points, necessitates the use of alternative techniques. Specifically: we make use of a finiteness theorem of Imayoshi.

II. Rigidity: A famous theorem of H. Alexander proves the non-existence of non-injective proper holomorphic self-maps of the unit ball in $C^n,\ n > 1$. Several extensions of this result for various classes of domains have been established since the appearance of Alexander’s result. Our first rigidity result establishes the non-existence of non-injective proper holomorphic self-maps of bounded, balanced pseudoconvex domains of finite type (in the sense of D’Angelo) in $C^n,\ n > 1$. This generalizes a result in $C^2$ due to Coupet, Pan and Sukhov to higher dimensions. In higher dimensions, several aspects of their argument do not work. Instead, we exploit the circular symmetry and a recent result in complex dynamics by Opshtein.

Our next rigidity result is for bounded symmetric domains. We prove that a proper holomorphic map between two non-planar bounded symmetric domains of the same dimension, one of them being irreducible, is a biholomorphism. Our methods allow us to give a single, all-encompassing argument that unifies the various special cases in which this result is known. Furthermore, our proof of this result does not rely on the fine structure (in the sense of Wolf et al.) of bounded symmetric domains. Thus, we are able to apply some of our techniques to more general classes of domains. We illustrate this through a rigidity result for certain convex balanced domains whose automorphism groups are only assumed to be non-compact. For the bounded symmetric domains, our key tool is that of Jordan triple systems.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

Discontinuous Galerkin methods have received a lot of attention in the past two decades since these are high order accurate and stable methods which can easily handle complex geometries, irregular meshes with hanging nodes and different degree polynomial approximation in different elements. Adaptive algorithms refine the mesh locally in the region where the solution exhibits irregular behaviour and a posteriori error estimates are the main tools to steer the adaptive mesh refinement. In this talk, we present a posteriori error analysis of discontinuous Galerkin methods for variational inequalities of the first kind and the second kind. Particularly, we study the obstacle problem and the Signorini problem in the category of variational inequalities of the first kind and the plate frictional contact problem for the variational inequality of the second kind. Numerical examples will be presented to illustrate the theoretical results.

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#### PhD Thesis colloquium

##### Venue: Lecture Hall I, Department of Mathematics

This thesis investigates two different types of problems in multi-variable operator theory. The first one deals with the defect sequence for a contractive tuple and the second one deals with wandering subspaces of the Bergman space and the Dirichlet space over the polydisc. These are described in (I) and (II) below.

I. We introduce the defect sequence for a contractive tuple of Hilbert space operators and investigate its properties. We show that there are upper bounds for the defect dimensions. The upper bounds are different in the non-commutative and in the commutative case. The tuples for which these upper bounds are obtained are called maximal contractive tuples. We show that the creation operator tuple on the full Fock space and the co-ordinate multipliers on the Drury-Arveson space are maximal. We also show that if M is an invariant subspace under the creation operator tuple on the full Fock space, then the restriction is always maximal. But the situation is starkly different for co-invariant subspaces. A characterization for a contractive tuple to be maximal is obtained. We define the notion of maximality for a submodule of the Drury-Arveson module on the d-dimensional unit ball. For $d=1$, it is shown that every submodule of the Hardy module over the unit disc is maximal. But for $d>2$, we prove that any homogeneous submodule or a submodule generated by polynomials is not maximal. We obtain a characterization of maximal submodules of the Drury-Arveson module. We also study pure tuples and see how the defect dimensions play a role in their irreducibility.

II. We investigate the following question : Let $(T_1, ....., T_n)$ be a commuting $n$-tuple of bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space $H$. Does there exist a generating wandering subspace $W$ for $(T_1, ....., T_n)$`? We got some affirmative answers for the doubly commuting invariant subspaces of the Bergman space and the Dirichlet space over the unit polydisc. We show that for any doubly commuting invariant subspace of the Bergman space or the Dirichlet space over polydisc, the tuple consisting of restrictions of co-ordinate multiplication operators always possesses a generating wandering subspace.

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Last updated: 17 Oct 2019