Chaire Aisenstadt 2005-2006 Aisenstadt Chair
K. Soundararajan
(University of Michigan)

Conférence André-Aisenstadt Lecture

Photos de l'événement / Events' photos

(Cette conférence s’adresse à un large auditoire. / Suitable for a general audience.)

Le lundi 13 février 2006 / Monday, February 13, 2006

16 h / 4:00 am

Pavillon André-Aisenstadt, Université de Montréal
2920, chemin de la Tour
Salle / Room 1140

"What are L-functions and what are they good for?"

L-functions are analytic objects which encode arithmetical information such as prime numbers, class numbers of fields, the number of rational points on elliptic curves etc. The prototypical example of an L-function is Riemann's zeta function. Understanding the behavior of L-functions leads naturally to an understanding of many number theoretic questions. I will give many examples of L-functions, and describe the central problems of this theory. I will also give several applications of L-functions to concrete problems in number theory. Une réception suivra la conférence au Salon Maurice-l'Abbé, Pavillon André-Aisenstadt (Salle 6245).

There will be a reception after the lecture in Salon Maurice-l'Abbé, Pavillon André-Aisenstadt (Room 6245).

Conférences dans le cadre de
l’Atelier sur les fonctions L et sujets connexes


Lectures at the Workshop on L-functions and Related Themes

Le mercredi 15 février 2006 / Wednesday, February 15, 2006

11 h / 11:00 am

Pavillon André-Aisenstadt, Université de Montréal
2920, chemin de la Tour
Salle / Room 6214

"The mollifier method and non-vanishing results for L-functions"

The mollifier method originates in Selberg's celebrated result that a positive proportion of zeros of the Riemann zeta function lie on the critical line. The term was coined by Levinson in his proof that this proportion is at least a third.
Nowadays the mollifier method has been used very successfully to establish non-vanishing results for L-functions at special values. I will give a description of the method together with some applications.

Le vendredi 17 février 2006 / Friday, February 17, 2006

11 h / 11:00 am

Pavillon André-Aisenstadt, Université de Montréal
2920, chemin de la Tour
Salle / Room 6214

"The distribution of values of L-functions"

In this lecture I will discuss several questions regarding the value distribution of L-functions. In particular I will describe how L-functions can be modelled very well at the edge of the critical strip, and how this (presumably) extends to points not on the critical line. The situation on the critical line is quite different and very poorly understood, and I will describe some of the recent speculations/conjectures on this along with some partial progress.



January 20 janvier 2006
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