MIT PDE/Analysis Seminar

Fall 2025

Organizers: Aleksandr Logunov, Christoph Kehle, and Larry Guth

Tuesdays 3 PM to 4 PM in Room 2-136

Sep 9 Michal Shavit (NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences)

Signatures of space-time resonances in the spatiotemporal spectrum of nonlinear waves

Abstract:In weakly nonlinear dispersive wave systems, long-time dynamics are typically governed by time resonances, where wave phases evolve coherently due to exact frequency matching. Recent advances in measuring the spatio-temporal spectrum, however, reveal prominent excitations beyond those predicted by time resonances. In this talk, I will present an alternative mechanism: space resonances. These occur when wave packets share the same group velocity and remain co-located, producing long-lived interactions. I will illustrate these ideas in the context of surface gravity waves, where triadic interactions occur without exact three-wave time resonances.

This talk is based on collaborations with Fabio Pusateri, Jalal Shatah, Yulin Pan, Miguel Onorato, Tristan Backmaster and Yongji Wang.

Sep 16
Room 2-136
Ziad Musslimani (Florida State University)

Space-time nonlocal integrable systems: Part 1

Abstract: In this talk we will review past and recent results pertaining to the emerging field of integrable space-time nonlocal nonlinear evolution equations. In particular, we will discuss blow-up in finite time of soliton solutions as well as the physical derivations of many integrable nonlocal systems.

Sep 18
Room 2-361
Ziad Musslimani (Florida State University)

Space-time nonlocal integrable systems: Part 2

Abstract: In this talk we will review past and recent results pertaining to the emerging field of integrable space-time nonlocal nonlinear evolution equations. In particular, we will discuss blow-up in finite time of soliton solutions as well as the physical derivations of many integrable nonlocal systems.

Sep 23 Serban Cicortas (Princeton)

Scattering Theory for Asymptotically de Sitter Vacuum Solutions

Abstract: We will talk about recent work establishing a quantitative nonlinear scattering theory for asymptotically de Sitter solutions of the Einstein vacuum equations in $(n+1)$ dimensions with $n\geq4$ even, which are determined by small scattering data at future infinity and past infinity. We will also explain why the case of even spatial dimension $n$ poses significant challenges compared to its odd counterpart and was left open by the previous works in the literature.

Sep 30 Michal Wojciechowski (Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences)

Singular measure with tiny Fourier spectrum on three dimensional sphere

Abstract: I will present a construction of a singular measure on three dimensional sphere $S^3$ whose non-zero components in spherical harmonic decomposition are concentrated around lines $y=ax$ and $x=ay$. This could be seen as a generalization of Aleksandrov's singular pluriharmonic measure or an inverse to the Brummelhuis condition of absolute continuity. The main ingredient is a construction of bounded spherical harmonics with small, localized Fourier spectra.

Oct 7 Andreas Wieser (IAS)

Effective equidistribution of periodic orbits of semisimple groups

Abstract: Qualitatively, actions of unipotent groups on homogeneous spaces are very well understood after breakthrough works of Ratner from the 90's. The past two decades have seen dramatic progress in providing rates in these results. In this talk, we will be interested in the distributional properties of periodic orbits of semisimple groups. Here, the desire is to show that such a periodic orbit 'approximates' a periodic orbit of a larger group with a rate that is polynomial in the volume.

In joint work with Einsiedler, Lindenstrauss, and Mohammadi, we prove such a result for compact (congruence) quotients with a rate this is explicit in all aspects (including the volume of the ambient space). This relies heavily on a variety of tools including uniformity of the spectral gap for periodic orbits in congruence quotients and polynomial properties of unipotent flows. We will discuss these results with an emphasis on the dynamical methods and mention applications in number theory briefly.

Oct 14 Mikhail Sodin (Tel Aviv University)

A curious Lagrange-Ivanov-Yomdin-type lemma

Abstract: Suppose $f$ is an $m$-smooth function on the unit ball that is small (for instance, vanishes) on an epsilon-net $E$ for a sufficiently small epsilon. Then the maximum of $f$ is controlled by the $L^1$-norm of its $m-th$ derivative and its uniform norm on $E$. This estimate is dimensionless. The proof is not long and uses only undergraduate analysis.

The talk is based on an ongoing joint work with Aleksei Kulikov and Fedor Nazarov on multi-dimensional Fourier uniqueness.

Oct 28 Lior Alon (MIT)

Periodic Hypersurfaces, Lighthouse Measures, and Lee-Yang Polynomials

Abstract: There is a hierarchy of regularity for continuous $\mathbb{Z}^n$-periodic functions in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $C^0\supset C^1\supset \cdots \supset C^\infty \supset$ analytic $\supset$ trigonometric polynomial, and the decay of the Fourier coefficients pre- cisely reflects this regularity. In particular, the support supp(f̂) is finite if and only if $f$ is a trigonometric polynomial. Periodic hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ exhibit a similar regularity hierarchy, but there is no analogous Fourier description.

In this talk, I will present a joint work with Mario Kummer in which we provide a sufficient Fourier-criterion for a $C^{1+\epsilon}$ peri- odic hypersurface $\Sigma\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ to be the zero set of a trigonomet- ric polynomial of the form $p(e^{2\pi i x_{1}},\ldots,e^{2\pi i x_{n}})$ with $p$ Lee–Yang polynomial.

The criterion can be stated using a recent notion introduced by Yves Meyer: a periodic and positive Radon measure $m$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$ is a lighthouse measure if $\mathrm{supp}(m)$ has zero Lebesgue measure and $\mathrm{supp}(\widehat{m})$ is contained in a proper double cone.

Our proof relies on the classification of one-dimensional Fourier quasicrystals. No field specific background is assumed. This work is based on collaborations with Alex Cohen, Pavel Kurasov, and Cynthia Vinzant.

Nov 4 Joris Roos (UMass, Lowell)
Nov 25 Yvonne Bronsard Alama (MIT)
Dec 9
3:00pm-4:00pm
Osama Khalil (University of Illinois Chicago)
Dec 9
4:15pm-5:15pm
Erwan Faou (INRIA Bretagne Atlantique & IRMAR)