Mathematics Graduate Student Colloquium

MGSC Website: http://math.uci.edu/~mgsc/

Modern Number Theory: Ranks of Elliptic Curves

Sunil Chetty
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
5:00 pm - 5:50 pm
MSTB 124

Talk Abstract:

The rank of an elliptic curve measures how many rational solutions a cubic equation has. The mystery of rank has motivated many deep questions in the theory of elliptic curves over the past century. In particular, the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD) Conjecture has been a guide in developing a bridge between the analytic and algebraic aspects of the theory and has led to many subsequent (and possibly more attainable) conjectures. We will explore the setting of the BSD conjecture, a simple consequence, and discuss an approach to one subsequent conjecture, the Parity Conjecture.

About the Speaker:

Sunil is a fifth year graduate student at UCI. He received his B.S. in mathematics from Cal Berkley in 2002. Sunil is the fastest man in the department and welcomes challengers. Sunil's research is interested in ranks of elliptic curves.

Refreshments:

Pizza will be served after the talk.