SMRI Algebra and Geometry Online: Gardam -- Solving semidecidable problems in group theory

SMRI Algebra and Geometry Online
'Solving semidecidable problems in group theory'
Giles Gardam (University of Muenster)

Tuesday October 5th, 4:00pm-5:30pm (AEDT)
Register: 
https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvduysqjkiG9SObYuyc-VEMPyPVTQkbQ0W

Abstract: Group theory is littered with undecidable problems. A classic example is 
the word problem: there are groups for which there exists no algorithm that can 
decide if a product of generators represents the trivial element or not. Many 
problems (the word problem included) are at least semidecidable, meaning that there 
is a correct algorithm guaranteed to terminate if the answer is "yes", but with no 
guarantee on how long one has to wait. I will discuss strategies to try and tackle 
various semidecidable problems computationally with the key example being the 
discovery of a counterexample to the Kaplansky unit conjecture.

Biography: Giles Gardam is a research associate at the University of Münster working 
in geometric group theory. He studied mathematics and computer science at the 
University of Sydney, receiving his Bachelor's degree in 2012, and completed his 
doctorate at Oxford in 2017. He was then a postdoc at the Technion before starting 
at Muenster in 2019.

Note: These seminars will be recorded, including participant questions (participants 
only when asking questions), and uploaded to the SMRI YouTube Channel 
https://www.youtube.com/c/SydneyMathematicalResearchInstituteSMRI 

Other upcoming SMRI events can be found here: 
https://mathematical-research-institute.sydney.edu.au/news-events/