EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: The nature of partition bijections
Speaker: Professor Igor Pak
Speaker Info: M.I.T.
Brief Description:
Special Note:
Abstract:

The study of partition identities has a long history going back to Euler, with applications ranging from Analysis to Number Theory, from Enumerative Combinatorics to Lie Theory. Partition bijections is a combinatorial approach which often gives the shortest and the most elegant proofs of these identities. These bijections are then often used to generalize the identities, find ``hidden symmetries'', etc.

But to what extent can we use these bijections? Do they always -- or at least often -- exist, and how do you find them? Why is it that some bijections seem more important than others, and what is the underlying structure behind the ``important bijections''? I will try to cover a whole range of partition bijections and touch upon these questions. The talk assumes no background whatsoever, and hopefully will be somewhat entertaining.