Current Events Bulletin

Introduction to the Current Events Bulletin

Will the Riemann Hypothesis be proved this week? What is the Geometric Langlands Conjecture about? How could you best exploit a stream of data flowing by too fast to capture? I think we mathematicians are provoked to ask such questions by our sense that underneath the vastness of mathematics is a fundamental unity allowing us to look into many different corners – though we couldn't possibly work in all of them. I love the idea of having an expert explain such things to me in a brief, accessible way. And I, like most of us, love common-room gossip.

The Current Events Bulletin Session at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, begun in 2003, is an event where the speakers do not report on their own work, but survey some of the most interesting current developments in mathematics, pure and applied. The wonderful tradition of the Bourbaki Seminar is an inspiration, but we aim for more accessible treatments and a wider range of subjects. I've been the organizer of these sessions since they started, but a varying, broadly-constituted advisory committee helps select the topics and speakers. Excellence in exposition is a prime consideration.

A written exposition greatly increases the number of people who can enjoy the product of the sessions, so speakers are asked to do the hard work of producing such articles. These are made into a booklet distributed at the meeting. Speakers are then invited to submit papers based on them to the Bulletin of the AMS, and this has led to many fine publications.

I hope you'll enjoy the papers produced from these sessions, but there's nothing like being at the talks – don't miss them!

David Eisenbud, Organizer
University of California, Berkeley

Email David Eisenbud

Sessions, Speakers, Booklets and Bulletin of the AMS Papers

January 5, 2024 (San Francisco, CA)

(booklet produced for meeting)

Will Perkins, ,George Tech:
Searching for (sharp) thresholds in random structures: where are we now?

Hussein Mourtada, Université Paris Cité:
Hilbert meets Ramanujan: singularity theory and integer partitions

Holly Krieger, University of Cambridge:
Uniformity when arithmetic meets geometry

Ravi Vakil, Stanford University:
Passing a curve through n points -- solution of a 100-year-old problem

Cover of Current Events Bulletin for 2024 JMM

January 6, 2023 (Boston, MA) (booklet produced for meeting) Andrew Granville, Université de Montréal: Missing digits, and good approximations. Christopher Eur, Harvard University: An essence of independence: recent works of June Huh on combinatorics and Hodge theory. Henry Cohn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: From sphere packing to Fourier interpolation. Martin Hairer, Imperial College London: A stroll around the critical Potts model.
April 8, 2022 (Virtual) (booklet produced for meeting) Thomas Scanlon, University of California, Berkeley: Tame geometry for Hodge theory. Elena Giorgi, Columbia University: The stability of black holes with matter. Anup Rao, University of Washington: Sunflowers: from soil to oil. Elamin Elbasha, Merck & Co., Inc.: Mathematics and the quest for vaccine-induced herd immunity threshold.
January 18, 2021 (Virtual) (booklet produced for meeting) Abba Gumel, Arizona State University: Mathematics of the Dynamics and Control of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ana Caraiani, Imperial College London: An excursion through the land of shtukas. Jennifer Hom, Georgia Institute of Technology: Getting a handle on the Conway knot. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2022-59-01/S0273-0979-2021-01745-9/ Richard Evan Schwartz, Brown University: Rectangles, Curves, and Klein Bottles. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2022-59-01/S0273-0979-2021-01755-1/
January 17, 2020 (Denver, CO) (booklet produced for meeting) Jordan S. Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Geometry, Inference, and Democracy. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2021-58-01/S0273-0979-2020-01708-8/ Bjorn Poonen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A p-adic approach to rational points on curves. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2021-58-01/S0273-0979-2020-01707-6/ Suncica Canic, University of California, Berkeley: Recent Progress on Moving Boundary Problems. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2021-58-01/S0273-0979-2020-01703-9/ Vlad C. Vicol, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University: Convex integration and fluid turbulence. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2021-58-01/S0273-0979-2020-01713-1/

January 18, 2019 (Baltimore, MD)
(booklet produced for meeting)

Bhargav Bhatt, University of Michigan:
Perfectoid geometry and its applications.

Thomas Vidick, California Institute of Technology:
Verifying quantum computations at scale: a cryptographic leash on quantum devices. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2020-57-01/S0273-0979-2019-01678-4/

Stephanie van Willigenburg, University of British Columbia:
The shuffle conjecture. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2020-57-01/S0273-0979-2019-01672-3/

Robert Lazarsfeld, Stony Brook University:
Tangent Developable Surfaces and the Equations Defining Algebraic Curves. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2020-57-01/S0273-0979-2019-01683-8/

January 12, 2018 (San Diego, CA)
(booklet produced for meeting)

Richard D. James, University of Minnesota:
Materials from mathematics. http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2019-56-01/S0273-0979-2018-01644-3/

Craig L. Huneke, University of Virginia:
How complicated are polynomials in many variables?

Isabelle Gallagher, Université Paris Diderot:
From Newton to Navier-Stokes, or how to connect fluid mechanics equations from microscopic to macroscopic scales. http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2019-56-01/S0273-0979-2018-01650-9/

Joshua A. Grochow, University of Colorado:
The Cap Set Conjecture, the polynomial method, and applications (after Croot-Lev-Pach, Ellenberg-Gijswijt, and others). http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2019-56-01/S0273-0979-2018-01648-0/

January 6, 2017 (Atlanta, GA)
(booklet produced for meeting)

Lydia Bieri, University of Michigan:
Black hole formation and stability: a mathematical investigation. http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2018-55-01/S0273-0979-2017-01592-3/

Matt Baker, Georgia Tech:
Hodge Theory in Combinatorics. http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2018-55-01/S0273-0979-2017-01599-6/

Kannan Soundararajan, Stanford University:
Tao's work on the Erdos Discrepancy Problem. http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2018-55-01/S0273-0979-2017-01598-4/

Susan Holmes, Stanford University:
Statistical proof and the problem of irreproducibility. http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2018-55-01/S0273-0979-2017-01597-2/

January 8, 2016 (Seattle, WA)
(booklet produced for meeting)

Carina Curto, Pennsylvania State University
What can topology tell us about the neural code? http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2017-54-01/S0273-0979-2016-01554-0/

Lionel Levine, Cornell University, and Yuval Peres, Microsoft Research and University of California, Berkeley
Laplacian growth, sandpiles and scaling limits.
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2017-54-03/S0273-0979-2017-01573-X/

Timothy Gowers, Cambridge University
Probabilistic Combinatorics and the recent work of Peter Keevash.
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2017-54-01/S0273-0979-2016-01553-9/

Amie Wilkinson, University of Chicago
What are Lyapunov exponents, and why are they interesting?
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2017-54-01/S0273-0979-2016-01552-7/

January 12, 2015 (San Antonio, TX) (booklet produced for meeting)

Jared S. Weinstein, Boston University
Exploring the Galois group of the rational numbers: recent breakthroughs
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2016-53-01/S0273-0979-2015-01515-6/

Andrea R. Nahmod, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The nonlinear Schrodinger equation on tori: integrating harmonic analysis, geometry and probability
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2016-53-01/S0273-0979-2015-01516-8/

Mina Aganagic, University of California, Berkeley
String Theory and Math: Why This Marriage May Last
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2016-53-01/S0273-0979-2015-01517-X/

Alex Wright, Stanford University
From rational billiards to dynamics on moduli spaces
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2016-53-01/S0273-0979-2015-01513-2/

January 17, 2014 (Baltimore, MD) (booklet produced for meeting)

Daniel Rothman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Earth's Carbon Cycle: A Mathematical Perspective
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-01/S0273-0979-2014-01471-5/

Karen Vogtmann, Cornell University
The geometry of Outer space
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-01/S0273-0979-2014-01466-1/

Yakov Eliashberg, Stanford University
Recent advances in symplectic flexibility
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-01/S0273-0979-2014-01470-3/

Andrew Granville, Université de Montréal
Infinitely many pairs of primes differ by no more than 70 million (and the bound's getting smaller every day)
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-02/S0273-0979-2015-01480-1/

January 11, 2013 (San Diego, CA) (booklet produced for meeting 4 MB)

Wei Ho, Columbia University
How many rational points does a random curve have?
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2014-51-01/S0273-0979-2013-01433-2/home.html

Sam Payne, Yale University
Topology of nonarchimedean analytic spaces
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-02/S0273-0979-2014-01469-7/

Mladen Bestvina, University of Utah
Geometric group theory and 3-manifolds hand in hand: the fulfillment of Thurston's vision for three-manifolds
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2014-51-01/S0273-0979-2013-01434-4/

Lauren Williams, University of California, Berkeley
Cluster algebras: an introduction
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2014-51-01/S0273-0979-2013-01417-4/

January 6, 2012 (Boston, MA) (booklet produced for meeting)

Jeffrey F. Brock, Brown University
Assembling surfaces from random pants: mixing, matching and correcting in the proofs of the surface-subgroup and Ehrenpreis conjectures

Daniel S. Freed, University of Texas at Austin
The cobordism hypothesis: quantum field theory + homotopy invariance = higher algebra
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2013-50-01/S0273-0979-2012-01393-9/home.html

Gigliola Staffilani, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dispersive equations and their role beyond PDE

Umesh Vazirani, University of California, Berkeley
How does quantum mechanics scale?

January 8, 2011 (New Orleans, LA) (booklet produced for meeting)

Luca Trevisan
Khot's Unique Games Conjecture: Its consequences and the evidence for and against
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2012-49-01/S0273-0979-2011-01361-1/

Thomas Scanlon
Counting special points: logic, Diophantine geometry and transcendence theory
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2012-49-01/S0273-0979-2011-01354-4/

Ulrike Tillmann
Spaces of graphs and surfaces
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2012-49-01/S0273-0979-2011-01360-X/home.html

David Nadler
The Geometric Nature of the Fundamental Lemma
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2012-49-01/S0273-0979-2011-01342-8/

January 15, 2010 (San Francisco, CA) (booklet produced for meeting)

Ben J. Green
University of Cambridge, UK
Approximate groups and their applications: work of Bourgain, Gamburd, Helgott and Sarnak

David G. Wagner
University of Waterloo
Multivariate stable polynomials: theory and applications
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2011-48-01/S0273-0979-2010-01321-5/home.html

Laura DeMarco
University of Illinois at Chicago
The conformal geometry of billiards
http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2011-48-01/S0273-0979-2010-01322-7/home.html

Michael Hopkins
Harvard University
On the Kervaire Invariant Problem

January 7, 2009 (Washington, DC) (booklet produced for meeting)

Matthew James Emerton
Northwestern University
Topology, representation theory and arithmetic: Three-manifolds and the Langlands program

Olga Holtz
University of California, Berkeley
Compressive sensing: A paradigm shift in signal processing

Michael Hutchings
University of California, Berkeley
From Seiberg-Witten theory to closed orbits of vector fields: Taubes's proof of the Weinstein conjecture
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2010-47-01/S0273-0979-09-01282-8/home.html

Frank Sottile
Texas A & M University
Frontiers of reality in Schubert calculus
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2010-47-01/S0273-0979-09-01276-2/home.html

January 8, 2008 (San Diego, California) (booklet produced for meeting)

Günther Uhlmann
University of Washington
Invisibility
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2009-46-01/S0273-0979-08-01232-9/home.html

Antonella Grassi
University of Pennsylvania
Birational Geometry: Old and New
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2009-46-01/S0273-0979-08-01233-0/home.html

Gregory F. Lawler
University of Chicago
Conformal Invariance and 2-d Statistical Physics
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2009-46-01/S0273-0979-08-01229-9/home.html

Terence C. Tao
University of California, Los Angeles
Why are Solitons Stable?
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2009-46-01/S0273-0979-08-01228-7/home.html

January 7, 2007 (New Orleans, Louisiana) (booklet produced for meeting)

Robert Ghrist
University of Illinois
Barcodes: The Persistent Topology of Data
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2008-45-01/S0273-0979-07-01191-3/

Akshay Venkatesh
Courant Institute, New York University
Flows on the Space of Lattices: work of Einsiedler, Katok and Lindenstrauss
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2008-45-01/S0273-0979-07-01194-9/

Izabella Laba
University of British Columbia
From Harmonic Analysis to Arithmetic Combinatorics
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2008-45-01/S0273-0979-07-01189-5/

Barry Mazur
Harvard University
The Structure of Error Terms in Number-Theory
and an Introduction to the Sato-Tate Conjecture
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2008-45-02/S0273-0979-08-01207-X/home.html

January 14, 2006 (San Antonio, Texas) (booklet produced for meeting)

Lauren Ancel Myers
University of Texas at Austin
Contact network epidemiology:; Bond percolation applied to infectious disease prediction and control
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2007-44-01/S0273-0979-06-01148-7/home.html

Kannan Soundararajan
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Small gaps between prime numbers
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2007-44-01/S0273-0979-06-01142-6/home.html;

Madhu Sudan
MIT
Probabilistically checkable proofs
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2007-44-01/S0273-0979-06-01143-8/home.html

Martin Golubitsky
University of Houston
Symmetry in neuroscience

January 7, 2005 (Atlanta, Georgia) (booklet produced for meeting)

Bryna Kra
Northwestern University
The Green-Tao Theorem on primes in arithmetic progression:; A dynamical point of view
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2006-43-01/S0273-0979-05-01086-4/home.html

Robert McEliece
California Institute of Technology
Achieving the Shannon Limit:; A progress report

Dusa McDuff
SUNY at Stony Brook
Floer theory and low dimensional topology
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2006-43-01/S0273-0979-05-01080-3/home.html

Jerrold Marsden and Shane Ross
California Institute of Technology
New methods in celestial mechanics and mission design
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2006-43-01/S0273-0979-05-01085-2/home.html

László Lovász
Microsoft Corporation
Graph minors and the proof of Wagner's conjecture
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2006-43-01/S0273-0979-05-01088-8/home.html

January 9, 2004 (Phoenix, Arizona) (booklet produced for meeting)

Margaret H. Wright
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
The interior-point revolution in optimization:; History, recent developments and lasting consequences
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2005-42-01/S0273-0979-04-01040-7/home.html

Thomas C. Hales
University of Pittsburgh
What is motivic integration?
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2005-42-02/S0273-0979-05-01053-0/home.html

Andrew Granville
Université de Montréal
It is easy to determine whether or not a given integer is prime
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2005-42-01/S0273-0979-04-01037-7/home.html

John W. Morgan
Columbia University
Perelman's recent work on the classification of 3-manifolds
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2005-42-01/S0273-0979-04-01045-6/home.html

January 17, 2003 (Baltimore, Maryland) (no booklet produced for meeting)

Michael J. Hopkins
MIT
Homotopy theory of schemes

Ingrid Daubechies
Princeton University
Sublinear algorithms for sparse approximations with excellent odds

Edward Frenkel
University of California, Berkeley
Recent advances in the Langlands Program
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2004-41-02/S0273-0979-04-01001-8/home.html

Daniel Tataru
University of California, Berkeley
The wave maps equation
www.ams.org/journals/bull/2004-41-02/S0273-0979-04-01005-5/home.html

We've reorganized! See what's new.

Current Events Bulletin

Introduction to the Current Events Bulletin

Sessions, Speakers, Booklets and Bulletin of the AMS Papers

Abba Gumel, Arizona State University: Mathematics of the Dynamics and Control of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Ana Caraiani, Imperial College London: An excursion through the land of shtukas.

Jennifer Hom, Georgia Institute of Technology: Getting a handle on the Conway knot. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2022-59-01/S0273-0979-2021-01745-9/

Richard Evan Schwartz, Brown University: Rectangles, Curves, and Klein Bottles. https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2022-59-01/S0273-0979-2021-01755-1/

Abba Gumel, Arizona State University:
Mathematics of the Dynamics and Control of the COVID-19 Pandemic.