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16
Issue
Winter 2014
Tsinghua University Mathematical Sciences Center Newsletter
This newsletter highlights selected activities at MSC. In winter 2014, the MSC organized
two Shiing-Shen Chern Distinguished Lectures, the second S. T. Yau High School Sciences
Awards Ceremony, and 2014 Master Lectures of Tsinghua Sanya Academic Forum-The Fifth
Conference of Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum. Meanwhile, we will welcome
one new member and two post-doctoral fellows. For more information about us, please visit
http://msc.tsinghua.edu.cn/.
M S C Members
Professor Shiu-Yuen Cheng Appointed Associate Director of MSC
We are glad to announce that Professor Shiu-Yuen Cheng is appointed as Associate Director of
MSC since October 2014 for three years.
Professor Shiu-Yuen Cheng joined MSC in 2013 fall. Before joining MSC,
Prof. Cheng was a Chair Professor of Mathematics at the Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology. His research interests encompass differential geometry,
geometric partial differential equations and game theory. His contributions include
comparison theorems of Laplacian eigenvalues on Riemannian manifolds, the
maximal diameter theorem in Riemannian geometry. Professor Cheng was
awarded the 2007 Chern Prize for his fundamental contributions to the geometric
study of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of Laplacian. In 2012 he became a fellow
of the American Mathematical Society.
Professor Cheng will be in overall charge of the various manage working of MSC under the
leadership of Professor Shing-Tung Yau. He will be working on the academic affairs of MSC and
Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum, making sure the MSC’s work progresses moving
smoothly and quickly.
New Member
Professor Thomas Farrell will be a full-time member of MSC since spring
2015. Professor Thomas Farrell is a world class expert in the field of geometric
topology. He received his PhD degree from Yale University in 1967 and has been
a distinguished professor at Binghamton University and State University of New
York since 1992. The Farrell-Hsiang method developed by Professor Farrell and
his coworker has been one of the main methods to study some important problems
in topology such as Borel conjecture and Novikov conjecture. Professor Farrell
and his coworker proved the topological rigidity theorem for high-dimensional
compact non-positively curved manifold. The Farrell-Jones conjecture made by them has been one of
the central problems in the field of high dimensional manifold topology in recent years. Professor Farrell
has written several lectures on topology and published more than one hundred academic papers, dozens
of which have been published on leading mathematical research journals such as Annals of Mathematics
and Inventiones Mathematicae.
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Beginning in December 2014, two young doctors will become post-doctoral fellows of MSC.
Dr. Feida Jiang
Dr. Feida Jiang got his
PhD degree at Nanjing
University of Science and
Technology in 2013. His
research interest is on the
fully nonlinear elliptic pde.
His thesis, entitled "On
the Dirichlet problem for
some Monge-Ampere type
equations", was under the
supervision of Prof. XiaoPing Yang.
Dr. Ran Ji
Dr. Ran Ji got his PhD
degree at The Graduate
Center of the City
University of New York in
2014. His research interest
is differential geometry.
His thesis, entitled "The
Asymptotic Dirichlet
Problems on manifolds
with unbounded negative
curvature", was under the
supervision of Prof. Jozef
Dodziuk.
News & Events
The Second S. T. Yau High School Sciences Awards Ceremony
In the afternoon of December 13, 2014, the
second S. T. Yau High School Sciences Awards
Ceremony was held in the Main Building of
Tsinghua University. Zerui Tan, who comes from
the High School Attached to Hunan Normal
University, won the gold medal of this year’s S.
T. Yau High School Mathematics Awards, for his
paper entitled: On the Square-free Numbers in
Shifted Primes. As for the S. T. Yau High School
Physics Awards, the winner goes to Lingfei Mei
and Hanwei Wang from Tianjin Experimental
High School. Their award-winning paper entitled:
A study of cooling process and temperature
distribution on a deflating balloon.
Another 15 high school students were
awarded 2 mathematics silver medals, 5 bronze
medals, and 3 honorable mentions respectively.
30 students were awarded 1 physical silver medal,
3 bronze medals, 5 honorable mentions, and 5
consolation awards. Guangdong Guangya High
School, Guangdong No.6 Middle School, Nanjing
Foreign Language School, No.2 Secondary
School Attached to East China Normal University,
Hangzhou Foreign Language School, The High
School Attached to Tsinghua University and
Beijing National Day School were given the
Organization Prize.
More than 400 students from nearly 200
high schools entered for the Mathematics Awards,
and 412 teams from 140 high schools competed
for the Physics Awards. There are 16 teams came
from overseas including USA, Singapore, Japan.
21 famous mathematicians and physicians acted
as the panelist of final competition, including
Shing-Tung Yau (Fields Medalist and Professor
of Harvard University), Ingrid Daubechies
Presentation of Mathematics gold award
Presentation of Physics gold award
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(President of the International Mathematical
Union, Fellow of the American Mathematical
Society, Professor of Duke University), David
Gabai (Fellow of the American Mathematical
Society, Professor of Princeton University), David
Vogan (President of the American Mathematical
Society, Professor of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology), Lars Andersson (Professor of Albert
Einstein Institute), Melissa Franklin (Fellow of the
American Society of Physics, Professor of Harvard
University), Nima Arkani-Hamed (Professor of
the Institute for Advanced Study). More than one
hundred distinguished scholars from all over the
world participated in the mentorships and the
evaluation process. Every team qualified gave final
presentation at the presence of the International
Committee on December 12 to 13 to select the
winners.
The Awards ceremony was cosponsored
by Professor Shing-Tung Yau and Taikang Life
Insurance Co., Ltd, co-organized by Mathematical
Sciences Center, Tsinghua University; School
of Sciences, Tsinghua University; Center of
Mathematical Sciences, Zhejiang University and
Morningside Center of Mathematics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Jining Chen, the President of Tsinghua
University, expresses his welcome to the honored
guest and students. He shows gratitude to ShingTung Yau for his endeavor to promote the
development of Chinese mathematical education
and cultivation of Chinese young scientific talents.
Shing-Tung Yau said that the fundamental subjects
such as mathematics has a significant effect on
China’s development. Prof. Yau showed his willing
to try his best to support the blossom of these basic
subjects and the improvement of young people.
He also conveyed his wish that more and more
excellent scientists and mathematicians will appear
in China in the last five to ten years.
S. T. Yau High School Sciences Awards was
promoted by Shing-Tung Yau and DongSheng
Chen, Chairman of Taikang Life Insurance
Co., Ltd and was established in 2013, including
Mathematics Awards and Physics Awards.
Under the leadership of Prof. Shing-Tung
Yau, the support of Taikang Life Insurance
Company Ltd, as well as the attendance of famous
bachelors from domestic and abroad and teachers
and students from high school, the awards progress
steadily in the last year. Since 2008 when the S.
T. Yau High School Mathematics Awards was
established, the Mathematics Awards has been hold
successfully during the last six years and gotten
huge achievements on cultivating mathematical
talents. In this year, S. T. Yau High School Physics
Awards add a North Division and Overseas
Division. The framework of the awards has gotten
progressively expansion and completion, providing
a better environment for cultivating high school
students’ innovation ability in scientific research.
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2014 Master Lectures of Tsinghua Sanya Academic ForumThe Fifth Conference of Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum
On December 15, 2014 Master Lectures
of Tsinghua Sanya Academic Forum-The Fifth
Conference of Tsinghua Sanya International
Mathematics Forum was held in Sanya. Chairperson
of Tsinghua University Council Xu Chen, Professor
of Harvard University Shing-Tung Yau, the Hainan
Provincial Party Committee, Party Secretary of
Sanya Municipal People’s Government Qi Zhang,
Hainan Vice-Governor Lu Wang gave speeches at
opening ceremony.
In Xu Chen's speech, she indicates that
after the great efforts, the Forum has become an
important platform for academic communication
of International mathematical. She also said that,
in the recent years, Prof. Shing-Tung Yau has
leading the Mathematical Sciences Center of
Tsinghua University to devote to the research of
academic frontiers and talent cultivation, with
the hope of making Tsinghua Sanya International
Mathematical Forum to be a world's top academic
exchange platform and cultivation base for
research talents.
Opening Ceremony--Prof. Shing-Tung Yau giving speech
Photo by Yuchan Shang
Shing-Tung Yau said, whether the former four
Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematical Forum
or the completion of TSIMF Facility, they all have
received strong support from the Hainan Provincial
Government and Sanya Municipal government and
the community. “Leading mathematicians from all
around the world actively participate in the forum,
which is of great significance to strengthen the
academic communication among international
Group photo of 2014 Master Lectures of
Tsinghua Sanya Academic Forum
Photo by Shouxi He
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mathematics, and promote the development of
mathematics in China and Asia. I am deeply
touched.” After 5-years running, the Forum
provides academic exchanges among leading
mathematicians, and also provides intellectual
support and human resources for the construction
of Hainan. Prof. Yau hope, the Forum not only
provide support platform for mathematics,
physics, and other natural sciences, but also open
to literature, art and other humanities, becoming
more diversified base of scientific innovation,
and cultivating innovative talents.
In addition, Michael Aschbacher (Wolf
Prize winner, Professor of California Institute
of Technology), Luis A. Caffarelli (Wolf Prize
winner, Professor of University of Texas at
Austin), Maxim Kontsevich (Fields Medalist,
Professor of French Institute of Advanced
Science), George Lusztig (Shaw Prize winner,
Professor of MIT), and David Vogan (Professor
of MIT, and President of American Mathematical
Society) all expressed congratulations for the
opening of the Forum in their speech.
M o r e t h a n 11 0 m a t h em a t i c i a n s a n d
physicists from around the world, along with the
teachers and students representatives from other
colleges and universities at home and abroad,
and research institutions participated in the
opening ceremony.
From December 15 to 19, 2014 Master
Lectures of Tsinghua Sanya Academic Forum was
held. The master lecturers this year were delivered
by Shing-Tung Yau, Michael Aschbacher, Luis
A. Caffarelli, Maxim Kontsevich and George
Lusztig. As an extension of each Masters series,
four workshops consisting of expert speakers
from around the world were held, with the topics
of Current Developments of Mirror Symmetry;
Recent Advances in Analysis and Geometry;
Algebraic Groups and their Representations;
Fusion Systems and Finite Simple Groups. In the
same period, Group Action Forum was also held.
Prof. Eduard J.N.Looijenga with students at Sanya
Photo by Yuchan Shang
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Tsinghua University Shiing-Shen Chern Distinguished Lecture
Mathematical Sciences Center of Tsinghua
University held two Distinguished Lecture
Series in this semester. Professor at University
of Oxford Nigel Hitchin and Professor at the
University of Lyon Cédric Villani visited MSC
and delivered Shiing-Shen Chern Distinguished
Lecture.
Nigel Hitchin is a British mathematician,
Savilian Professor of Geometry, University of
Oxford, fellow of the Royal Society and the
American Mathematical Society, working in
the fields of differential geometry, algebraic
geometry, and mathematical physics. Professor
Nigel Hitchin is a leading figure in differential
geometry in the past thirty years. He is particularly
well known for his originality and creativity. His
ability to identify links among different research
paradigms open new research directions for
many to follow.
Professor Nigel Hitchin visited MSC from
Oct. 19 to Oct. 25, and gave two lectures on Oct.
20/24, entitled: Higgs bundles -- a survey; Higgs
bundles for diffeomorphism groups. His lectures
attracted about seventy students and professors
from Tsinghua University, Peking University
and other universities.
Cédric Villani is a professor at University
de Lyon and Director of Henri Poincare
Institute. He was awarded the Fields Medal in
2010. Villani has worked on the theory of partial
differential equations involved in statistical
mechanics, specifically the Boltzmann equation.
He received the Fields Medal for his work on
Landau damping and the Boltzmann equation.
He described the development of his theorem
in his autobiographical book Théorème vivant
(2012).
Prof. Cédric Villani visited MSC from Jan.
1 to Jan. 9, 2015, and gave lectures on Jan. 6/7,
entitled: On curvature and optimal transport:
When Riemann, Monge and Boltzmann meet;
Synthetic theory of Ricci curvature: past, present
and tentative future. About one hundred students
and professors from Tsinghua University, Peking
University, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Renmin University of China attended his lecture.
Prof. Nigel Hitchin giving lecture
Prof. Shiu-Yuen Cheng and Prof. CédricVillani
Prof. Cédric Villani giving lecture
Photo by Yuchan Shang
Photo by Fei Li
Photo by Yuchan Shang
Professors and students listening to the talk
Photo by Yuchan Shang
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Upcoming Activities
Professor Leon Simon will Visit MSC
In 2015, Professor Leon Simon will visit
MSC from March 1 to April 30, and will deliver
a course on Introduction to PDE.
Professor Leon Simon is a Bôcher Prizewinning mathematician, the world-top scholar
in the area of differential geometry, PDE and
real analysis. Professor Simon received his
PhD in 1971 from the University of Adelaide.
He is currently Professor in the Mathematics
Department at Stanford University.
In 1983 Simon was awarded the Australian
Mathematical Society Medal. In the same year
he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian
Academy of Science. In 1994, he was awarded
the Bôcher Memorial Prize. In the same year
he was also elected a fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. In May 2003
he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
In 2012 he became a fellow of the American
Mathematical Society.
String-Math 2015
The String-Math 2015 will be held in
Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics
Forum（TSIMF）. The past two years, StringMath Conferences has been held in University
of Alberta Edmonton, AB Canada, 2014 and
Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony
Brook, USA, 2013. It is one of the biggest
conferences in String theory.
representation theory and number theory on the
mathematics side. The interplay is two-fold.
The mathematics has provided powerful tools
to fulfill the physical interconnection of ideas
and clarify physical structures to understand the
nature of string theory. On the other hand, ideas
from string theory and quantum field theory
have been a source of significant inspirations
to reveal surprising mathematical structures
and create new spectrums of mathematics. The
aim of the String-Math annual conference is to
bring together researchers working at the rapidly
developing interface of these two academic
fields to exchange current significant ideas and
explore future directions.
String theory plays a central role in
theoretical physics as a candidate for the quantum
theory unifying gravity with other interactions.
It has profound connections with broad branches
of modern mathematics ever since the birth. In
the last decades, the prosperous interaction, built
upon the joint efforts from both mathematicians
and physicists, has given rise to marvelous
deep results in supersymmetric gauge theory,
topological string, M-theory and duality on the
physics side as well as in algebraic geometry,
differential geometry, algebraic topology,
If you want to know more details please
v i s i t : h t t p : / / m s c. t s i n g h u a. ed u . cn / s an ya /
StringMath2015/home.aspx.
Welcome to take part in String-Math 2015
conference ！
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Upcoming Programs of TSIMF
1. Frontiers Mathematical Problems in
Network Science and Data Geometry
January 5-9, 2015
9.Pan Asia Number Theory Conference
2015, in honor of the 70th birthday of Prof. John
Henry Coates
July 20-24, 2015
2. New Trends in Optimization for Imaging
January 19-23, 2015
10. Computational Aspects of Algebraic
Geometry, Automorphic Forms and Number
3. Young Geometric Analysts Forum
January 26-30, 2015
Theory
August 31-September 4, 2015
4. PDE in Geometry and Physics
March 9-13, 2015
11. International Conference on Singularity
Theory, in Honor of Henry Laufer’s 70th Birthday
December 14-18, 2015
5. Operator Algebra and Harmonic Analysis
May 19-23, 2015
6. Geometric Analysis and Nonlinear
Partial Differential Equations
July 6-10, 2015
12. International Conference on Nonlinear
Systems of Fluid Dynamics Equations and
Applications
December 19-22, 2015
7. Theoretical, Numerical and Experimental
Studies of Nonlinear Dispersive Water Waves
July 6-10, 2015
13. The legacy of Bernhard Riemann after
one hundred and fifty years
December 27-30, 2015
8. Mathematical Aspects of Quantum
Information Science
July 13-17, 2015
14. String Mathematics Conference
December 31, 2015~January 4, 2016
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MSC New Building----Jing Zhai
Since April 2014, Tsinghua University provided Jing Zhai as Mathematical Sciences Center’s
new office building, and invested the school resources to reinforce and decorate Jing Zhai.
Jing Zhai is located at the heart of Tsinghua University, and nearby the Jinchun Yuan and
lotus pond. Jing Zhai covers an area of about 2,000 square metres, and provides more than 1,000
square metres of office space, including 51 office rooms and seminar rooms (8 big rooms, 18
medium rooms and 25 small rooms), power distribution room, weak electricity engine room,
storeroom, etc.
With Prof Shing-Tung Yau’s leadership, the renovation of Jing Zhai was completed and is
ready for occupancy by the end of January 2015. Since the 2015 spring semester, MSC faculty
members, post-docs, junior visitors and part of the staff will move into Jing Zhai.
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Administrative Staff
Ms. Fei Li
We are glad to announce that Ms. Fei Li is
appointed as MSC Associate Office Manager
since September 1 st 2014 for two years.
Ms. Fei Li received her master degree in
management at Capital Normal University in
July 2008. She jointed MSC since Nov. 2009
and now is in charge of Center’s academic and
external affairs. In June 2014, she gave birth
to a lovely baby boy. We express every good
wish for her family, and wishes to her baby’s
health growth.
Ms. Chang Miao
Ms. Chang Miao received her master
degree in Curriculum and Teaching
Methodology at Harbin Normal University
in 2012. She joined MSC as an office
assistant in June 2012. She is mainly in
charge of the affairs of the senior visitors
and the visa application of distinguished
professors of MSC. In October 2014,
she married to Mr. Zhongliang Zheng
who is an associate professor in College
of Economics & Management of China
Agricultural University. Congratulations
on their wedding. May they always be in
love! May happiness increase with age!
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Spring Schedule of MSC, 2015
Title
Instructor
Institute
Duration
Members of MSC
Wavelet Transform and its
Applications
Zuoqiang Shi
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-02 ~
2015-06-15
Gravitational Waves
Abul Masood-ul-Alam
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-02 ~
2015-06-10
Harmonic Functions and
Minimal Surfaces
Guoyi Xu
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-02 ~
2015-04-27
Introduction to Mathematical
Physics II (Quantum Physics)
Si Li
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-02 ~
2015-06-17
Mathematical Physics I (Classical
Physics)
Wenxuan Lu
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-02 ~
2015-06-17
Topics on String Theory II
Wei Song
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-03 ~
2015-06-18
Linear Algebraic Groups
Shenghao Sun
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-04 ~
2015-06-19
Quantum Groups and Crystal
Bases
Xiaoguang Ma
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-04~
2015-06-18
Intersection Theory
Francois-Xavier Machu
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-09 ~
2015-05-27
Infinite Lie Algebras Appearing
in Algebraic Geometry
Eduard Looijenga
MSC, Tsinghua University
2015-03-10 ~
2015-06-18
Visitors of MSC
Introduction to PDE
Leon Simon
Stanford University
2015-03-05 ~
2015-04-28
Feynman Amplitudes in Math
and in Physics
Spencer Bloch
University of Chicago
(Emeritus)
2015-03-17~
2015-06-11
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Managing editor: Yuchan Shang
Editors: Ying Yang
Fei Li
Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University
Room 131, Jin Chun Yuan West Bldg., Tsinghua University
Haidian Dist., Beijing 100084, China
Tel: 010-62773561
http://msc.tsinghua.edu.cn
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